I'm restarting this blog, after a big of an epiphany over last week's Pioneer Trek.
What? Why?
Pioneer Trek, for those gentle readers who aren't aware of Mormon culture, is a trip we take about every four years with our teenagers, where we pretend to be LDS pioneers crossing the plains with handcarts and living like they did for a few days. Like walking in our ancestor's footsteps.
Never went on one before myself. Twenty minutes in on the first day, I felt like I would truly die, and counted myself lucky to escape with only the loss of my boots and a toenail at the end of three days. Those pioneers, boy - tough people!
I thought a lot about them while I was out there though - not much on them left behind. When I got back, the fiction writing I was doing got pushed aside in a great need to get through my own family's stories instead.
So I'll collect family stories and throw them here - for my children, my grandchildren, nieces and nephews and great-grandchildren, and heck, whoever else feels like reading them.
I called this blog 'DuLl Family Stories' for an obscure, artsy reason - because my first names are Dianna and Lorraine (hence the capital D and L in the title, which, when sounded together sound appropriately, 'dull'), and also, because I couldn't think of anything better, but I couldn't wait to start!
So here we go. Starting with my own story.
What's my full name, and where did it come from?
My full name is Dianna Lorraine (Eden) Zaragoza. I dropped my maiden name when I married. Thinking back on it, I should probably have kept Eden, instead of my middle name, but I've always loved the name Lorraine. A derivative of the name 'Lora', the amazing woman who is my grandmother, after whom several people in my family were named.
My first name comes from the Roman goddess Diana (of course - very appropriate). I developed an early interest in Greek and Roman mythology because of this, as well as a deep and abiding interest in the moon. Diana was the goddess of the moon. Also the goddess of hunting, but I couldn't bring myself to get into that as much. Still, she was strong and a female warrior archetype, which has also fascinated me over the years - the female warrior.
Lorraine, after my grandmother Lora. Very proud.
Eden was my family's last name, which I got from my dad - the noble line of Eden heritage, hailing from the historic New Brunswick, New Jersey. Meh.
I also enjoyed the Genesis story in the Bible much more as a child, because of that particular garden association. And I do garden myself.
Zaragoza is my married name, but one my husband only loosely enjoys, to be honest. I loved it when I dated him. Tried it on regularly, and it just smacked of pizazz. However, once I wore it, I found myself forever spelling it for people, which was something of a drag. And there's a family legend I learned from my mother-in-law that Zaragoza wasn't actually our family's name, if you can believe that.
According to her, our oldest ancestor on that side, a man named Gabriel Schultz, came to Mexico from Zaragoza, Spain, for whatever reason, and took up residence in the Zacatecas area. Married Eva Alvarez and started a family. He was in the Mexican militia, and got leave to come home to see a child born, but somehow the paperwork was lost, and he was declared MIA.
When his regiment found him at his home, he was tried and sentenced and executed on the spot, hung by the neck in front of his wife and family. This was roughly around the time of the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
Eva escaped to Arizona with her children, and took the surname of Zaragoza to protect the rest of the family, presumably because the European name of Schultz was dangerous for them at the time. And ever since, they were the Zaragoza family, from Arizona to East LA to the Bay Area where most of the family resides today.
Anyway, that's a myth, and myths are always fun. I could be flat-out lying on that one, for all I know. I'm hoping to bust through some of these family mysteries as I go, even though I know I can't kill them all...neither would I want to, really. What's a good family story without a little mystery in it?
And if we ever do follow my hubby's wishes, and change our last name to Schultz, there goes my pizazz (sigh)...
No comments:
Post a Comment