The Hernandez - del Rio Letters
Thanks to my great-uncle Alex (Alejandro) Hernandez del Rio, younger brother of my grandmother Maria Hernandez del Rio, we have a collection of 29 letters, beginning with the oldest one from Delfina Peña to her daughter Maria (Guadalupe) del Rio in 1914, skipping forward to the years spanning 1929-1944, mostly from (Maria) Guadalupe del Rio to her son Alejandro, but also including letters from a few his siblings as well as a few to his brother Juan, who apparently spent a few years in the USA, before returning to Chavinda. Uncle Alex left the oldest letter to his youngest daughter Maggie, and the rest to his son Frank. Frank was good enough to allow me to scan his letters to translate and share here. Maggie had given the letter dating 1914 to my mother, as it was addressed to 'dearest daughter Maria'; we all assumed at the time (10 yrs ago) that the letter was meant for Mom's mother Maria, and we had no idea why Uncle Alex had it. The original is very difficult to read, and I always wondered why the letter was written to my grandmother when she was only 17 years old. Where could she have gone? She was not yet married, I knew that. It was not until scanning it and enhancing it that I was able to see the signature - Delfina Peña - and it all made sense. The letter was not to my grandmother from her mother- it was from my mother's great-grandmother to mom's grandmother!