History Project

Part TwoYuridia Soto

Who?

• I interviewed my father, Angel Soto, and my mother, Alicia Sandoval.

Today

• Our family tree ends so far with my little brother, Daniel Soto, and I.

My Father’s Side of the Family

• My father was born June 1, 1971 in Veracruz, Mexico. He grew up his whole childhood there and moved to Mexico City as a teenager, where he met my mother.

• At the age of two my Grandmother, Victoria Islas, and grandfather, Pascual Soto, got a divorced. They both re-married and started separate families. My Father has only one true brother, four step-sisters, and three step-brothers.

• My grandmother’s parents were Aaron and Angela Islas. They were also born in Veracruz, Mexico and lived there their whole life.

• My grandfather’s parents were Josephina Solis and Francisco Soto. They were born and raised in Veracruz, Mexico. They divorced, remarried, and started separate families as well. So my grandfather has step siblings.

• My great grandfather was adopted by a lady with the last name Soto as a child. We do not know his real last name or where he came from.

• My father grew up with my grandmother. He only went to school for a couple years and had to stop to work. He would wake up early to harvest corn and beans and would walk far places to sell the food. For fun my father would swim or fish.

• As an adult, he moved to Fresno, California then back to Mexico, then to Ontario, California. The way he immigrated was through Tijuana. He moved here for a better job, pay, and life. When he moved here he would eat home cooked Mexican food that my aunt made.

• When my father first got here, he worked in the field. It was hard work and small pay, so he moved to construction, which had better pay. When the recession hit, construction went down and he started working in a Japanese restaurant, where he continues to work today.

My Mother’s Side of the Family

• My mother was born September 17, 1975, in Michoacán, Mexico. She has twelve brothers and sisters. Her mother is Maria Guadalupe Lua and her father is Felipe Sandoval.

• Her parents got a divorced and her father remarried and had 3 more children.

• My grand mother’s parents are Miguel Lua and Rosa Garcia. My grandmother’s parents are Sophia and Saberio. We do not know where they were born.

• My grandfather’s parents are Vicente Sandoval and Maria Lua.

• My mother moved to Ontario, California in 1998 for a better life and education for me.

• When she arrived she would cook Mexican food. She worked in warehouses, restaurants, cleaning houses, and babysitting.

• Since my mother was young, she loved helping others, working a lot, and caring for children. She only went to school for a while, then started working cleaning houses to help her mother and sisters.

• She has a lot of siblings, but is very distant from them. Some live in California and other in Mexico.

• We have a huge family and have lost many members because they moved and got lost. We never heard from them again. It is rumored some moved around Mexico and America.