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Jose was the one of the younger of eleven brothers and sisters from Michoacan. Jose was born around 1903 to 1906. Jose left home at 11 to join Mexican army, and fought Pancho Villa for several years. Jose never spoke of his family. He was a bugler in the army and was wounded. He emigrated to Los Angeles, where he worked as a ferry boat pilot in San Pedro. He married Guadalupe (?) around 1926. She gave birth to my father, Ricardo, in 1927. Two brothers followed, Raul and Pedro. Jose was dismissed from his pilot job in the thirties so that an anglo could take the job. He moved his family to Filmore, where he picked apples and otherwise served as a laborer. Eventually, a job with the Simmons Mattress Co. became available in Los Angeles, so the family moved to Watts, Hickory St.
Jose died around 1962, at the age of 54. A fragment of the bullet that had wounded him while a bugler had spent all those years lodged against his heart. He died of an aneurism. He is buried in Carson, CA.
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