Monday, March 26, 2018

Birthday Celebration a Success!


Everything went just as planned.  The rain held off and we had
a marvelous time.  Our program included the Welcoming of everyone and introduced dignitaries that were present.  Then the
President of Friends of Casa Navarro spoke also welcoming 
everyone present.  She acknowledged the descendants that 
were there and mentioned all the things they would be seeing
when they went on to the Casa Navarro grounds.  A proclamation was read by a city official and then a Jose Antonio Navarro costumed man spoke also welcoming everyone to this Birthday party.  He said I am 223 years old.  "Not bad for an old man." 
Next our guest speaker from Bastia, Corscia, Dr. Charles Balesi, was introduced he made a small speech.  Later the youth choir
sang Happy Birthday to Jose Antonio Navarro and the cake was
served.  

There were interactive exhibits for people to enjoy.  Some of
them were.  Wood carving of tools used in the early 1800's,
We had costumed Buffalo soldier there as well as a costumed Mexican Army soldier.  A 5 year old girl royalty all decked out in her beautiful dress,  with a sash around her chest and a lovely sparkling crown on her head dropped by and dazzled everyone who saw her.  We had a photographer taking old photos of people and there was demonstrations of weaving in one of the rooms at the Casa.  In what is known as the timeline room was were our speaker,
Dr. charles Balesi spoke about Angel Navarro's travel from Corsica to America.  The museum had a special display of this route on display along with artifacts of the time period in a room in the Casa.

Our membership table did real well.  We signed up many
new members.  Manning the table were Sandy Westbrook 
and Dolores Tamez.  They had our 300th medal for Jose Antonio Navarro available for sale and sales were good.
We also have T-shirts available if anyone is interested you can
contact me or anyone in the Friends organization.

We had over 200 people in attendance.  I manned the geneology table, which was a big hit with the attendees.  I met many new descendants.  At least 6 Tobin's, 1 Muldoone cousin and I talked
to many other descendants from Angel Navarro and Josefa
Ruiz.  The helpers at my table where Herlinda Ramos, and
Joan Tapia all descendants in our lines.  We were able to field
and answer questions throughout the event about Navarro, Ruiz, 
Flores and other lines.  

From one of the Tobin men I learned who the unknown lady standing next to me in the photo, which is on the fireplace in the time line room of the museum.  That photo was taken the day the Navarro house, now Casa Navarro Historic National Landmark, was saved for posterity. He told me he was also in the photo and
pointed to himself and then he pointed to the unknown lady and
said that the lady in question was his mother Lilly Tobin-Guerra.  At last a name to the faces that we had no identity on as of that date.

I saw so many cousins that I have been corresponding with for years, and so many that support the Casa and are there every chance they can. 

We thank all of you for attending and hope you had a wonderful time.

I hope you saw some of the photos that were posted on Facebook
under my name Carol Cieszinski.  Perhaps you can find them.
I will see if I can get one or two to post here soon. 

If I missed you there you can always contact me through this
website.  There is a subscribe area at the bottom of the page or
you can just email me at carolcce@yahoo.com


Sunday, March 11, 2018

Event was great! Hope you were there.


I tried to visit with as many people as I could.  My table was
busy with on lookers many of them were descendants which made
me very happy.  I had plenty of material handouts for them to
take home.  I hope I will hear from some of them soon.

There were request like, "Where can I get a copy of the
Proclamation that was read that day?"  I am still looking into
that, as I have been away in Tuscan, AZ with family for 10days.
I know that many photos of the event were posted on Facebook.
Those of you that are on my friends should have seen some of
them.

I have photos of the saving of the Casa Navarro back in 1960.
If anyone is interested in receiving one just write to me.