MESSAGES FOR ALL TO READ;
Hello Alfred,
I was so surprised this morning when my daughter (Sharon Ashenbrener) called to tell me about finding you. I live in Rancho Mirage (just down the street!) and thought it was amazing to find a connection to the family this close to me. I applaud my daughter and her efforts to collect genealogical info. I grew up amongst the Pachecos of Tucson and my mother’s best friend was Evelyn Pacheco, daughter of your grandfather, Henry. I am related by more than marriage, as my mother Mary Olive Soderberg Ness and Aida Pacheco Fernandez (Richard Pacheco’s daughter) were related. Aida’s great grandmother and Mary’s grandmother were sisters. I married Aida’s son, Edward R. Fernandez. We were fourth to third cousins. He unfortunately died in a single engine plane crash in January of 1999 (after 28 years of marriage). He was a wonderful husband and father and he and I built a company from the ground up that grew to 800 by the time he died. We all miss him a great deal.
I remarried ten years ago to Mike AuClair and we live here in the winters and northern Idaho (Sandpoint) in the summers. I would love to meet you and maybe share some family stories and photos. I know next to nothing about Henry Pacheco’s side of the family but I could probably give you some first person accounts of Dick Pacheco’s side. We used to call him Papa Dick and his wife, Mama Ida. He was a good man, very generous to many and always had a twinkle in his eye and a bit of mischief about him. He was a “man’s man” and built the Acme Cattle Company outside of Tucson.
I look forward to viewing your website!
Dear Al,
Nice to hear from you! I commend you on your dedication to the website. I asked my daughter to email the address to me so that I can peruse it. I think it is fascinating that we may be able to bring our two halves of family history together to make a whole. Regarding your grandfather, I was not aware of any brothers or sisters of Henry Pacheco the senior. What I know about Henry and his wife is sketchy as much time has passed. I know that the woman that I knew to be his wife was from an affluent San Francisco family and that she ran off with Henry and as a result was estranged from her own family for the rest of her life. Was this Lenore? I don’t remember her name. She was an excellent seamstress and used to make party dresses for me when I was a child. I remember her as being very dignified and rather serious and not “warm and fuzzy”. She had two children, Evelyn, (who was my mother’s best friend) and a brother, named Henry (nickname: Babe)* I remember that after her mother died, her father came to live with her and stayed until his death. He had diabetes and was in a wheel chair the last several years of his life. I spent a lot of time over there as my mother visited her often. She had a large stately home on Speedway Blvd. My father is going to be 94 this month and is sharp as a tack. He has a good memory of these people and I can ask him to refresh my memory. (He currently lives in Spokane, WA).
Regarding my maternal great grandmother, her name was Beatriz Barcelo de Ferrer and she was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico on Sept. 21, 1855. When she was 7 years old, her engagement to Adolfo Ferrer (he was 12 at the time) was arranged by their families. They married in 1871 when she was 16 and he 21. They had three children during their four years of marriage (he died of complications of pneumonia in 1875). The children were Mariana, Beatriz (my grandmother), and Adolfo who was born after his father’s death. I have never heard of Paula Cruz. Mariana married Arturo Braun and they had two children, Ida (b. 1898) and Louis. Ida Braun married Richard Monteverde Pacheco (your great uncle) and they had five daughters, one of whom died at the age of six months. The four surviving girls were Norma, Aida, Mary and Mary Louise. Mary married her first cousin (!), Babe* who was Henry’s son. Aida married Hector Fernandez (of New Orleans). They lived in San Gabriel, CA most of their married lives and had three children: Edward (my late husband), Robert (lives in Tucson) and Elyse (lives in Temecula, CA). I am in close contact with Elyse (Lisa Marie) and she would be so interested to know about you. Evelyn had one child, Marilyn who was in my peer group and when we get together I can tell you her story (whew-what a story!).
Have a safe trip back and we will talk soon.
Regards,
Hi Alfred,
Okay, putting the pieces together, I think I understand the situation with Evelyn’s mother. It makes perfect sense regarding what happened with her family (the estrangement) as I believe that I heard that Henry was married at the time that she ran off with him! He must have been married at the time to Lenore and that is probably what broke up the marriage. It was true soap opera stuff—early century style!
It would be nice to meet Eric. The only thing I know about Nabor is that he was the first sheriff of Tucson and there is a newspaper photo of him at the Arizona Pioneer Historical Society presiding at a hanging. My father might remember. Remember, those were pioneer days when Tucson was a wilder town and it was not unusual for some matters to be settled with a pistol. Speaking of pistols, Richard Pacheco’s pearl handled revolver is part of the collection at the AZ Pioneer Hist. Society museum.
My son, Erik Fernandez and his wife, Sara. live in Hermosa Beach, CA which is not far from Torrance. He would probably enjoy meeting the other Eric and learning more about the family. Erik is 32, so he doesn’t remember the great grandparents although he did meet Mama Ida once when he was three! Papa Dick died the year before Sharon was born and she is 34, born in 1977.
I always wondered why we never saw any members of Papa Dick’s family (except his brother, Henry) and I attributed it to the fact that Mama Ida just didn’t like them, but now that you allude to a “falling out”, I can understand better why things were the way they were. These are all pieces of a larger puzzle.
I have no photos of Carmen or Nabor, except for the one of him presiding at a hanging. (I think I may have that somewhere). There was a fire at one of the houses that the family owned in Tucson and my mother told me that many photos were destroyed that way. Regarding the time line---I don’t know when Henry and his second wife were married but their daughter, Evelyn was probably born 95 or so years ago. Her daughter, Genie (Marilyn) would probably know much more about that. She is approximately 65 or 66 years old and is serving about the 15th year of a 20 year prison sentence for embezzling the funds of people whose estates she managed in the legal profession. I was stunned when that all was revealed and suddenly her very comfortable life style made perfect sense! I have had no contact with her since her sentencing.
I remember the death of Henry’s second wife. It was probably around 50 years ago. I am 63 and I was around 12 or so at the time. Henry lived much longer. I remember that he was unable to talk in later years. He simply sat in his wheel chair and existed. It was a sad thing but Evelyn took care of him and she also took care of several other old men who had no one to look after them. I believe the state of Arizona paid her to do that.
You may be interested to know that Richard Pacheco’s home on So. 6th Ave. (603 I think is the address) in Tucson is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He and Ida lived there for many decades until their death. The last one to occupy the house was Norma Bustamante. Across the street is the home where Mary and Babe lived and that home was divided into a duplex and my mother owned the other half. I actually lived there with my family when I was three years old. That is also on the National Register of Historic Places. I met the owners back in the 90’s and they gave me a box of old photos and letters, etc. that were in Mary’s garage. Inside was a letter from Babe’s daughter written to her dad and addressed to Henry Pacheco at his Long Beach address. It was mailed from England. She was about ten when she wrote it. It was evidence of the story that I had heard that he had a “second family” that he kept a secret. I told you it was soap opera stuff!! J
I am still waiting for Sharon to send me the website, as I have not seen the site where she found your info. Looking forward to it!
Sorry for the rambling. I haven’t thought about this stuff in a long time and it’s a little like blowing the cobwebs away!
Hi Alfred,
I talked with my dad this morning and was disappointed that he just doesn’t remember too much of that era as he hasn’t thought about it for decades! Dad told me that Nabor was the first elected sheriff of Pima County and the picture that I spoke of was of him presiding at the first “official” hanging in Pima County. His saddle and his guns are in the possession of the Pioneer Historical Society according to my dad.
I seem to remember hearing that Evelyn’s mother’s marriage may have been a “common law” marriage and if that is so, it would explain it if Henry was never granted a divorce from Lenore. My dad told me that Evelyn’s mother owned a horse drawn cab company in Tucson in the 1800’s. Gosh, it is difficult when the facts die with elders and also when there are “scandals” that are swept under the rug for decades! It’s like solving a mystery or a riddle.
I was really hoping that my dad could have filled in some of the blanks but he did not remember. Some things may come back to him as he reflects on them. I also wanted to mention that there is another cousin who lives in Phoenix who is also quite interested in family history. He is Steve McCann and he is the son of Mary Louise who was one of Richard’s daughters. So, Henry would have been a great uncle to him. I will call Steve and let him know that we have discovered another branch in the family!
Regards,
Hi Alfred,
I think it is so interesting that scandal and intrigue was passed down through three generations of daughters in Henry Pacheco’s “second” family. Evelyn, Henry’s daughter, gave birth to Marilyn and there was a lot of haze surrounding that event. Supposedly, Marilyn was the daughter of a service man that Evelyn married during the war. His name was Saucer, hence her last name was the same. In later years Marilyn told me that she knew that he was not her real father and that her grandmother said that she knew who he was and she would tell her before she died. Unfortunately, she died before she could do so. The conjecture was that her real father was a wealthy and well known married man (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!) in Tucson and that he financially took care of her growing up. She had expensive ballet lessons (and was quite good) and there were many large oil paintings done of her in her ballet costumes throughout the house.
She grew up normally and got a good education and began her own businesses, finally ending up with her own paralegal business. She was divorced and had two boys. In her business she managed accounts for handicapped individuals as well as the estates of some who had passed on. It was this that finally took her down the path of scandal. She needed money one time and “borrowed” from one of the accounts. She paid it back but then realized that no one noticed and then she began to do it on a regular basis. Her conspicuously comfortable lifestyle began to arouse suspicion (driving a DeLorean—extensive remodeling, etc. extravagant wardrobe, etc.) and an investigation was begun. It resulted in 84 counts against her. Since she was in the legal profession, they REALLY threw the book at her and gave her 20 years. She was 50 at the time. Her sons severed all ties with her, feeling very betrayed. Her fiancé at the time was also blindsided. So there you have it….three women, all estranged from their mothers in succession.
Regarding Henry’s height, I can’t tell you exactly because he was always in the wheel chair in the later years, but I would say that he was about the same stature as Richard, which would have made him at least six feet in height.
Sincerely,
Hi Alfred,
Yes, I have info on Babe and Mary. They had three children: Richard, Bobby Gene and Marcella. I know them all personally but have not had contact with any of them for about 12 years. Richard (“Dickie” to the family) would be about 77 right now. Bobby Gene is about 64 and Marcella I’m not sure, as she could be older than Bobby Gene or younger. Marcella lives in the Midwest and the other two live in Tucson. Dickie was a very handsome young man and a bit of a playboy. At one point during his late teens, he had a friendship with Bill Bonano (son of Joe Bonano, the infamous crime boss who “retired” to Tucson with his wife Faye). Dickie never went to college but he was quite involved with rodeo competitions, etc. He had a daughter who was raised away from Tucson and then he married Sherry who was an heiress to the Stouffer Foods company. They had two daughters together, Ina May and I can’t recall the other one’s name. They were born in the late sixties. Sherry and Dickie divorced a few years later.
Bobby Gene and I went to Tucson High School together and she graduated a year ahead of me in 1965. She married Brian McWhorter and they had four daughters. For about four years they homesteaded on a ranch in Australia but returned to Tucson before the required time was established. Life was tough on a sheep station! But the little girls all came back to the USA with very cute Aussie accents! Bobbie Gene divorced Brian McWhorter and later married a Tucson builder, Bill Damran. Bill died about ten years ago.
Marcella married a young man (Steve?) in the late sixties. They had a son named Christian. I believe that they also divorced. Marcella lived for a time in Las Vegas and later moved to Ohio, or Iowa and I do not know who she lives with.
It would be easy to fill in the blanks on these individuals since some of them live in Tucson right now. My late husband’s (Ed), brother lives in Tucson as well. His name is Robert Anthony Fernandez and he is about 59 years old. He became an electrician and still does that.
Your info on the dates regarding Henry B’s marriage to Lenore and Evelyn’s birth are most interesting!! My…can these dates be correct? The dates of Evelyn and Babe’s births I know must be accurate, because Evelyn was close in age to my mother who was born in 1910.
I would enjoy meeting you when you are back in La Quinta. As you have plans to travel to Tucson in February perhaps you would like to meet some of the family members? I am going to be in Tucson for a few days in February (around the 6th thru the 9th) and I would be happy to arrange some introductions for you. Steve McCann (Mary Louise’s son) lives in Phoenix and I’m sure that he would come down to Tucson to meet with you as well if you wish. Just let me know.
Mary Louise and “Mac” McCann had four children: Mike, Steve, a daughter whose name I can’t remember and Margie. The one whose name I can’t remember died many years ago. Her life was sad—drugs were involved and caused her death. Steve is the one who is very interested in the genealogy of the family. I owned Papa Dick’s Stetson hat and sent it to Steve a few years ago as I knew it would mean a lot to him. Steve has a career at a TV station in Phoenix. He has two sons, one in high school and one in college.
The story goes on and little by little the past is revealed!
Regards,
