Margaret Garza (nee Mora)

Margaret Mora age 26 (1955)

San Antonio, Texas

March 22, 2008

Stephanie Marie Gonzalez

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Spring 2008

 

INTRODUCTION

Margaret Mora was born February 22nd, 1929 to her father Andrew Mora and her mother Josephine Garza Mora and raised in Monterrey Mexico. She was the 5th child of seven with three brothers and three sisters. Margaret’s educational level only reached the 6th grade in her schooling, and at the age of sixteen she got her first job working in a in a library. Then she worked at brewery at the age of eighteen until the age of twenty- six when she left to marry her long time boyfriend Benjamin Sepulveda Garza. They were married in Mexico on October 20 1957. Together they moved to the San Antonio Texas and had six children Benjamin Jr., Gilbert, Laura, Olga, Leticia (my mom), and Javier. When not working as a seamstress in a baseball cap factory she enjoyed taking her children out shopping and to the movies.

TRANSCRIPTION

What are your earliest childhood memories?
Well my earliest childhood memory was of me and my sisters helping my mother cook dinner. I believe we were cooking some kind of soup, because my older sister was chopping various vegetables.

About how old do you think you were?
At that time I think I was about six or seven.

What was it like around the house?
Well at times it was difficult because we were never the richest family; my father worked two jobs to keep us a float. Because my father was always working my brothers would do all of the outside chores such as the lawn and fixing various things around the house. Me and my sisters help our mother with chores in the house.

How was your relationship with your siblings?
I had very good relationships with all of my siblings; however I had better ones with my sisters because I spent more time with them in the house. I never had much time to spend with my brothers only during dinner and the night time.

How was your families experience with school?
In my family school was not a big priority, we were focusing on being feed. Myself personally only went to school until the sixth grade were two of my brothers made it to the seventh, my oldest brother and sister graduated, not too sure how my other sisters did.

Why did you only attend school until the sixth grade and not graduate like some of your siblings?
Well my family did not have enough money to keep all seven of us in school, since I was one of the younger ones I was taken out of school while the older ones stayed and tried to complete their education.

If you could have would you had finished school?
Yes, I would have finished school so that I could have gotten a better job to be able to suport my family better.

What was your first job?
I got my first job at the age of sixteen in the Monterrey Public Library.

Margaret in front of library after getting off of work. Age 16

Was it your idea to get the job or was it suggested by your parents?
It was my idea because I wanted to help out the family so my father wouldn't have to work so much.

Per week how much were you getting paid?
I was getting paid around four or five dollars a week.

Did you have any other jobs?
Yes, another job I had was in a beer brewery. I got the job from a friend of my faters. I started working there at the age of eighteen and worked there until I was twenty-six.

Why did you stop working there?
When I turned twenty-six my boyfriend of seven years asked me to marry him. So I quit my job and we got married two weeks later.

Did you have a big wedding?
No, but it was enough, it was small just the family and a few friends. We had a small reception at his parents house afterwards.

When did you immigrate to the united states?
Well I moved to the United States a few weeks after getting married on October 20, 1957.

Maragret (left age 33) holding daughter Laura (age 1), with sister- in law (rigth)holding cousin.

What was the reason for you moving here?
My husband had already been living in the Chicago for a few months and he wanted me to be close to him.

Did you want to move to the U.S.?
Yes, I wanted to move to the U.S. because I love my husband so much and I didn't want him to leave his job just so he could be close to me in Mexico.

Was it hard comming over the border?
Actually it was very easy, like I said before, my husband had been living there for a few months, so all I had to do was to show them my marrige license to get my papers. U.S. Citizen Application

Is there ever a time when you regret leaving Mexico and coming to America?
No, I love it in America. Really the only thing I regret about my decision is that I'm no longer close to my family as I would like to be.

In moving to America why did you choose to move to San Antonio?
Me and my husband chose to move to San Antonio because he already had a steady job that transfered him to Texas. It worked out great for us because Texas is the closest state to Mexico, so if we wanted to visit our families it would not be that hard for us or them.

From the left, Ben Jr.(13), Margaret (42)pregnat with Javier,Ben Sr. (40),Laura(11), Gilbert (12), bottom Letty my mom(7), and Olga(9)

Were your first years in Texas hard to adjust to?
Oh yes, it was hard having to leave a place were I lived my whole life and start a new one in a place I have never been to before. At the time we did not have a house, we lived a few months with a friend of my husbands.

You had said you worked as a seamstress in a baseball cap factory. What was it like working there?
Well sewing was not a big passion of mine but it was something I was very good at. The pay again was not great about three dollars a week. I took the job to earn money that me and my husband needed to begin our family. One year after coming to America I had my first child Ben Jr. and had them continually until 1971 with my last son Javier.

In 1982 you lost Javier, how did this happen?
That day Javier was out with some friends, I believe it was a Friday afternoon; they had gone down to what is now the River walk downtown. At that time the waters in the river was very fast, not clam like it is now. Javier had fallen in the river and could not get out, the area they were playing at the sides where too steep for him to crawl out. he was a very goo swimmer but the cirrent was too strong... and he drowned.He was so young... only eleven his birthday would have been the next month.

 

Is there anything you would like to and to this interview?
No thank you, I have nothing else to say.

ANALYSIS

I learned how it was growing up in one place your whole life and then coming to a new place and start a whole new begining. The most important points made in this interview was that my grandmother did not come from a very rich family. And in her case like many others, she and her siblings helped in various chores around the house. I learned a lot from my grandmother's life that interested me. She rarely talks, and we have a language barrier as weel. Without this interview I might not have found out any of this information. My grandmother taught me how it feels, leaving your family and having live in a strange new place. I asked all of her five kids and husband if they had herad any of this information in a different way. Oral interviews are a very good way to learn about the past. Being there doing the interview you can see the reactions of the person and the change of tone when certain things are mentioned. You can almost feel it.

 

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