Manrique Rodriguez Gonzalez
1950 Autobiography

November 26 de 1950

Mrs. Nelle S. Hatch
Colonia Juarez, Chih.

Dear Sister Hatch:-

I was at the Ojo Ranch when your letter came and did not see it till Saturday night. I appreciate your interest in me and I certainly consider the Hatch family next to my own. It is rather difficult to think just what I should say that would interest you more than what you already know about me. I will write a little short autobiography and from it you can extract what you need.

I was born at Nadadores [means "swimmers"] Coahuila, in 1880. My father was a country schoolteacher - Juan Francisco Gonzalez. My mother, Juliana Rodriguez, was an ordinary housewife and the mother of 19 children. I was the 7th [3rd] in the family.

At six years of age I started to herd goats, cattle and mules until I was eleven. At twelve I went to Spanish school for six months. This was all the schooling I had in Spanish. Until I was fifteen my work consisted of hauling water from a mountain spring and selling it by the barrel or by the gallon or its equivalent. In this was I helped greatly in supporting our numerous family. At fifteen I began to work as a "peon" common laborer but the pay in those days was so low that I could not stand it. I was getting 25 cents per day, from sun to sun. My greatest desire was to go away from home, where to? I did not know but wanted to go somewhere in search of better life and learning.

One night when I came from work and went over in my mind the things that had transpired during the day with some of the peons, and the treatment their amos (bosses) were giving them, and me too, I came to the conclusion that I must leave home at once. I did that very night. I ran away from home. No one knew where I had gone. I was lost to my parents for three months. If I told them where I had gone, I thought, my parents would go and bring me back so I kept silent. I went to Torreon. Stayed at my uncle's home. From there I went to San Pedro, sixty miles from Torreon where I had another uncle.

It was at San Pedro del Tlahualilo that I heard the first time the word "Mormon". Alma Stevens and Samuel Jarvis, George Jarvis, Mary Stevens and Melissa Stevens dropped by my uncle's store, conversed with him for a long time and my uncle suggested that I go to work for Jarvis and Stevens at the railroad grade. I worked for these people for two months at San Pedro and when the work was finished there, we came to Chihuahua and worked on the Nor-Oeste de Mexico at Laguna de Bustillos, about where San Antonio de Arenales was.

At Bustillos with these Mormon families I had the greatest hopes and ideals awaken in my mind. I loved them. I think they corresponded in affection and good will. These men and women to me were perfect. They did not use bad language, did not use tobacco, coffee, observed the Sabbath, treated their men in the work as humans and above all they were very kind to me. I gave my savings to Mary to keep for me and in about fourteen months I saved $60.00 pesos which I sent to my father in the first letter I wrote them since my unexpected leave.

Some time in Oct. 1898 Stevens and Jarvis completed their contract with the Nor-Oeste de Mexico and started to make preparations to come home to Colonia Juarez. To my greatest delight the entire group of Mormons in the little camp invited me to come with them and promised me they all would do what they could to help me to go to school and learn English. I accepted and came with them. Brother Samuel Jarvis (sponsored me) took great interest in me and promised he would secure a place for me with some one of his friends in the Colony so I could live with them and that in pay for my lodging etc. I could work nights and mornings. I stayed at Samuel Jarvis for about ten days. The family treated me as their equal and that impressed me very much. I tried my best to act and do things as they did. I attended prayers with the family, the first time in my life and I enjoyed it greatly.

Patriarch William W. Stohl became my next benefactor. He appeared to be glad to have me at his home. He was an old gentleman (about 75), very strict, methodical and kind if things were done as he ordered. I tried my very best to please him and I think I did, for others told me he expressed himself well of me.

Brother Stohl made arrangements for me to go to school. Brother Jarvis took me to Mr. Ivins, Mr. G. C. Wilson, Mr. Harris, Mr. Eyring and to Mr. J. Bentley. These men took real interest in me and I could not understand why the way they did. Anthony W. Ivins invited me very frequently to talk to me over the principles of the Gospel, Bro. Eyring, Bro. G.C. Wilson, and others often would explain to me the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Bro. Ivins appointed Bro. Wilson to give me a class all to myself every week. He taught me English but mostly Gospel Doctrine. I surely appreciated these classes and I learned a great deal from him.

Sister Sarah Clayson (Brother Clayson's second wife) was my first teacher. I started in the first grade and I had a chair for myself because the school seats were too small for me. I was kind to the little children and so they liked me very much and often would come to me for protection from other children who would insist in taking things from them. The first year was very easy for me so in two months I was promoted to the second grade and before the year ended I passed the third grade.

In one year I could speak English sufficiently to make myself understood and was able to take my classes in all the succeeding grades right along with the rest of the students. I took part with the boys of my age in everything. I enjoyed myself exceedingly and was appreciative for all kindness shown to me by the teachers.

My progress in religion was rapid and by September of 1899, on the 2nd day, I was baptized in the Pedras Verdes River, right under the suspended bridge, by Bro. John C. Harper, and the following day was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints. That was the happiest day of my life. I felt a great protection over me. I was not alone anymore. I had brothers and sister who cared for me and were interested in my welfare. I felt like I was bound to the community in every way.

The things that made a profound impression on me were the teachings on moral subjects. Bro. Bentley was forever warning the boys against bad habits, the use of liquor, tobacco, bad language - all kinds of subjects dealing on virtue and chastity. From the time I became a member of the church, life was much brighter to me and my desire for learning was intensified. I made slower progress but more solidly. In 1903 I graduated from the 8th grade. By this time I had progressed very nicely in Church matters. I was ordained a deacon, and then a teacher, and a priest.

I enjoyed my work as a deacon more than anything in the church. I remember Brother David McClellan who was the President of the Deacon's Quorum, how devoted he was to his work. I particularly liked to go out and chop wood for the widows. Frank Harris, Leo Harris, Carl Eyring, Isaac Turley and boys of that age would compete with other groups of older boys in wood chopping and it was a great fun. On Saturday nights we were assigned to build fires at the meetinghouse, to sweep, prepare the tables, glasses and all that was needed for the sacrament during Sunday School and afternoon meetings. There was nothing that I liked better than to take turns at these activities of the Deacons.

To my greatest surprise one day in October 1903, brother Guy C. Wilson called me to his office and after asking me a few questions about my work and how I liked it he asked me how I would like to teach a class in Spanish. I told him I did not think the boys and girls would respect me as a teacher. He assured me that he could take charge of his advanced classes and I could do the teaching. I agreed to teach under these conditions. I did not know much Spanish but could study the same as other students and in as much as it was my mother tongue, I could get the lessons easier than the English speaking students. I learned my Spanish while I was teaching.

My salary the first year was $90.00 per month. I thought it was a fortune. By this time I had been living at Bro. Stohl's, Bro. Ed Turley, and Sister Pless Williams and at Bro. Bentley's. I was treated with all consideration at every place. I stayed the longest at Bro. J. C. Bentley's and at the home of Sister Gladys.

I taught school at the Juarez Academy for seven years. I was part-time teacher and part of the time a student most of the time. During this time there were many changes of teacher. We always had a teacher or two from the North.

My association with my fellow teachers was most agreeable and profitable. They all knew more than I did and I could assimilate much of their good ideas and methods wherever I could. The teacher I have most in mind and whom I think did the most good among our young people were: Mrs. Clayson, Miss Briggs, Miss Maye, Miss Beatris Eyring, Bro. Smith, May Mortensen and others. Of the local teachers I think Bro. Ernest S. Hatch is number one, at least that is the judgment of the Mexican students. Bro. Hatch certainly had the friendship of our Mexican students, all the time. Especially in Mathematics and Bookkeeping. Naturally Bro. Guy C. Wilson was number one teacher. Bro Charles E. McClellan was number on teacher in English and we all respect him. He was a very popular teacher with the advanced students.

But now to the work I did and my contribution to the school it is very difficult for me to say. My students can better judge my work. I did the best I could. My job was to teach them Spanish. That I tried to do to the best of my ability. In my judgment the Book of De Tornos, with supplementary readings was the best we ever had. It taught the grammatical part of the language systematically and anyone who wants to learn a language must have the grammatical part first and then it will be easy going. The students who memorized the lessons were the ones that profited most. Naturally you will have to have practice. As a proof of this fact you could find my girl students much better prepared in the grammar part of the lessons than the boys who could talk Spanish and when it came to examinations they failed entirely.

I would like to make mention of our Mexican Students. I was the first Mexican student that graduated from the J.S.A. I was instrumental in bringing to school many Mexican students that have made great success: Andres C. Gonzalez, Luis Gonzalez, Manuel Gonzalez W., General Julio Gonzalez, Manuel Quijano, Luis Flores, and others that I cannot think of at this time. I taught them all I knew and better than all I set them a good example, something they have never forgotten. They all have confessed to me that the foundation they got at the Juarez Stake Academy has been the greatest help to them in their everyday life. They always remember the teachings of Bro. Hatch. Last but not least is Bro. S. E. McClellan - The best Mechanical and Carpenter teacher we ever had. He did more for the Juarez Stake Academy than any other man living. He saved more pesos to the Academy than anyone ever did. We all loved him. We loved him for his work. Now Sister Nelle, please excuse my typing. I have not written a letter in English for a long time and you will have to guess at some of the words. Put in a better one wherever you can.

First hispanic to graduate from the Academia Juárez.

You have no idea how busy I am now planting my wheat. I did this for you but would not do it for anyone else. Take what you need for your purposes and forget about the rest. You know as much about the students I have taught at the school and if you need a list of them you will get it.

Afectuosamente su amigo que le aprecia.

M. R. Gonzalez.

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Children of Manrique Gonzalez and Sarah Olive Merrell Gonzalez

1

Merrell Gonzalez [after 1932 a.k.a. Henry "Blackie" Merrell]

Born: 1903

Married: Irene

Died:

2 Orson Merrill Gonzalez Born: 15 February 1904 Married: Died:

3 Gladys Gonzalez Born: Married: Carl Martineau Died:

4 Anthony "Tony" Gonzalez Born: Married: Died:

5 Francisca "Frances" Gonzalez Born: Married: Mr. Gardner Died:

6 Julia Gonzalez Born: Married: Skowsen Died:

7 Bentley Gonzalez Born: Married: Died:

Children of Manrique Gonzalez and Regina Del Palacios Gonzalez

1 Robert Gonzalez Born: c. 1925 Married: Paulina Simental (div) Died: 7 Mar 1992

2 Ignacio Ernesto Gonzalez Born: 31 July 1922 Married: (1)Olive Marie Nielsen; (2) Marie Davies Wilson Died:

3 Elvira Gonzalez Born: Married: Avena Died:

4 Lilia Gonzalez Born: 19 August 1927 Married: Pauly G. Brown on 18 January 1946 Died:

5 Regina Gonzalez Born: Married: Ayala Died:

6 Catalina Gonzalez Born: Married: Thompson Died:

Robert Gonzalez's son, Manrique "Manny" Gonzalez [II?] and his wife Dayle Stewart Gonzalez, died in a private airplane crash on 13 December 2003 in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, while enroute from Corvallis, Oregon to the wedding of his niece Wendy. Before they went to the wedding in El Paso, they first wanted to check and see how their businesses in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico were doing.  They had a brand new RV Park and restaurant there that they built from the ground up. As they were making their approach into the Guaymas Airport, something happened that caused the plane to spiral down to the earth killing both Manny and Dayle instantly.  After his grandfather Manrique (Papalique) died in 1976, Manny became the new "leader" if you will, of the Gonzalez family.  It was devastating for everyone when he died. [Remembrance of Robert Isaac Gonzalez, executor of Manny's estate. Many thanks for this contribution.]

Regina Del Palacio and Manrique R. Gonzalez Family, c. 1950

MANRIQUE R. GONZALEZ
(1880-1976)

Manrique Gonzalez was born October 19, 1880. His parents, Juan Francisco Gonzalez and Juliana Rodriguez Campos, lived in a small town in the northern part of the state of Coahuila named Nadadores.

Manrique's father was a school teacher in the surrounding farming districts. He and his wife had fifteen children [or 19] , ten boys and five girls . Manrique was the seventh [3rd] child. Manrique left home when he was fourteen years old, living first with an uncle in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico and later in San Pedro close by, but keeping his whereabouts a secret for fear of being forced to return home.

At San Pedro he was employed by American railroad contractors and for the first time heard the word "Mormon." He became acquainted with David A. Stevens and wife and with Samuel Jarvis and his son George Jarvis. When he came to know the principles and beliefs that actuated the lives of these men, he was most favorably impressed. He wanted to be like them, to do the things they did, which to him seemed perfect. They didn't use tobacco, tea, or coffee, neither did they drink liquor, and they kept the Sabbath day holy. Even more important, they treated their workmen consideration and kindness. Life could offer nothing better than to allow him to remain always in their society. Nothing gratified him more than to take his money to Mrs. Stevens to save for him. When it had reached the fabulous sum of sixty pesos, he sent it home to his father.

When he moved with the contractors to Chihuahua where railroad grading was continued and the job was completed, he gladly accepted an invitation to move with the company to Colonia Juarez where he took up residence with the Mormons. From 1898 until the present time (1966) he has remained a part of society in the colonies. The only exception to this is the period he spent in the United States in search of a higher education. In Colonia Juarez he lived with first one family and then another, all the time working to learn the English language. Despite his age and his adult growth, he entered Sarah Clayson's Primary Department and took his first' schooling in the language with little tots in the first grade. He was kind to them and they responded well to the friendly young man who sat on an adult-sized chair brought in especially for him because the school benches were too small. In five years he had mastered the essentials in elementary instruction and was given the customary certificate of graduation from the eighth grade in the spring of 1903. He was then twenty-two years of age.

His progress in the study of religion was also rapid. His eager questions about Mormonism were answered to his satisfaction. On September 2, 1899, at the age of eighteen, he was baptized by John C. Harper and confirmed the following day as a member of the Church by Anthony W. Ivins. He later said, it was "the happiest day of my life. I was no longer alone, I had brothers and sisters who cared for me and were interested in my welfare. I felt bound to the community in every way." [Around this time Manrique married Sarah Olive Merrell, daughter of Charles William Merrell (1849-1900) and Mary Frances "Fanny" Adams (1879-1967) on May 25, 1903.]

As soon as the hands that had confirmed him and bestowed upon him the Gift of the Holy Ghost had been lifted from his head, the venerable Patriarch John Holt arose from his seat and walked solemnly to the stand. In the hush that followed this pretentious action, he began to speak. His first words were unintelligible, then all realized they were listening to one speaking in tongues. When he had finished, the congregation waited eagerly for an interpretation. When it came, it concerned Manrique's conversion and future: that if he remained true to the covenants made in the waters of baptism his power and influence for good would be felt throughout the nation; that his baptism would open the door through which many of his people would pass; that he would be a saviour to his own family. "What surprised me," said Manrique later, "was why an interpretation was necessary. I understood every word of it."

In October, 1903, Professor Guy C. Wilson, in a characteristically discerning decision, asked Manrique to accept a position at the Juarez Academy as a Spanish teacher. To fortify Manrique's extreme lack of self-confidence, Professor Wilson promised to remain in the room to help should annoying situations arise, and to bolster Manrique with his support until he grew more self-sure. On this condition Manrique accepted. He had little formal study in the Spanish language, but because it was his native tongue, he learned quickly. In the first year he learned the fundamentals along with the other students. He also took lessons on the side. By teaching and studying together, he felt that he learned far more than he taught. He graduated from the institution in 1910 at the age of twenty-eight.

For seven years he held his place as a faculty member, taking class after class of students through De Torno's Spanish Grammar, leading them into supplementary reading fields, drilling them on the rules that governed correct speech, and encouraging them to make use of the language in the conversational groups he organized. He knew that free discussion and constant use of Spanish was the shortest road to fluency. It was also his best means of learning English, and both he and the classes he taught discovered that studying two languages made each a supplement to the other.

The prediction uttered the day of his confirmation was literally fulfilled. Through him, several members of his family followed him to the colonies and life was changed for them as it had been for him. He was the first Mexican citizen to graduate from the Academy, but not the last. He was but the example that led dozens of others to follow in his steps in the years that followed.

By 1912 when the Madero Revolution broke up the Juarez Stake, he had a wife and five children. With these and little else he entered the Agricultural College in Logan, Utah, where two more children were born, and by his own efforts, coupled with encouragement from professors and friends, earned the credentials to head an Experimental Agricultural Station. When he failed to achieve this ambition, he took a position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Mexico, a position he held for six years. During the time he worked for the United States Government, he developed, by patient experimentation and hours of hard work; the New Mexico Pinto Bean.

At the height of his career, his family life broke up and he was released from is influential position through discrimination against his religion. He returned to his native land and settled in Colonia Dublan with the words of A. W. Ivins ringing in his ears: "Manrique," he had said, "would you like to be rich and happy? Well," he continued when Manrique nodded vigorously, "it's in your hands." In his hands! That was all he had besides what he had learned through study and experience. But with those he went to work.

He married (2) Regina Del Palacio on July 27, 1921 and began a happy married life. [Regina is the daughter of Juan Vicente Del Palacios (1861-1939) and Librada Astorgo (1872-1941).] In the course of successfully raising six children he preached by example what he called the Gospel of Righteous Farming. First on rented lands, later on his own acres, he demonstrated correct methods of raising alfalfa, wheat and other grains and finally with orchards he used scientific methods that raised standards in farming.

Within a few years his financial standing was an enviable one. In 1966, at the age of eighty-five he is a contented, retired farmer living in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, enjoying the fruits of his labors in a comfortable and well furnished home, and is respected and esteemed by all who know him.

But only he knows how far it is from the life of a peon to the prominence of an agricultural expert, or what has gone into the fulfulling of the promise made him by Patriarch Holt, or the pride he takes in his numerous posterity. A son, Ernesto, is an eminent physician. A grandson, Carlos, appeared in "I Believe," a column of the Improvement Era. And there are auxiliary leaders and Priesthood quorum directors and church workers sprinkled through his descendants.

One grandson, Miguel, recently serving in the North Mexican Mission (1966) with his companion were having little success in the city of Zacatecas. Other missionaries before them had failed to make successful contact, much less perform a single baptism. Returning to their room one night, Miguel said, "There must be someone in this big city ready for baptism, let's pray about it." Accordingly they both knelt and first one and then the other humbly prayed for guidance to that one individual. It was 10:00 p.m. before their earnest pleas had come to an end. Then Miguel said, "Let's go right now and find him tonight." And in spite of the lateness of the hour they knocked on the door of the most pretentious house they could find. The door was opened by the lady of the house in her housecoat, and all ready for bed. "We have a message for you," said Miguel when she met them. "Come in," she said, and led them to a reception room. "But first," she said, "I will call my husband to hear your message, too." He soon appeared in robe and slippers, having already, retired. Before they could give all of the message he said, "Wait! My children must hear this, too." Soon, tousleheaded and sleepy-eyed, they were in the room. The message was given. In six days the entire family was ready for baptism. The man, being politically influential, gained other investigators and within a few weeks a Branch of thirty souls was organized. Manrique's determination and zeal still lives on.

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The Gonzalez Brothers, Andres and Manrique

Taken from "Memories of Militants and Mormon Colonists in Mexico" p 363-368

Perhaps no other Mexicans in northern Chihuahua had greater influence for good in the Mormon colonies than these two brothers. They were both born in the same small village of Nadadores (swimmers) Coahuila, sons of Juan Francisco and Juliana Rodriguez Gonzalez. Juan was a schoolteacher. He and his wife were parents of 15 children, ten boys and five girls [19].

Manrique, as a young man, secured employment with some American railroad contractors. There he met and was impressed by some fellow workers from the Mormon colonies in Chihuahua. Their lifestyle, i.e., abstinence from liquor and tobacco and observance of the Sabbath day, so impressed him that he followed them to the colonies when the railroad contract was finished.

Manrique studied diligently both English in the lower grades of elementary schools and the Mormon religion. He was baptized a member of the Church by John Harper at age 18 in September 1899. He joyfully exclaimed that it was the happiest day of his life as he now felt bound to the community in every way.

In the church services the next day after his baptism a venerable patriarch, John Holt, began speaking in tongues and the congregation waited for an interpretation. When it came it related to Manrique's conversion and future in the Church in which he would open the door through which many of his people would pass and that he would become a Savior to his own family. Manrique wondered why an interpretation was necessary; he had understood everything promised by Patriarch Holt.

In spite of his lack of formal education, Manrique was offered a position as a Spanish teacher in the Juarez Academy. By teaching and studying diligently he graduated from the J.S.A. in 1910 at age 28.

When the Madero revolution caused the disintegration of the Juarez Stake, he had a wife and five children. He moved with his family to Logan, Utah, where two more children were born. He entered the Agricultural College at Logan and soon became the head of their Experimental Station. Later he took a position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Mexico where he remained for six years. There, through hard work and patient experimentation, he developed a hardy strain of beans called the "New Mexico Pinto Bean".

At the height of his career he returned to Colonia Dublan where, on rented lands and later on his own acres, he shared his expertise on the correct methods of raising alfalfa, wheat and other grains and finally experimented with orchards. He used scientific methods to raise standards of farming in Mexico. He became quite well-to-do, owning a flour mill in Dublan and other properties.

At the age of 85 he lived the life of a contented, retired farmer. His progeny included a prominent physician and many dedicated Church leaders and workers. An observation was made by Anthony W. Ivins that "he could be both rich and happy". It was up to Manrique. He lived a rich, full life and died at age 95 in 1976. Manrique Gonzalez, after having been away from his family for several years, informed them that he had joined the Mormon Church and had married a Mormon. When he extolled the virtues of his new-found religion, his younger brother, Andres Carlos, was impressed to go to the colonies to see if he too could learn the English language living among the English-speaking Mormons in Chihuahua.

A stage driver, Harlan Johnson [or Sixtus Johnson], while en route from Dublan to Juarez, described the Mormon people and their way of life to Andres. When the Word of Wisdom principle was explained, Andres vowed never to smoke tobacco again.

Bishop Joseph C. Bentley, upon hearing that a brother of Manrique had arrived in town, invited him to come and live in his home. The young boy came to respect and honor Bishop Bentley and looked upon him as a father. At first Andres milked cows for his room and board and then found employment helping to cut stone for the Academy building that was being constructed. Although not a member of the Mormon Church, he faithfully paid his tithing for about a year before he was baptized at 18 years of age in February, 1905 by his brother Manrique. He was confirmed by Elder Mathias F. Cowley.

Later when Manrique went to Utah, Andres took his brother's place at the Academy teaching Spanish. He felt very much at home with the people of Colonia Juarez and came to love them very much. Andres married Minnie Spencer of Dublan in December 1908 and worked for two years as a bookkeeper for the Pajarito Mining Company.

In August 1910 Andres received a call to go on a mission. He labored for two years in the Mexico City area under President Rey L. Pratt. He had many faith-promoting experiences in the mission field. On one occasion, he and his companion were captured by Zapata rebels, were released and, later the same day, seized and charged with being spies by Madero's troops. They were taken before President Francisco Madero himself. When Madero heard that Andres was from Coahuila, Madero's own home state, and the son of Madero's good friend, Professor Juan Francisco Gonzalez, the President embraced Andres and told his accusers to leave.

President Madero was surprised and delighted to learn that Andres was a Mormon and revealed that he knew Bishop Bentley and others of the colonies personally. Some of the first battles of the Revolution had been fought at Casas Grandes and it was at that time that Madero had met and learned to appreciate the Mormons.

Andres and his companion had an opportunity to teach some of the gospel principles to Madero and his vice-president, Pino Suarez, fulfilling a promise in his patriarchal blessing that he (Andres) would teach the gospel "from the highest to the lowest". The lowest having been some humble Indians before the missionaries were captured by the Zapatistas. The missionaries gave President Madero and Pino Suarez each a Book of Mormon. They both promised to read it.

After his release from his mission, Andres returned to Colonia Dublan. A short time later he established a business of general merchandise, groceries and hardware which, by 1915, was a thriving enterprise. In 1917 Villa arrived in Dublan with an army of 15,000 soldiers, many of them with their families. On a number of occasions mothers with babies gathered at Andre's home on Sundays, having heard that a minister lived there (presumably a Catholic priest). They wanted their babies baptized. Andres was quick to point out that baptism was for the purpose of cleansing one from sin and that little babies had no need for the remission of sins as their hearts and souls were sinless at that age.

Andres was often asked to preach to soldiers and families to explain something of the Mormon beliefs. Years later, Andres received a number of requests for the Book of Mormon from ex-soldiers of the Villa army who had heard the gospel during the time they were in Casas Grandes.

When Joseph C. Bentley became the stake president of the Juarez Stake, Andres became the first of his people to serve on the high council.

In 1917 Andres, with his brothers-in-law Josiah Spencer and Joseph Williams together with Bishop Arwell Lee Pierce, established a wholesale business in Ciudad Juarez across the river from El Paso. It was called the Union Mercantile S.A. During the depression of the 1930's the Union Mercantile in Ciudad Juarez was forced to close its doors but Andres carried on doing business in his own name for another 35 years.

Andres was elected president of the Ciudad Juarez Chamber of Commerce and was one of the founders of the Rotary Club in that city. When an editor of a Mexico City newspaper requested information about the Mormons for an editorial to be published in his paper, Andres was quick to point out a misconception that many Mexicans believed that the Mormons were unfriendly to the Mexicans. This was one of the many opportunities he had to correct misconceptions concerning the Latter-day Saints.

In 1947 Elder Spencer W. Kimball set Andres apart as a counselor to Lorin F. Jones in the Spanish-American Mission. He labored in that capacity for seven years. He was then appointed to the high council in the newly formed El Paso Stake and later ordained a patriarch. He participated in many Lamanite temple excursions with Saints of his race and culture. His was a life rich in Church activities as well as community affairs. Andres Carlos Gonzales died at age 86 in 1973. (Compiled by Nelle S. Hatch)

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OBITUARY

Pioneer, Developer Of Pinto Bean,
Manrique Gonzalez "Papa Lique" Dies In El Paso

El Paso 1976 Newspaper Article

Manrique R. Gonzalez, pioneer agricultural engineer in the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico who gained fame as a developer of the pinto bean, died Monday [August 2, 1976] at Providence Hospital of an illness.

Mr. Gonzalez, 96, gained prominence in this country just after World War I when, as a county agricultural agent in Las Vegas, N.M., he and two associated began experimenting in the cultivation and hybridization of legumes, one of which resulted in the pinto bean.

According to a son, Dr. Ignacio Ernesto Gonzalez of San Francisco, Mr. Gonzalez became associated with U.S. Agriculture Department Experimental Division after his graduation in 1913 from Utah State Agricultural College.

After a number of years of research and experimental activities in New Mexico and Colorado as a county agent and with ties to the U.S. Agriculture Department, Mr. Gonzalez went to Mexico where he developed the horticultural system for that republic and for the State of Chihuahua.

Actually, according to Dr. Gonzalez, who was in El Paso Monday to be at his father's bedside, the elder Gonzalez first became widely known in much of Mexico and in parts of the U.S. Southwest for his efforts on behalf of American Mormons who were living in Mexico at the time of the Revolution.

Mr. Gonzalez had been educated and reared in his youth by Mormons in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, where he had found refuge after leaving his home at the age of 14 in Nadadores, Coahuila, according to Dr. Gonzalez. When the Revolution began, Dr. Gonzalez said, his father, having rapport with Pancho Villas' forces, was able to provide for the safety of Colonia Dublan Mormons as they left the country to come to the United States.

In his Nadadores adobe home, the boy was third of a family of 16. When he came to the colony of Mormons, they sent him to the Colonia Juarez Academy (run by the Mormon Stake). He worked to pay for his studies and keep, and then went to Utah State, Dr. Gonzalez said in recounting the background of his father.

For half a century, then, Mr. Gonzalez continued his research and experimental activities which brought him fame. On his retirement, he went to live in Colonia Dublan.

Dr. Gonzalez, who is chairman of the department of nuclear medicine and chief of pathology at French Hospital in San Francisco and is professor of medicine at the University of California there, is one of six surviving children of the deceased and his widow, Mrs. Regina Palacios de Gonzalez.

The others are a son, Roberto Gonzalez of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and daughters, Mrs. Lilia Brown and Mrs. Regina Ayala, both of El Paso, and Mrs. Elvira Avena and Mrs. Catalina Thompson, both of Colonia Dublan.

Surviving children by a previous marriage [to Sarah Olive Merrell], Dr. Gonzalez said, are Mrs. Gladys Martineau of Walnut Creek, Calif. and Francis Gardner, Julia Skowsen and Anthony "Tony" Merrill Gonzalez, all of Phoenix, Bentley Gonzalez of Corvallis, Oregon, and Orson Merrill Gonzalez of Boise, Idaho. Other survivors are 32 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild.

The body of Mr. Gonzalez will be on view at Harding-Orr & McDaniel Pershing Chapel Tuesday and Wednesday. Funeral services will be Thursday [August 5, 1976] at 2 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Colonia Dublan. Burial will be in Colonia Dublan Cemetery.

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Sources:

PAF - Archer files = Orson Pratt Brown + Angela Gabaldon > Pauly Gabaldon Brown + Lilia Gonzalez del Palacios < Manrique Gonzalez + Regina Del Palacios ; Andres is Manriques' brother < Juan Francisco Gonzalez + Juliana Rodriguez Campos.

"Stalwarts South of the Border" by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch and B. Carmon Hardy, 1976. No publisher named. p 212-214

http://www.chirinola.com/family/liquebio.html webservant@chirinola.com, webmaster Juan Carlos Avena, Kansas City.

"Memories of Militants and Mormon Colonists in Mexico" p 363-368.

El Paso 1976 Newspaper Article - 316 KB

A History of Colonia Dublan and Guadalupe Mexico, by Wayne Stout 1894-1981.

Input by Dr. Ignacio Ernesto Gonzalez, son of Manrique Rodriguez Gonzalez and Regina Del Palacios Gonzalez.

Information about Merrell Gonzalez ala Henry Merrell was contributed by his great-grandson
Danny Beach Career & Technology Teacher (CTE)
Wake Forest Middle School
1800 South Main Street, Wake Forest, NC 27587
pbeach@wcpss.net - Office 919-554-8440, Fax 919-554-8435

Additions, bold, [brackets], some photos, etc., added by Lucy Brown Archer.