What I was talking about was how my elders viewed some of our family members or the reputation some had gained as moonshiners, brawlers, and a murderer and the fact that they did not feel being Native American was more important than being in one of the first Spanish families to settle here. So an ancestor who was with Cortez when he went to Mexico was much more 'desirable' to them than any mention of possible Native American ancestry. To be short n sweet, they were snobs.

It wasn't what I wanted to believe that made me react in a different way. It was finding a wealth of information that was a direct connection to a family surname that the 'Elders' chose to avoid speaking of. This was their own Mother's family. They glossed over or forgot to mention there were some really unpleasant events and people in the Spanish line. They believed if it wasn't spoken of, it would be lost information. It wasn't. Just took me and a cousin a bit of time but we dug the skeletons from the closet and put them on display so there would be no question on the truth. Pretty or not, the truth is all we were asking for. It wasn't a color issue on that deal. It was just finding out the whole story.

Pam