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Post by the Scribe on Nov 29, 2020 2:04:31 GMT
 Born in Sonora in 1868 to a Mexican mother and a German father, Federico Ronstadt was the quintessential borderman. He came to Arizona Territory as a young man to learn a trade and eventually became an American citizen; but with many relatives on both sides of the border, Federico was equally at home in Mexico and in his adopted country. Writing proudly of his Mexican and American heritages, Ronstadt offers readers an extraordinary portrait of the Arizona-Mexico borderlands during the late nineteenth century. His memoirs provide a richness of detail and insight unmatched by traditional histories, relating such scenarios as the hardships of Yaqui hardrock miners working under primitive conditions, the travails of pearl divers in the Gulf of California, and the insurrection of Francisco Serna in 1875 Sonora. They also depict the simple activities of childhood, with its schooling and musical training, its games and mischief. Ronstadt relates his apprenticeship to a wagon- and carriage-maker in Tucson, recalling labor relations in the shop, the establishment of his own business, and the joys and anguish of his personal life. He tells of how he drew on talents nurtured in childhood to become a musician and bandleader, playing weekly concerts with Club Filarmónica Tucsonense for nine years—musical talents that were eventually passed on to his children, his grandchildren (including Linda), and great-grandchildren. Through Ronstadt's memories, we are better able to understand the sense of independence and self-reliance found today among many lifelong residents of Sonora and Baja California—people isolated from major supply sources and centers of power—and to appreciate a different view of Tucson's past. Enhanced by 22 historical photos, Borderman is a treasure trove of historical source material that will enlighten all readers interested in borderlands history. |
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Post by the Scribe on Dec 1, 2020 19:51:32 GMT
 \  Mapping Opposition in the Sonora-Arizona Borderlands: A Critical Recovery of Federico Ronstadt's Memoir Bordermanwww.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/csrc/aztlan/2018/00000043/00000002/art00003
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Author: Rivera, Díana Noreen
Source: Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies, Volume 43, Number 2, Fall 2018, pp. 19-51(33)
Publisher: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
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Federico Ronstadt's Borderman, a memoir written between 1944 and 1954, recounts the businessman's immigration to Tucson and his life in the Sonora-Arizona borderlands during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Paradigms of opposition that inform the recovery of early Mexican American memoir and autobiography—centering the life writings of elite, dispossessed Mexican Americans and Hispanic immigrant literature written in Spanish—have discouraged study of Ronstadt's English-language, seemingly assimilationist memoir. In my critical recovery of Borderman, I argue that it should be read as part of the legacy of oppositional literature written by people of Mexican descent in the United States. I historicize Ronstadt's writing moment as the decade that culminated in Operation Wetback and introduce images from his archive to support a critical reading of Borderman as oppositional to the anti-Mexican border policies of its era. Building upon Genaro Padilla's, Tey Diana Rebolledo's, and Nicolás Kanellos's discussions of oppositional textual politics, and mobilizing Chicana literary spatial studies, I use the term "cartographic opposition" to evaluate Borderman 's discursive remapping of southern Arizona from associations with the Anglo Southwest to a transfrontera geopolitical and cultural expanse. |
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 20, 2021 13:11:54 GMT
Street Smarts: Two newly named streets honor Linda Ronstadt's grandparentstucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-two-newly-named-streets-honor-linda-ronstadts-grandparents/article_cbd14186-d1d5-55f2-8211-5b440b0f5965.html
By David Leighton For the Arizona Daily Star Jan 5, 2020 Updated Feb 1, 2021
The Ronstadt family’s prominence in the Old Pueblo seemed far distant when the first family member arrived in humble circumstances.
In 1882, Federico J.M. “Fred” Ronstadt, then 14 years of age, traveled with his father in a mountain wagon from Magdalena, Sonora, where they lived, to Tucson in the Arizona Territory.
Here, the teen was to apprentice in the blacksmith and wagon making trade at the Dalton & Vasquez carriage shop on Meyer Street just south of Ochoa Street.
Sometime after crossing into the U.S., his father, Frederick, a German-born mining engineer, told him something he would never forget:
“Now you are in the United States of America, without any question the greatest nation in the world. You will enjoy great liberty and protection under the American government and you must always feel and show deep affection for that. When you become a man, you may want to establish yourself in the United States. See that your life and your conduct are such as will entitle you to the privilege of American citizenship.”
For the first three years of his apprenticeship, Ronstadt wasn’t paid at all. The fourth year, he made $8 per week plus room and board, and the fifth year he earned $12 per week plus room and board.
In November 1887, Ronstadt took over the old shop and began his own. Soon after, he brought his parents and his siblings Dick, about 14, Emilia, about 12, and Pepe, about 7, from Sonora to Tucson, where he had rented a home for the family. His father would die in 1889.
Tucson speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Mar. 19, 2021
Along with his brother Dick, and friends like Henry Levin, Tom Legarra and Rufino Velez, Ronstadt formed what came to be called the Club Filarmonico Tucsonense, or Tucson Philharmonic Club.
They raised money to construct a bandstand in the Court Plaza (now called El Presidio Park), where they played weekly concerts under Ronstadt’s direction. In time the band had 30 members, including Carlos Jacome, Ed Rochester and Genaro Manzo.
In 1890, Ronstadt wed Sara Levin, daughter of Alexander Levin, proprietor of Levin’s Park and Brewery off Main Street. They would have children Luisa, Laura, Fred A. and Alicia.
In 1901, Ronstadt’s carriage and wagon factory was flourishing and it was incorporated as F. Ronstadt Company.
In 1902, while Sara was pregnant, she contracted scarlet fever during an epidemic and died at age 32.
During 1903-04, Ronstadt would serve as a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors. He was also asked to run for mayor, the state Senate, City Council, et cetera, at different times but turned them all down.
In 1903, Lupe Dalton applied for a bookkeeping position at the F. Ronstadt Company. It wouldn’t take long for Dalton and Fred Ronstadt to fall in love and the following year, on Valentine’s Day, they were married. They would have four sons, William, Alfred, Gilbert and Edward.
www.uaventurecap.com/ronstadt-house
The year of their marriage, Ronstadt had a beautiful home built as a wedding gift to his bride, at 607 N. Sixth Ave. She recalled years later: “When we were first married, my husband rode his horse from home to work at Sixth Avenue and Broadway and tied his horse to a hitching post. Later he rode home to lunch.”
The family for many years often took all-day trips to Sabino Canyon. Everyone would pile into a mountain wagon pulled by two horses, leaving at 4 in the morning and traveling the four hours to arrive at the canyon. The women packed coffee, bacon and French bread, while the men would shoot quail and doves along the way, adding them to the picnic.
In 1923, the Ronstadts’ longtime friend Genaro Manzo sold them 80 acres of land south of the Rillito River, in what was likely the middle of nowhere to Lupe Ronstadt.
About six years later, the Ronstadts subdivided the land, located at the northwest corner of Prince Road and Tucson Boulevard, and recorded the Sierra Vista Acres subdivision.
In time the lots were sold off but the family maintained two large lots known as Lot No. 3 and Lot No. 4, located between Jackson Avenue and Tucson Boulevard. The property in Lot No. 4 came to be called La Cabana, or The Cabin.
In the early 1930s, the business name changed to Ronstadt Hardware and Machinery Co., and while the Ronstadts were on a long vacation, mismanagement by his associates coupled with the effects of the Great Depression almost wiped out the enterprise for good.
In the mid-1930s, the business re-incorporated under the name F. Ronstadt Hardware Co., with Ronstadt as president, his son Gilbert as vice-president, and J.W. Briscoe as secretary treasurer and general manager.
In 1946, F. Ronstadt Hardware Co. moved to Sixth Avenue between 10th and Pennington streets. This building was eventually torn down. According to the demolition man, Bill Deyoe, bricks from it were used in the façade with the large clock of the Ronstadt Transit Center that now exists on the same site.
The same year or the following one saw the first visit of James “Jim” Ronstadt, one of Ronstadt’s many grandchildren, to La Cabana. He was only a kid at the time but remembers helping his grandfather water his newly planted trees and shrubs — eucalyptus, mulberry, oleanders and grapevines.
His grandparents by this time had moved permanently to the property, which had a home and a garage. Their son Gilbert and his family, including Gilbert’s children Peter (who would become a Tucson police chief) and Linda (who would become an internationally acclaimed singer), had a home to the southwest of La Cabana, in Lot No. 3.
In the late 1940s, Fred Ronstadt had a small house built onto the back of the garage, so when his wife’s sister Natalie Dalton came to visit from Los Angeles she had a place to stay. On her visits, she would often make fresh tortillas on a special metal plate put on top of the outside grill. On other occasions, after the rains, she would make candy from barrel cacti.
In the early 1950s, two more houses were built on the property, one northeast of La Cabana, very close to Tucson Boulevard, and another south of La Cabana, as places for visiting family members to stay. The property became known as Las Cabanas.
There were many family gatherings at Las Cabanas. Jim recalled that his grandfather loved Los Carlistas, a local mariachi band whose membership once included Lalo Guerrero, and commonly had them perform at the gatherings.
The children at the gatherings would often play with an old metal wagon Ronstadt had made back at the blacksmith shop.
Fred and Lupe Ronstadt celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on Feb. 15, 1954. at Las Cabanas. Fred Ronstadt died several months later, on Dec. 13, 1954.
After his death, it must have been unclear who owned Las Cabanas, so his four sons — William, Alfred, Gilbert and Edward — filed a quit claim deed with Pima County, waiving any right they might have had to the land, to their mother, “... for and in consideration of love and affection they bear for their mother.”
For many years, different Ronstadt family members lived in the three houses. After Lupe’s death in 1974, the youngest son, Edward, and his wife, Mary Catherine, moved into the original home. The last family member to live on the property was a great-granddaughter, Brandy Ronstadt, who left in 2008.
Here, the story takes a personal turn for me. In late 2018, as the longtime Street Smarts columnist, I was asked by Randy Agron of A.F. Sterling Homes to assist with the naming of up to three streets in what was then being called the Los Suenos subdivision.
With a tip from Agron, and some research, it was found that Lupe Ronstadt had bought the land from family friend Genaro Manzo in 1923, and as a result I came up with three potential street names: Federico, Lupe and Genaro, as well as an alternative subdivision name, Ronstadt Village.
Of the street names I suggested, Corte de Federico and Calle de Lupe were chosen. Another subdivision name, at the suggestion of family members, was selected: Las Cabanas.
David Leighton is a historian and author of “The History of the Hughes Missile Plant in Tucson, 1947-1960.” He has been featured on PBS, ABC, Travel Channel, various radio shows, and his work has appeared in Arizona Highways. If you have a street to suggest or a story to share, email him at azjournalist21@gmail.com
If you go
The grand opening of the Las Cabanas subdivision will be held at 4 p.m. Jan. 29, a Wednesday, at 3675 N. Tucson Blvd. Street Smarts columnist David Leighton, who named two of the new streets — Corte de Federico and Calle de Lupe — will be there.
Sources
Sources:
Interview with Jim Ronstadt (grandson of Fred Ronstadt) on March 23, 2019
Phone interview & emails to Paul Ronstadt (grandson of Fred Ronstadt)
Interview with William “Bill” Deyoe (Demolished the Ronstadt Hardware Co. building)
Fred Ronstadt & Edward Ronstadt (editor), "Borderman: Memoirs of Federico Jose Maria Ronstadt," University of New Mexico Press, 1993
Armand Martin "Marty" Ronstadt, "Smoke Signal: Tucson's Four Ronstadts: Fred--Dick--Emilia--Pepe," The Tucson Corral of the Westerners," May 2013
"Blacksmith Shop Removed," Arizona Daily Star, March 21, 1897
"Annual Reports of the Department of the Interior," Government Printing Office, 1903
"Board of Supervisors," Arizona Daily Star, Jan. 6, 1903
"Proceeding of the Board," Arizona Daily Star, Sept. 23, 1904
Kitty Ehrenstrom,"Tucson Ronstadts Began With Carriagemaker Musican," Arizona Daily Star, Dec. 17, 1967
1923 Bargain and Sale Deed (Genaro and Clotilde Manzo to Lupe Dalton Ronstadt)
Sierra Vista Acres plat map
"Many Acres In Tucson Vicinity Are Subdivided," Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 22, 1930
Quit Claim Deed (William Edward Ronstadt, Alfred Ronstadt, Gilbert Ronstadt and Edward F. Ronstadt to Lupe D. Ronstadt)
"Dinner Is Held To Fete Genaro Manzo," Arizona Daily Star, Dec. 14, 1934
"Guadalupe Dalton Ronstadt," Arizona Daily Star, May 10, 1964
"To Be Feted By Teachers," Arizona Daily Star, March 15, 1951
"The Fred Ronstadts," Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 16, 1954
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