Victoria Oliva conducted interviews with her mother and father to learn about her family history. For her mother's side, she discovered that her mother was born in California and had 14 siblings, though she was raised primarily by her great-grandmother. Her parents came from California as well. For her father's side, she learned he was born in Tijuana, Mexico and had two siblings. Both of his parents were born in different regions of Mexico. The family originally immigrated to the US for better opportunities and first settled in El Monte, California. Victoria found the interviews insightful but wanted to learn more, especially about absent or unknown family members.

1. FAMILY HISTORY PROJECT:
PART II
Victoria Oliva
Geo-10
Professor Schmidt

2. MY MOM’S SIDE
Where were you born?
My mom was born in Motebello,
California.
She was born on June 6, 1972
She is the daughter of Yvonne Marie
Bufanda and Manuel Chavez Rios
(biological father)
She has 14 siblings. Some through
marriage and some half-siblings.
She is the third child of her siblings and
is the first girl.

3. MOM’S SIDE
Where did your parents come from?
Both of her parents were born in
California. My grandmother was born in
East Los Angeles.
My mom was never close to her mother,
Yvonne Marie Bufanda and she never knew
her father, Manuel Chavez Rios.
After my mom was born my grandmother
remarried and met my grandfather Ruben
Camargo (my mom’s stepdad) she grew up
calling him her dad.
He was born in Arizona. She is not sure

4. MOM’S SIDE
Like mentioned before, my mom was never close to her mother. She
was raised by my great grandmother (her mom’s mom) Marion
Barron.
My grandmother got remarried to my grandfather Ruben Camargo. He
had two children from a previous marriage. After my mom, Yvonne
and Ruben had four children together.
They resided in La Puente, California.

5. MOM’S SIDE
After a while my grandmother and grandfather, Yvonne and Ruben
split up.
My grandfather, Ruben (my mom’s stepdad) remarried to my
grandmother (by marriage) Charline Camargo.
She was their neighbor at the time while living in La Puente,
California.
She had a daughter of her own. Together Ruben and Charline had one
child and adopted another.
They then moved to Hesperia, California.

6. MOM’S SIDE
Where have they moved since?
After meeting in La Puente, California. My
grandparents Ruben and Charline bought a
house in Hesperia, California.
They moved there because houses were
cheaper. My mom would still go over their
house and do things with them and her
siblings like camping, dancing, and family
get-togethers.
What kind of work was your family involved
in?
My grandfather Ruben was an electrician.

7. MOM’S SIDE
While my grandparents moved to Hesperia, California my mom was
still living with her great grandmother, Marion.
They moved from La Puente to El Monte, California.
Shortly after highschool is when my parents met in El Monte.

8. MY DAD’S SIDE
Where were you born?
My dad was born in Tijuana, Mexico.
He was born on November 1, 1970
He is the son of David Rodriguez Oliva
and Victoria Delgado Oliva.
He has two siblings: Goyo (brother) and
Josefina (sister)
He also has two older brothers,
Rigoberto and Mario, from my
grandfathers previous marriage.
He is the youngest of his siblings.

9. MY DAD’S SIDE
Where did your parents come from?
My grandmother, Victoria Delgado
Oliva was born on February 26,
1934 and passed away on April 23,
1984

10. MY DAD’S SIDE
She was born in Ejutla, Jalisco
She is the daughter of Ignacia Alocer
and Nanciso Delgado
They were from Jalisco, Mexico as well.
My dad is not sure how many siblings
she had. He has only met two of them.

11. MY DAD’S SIDE
Where did your parents come
from?
My grandfather, David Rodriguez
Oliva was born on December 1,
1935 and passed away on June
23, 2014.

12. MY DAD’S SIDE
He was born in La Estanzuela,
Michoacan
He is the son of Cleotilde Rodriguez
and Gabino Oliva.
His parents are also from Michoacan,
Mexico.
My dad is also not sure how many
siblings my grandfather had.

13. MY DAD’S SIDE
Why did you guys come to the U.S?
For better oppurtunities: more jobs,
better education, safer environment.
Where did you guys first come to?
El Monte, California
How did your family originally get
here?
They drove across the border.

14. MY DAD’S SIDE
What kind of work was your family involved in?
My grandfather was a mechanic and my
grandmother was a homemaker.
My grandmother was a stay at home and my
dad remembers when she would make all kinds
of food for their family gatherings.
What kind of food did you guys eat?
My grandmother was known for her tamales
and banuelos.

15. WHAT DO I THINK OF THESE
INTERVIEWS?
For my mother’s side I am sure there is so much more for me to
learn, although my resources are limited. I am curious to know if her
biological father Manuel Chavez Rios is still alive and what he has
been up to the whole time. I would also like to find out more about
my grandmother Yvonne’s side of the family. Since my mom was
never close to her mother and never knew her dad this interview was
a bit challenging.

16. WHAT DO I THINK OF THESE
INTERVIEWS?
For my dad’s side I thought it was going to be difficult to learn about
my family since I never really grewup knowing them. Up until my
grandfather, David Oliva passed away my family has been getting
together more frequently, which is great! While interviewing my dad
we had to contact other family members for information and even my
dad was learning things about our family that he didn’t know. It was
quite interesting to learn of the places my family was born in in
Mexico. Also, the kind of names they had, I’ve never heard of such
names. I am more curious to dig deeper into my dad’s side of the
family. I grewup not knowing Spanish so as of now I am learning and
am excited to learn more about our culture.