San Borja Circa 1940

With encouragement from DK....

"San Borja Baja California Norte"

Some of the families that live on the mission grounds circa 1930’s
• Zilverio and Monica Romero.
o Children: Guadalupe Romero (My Sisters godmother).
• Teodoro and Amelia Romero (Amelia McCliff) (My mother’s godparents).

Vaillavicencio Family Circa 1940’s

• Fidel and Trinidad Villavicencio (Trinidad Rajiola)
• Carlos Villavicencio Rajiola (Fidel and Trinidad’s son) Married Gregoria Medina Poblano.
o Children from Carlos and Gregoria: Ana (My Mom), Magdalena, Leonor, Francisca, Chencha, Trinidad, Carlos, Marcos and Juan Villavicenvio.

My mom lived in San Borja from 1939 to 1949. The Villavicencio’s original lived in a ranch in the San Miguel Mountain Range where my Great Grandpa Fidel and Grandpa Carlos built from adobe and rock. The ruins of that site are still visible (getting intel on location). You can see a picture of my Great Grandfather Fidel in the BOLA History Museum, standing at the front door of Mission San Bora circa 1940’s. (Thanks to DK, you can also find Fidel in 'Land Where Time Stands Still' by Max Miller c 1943)

An interesting note, according to my mom, Fidel was well acquainted with an American he called “El Gringon” (assuming now that this was Max Miller) because of his height. The American would fly by and drop of food and supplies for the people of the village. On one in perticular he dropped a Book (green cover) to be delivered to Fidel and written by “El Gringon”. The book according to my mom was written in English and contained many things related to the Baja at that time. This must have been in the mid 40’s as my mom was a young girl at the time.

History, such a wonderful thing…I am still looking, will keep you updated.

BajaKing

Is this the mission?

Remember VivaBaja.com/bajamissions for all mission info and pics.

I will scan the photo of bajaking76's great grandfather and add it here...

Until then here is some info and a photo of San Borja from my web page:

San Francisco Borja de Adac 1762-1818





Founded by the Jesuits just six years before they were removed from New Spain, San Borja has extensive adobe ruins behind the Dominican built stone church . A metal awning protects some of adobe walls, believed to be of Franciscan origin (1768-1773).

The stone church at San Borja was built by the Dominicans until the construction stopped in 1801. The planned bell tower is the only missing part. GPS: 28°44'40.4" 113°45'14.4"

From http://vivabaja.com/bedman2 the following of the inside:

San Borja in 1941

The following photos from the book 'Land Where Time Stands Still' by Max Miller, published in 1943...

Quote:

Originally posted by David K The following photos from the book 'Land Where Time Stands Still' by Max Miller, published in 1943...

Thank you David, I just bought the book on Amazon...I also downloaded the copy to PDF. See what momma has to say

A question....

Wow... I am so proud of you (and your daughter)!!!

My kids did the mission projects as well, but their ignorant teachers said this is about California (USA) missions... So the lie that San Diego was the first (and not #19) California mission is more important to keep pushing.

When I was in high school (1970's) I was able to talk my California History teacher into letting me do a report on the Baja (California's first) missions... Got an A- !!

Genaro Gerardo and his family are just the greatest!

Did you know Genaro made it onto a special edition magazine cover?

Jan. 2001

*Update*

From what I can gather from Max Miller’s book and from my mom, Fidel V was an engineer by trade and worked in some of the local mines. My mom found information that states he was also very wealthy, owning several parcels of land and ranch homes. He also took part in WWII in some way and studied in the US for a small period before leaving the US for San Borja. That would explain why Max took a liking to him, he was only one of two people in that area other than his companions that understood and spoke English.
An interesting twist, one the descendent of Zilverio and Monica Romero (my mom’s godparents) married into the Perez Aguilar family and moved to Bahia Tortuga. I only know he is called Uncle Romero, AND he also happens to be the brother-in law of my late Uncle Carlos Villavicencio, his sister lives in El Barril. That is not the twist, as it turns out, the wife of this Uncle Romero is the Aunt of my wife’s mother….I’ll be in Tortuga to find more info…holy crap this is getting good, David!!


Bajaking

Quote:

Originally posted by bajaking76 *Update* From what I can gather from Max Miller’s book and from my mom, Fidel V was an engineer by trade and worked in some of the local mines. My mom found information that states he was also very wealthy, owning several parcels of land and ranch homes. He also took part in WWII in some way and studied in the US for a small period before leaving the US for San Borja. That would explain why Max took a liking to him, he was only one of two people in that area other than his companions that understood and spoke English. An interesting twist, one the descendent of Zilverio and Monica Romero (my mom’s godparents) married into the Perez Aguilar family and moved to Bahia Tortuga. I only know he is called Uncle Romero, AND he also happens to be the brother-in law of my late Uncle Carlos Villavicencio, his sister lives in El Barril. That is not the twist, as it turns out, the wife of this Uncle Romero is the Aunt of my wife’s mother….I’ll be in Tortuga to find more info…holy crap this is getting good, David!! Bajaking

San Borja is a beautiful place... and the drive there is through awesome boojum forests...

It is just over 20 miles from pavement on both roads... Going south, I recommend using the Bahia de los Angeles highway route... Take the 7 mile sidetrip to Montevideo painted cliffs... You can drive right to them. That sideroad is just 2 miles south of the L.A. Bay highway off the San Borja road and is now signed.

Leaving San Borja (if you are going on to Asuncion or south) you take the road west to Rosarito on Hwy. 1. It is rougher than the north road, but still doable in 2WD.

2007 AAA Map:




1989 AAA Map:

Before anyone takes those roads in low clearance 2WD vehicles, please check for current conditions.

In February, 2010 we were VERY glad we had high clearance vehicles---4WD we did not use, but the high clearance was needed.

One place on the south road and it was deeper than it looks



And this one is from the north road---it does not show as well as it was taken of my son's truck from a distance, but the holes in the road were very deep and needed high clearance as one could not miss all of them.



With a 2wd low clearance, it is especially important that you check for current conditons.

Lots of awesome information

Quote: Originally posted by bajaking76

With encouragement from DK.... "San Borja Baja California Norte" Some of the families that live on the mission grounds circa 1930�s � Zilverio and Monica Romero. o Children: Guadalupe Romero (My Sisters godmother). � Teodoro and Amelia Romero (Amelia McCliff) (My mother�s godparents). Vaillavicencio Family Circa 1940�s � Fidel and Trinidad Villavicencio (Trinidad Rajiola) � Carlos Villavicencio Rajiola (Fidel and Trinidad�s son) Married Gregoria Medina Poblano. o Children from Carlos and Gregoria: Ana (My Mom), Magdalena, Leonor, Francisca, Chencha, Trinidad, Carlos, Marcos and Juan Villavicenvio. My mom lived in San Borja from 1939 to 1949. The Villavicencio�s original lived in a ranch in the San Miguel Mountain Range where my Great Grandpa Fidel and Grandpa Carlos built from adobe and rock. The ruins of that site are still visible (getting intel on location). You can see a picture of my Great Grandfather Fidel in the BOLA History Museum, standing at the front door of Mission San Bora circa 1940�s. (Thanks to DK, you can also find Fidel in 'Land Where Time Stands Still' by Max Miller c 1943) An interesting note, according to my mom, Fidel was well acquainted with an American he called �El Gringon� (assuming now that this was Max Miller) because of his height. The American would fly by and drop of food and supplies for the people of the village. On one in perticular he dropped a Book (green cover) to be delivered to Fidel and written by �El Gringon�. The book according to my mom was written in English and contained many things related to the Baja at that time. This must have been in the mid 40�s as my mom was a young girl at the time. History, such a wonderful thing�I am still looking, will keep you updated. BajaKing

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

Quote: Originally posted by bajaking76   With encouragement from DK.... "San Borja Baja California Norte" Some of the families that live on the mission grounds circa 1930�s � Zilverio and Monica Romero. o Children: Guadalupe Romero (My Sisters godmother). � Teodoro and Amelia Romero (Amelia McCliff) (My mother�s godparents). Vaillavicencio Family Circa 1940�s � Fidel and Trinidad Villavicencio (Trinidad Rajiola) � Carlos Villavicencio Rajiola (Fidel and Trinidad�s son) Married Gregoria Medina Poblano. o Children from Carlos and Gregoria: Ana (My Mom), Magdalena, Leonor, Francisca, Chencha, Trinidad, Carlos, Marcos and Juan Villavicenvio. My mom lived in San Borja from 1939 to 1949. The Villavicencio�s original lived in a ranch in the San Miguel Mountain Range where my Great Grandpa Fidel and Grandpa Carlos built from adobe and rock. The ruins of that site are still visible (getting intel on location). You can see a picture of my Great Grandfather Fidel in the BOLA History Museum, standing at the front door of Mission San Bora circa 1940�s. (Thanks to DK, you can also find Fidel in 'Land Where Time Stands Still' by Max Miller c 1943) An interesting note, according to my mom, Fidel was well acquainted with an American he called �El Gringon� (assuming now that this was Max Miller) because of his height. The American would fly by and drop of food and supplies for the people of the village. On one in perticular he dropped a Book (green cover) to be delivered to Fidel and written by �El Gringon�. The book according to my mom was written in English and contained many things related to the Baja at that time. This must have been in the mid 40�s as my mom was a young girl at the time. History, such a wonderful thing�I am still looking, will keep you updated. BajaKing where is Sierra San Miguel (San Miguel Mountain Range)?

I think there was maybe more than one sierra named (or called) San Miguel?

The one on today's maps are the foothills east of San Quintín (as Barry A describes).

On a 1919 map:

Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc

thanks guys!