Guadalupe Bolume

Guadalupe Bolume is a central figure in the creation of qualitative and dense relationships between Baja Californio families. Her experience in the mining circuit became a base for the extension of kin relations in her own marriage to a mining circuit migrant as well as in marriages between her own offspring and other Baja Californios who settled in San Diego. Her offspring married into families of original Baja pioneer migrants. Diagram 16 illustrates her central position, through her offspring, in formally bringing together these families. These marriages formally linking families were more than just expressions of solidarity between Baja migrants. The individuals of these families were close friends and were proud of the sentiment they shared. Romances and weddings developed from their closeness as did compadrazgos . Formal ties became ways to express close sentiment and relations between individuals and families. Such ties not only brought individuals together but they also formalized and ritualized social interactions in a number of social and cultural events practiced by these families. Baptisms, marriages, birthday celebrations, funerals, and U.S. and Mexican holidays alike became large network social events of kin whose roots lay in Baja California and the migration trail.

Apex individuals, then, like apex families, were not solely bringing together migrant families through marriage and compadrazgo . As

Diagram 16.
Marriage ties of Guadalupe Bolume's offspring showing network linkages and family origin in migration

central figures in the network they helped produce continuing ties that had begun in the migration process. These respected individuals continue to be recognized catalysts among the community of Baja families in San Diego.

The tight web of relations fostered by marriages between families was further intensified by the incorporation of non-Baja Californio families into the network. This took place in Calexico as well as in San Diego, but it was in Lemon Grove that such incorporation took on a specific role in maintaining interrelations of the Baja Californio community.