A People’s History of the Inland Empire Digital Archive

Group Portrait of the Ruiz children

2022.006.100

image

The Ruiz children, from left to right, are Candida, Jose, and Lucille. Felix and Octavio are seated on Catota the mule. Their parents, Augustin and Angela, lived at 509 Lawton Street. Helen Cabral, Augustin and Angela's granddaughter, recalled that her grandfather "came from Zacualco, Jalisco and was born in 1890. He worked on the railroad in Arizona, then homesteaded in Redlands when he was 18. Augustin was a mason who made pipes for irrigating the groves, and he picked oranges seasonally. Catota was used as transportation and for taking the family to Chino to pick walnuts. He was a strong mule. Catota became so recognized that people thought my grandfather's name was Catota, and they called the family the Catota Clan." This photograph was taken in front of their home in 1920.

Familial Life

Ranching

Arizona

Mexico

Redlands (Calif.)

1890-1920

unknown

1920

Inland Mexican Heritage, Courtesy of Helen Cabral

.tif

English

Vasquez, Antonio Gonzalez, and Genevieve Carpio. Mexican Americans in Redlands. Charleston, S.C: Arcadia Publishing, 2012, 26.