Talk:Antonio Joseph (politician)

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Date of Birth, Place of Birth and Parentage[edit]

There are conflicting reports regarding the date of birth, place of birth and parentage of Antonio Joseph (born Antonio Jose de Tevis).

The Southern California Genealogical Society published an article by Ceferino Ahuero-Baca in "The Searcher" in Autumn 2011 asserting that Antonio Joseph was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1843 to Azorean (Portuguese) immigrant Pedro Jose de Tevis (aka Pedro Joseph) and his common-law wife, Mary Ann Wilson, a mulatta former slave born in Mobile, Alabama around 1829 (which would have made her 14 when Antonio was born), and whom Pedro would not marry until 1850. http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/geneii/media/2010/GENEii2010-Ceferino%20Ahuero-Baca%20Fur%20Trapper%20Trader.pdf

On the other hand, "Advocates for the Oppressed: Hispanos, Indians, Genízaros, and Their Land in New Mexico," by Malcolm Elbright, published on December 1, 2014, claims that Antonio Joseph was born in Taos, New Mexico on August 25, 1846, which is consistent with the date and place of birth in Antonio Joseph's congressional biography. https://books.google.com.pr/books?id=DUNuBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=%22antonio+joseph%22+%22mariana+willie%22&source=bl&ots=LZcEpCy-ZJ&sig=P1yHlQkN3Qb4Kz8EwqpvW7URDjM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AzlCVfLSOcqVNo6agKAG&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22antonio%20joseph%22%20%22mariana%20willie%22&f=false Elbright states that Antonio Joseph's parents were Pedro Joseph de Tevis (consistent with Ahuero-Baca's account) and his wife Mariana Willie (whom the author describes as "allegedly ... African American"), whom Pedro had met (and "allegedly" purchased her freedom) in New Orleans.

It is likely that "Mary Ann Wilson" and "Mariana Willie" are two ways of denoting the same person, with the differences owing to imprecise recordkeeping and possible name changes. It should be noted that the name of Antonio Joseph's mother was given as "Maria A. Joseph" in the May 7, 1863 entry in the Taos County, New Mexico Probate Book in which she was appointed Antonio Joseph de Tevis's guardian after his father's death. http://nmahgp.genealogyvillage.com/taos/probate_bookb3.htm Taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that Antonio Joseph's mother went by the name of "Maria Anna" after arriving in (largely Spanish-speaking) Taos around 1844.

So, any suggestions as to what information should be included in Antonio Joseph's page? It seems that, irrespective of whether he was born in St. Louis in 1843 or in Taos in 1846, his mother apparently was an African American and a former slave, which certainly is noteworthy even if she was "passing" while living in New Mexico. Having an African American mother would make Antonio Joseph one of a handful of African Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1885 to 1895 (albeit as a non-voting Delegate), so if his mother's race has been established it should be acknowledged even if the time and place of his birth is in dispute. AuH2ORepublican (talk) 15:01, 30 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]