Mancinas and Aleman Family Info

I’ve been working to get my tree up on Ancestry and have it kinda sorta done to some degree. I’m filling in the blanks on my mother’s line, the only one I’ve had any real luck researching. Although I do have some gaps, just not as catastrophic like my father’s line and I would swear his tree has more holes than Swiss cheese.

My father’s name at birth was Herminio Antonio Aleman, born 20 Feb 1939 in San Bernardino, California, United States. I know his parents’ names, Catalina Mancinas and Joseph Aleman, because they are listed on his social security application, where he changed his name to Herman, when he was 15yrs old. He joined the Navy shortly after that, lying about his age by saying he was born in 1937 so he could enlist, during the Korean War (he maintained that birth year when he married my mother). He was medically discharged, I don’t remember the exact date but I believe it was 1959 or 1960. He married Dorcas Hope Lloyd in 1962, had four children, and was divorced in 1976.

His mother and her family have been difficult to trace. I found them only in the 1920 census in Redlands, California, United States, where it says they came here from Mexico in 1915. The listed members of the family are: Herminio Mancinas born abt. 1883, Jennie, actual name is Juana nee Martinez, born abt. 1891, Cattalina, she went by Catherine, born 14 Feb 1914, Simon born 13 Nov 1907, Leo born abt. 1910, Joe Luis (who is actually Louis) born 24 Oct 1911, and Felipe (who later used Phillip) 5 Feb 1916. All but Cattalina and Felipe were born in Mexico. Cattalina was born in Texas and Felipe was born in California.

I have Cattalina’s birth record from El Paso, Texas, United States, but it has an odd notation which makes me wonder, it states she was a still born. Plus there is an inconsistency from the 1920 census, it states the family came here in 1915, yet she was born 1914 in Texas, so…I don’t understand.

Additionally, I have not been able to locate any border crossing records for either of the family members. Then there’s the issue of where her parents and other siblings go and why was I only able to locate two members of the family in 1930. Her parents show up in a few city directories in the mid 1920s but after about 1927 they both vanish without a trace and I have been unable to find a death certificate or obituary for either parent.

So, my stillborn grandmother is in the 1930 census in Los Angeles, California, United States as a border, age 17…so if you do the math that means she was born in 1913 and not 1914 like the 1920 census and birth record say. My grandmother is in a few city directories in the San Bernardino, California area as a maid during the 1920s, before the 1930 census. Her brother Leo is in prison in Tulare, California doing 5 to 10 years for armed robbery in 1930, where he dies 11 months after entering. The rest of her brothers had families of their own. I have found, with help, one of my cousins but she seemed very uninterested to know me or have anything to do with my father or “that side of the family” referring to his mother, we spoke briefly on the phone about 3yrs ago. My grandmother was supposed to have been married before my grandfather but there is no record. Plus she was supposed to have had five children before my father and his siblings. Yet she only shows up on the birth index for him, in San Bernardino, California, and his siblings, whom I don’t list because they may still be living. Plus there are no marriage or divorce records for either of her to the man before my grandfather or to my grandfather. I did find her death listed as having died 16 Nov 1969 in San Francisco, California. Her death record, no death certificate that I could find, lists her as Catherin Manccin, which was located with the help from someone else, on Ancestry first, and then found on FamilySearch. Someone made a memorial on Find a Grave with the wrong name, so I asked if they could change her name which they did and transferred it to me.

Now for the one that is more elusive than Catalina, Catherine, Mancinas…Joseph Aleman. My mother said my father told her that either his father or grandfather changed the last name from Allemande to Aleman. I did find Joseph listed in some city directories in San Bernardino, California, United States in 1939, 1942, and the last one 1944. Other than that, I have absolutely nothing, no birth or death or alien creation…nadda on Joseph, who went by Jose or Joe, as listed in the directories. I’ve looked in all the usual spots and some not so usual in trying to locate him. I even wrote a letter to the sister who claimed my father’s ashes from Florida; she had him moved to California for internment. Oh sorry, my father died 12 Jun 1997 in Boward County, Florida. He lived there after getting remarried to Barbara Kay Bauts in 1982 or 1983 and then she divorced him in 1996. His death seems to have been uneventful, he died in his home. There is no official cause of death listed on his death certificate, so I am unsure how he died but my guess would be from his alcoholism as he was a very heavy drinker even when I was a child. Ok I believe that’s it in a nutshell. As you can see, I have so much less information on Joseph Aleman than on Catalina Mancinas.

Oh and because others have come back with this. There is a public tree on Ancestry by Khrystyne Lloyd, she is my daughter and the info she has is wrong. The Catalina Aleman is not my grandmother as she died in Texas in 1971 and not California in 1969, where I know for sure my grandmother died. Also, there are some Navy records for a man with the same name as my father’s, it’s not his. The death date is different and so is the social security number. I’ve used Ancestry, FamilySearch, FindMyPast, FindaGrave, GenealogyBank (when I subscribed to them many years ago), and Fold3 to look for my father’s family, including his military records. I found out that he left the service during the time when it has not been added to the archives so unless I know when he got out exactly I’m not sure I could request his military info. Yet I have been told I could use his social security number so that will remain to be seen. I need to wait a little bit longer to be able to request his full military jacket when it goes to the archives.