Ancestral Histories #1

Margarita de las Mercedes was born the 18^th of September, 1924. She was born in Pichidegua, Chile. She had a horse, which she loved. Margarita wasn’t able to attend school very often. She had to ride her horse for miles and miles to attend school.

One day when she rode her horse to school, she had to cross a river which was flooded. When she did so, the horse fell into the water and the current almost took it away. But she was able to save it.  She only attended 3^rd and 4^th grade.

Margarita

Margarita was married at age 15. She married Luis Amador Donoso in Pichidegua. It was an arranged marriage. One day Amador looked at her and decided that he liked her so he told his parents. They offered a dowry to margarita’s parents. Her mom did not want her to marry at such a young age. But her dad did so she got married. Luis Amador gave a cow as a dowry.

For the first time of marriage, she did not want to be with him. But she was a little forced to.  A year after their marriage Margarita had her first child. It was a beautiful daughter. After that and not too much longer she had about twenty more children which only thirteen survived. My mom is the eleventh child. Margarita was a very busy woman and mother. She did not have time for all her children, so the kids took care of each other.

They lived in a huge home that had ten rooms and a lot of land where the kids were able to play.

My mom and grndma

Margarita was also a industrious woman. She was great a cooking so she had her own bakery business that helped support the big family that they had. Margarita and Luis were able to open a restaurant a little sooner than they thought. They had several individuals employed.

In 1970, Amador and Margarita decided to leave the small town of Pichidegua and headed to the big city of Santiago. There they were also able to sell and build a home.  

After many of their children married, they headed back to Pichidegua. They build several homes, which had enough rooms for several of their children if they wanted to come home. They had many chickens and land in which they grew corn, potatoes and several other vegetables.

Margarita always had a resentful feeling towards her husband until late in their lives. A few years before Luis passed away they apologized to each other for all the things that they had done.

Margarita is still alive and lives with her oldest daughter in Pichedegua.