Family of Eliodoro Arce, messsages to David Kier

Messages sent to me about Eliodoro Arce and his family, from member of his family. Spanish was translated with Google and edited for clarity.

[The first time a family member is named by each person below, the name will be in bold. The family member’s name below is their Facebook-Messenger name. Notes and questions from me will be in italics.]



Torres San Luis: jdtu2020@gmail.com (Punta Prieta Feb. 12-Mar. 15, 2023):
Right now I am in Punta Prieta, Ejido Juárez, here is his house, from here I sometimes go up to the San Luis ranch, which belongs to my family in Sierra la Asamblea.

Mr. Eleodoro Arce, my uncle, lived at the mine of El Desengaño.
Very good photos, beautiful memories, the best coffee in the world, lots of honey.

He [Eliodoro] is the brother of my grandmother Mercedes Arce Villavicencio.
My name is Jimy David Torres Uzarraga, grandson of Mercedes Arce Villavicencio, sister of Don Eleodoro Arce V.
Manuel Ruelas (Manuel Cota) and I are cousins . Manuel Cota is a relative because he was the nephew of my paternal grandmother Mercedes Arce. Manuel Ruelas Cota, my uncle Eliodoro's nephew.
Thank you very much if I will send you some photos of Eliodoro's brothers and sisters and Uncle Eliodoro's parents my great-grandparents Primitivo Arce and Mercedes Villavisencio
Let me corroborate that information with my older uncles. I think he was 87 when he died. More or less, he was born in 1912, but let me confirm.
From youngest to oldest, my aunt Isabel Arce Villavisencio; Teresa Arce V; Mercedes Arce V; my aunt Lupe Arce V, my uncle Marcelino Arce V; aunt Licho Arce V; and my uncle Eleodoro. I'm not sure who was older if my aunt Licho or my uncle Eliodoro.

My grandmother Mercedes was born on July 30, 1931 at the Santana Ranch near the San Borja mission, so some of them were born between Santa Ana and the San Luis Ranch, Salsipuedes Ranch. (Santana or Santa Ana?)

My Nana Mercedes told me that my uncle Eliodoro was the most nomadic, he would leave the San Luis ranch for days and return and supply them with honey and deer meat and he would go back through the mountains.

I forgot to mention one of the sisters that I didn't get to know, since she died I don't have her name, she is buried at the San Luis ranch. (Ana?)
That's how it is in those times the number of children per family sometimes it was very common to have 13 or more children.
I believe that the spirit of my uncle Eliodoro visits us during the visits of the coyote that frequents us at the ranch.
I am very pleased and thankful for it. I am going to see an aunt and I will ask her for some photos of my great-grandparents, the parents of my uncle Eliodoro, and I will send them to her.
What a great treasure without those photos for us, I never saw them, just one of my great-grandparents that my Nana Mercedes had and now my aunt María Antonia keeps.
Wonderful, perhaps Elizabeth Meza Arce will know if it is Aunt Ana, then, who is buried at the ranch in San Luis, and her husband

The story continues to grow!

Ok, why is my grandmother's sister buried there in San Luis, but I don't remember the name my grandmother told me, so it must be Ana.
The San Luis ranch from what my grandmother Mercedes told us from at least 1850 to here since she says that some of the last ancient Yuman Cochimies lived there around the ranch there are some stone mounds where remains rest and there are many vestiges of pedeseria stone where they made tools such as arrowheads and one finds flints on occasion, it must have been a large population that lived there

The sierra is connected by corridors between the mission of San Borja, and to the north with Calamajué.

Now it is very common for many people to call the Sierra de San Luis, Sierra la Asamblea, but the first name is Sierra de San Luis. Later they named it the Sierra de la Asamblea, a little higher up to the north, it is assumed that the old Cochimies who used to meet in that part. They revealed themselves to the evangelization of the Spaniards, which is why they called it 'the assembly'.
My father David Torres Arce told me that my uncle Eliodoro and my uncle Marcelino as well as Aunt Ana are the children of my great-grandparents Primitivo Arce and Mercedes Villavicencio* (*incorrect, she was 'Refugio', Primitivo's first wife)

The only people who could confirm this information would be my aunts Lupe Arce Villavicencio and Teresa Arce Villavicencio who, thank God, are still alive. Lupe in Bahía de los Angeles and my aunt Teresa in Playa Esmeralda with her daughter Emma Meza Arce.

Samuel Maciel Meza is my cousin he is the grandson of my aunt Teresa Arce V

Elisabet Meza Arce (Mar. 6-15, 2023)
My grandfather’s name was Primitivo Arce Villavicencio. (What was his first wife’s name?): I think she was called Refugio Villa.
Eliodoro (also spelled Hileodoro or Eleodoro), one of five sibblings from Primitivo’s first marriage. The four other children were Salvador, Ernesto, Marcelino, and Ana. Eliodoro never married or had a child. He lived happily in the mountains. He didn’t like being around people. One brother visited Eliodoro often and he brought Eliodoro groceries. We only saw Eliodoro when he went down to the ranch where we lived.
Primitivo was my grandfather, and my grandmother was Mercedes Villavicencio Gaxiola.

Emma Meza Arce (Guerrero Negro, Mar. 9-10, 2023):
Eliodoro was my uncle. My mother is Teresa Arce from Ejido Nuevo Rosarito.
My brother knows a lot, he is Oscar ('Prieto') Meza Arce. He lives in a ranch called San Regís, very nice, many old things. My brother is known as 'El Prieto'. My sister-in-law is Alicia López Villavicencio. I have a cousin called Fidel Arce. I gave my son Samuel photos so he could send them to you. My mom (Teresa) had them. I am going to my brother Prieto's house and I will talk to him.

Samuel Maciel Meza (La Esmeralda, Mar. 7-11, 2023):
Eleodoro (Heliodoro/ Eliodoro) was my uncle.
Thank you very much for your report indeed he was an exceptional human being.                                 

My uncle Heliodoro's mother was called Refugio (first wife of Primitivo Arce).  
Jorge Arce Villavicencio (of the Harry Crosby photo at San Borja, 1967) was the uncle of Eleodoro and my grandmother (Teresa Arce Villavicencio). Fidel Villavicencio (of the photo in the 1943 Max Miller book, Land Where Time Stands Still) was a relative of my uncle Eleodoro.

Primitivo Arce my great grandfather and my great grandmother is Mercedes (second wife of Primitivo). My grandfather was Rosendo Meza Villavicencio, husband of Teresa Arce Villavicencio, sister of my uncle Eleodoro. They both took care of Eleodoro in his convalescence from his illness, in Rosarito, in my grandfather's house.  My father is Samuel Maciel Ibarrra. We are 3 generations of Samueles. I am Samuel Maciel Meza, and my son is Samuel Andre Maciel Diaz.

Leticia Peralta Maciel (Ensenada, Mar. 11-15, 2023):
I am the 'delightful' niece who took them (the Niles) to the grave of Eleodoro. I had the pleasure of listening to Uncle Eliodoro's talks. A man who knew how to live in the desert. (the name is spelled two ways in the same sentence)
Right now I'm in Ensenada
As far as I know, his (Eliodoro's father's) only name was Primitivo.
There is a grandson of Primitivo that he raised (name?). When I see him, I'm going to ask more about Primitivo.
Mar. 23, 2023:
Open photo
I send you the picture of the master of the desert, I love the photo. I loved going with him with that greeting he said, 'goodbye'.
Eliodoro is my children's uncle. My late husband was his nephew. Emma's husband is my uncle.
I think you already communicate with my son Jorge [Jorge Meza Peralta]. I have 4 children.
Humberto Martín Meza Peralta is my eldest son, followed by Jorge Alberto, Eva Maria, Isis Gudalupe, are my children and Maria's grandchildren.
I'm here to assist your writing. It would be nice if you wrote his book!
Good night.

Jorge Meza Peralta (Ensenada, Mar. 5-11, 2023):
I am Eleodoro's nephew. I have an uncle who knows a lot about him. He lives in Nuevo Rosarito or on his ranch (on the way to San Regis). I love your work. I hope one day to meet you.
We were at San Regis: Carlos Lazcano (history author), Camillo Magoni, and yours truly, a couple of days ago. The owner is also Eleodoro’s nephew (name?). It is a ranch with a lot of history. Very old olive groves, vineyards from the missionary era, etc.
(Regarding 1953 photos of San Regis): This is how my uncle Rosendo 'Chendo' Meza had it, who was Eleodoro's brother-in-law.
One of Eleodoro's sisters still lives in Bahía de Los Ángeles and another in Nuevo Rosarito. My grandmother was his and Mercedes' (de Torres) sister.
My mother (Leticia Peralta Maciel) says that she is the 'delightful' niece who took Mr. & Mrs. Phil Niles to Eleodoro's grave.

I'm in Ensenada. Although I am an ejidatario there in Nuevo Rosarito.

Esmeralda Maciel (Gerogia, USA, Mar. 17, 2023, she writes in English):

Hello, what a pleasure, I am Samuel Maciel‘s sister and Eliodoro Arce’s niece. I currently live in Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately, I only go to my Baja California once a year. But I have taught my children born here to love my land as much as I do. I am so grateful for your love and dedication to our beautiful Baja California.

Playa Esmeralda is my dad’s, and the name is in my honor (or at least it’s what they have made me believe).

Alicia Villavicencio Lopez (San Regis, Mar. 24, 2023)

I am the wife of a nephew of the son of Teresa Arce, Eliodoro’s sister. A very nice person Eliodoro.

He is my husband, Eliodoro's nephew, his name is Oscar Enrique Meza Arce, better known as Prieto Meza.