Figure 1.-- Here we have a 1991 cabinet portrait of the Bruni family in San Antonio, Texas during 1891. San Antonio is the major Texas city cloest to Mexico. The famed Alamo was located here. We thought this interesting because we assumed in was a Mexican-American family. While Mexicans are today a major American ethnic group, they were not in the 1840s. The people in these teritories were allowed to become full U.S. citizens. The 1850s Census recorded about 80,000 Mexicans who chose U.S. citzenship. [Nostrand] President Bidem in 2021 has allowed more than twice that numberr cross the southern morder MONTHLY.

Here we have a 1991 cabinet portrait of the Bruni family in San Antonio, Texas during 1891. San Antonio is the major Texas city cloest to Mexico. The famed Alamo was located here. We thought this interesting because we assumed in was a Mexican-American family. While Mexicans are today a major American ethnic group, they were not in the 1840s. The people in these teritories were allowed to become full U.S. citizens. The 1850s Census recorded about 80,000 Mexicans who chose U.S. citzenship. [Nostrand] President Bidem in 2021 allowed more than twice that numberr cross the southern morder MONTHLY. That is only a fraction of the 1 percent of the Americn population of 23.2 million. There appear to have been more Native Americans in the region. The small number of Mexican-Americans means that the photographic record was very small until after World War II. The family name does not sound Mexican, more Italian. The children's names, however, are a mix of English and Spansh names. The parents appear to be Antonio M Bruni and Consolacion Henry. They were married in San Anonio (1879). We see their first five children, three boys and two girls. They are Fredrick H. (born 1880), Antonio Henry, Maria Michaela, Louis Henry, and Jeronima (b. 1889). The parents and children seem dressed like Americans. We don't motice any Mexican stylish infliences. The only minor deviation from the norm is that the boys have very modest floppy bows, at least in 1890s terms. The older boys wear jackets wigh lrge white collars anbd floppy boes. Both probably wear knee opnts and long black stockimnfs, although we only see one boy completely. The yonger boysdd wearsca sailor-styled kilt suit. The two girls wear dresses.

Sources

Nostrand, Richard L. "Mexican Americans Circa 1850," Annals of the Association of American Geographers (September 1975), Vol. 65, No. 3, pp.378-90.

Created: 10:56 PM 12/17/2016
Last updated: 10:56 PM 12/17/2016