Back to Family Story outcomes, S22

By Elizabeth Baladez 

First, I would like to acknowledge that this story is about my non-biological family. Even though I do consider them my biological family; I am adopted from China. I was adopted when I was 14 months old. I looked at my non-biological family tree and my dad told me this story about his grandparents and my great-grandparents. We were in the car on our way and I was telling him about this class. He then shared with me this true love story between his grandparents. 

My great-grandma, Otilia (1895-1981) lived in Mexico at the time. This was during the Mexican Revolution and my great-grandpa, Johannes Cooremans (1886-1958) had come over from Holland to write about what was happening. He would then send that information to Holland. So, he was basically a spy. The Mexican police found out what he was doing and wanted him gone. He had a bounty on his name and need to get out of Mexico quickly. While writing, Johannes met Otilia and they had hit it off. They would spend as much time together as they could. They were in love with each other. Otilia was around the age of sixteen when they first met. My dad thinks she was around that age, but he is uncertain. He believes that is the age around when they met for the first time. Once Otilia found out about the bounty of Johannas’ name she put him on a ship. They promised that they would make it to the United States and be together there. The ship led him to Ellis Island, however, he was not allowed to enter the United States because he was a stowe away. He then went on another ship to Canada where he would then get his Canadian citizenship. Then, later, he would come to the United States. Somehow Otilia and Johannes managed to stay in contact with each other. Otilia made it to the United States and then so did Johannas and they ended up getting married and having six children. They got married in 1913. My grandma, Deflina, was their fourth child. Below are two pictures of the two of them from when they were younger. 

Their love story is like no other, they had no contact with each other besides writing to one another. They had no phones or anything of technology back then. They were able to stay connected through letters with each other while in different countries. When they finally made it to the United States, they were able to get their citizenship and settle down in Texas where most of their family afterward ended up staying. They have a love story that is normally found in movies. I am lucky enough to tell this story and have it be in my family.