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""Leno and Maria: A Success Story"" by Vincent P. Cano - 1985

Summary by Margaret Richardson Page 1

[Summary by Margaret Richardson)

Leno and Maria; A Success Story 

Written by Vincent P. Cano

It is 1875 in Guanajuato, Mexico; Juan Rodriguez wakes his young son, Zeferino at 4:30 a.m. It is time for them to work their fourteen hours in the fields under the blazing sun. Upon becoming an adult Zeferino added other job skills such as extracting salt from the mountains and using his carpentry skills to build a home. he met Jesusa Zuniga, proposed marriage and with her had a son, Otilio, and a daughter Maria Louisa. 

One day a few years later, the children are in school and Jesusa is attending their store. Her husband, Zeferino, comes home at mid-day, which is cause of Zesusa to be concerned. He tells her that Mexico's despotic ruler, Diaz, his troops going house to house, forcing the males to join the army. The following knock on the door brings the same appalling news. Zeferino tells his wife to hide, and when Diaz' soldiers conscript him, he can only be relieved that they did not discover his wife, well-hidden in the house.

Jesusa decided to go to the Capital with money to seek her husband's release. The children were left in the care of their father's mother, Pamposa, who did not allow them to attend school, believing it to be unnecessary and declaring that she needed their help. Fortunately the children had aunts who were a bit older but living in the same house. This helped ease Maria and Otilio's loneliness. 

In 1914 Diaz fled Mexico and in 1917 elections were held and new leader, Carranza was chosen. In 1917 Jesusa's husband Zeferino, was released from the army and packed his family into their wagon and moved back to their home. Because Mexico was still in political turmoil Zeferino felt he should move the family to the United States. He had gathered the unusual sum of eight dollars and used it to purchase a visa to travel across the border and found a job as a handyman in Oklahoma. Meanwhile Jesusa managed the children and the small store. After one year's absence, Zeferino returned with enough to purchase a few head of livestock. 

He moved the family to Hacienda de Botija and there rented land for livestock he had purchased. Otilio remained in school but Maria was kept at home. She would walk a long distance daily to deliver lunch to her father and his workers. Her father needed additional help with the farming and hired several families including a foreman by the name of Leno Cano. When Maria was in her late teens, Cano asked her father for her hand in marriage; her father, Zeferino, made the couple wait three months for his answer. 

On May 31, 1922, Magdaleno Jose de Los Angeles Cano took Maria Louisa Monica Rodriguez in marriage. On February 25, 1923 their first child was born, Elena Juliana and she was baptized in the same church as that of her parent's wedding. With this new responsibility Leno Cano looked into the possibility of moving his family to the United States. 

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[Summary by Margaret Richardson) Leno and Maria; A Success Story Written by Vincent P. Cano It is 1875 in Guanajuato, Mexico; Juan Rodriguez wakes his young son, Zeferino at 4:30 a.m. It is time for them to work their fourteen hours in the fields under the blazing sun. Upon becoming an adult Zeferino added other job skills such as extracting salt from the mountains and using his carpentry skills to build a home. he met Jesusa Zuniga, proposed marriage and with her had a son, Otilio, and a daughter Maria Louisa. One day a few years later, the children are in school and Jesusa is attending their store. Her husband, Zeferino, comes home at mid-day, which is cause of Zesusa to be concerned. He tells her that Mexico's despotic ruler, Diaz, his troops going house to house, forcing the males to join the army. The following knock on the door brings the same appalling news. Zeferino tells his wife to hide, and when Diaz' soldiers conscript him, he can only be relieved that they did not discover his wife, well-hidden in the house. Jesusa decided to go to the Capital with money to seek her husband's release. The children were left in the care of their father's mother, Pamposa, who did not allow them to attend school, believing it to be unnecessary and declaring that she needed their help. Fortunately the children had aunts who were a bit older but living in the same house. This helped ease Maria and Otilio's loneliness. In 1914 Diaz fled Mexico and in 1917 elections were held and new leader, Carranza was chosen. In 1917 Jesusa's husband Zeferino, was released from the army and packed his family into their wagon and moved back to their home. Because Mexico was still in political turmoil Zeferino felt he should move the family to the United States. He had gathered the unusual sum of eight dollars and used it to purchase a visa to travel across the border and found a job as a handyman in Oklahoma. Meanwhile Jesusa managed the children and the small store. After one year's absence, Zeferino returned with enough to purchase a few head of livestock. He moved the family to Hacienda de Botija and there rented land for livestock he had purchased. Otilio remained in school but Maria was kept at home. She would walk a long distance daily to deliver lunch to her father and his workers. Her father needed additional help with the farming and hired several families including a foreman by the name of Leno Cano. When Maria was in her late teens, Cano asked her father for her hand in marriage; her father, Zeferino, made the couple wait three months for his answer. On May 31, 1922, Magdaleno Jose de Los Angeles Cano took Maria Louisa Monica Rodriguez in marriage. On February 25, 1923 their first child was born, Elena Juliana and she was baptized in the same church as that of her parent's wedding. With this new responsibility Leno Cano looked into the possibility of moving his family to the United States. 1