Ricardo Ayala Artiga (1894-1987), Husband of Mercedes McIntyre

Ricardo Artiga with daughter Betty Jane (Artiga) Hamilton
and  3 grandchildren  L-R) Eve, Marguerite, and Joan - Dec. 1954.
Photo courtesy: Joan Hamilton Zandona

Ricardo Ayala Artiga was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1894. He is the son of Romualdo Artiga and Socorro Ayala. 

Ricardo married Mercedes McIntyre (1896-1978), daughter of Bartholomew McIntyre (1854-1924) and Concepción Ramos (d1913) on Christmas Day, 1921, in San Francisco, California














Ricardo's first known trip to the United States is in 1905 when he appears, at age 10, traveling with his older half-brother, Rafael, who is listed as a student. They traveled on the S. S. Newport which had stopped in ports in Central America and Mexico before arriving at the Port of San Francisco. His granddaughter, Joan Hamilton Zandona, remembers hearing her Grandfather was sent to the United States at a young age to be educated. She also believes he attended St. Mary's School for Boys in the Bay area, but no additional information on the school is known.

Ricardo Artiga entry; S. S. Newport  Passenger Manifest, August 25, 1905; in Selected Passenger and Crew Lists and Manifests; Ancestry.com database online (Washington, DC: National Archives), California, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1959. Accessed  on-line January 15, 2016.

In his late teens, he is shown again on a passenger list coming to America, this time he and another half-brother, Carlos, are both listed as students. On this 1913 manifest he states his last permanent address was in the San Francisco area, so he may have been in San Francisco much of the time from 1905 to 1913. The ship the two were traveling on was the S. S. Laramacca, which departed from Puerto Barrios, Guatemala on November 27, 2013 and arrived at the Port of New Orleans on December 1, 1913.

Ricardo Artiga entry; S. S. Saramacca Passenger Manifest, November 27, 1913; in Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1903-1945; Ancestry.com (Washington, DC: National Archives), Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group # 85. Accessed online January 15, 2016.

In June of 1917, Ricardo registered for the WWI US Draft as an Alien. At the time he was living at 301 Haight Street, San Francisco, California and was working as a clerk in a dairy delivery company on 19th Street in San Francisco. He was single and described as being short with a medium build, brown eyes and black hair.

"U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917," digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed  January 15, 2016), Richard Ayala Artica, No. 88, Draft Board, San Francisco, San Francisco County, California; citing Selective Service Registration Cards, World War I, NARA microfilm roll Roll: 1544256; Draft Board: 09.

He married Mercedes Ramos McIntyre on December 25, 1921 in San Francisco. Joan Zandona recalls hearing from her mother that Mercedes and Ricardo were "matched up" as there were very few, if any, other Salvadorian families in the area.

Ricardo Ayala Artiga and Mercedes Ramos McIntyre marriage certificate, December 25, 1921, unknown repository, unknown repository address. Married by Peter Bennett, Catholic Priest, San Francisco, California.  The copy image of the document has been cropped and the church location information is missing. Document received from Joan Zandona, January 15, 2016 

They had one daughter, Elizabeth (Betty) Jane Artiga, born February 16, 1923 in San Francisco. At the time of Betty's birth they were living at 79 Del Mar Street in San Francisco. When reviewing the birth certificate below, it became apparent Elizabeth Jane's name had originally been written differently. One story Joan heard was Ricardo may have wanted to call her "Carmen" but Mercedes wanted a more American name. In any event, the edit was done on the original birth certificate, so we probably will never know what name was first written down.

When Betty Jane was born in 1921, Ricardo was employed as a bookkeeper for Gantner and Mattern, a swimwear manufacturer. In 1932, Gantner and Mattern was the first company to produce a topless swimsuit, the Wikie, for men! At this time, it was still considered indecent in many places for a man to swim without a tank top. Ricardo worked at Gantner and Mattern until it was liquidated in 1958.

Elizabeth Jane Artiga, California birth certificate no 1161 (19 February 1923), Department of Public Health, Vital Records, California. Image provided by Joan Zandona, September 18, 2013.

On June 29, 1942, Ricardo Ayala Artiga was granted U.S. citizenship. At the time they were living at 2337 Chestnut Street, Apt. 4, in San Francisco and he was 49 years old.

Ricardo Ayala Artiga, Naturalization record index card, Petition# 61499; AR# 4499989, (June 29, 1942); National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC. Image provided by Joan Zandona, January 13, 2016.

It is interesting to note, Mercedes, who was an American citizen at birth by virtue of her father's American citizenship (Bartholomew became a citizen when his father, Patrick, was naturalized in 1869), lost hers when she married Ricardo. This loss stemmed from the laws between 1907 and 1922 which said any female citizen who married an Alien lost her citizenship. Since Ricardo and Mercedes married in 1921, this was true for Mercedes. She reapplied and was granted citizenship in 1941, several months before Ricardo.

Mercedes McIntyre Artiga, Index to petition, no. 55941; AR# 4281434,  (November 10, 1941); San Francisco, U. S District Court, California.  Image accessed Ancestry.com, June 30, 2012.

Joan relates Ricardo and Mercedes relocated, in 1967, to Guadalajara, Mexico to retire. A few years later Mercedes was diagnosed with breast cancer and they moved back to San Francisco. Ricardo then returned to Guadalajara and Mercedes stayed with her daughter in the US where she died in 1978.

Ricardo married a second time to Raquel Grower Haro who was of Mexican descent. Betty Jane, her husband Martin Snipper, Joan, and her husband Larry Zandona, all flew to Guadalajara in 1981 and visited with Ricardo and his new wife. They also met Ricardo and Raquel's young son.

Before his death, Ricardo lived at Maria Benitez 366 in Guadalajara. He died of a stroke on February 23, 1987 at the age of 94 and is buried in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Ricardo Ayala Artiga entry, Death Certificate, no. 68163, dated February 24, 1987, Civil Registration, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Image provided by Joan Zandona, January 13, 2016.

Sources:
Documents provided by Joan Zandona, granddaughter of Ricardo Ayala Artiga and Mercedes McIntyre, and Ancestry.com. 
Information on Gantner and Mattern from the Vintage Fashion Guild:  http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/gantner/. 
Information on citizenship: National Archives - http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1998/summer/women-and-naturalization-1.html
Group photo: courtesy Joan Zandona