Mappy Monday: Trail of my Maternal Ancestors: Flagstaff, Coconino, AZ

Maternal Birth Ancestry

Mappy Monday is a daily blogging prompt that is highlighted at Geneabloggers.  It allows family historians the opportunity to post about the places our ancestors lived.  

I have been researching my Munoz & Espinoza families through the U.S. Census.  In the 1940 Census, both of my grandparents Felipe Espinoza & Esther Munoz lived next door to each other.  Also according to the census, it documented that both families were in the same location since 1935 in Flagstaff, Coconino, Arizona.

Here is a map of the state of Arizona and the county boundaries.

Map of Arizona with County Seats

My families had also lived in Maricopa County, and I currently have a brother residing in that very county.  

Below is a map of Flagstaff, AZ.

Flagstaff is a city located in Northern Arizona.  The county seat is Coconino.  Flagstaff was incorporated as a city in 1928.  Some of today's tourist highlights are the Lowell Observatory and is also one of the throughways into the Grand Canyon National Park. 

The major rail corridor running through Flagstaff is the Southern Transcon originally built by the Santa Fe Railway.

According to the 1940 Census, my male ancestors worked as laborers.

My Munoz ancestors migrated from Aquascalientes, Mexico to possibly New Mexico, then to California to Arizona and back to California, while some family still remains in Arizona.  My Espinoza family also had a migrating pattern of some of the same areas.  Still looking for the city of Mexico my Espinoza's are from..however, they seem to have a longer history in New Mexico, which really could have been Mexico, however when the boundaries changed the name of the area changed.  New Mexico Territory, of which my ancestors lived also included parts of Nevada, Arizona and what also became New Mexico.

A further research study of the land maps and census records of my ancestors during the various time periods may actually reveal that they stayed in the same place over many decades. [Saved for another Mappy Monday]

Since I am very interested in my Native American Ancestry, I must also not overlook the Native American Tribes that are in this area of Flagstaff:  Navaho [being the largest tribe], The Hopi, Havasupai, Kaibabpaiute and the Hualapai.