Joseph Diaz Comes to St. Louis in 1917

Joseph (Josef) Diaz was my stepfather, Ernest C. Diaz’s father.  Ernie or Dad was the son of Joseph and Marie Diaz nee Moellenberg.  Joseph was a first generation immigrant from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Joseph was born on May 12, 1893.  According to his death certificate, his parents were Ulalio (Eulalio) Diaz and Betty Diaz nee Ramiro.  I have not been able to trace either of Joseph’s parents.

Joseph immigrated to the United States in 1917.  He came to St. Louis soon after coming to the United States because he was married to Marie at the time of the 1920 census.  They lived at 602 Loughborough Avenue, which is the site of the current Carondolet YMCA.

According to the 1930 census, the growing family lived at 528 W. Poepping Street.  It is owned by the LRA today.  I can’t tell if the actual house is still standing or if it has already been knocked down.

Dad did not remember this house, when I asked him about it.  He only remembered them living at 2426 S. 3rd Street.   When the 1940 census came out, I discovered they moved to the S. 3rd Street address in 1935.

Dad’s friends from the neighborhood remembered Joseph being a “mean” man.  If people upset him, he would chase them down the block.  People avoided confronting him.

I was not particularly shocked.  As a first generation immigrant, he probably suffered plenty of discrimination.  Joseph dealt with this threat by being a hard man.  Dad did not see him as hard and spoke glowingly of him.

Dad was the baby of the family.  Joseph’s and Marie’s oldest child was Quinton, who was born in 1920.  Rita would be born in 1922, followed by Marie in 1924, Adele in 1925 and Dad in 1932, when Joseph was 39 and Marie was 37.

Joseph worked as a general laborer and was a crane operator at the time of his death in 1951.  He contracted stomach cancer in February 1951.  He passed away due to complications from the cancer on April 24, 1951, a few weeks shy of his 58th birthday.  He is buried at Mount Olive Cemetery.

Quinton married and moved to Flint, Michigan.  Rita married James Brooks and became a school teacher.  Marie married James Walker.  Adele married a man that was killed in World War II.  She later married a man named Burgess and then Charles “Chuck” Romich, who died in 1973.  Marie is the only sibling still living.

I am going to write about Marie Moellenberg’s family in my next post.  Marie was a first generation American as both her parents were German immigrants.

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