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Benito Rodil Lombardero died on the 1st of April 1949 at the Colegio Frances Pasteur, number 139 Hegel street, Mexico City, he was 84 years old. Born in Dehesa, Lugo, Spain he had arrived in Mexico in 1888, after studying hotel management in Switzerland. He was fluent in Spanish and French and English.
The mystery of the birth of Benito Rodil is a story that has passed down through the generations. His only daughter, Rosita, never talked about the subject, but did reluctantly admit that her father was the illegitimate son of a priest in Spain. Unlike other ancestors with equally dubious births, I still haven´t been able to confirm his father.
From his marriage register we know that his mother was Rosa, but the father is down as unknown. On his immigration papers he uses the surname Rodil Lombardero. It is only on his death certificate that the father´s name is mentioned; Pedro Rodil.
Benito Rodil Lombardero was born in Dehesas, Spain on the 10th march 1865. Upon finishing his elementary and high school education, he went to Switzerland, where he studied hotel management. This could have been prompted by his relationship with the families Bello and Prada, who were also hoteliers and also from Dehesas, Spain. About 1888 he came to Mexico and was obviously living and working in Mexico City because on 11th July, 1894 he married Maria Dolores Saiz Martinez in Mexico City. Here he states he has been in Mexico for 6 years and that he works in a private enterprise. His address at the time was the street behind San Juan, which is presumably being the church San Juan.
The mystery of the birth of Benito Rodil is a story that has passed down through the generations. His only daughter, Rosita, never talked about the subject, but did reluctantly admit that her father was the illegitimate son of a priest in Spain. Unlike other ancestors with equally dubious births, I still haven´t been able to confirm his father.
From his marriage register we know that his mother was Rosa, but the father is down as unknown. On his immigration papers he uses the surname Rodil Lombardero. It is only on his death certificate that the father´s name is mentioned; Pedro Rodil.
Benito Rodil Lombardero was born in Dehesas, Spain on the 10th march 1865. Upon finishing his elementary and high school education, he went to Switzerland, where he studied hotel management. This could have been prompted by his relationship with the families Bello and Prada, who were also hoteliers and also from Dehesas, Spain. About 1888 he came to Mexico and was obviously living and working in Mexico City because on 11th July, 1894 he married Maria Dolores Saiz Martinez in Mexico City. Here he states he has been in Mexico for 6 years and that he works in a private enterprise. His address at the time was the street behind San Juan, which is presumably being the church San Juan.
Less than a year later in April 1895, their first child was born, whom they named Jose Luis Anastacio. Although we have no death for him, he must have died young since he was never mentioned by the family. Three years later, on the 18th February 1898 their daughter Rosa Maria was born, named after her two grandmothers, Rosa Rodil and Maria Martinez Alegre. At this point they were still living next to San Juan but a year later, the baptism of their second son, Francisco Luis Benito took place at the Santa Veracruz Church in the historic center of Mexico City, one of the oldest religious establishments in the city. This son also died, they wouldn't have any more children.
Rosa Maria Rodil Saiz: 1898 - 1984Rosa Maria Rodil Saiz was born on February 18, 1898 at San Juan de Dios, Mexico, Distrito Federal, México and died on April 15, 1984 at Fuego #650, Mexico D F, Mexico. On June 18, 1918 she married JESUS MARIA TARRIBA ECHAVARRIA (1890–1944) in San Francisco, California, USA
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![]() From 1904 to 1913, Benito was working with his relatives, the brothers Felipe and Andres Bello Prada in the Hotel Mexicó, Tehuacán, Puebla.
Founded in 1896 by the family Sastre, the Hotel Mexico is situated on the Reforma Norte in Tehuacán, Puebla. By about 1904 the hotel was taken over by the Bello Prada family and Don Benito was in charge of setting up the hotel in the early years and as manager/co owner of the hotel until at least 1910. In 1908 and 1910 he was the witness at the birth registry of Andres Bello Prada's daughters. |
Between 1913 and 1914, in the midst of the Mexican Revolution, the Villistas took up residence at the Hotel Mexico and paid their stay with bilimbiques; notes and coins which were emitted during the revolution between 1913 to 1916, and which had little or no value. Angry over this financial loss, and the political situation of Mexico, Don Benito left Teuhacán, and joined his wife and daughter in Los Angeles, where they had been living since about 1910, due to the upsets and uncertainty in Mexico.
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From Los Angeles they moved to San Francisco, where they lived at 1560 Hyde Park. It was while they were living in San Francisco that Benito's daughter, Rosita met Jesus Maria Tarriba, a young wealthy miner from Sinaloa. They were married at the end of 1917, beginning of 1918.
Hotel Belmar
In the early 1920´s Don Rodil was hired, as a hotelier, to advise, coordinate and advise the building and management of the legendary Hotel Belmar in Mazatlán. The owner, and builder of the hotel was Lewis Bradbury Martinez, the son of an American millionaire, Louis Leonard Bradbury, who had made his fortune in the gold mines of Rosario, about 50 km from Mazatlán. Rodil's acquaintance with the Bradburys was most probably through his family in laws, the Tarribas.
The doors of the Hotel Belmar were opened in early 1922, and by 1923 was considered the best hotel on the west coast of Mexico.
The doors of the Hotel Belmar were opened in early 1922, and by 1923 was considered the best hotel on the west coast of Mexico.
In 1930 Don Benito declares in his immigration papers that he is the owner of the hotel, but probably he was only leasing it from Bradbury and in the census of the population of the same year, we find Rodil with his wife Dolores at the Hotel Belmar in Mazatlán, along with Antonio Velasco.
In the hot, humid months of the summer, Don Benito's wife, Dolores would travel to the cool climate of San Francisco or Los Angeles, as did most of the economically able wives of the Port. On the 5th September 1932 she died whilst in Los Angeles. Don Benito travels to Los Angeles for her funeral and remains there until 1933 when he moves to Mexico City to live with his daughter Rosita de Tarriba and his three grandchildren, Miguel, Jaime and Jorge at Hamburgo number 243 in the Colonia Juarez.
His death from a heart attack occurred on the 1st of April 1949 at 139 Hegel street, Polanco, which was the Colegio Frances Pasteur. He is buried in the Panteon Español.
His death from a heart attack occurred on the 1st of April 1949 at 139 Hegel street, Polanco, which was the Colegio Frances Pasteur. He is buried in the Panteon Español.
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Dolores Saiz Martinez, known as Lola, is a bit of a mystery. She often changed her birth, marital status, and birthplace in the different documents that we have for her. We know that she was the daughter of Alonso Saiz Y Lopez from Spain, and Maria Francisca Martinez Alegre, information which appears on her marriage to Benito Rodil Lombardero in 1894 in Mexico City, but we have no date of her arrival to Mexico from Spain. Most of the documents concur that she was born in Iniestra, Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, about 1858. We also know that she had a sister named Ramona, whose descendants still live in Spain...read more.
On the 11th July 1894 she married Benito Rodil Lombardero in Mexico City. In the next few years, Dolores gave birth to three children that we know of; Jose Anastacio in 1895, Rosa Maria in 1898 and Francisco Luis Benito in 1899, but only her daughter Rosita would survive to adulthood. The three children were all born in Mexico D.F. About this time her husband Benito went to Tehuacán, Puebla to work for his relatives, Andres, and Felipe Bello, but it is not sure if Dolores accompanied him or if she stayed in the D.F.
The next we hear from Dolores is in 1914 when, accompanied by her daughter, they board the ship S.S. Saxonia in Gibraltar bound for New York. She states that their destination is San Francisco, although her husband was living in Los Angeles at 613 S Broadway at that time. Their contact in Spain is 'cousin' to Dolores; Miss Maria Saiz, who lives at Desengaño # 4, Madrid, Spain
On the 11th July 1894 she married Benito Rodil Lombardero in Mexico City. In the next few years, Dolores gave birth to three children that we know of; Jose Anastacio in 1895, Rosa Maria in 1898 and Francisco Luis Benito in 1899, but only her daughter Rosita would survive to adulthood. The three children were all born in Mexico D.F. About this time her husband Benito went to Tehuacán, Puebla to work for his relatives, Andres, and Felipe Bello, but it is not sure if Dolores accompanied him or if she stayed in the D.F.
The next we hear from Dolores is in 1914 when, accompanied by her daughter, they board the ship S.S. Saxonia in Gibraltar bound for New York. She states that their destination is San Francisco, although her husband was living in Los Angeles at 613 S Broadway at that time. Their contact in Spain is 'cousin' to Dolores; Miss Maria Saiz, who lives at Desengaño # 4, Madrid, Spain
In 1916 the family is listed as living in San Francisco at 1555 Franklin, where they would live for several years.
On the 1920 census she is living at 1560 Hyde Street, in San Francisco with her daughter Rosa who had married J. M. Tarriba two years earlier, in San Francisco. Here, Dolores states that she was born in Mexico and that her mother and father were also born in Mexico. She also states here that she is a widow, when in fact her husband Benito was very much alive and would not die until 1949.
On the 1920 census she is living at 1560 Hyde Street, in San Francisco with her daughter Rosa who had married J. M. Tarriba two years earlier, in San Francisco. Here, Dolores states that she was born in Mexico and that her mother and father were also born in Mexico. She also states here that she is a widow, when in fact her husband Benito was very much alive and would not die until 1949.
Between 1923 and 1929 Dolores makes several trips from Sinaloa to Los Angeles, mostly going in the summer, on her own or with her daughter, to escape the scorching summer months of Sinaloa. Currently her husband Benito was the manager and joint owner of the Hotel Belmar in Mazatlán and in the census of 1930, both are living at the Hotel.
Dolores died on the 4th September 1932 in Los Angeles and was interned in the Catholic Calvary Cemetery. |