Cuesta Genealogy

Posts Tagged ‘Cuesta’

Lorenzo Cuesta Ortiz worked as a violinist from a very young age in Laredo, Texas. He learned from his older brother, Miguel, perhaps.

It was not until much after the end of WW II that the phonograph and the microphone replaced the need for live entertainment. Before then, every mayor social gathering employed performers to prove that the social gathering was prestigious and memorable.

Society pages in the Laredo newspapers offer a great deal of information. Regrettably, several factors prevented the documenting of every public appearance by Lorenzo Cuesta Ortiz. The following factors mislead us into believing that he perfomed rather infrequently.

1. An event may not have been covered by a local newspaper.
2. The article may not have named the musicians.
3. The specific newspaper page may not have been digitized.
4. The current search engine may not be able to read and index the name ‘Cuesta’.

In searching the Laredo newspapers on http://www.newspaperarchive.com and realizing that the complete newspaper collections are not digitized, I found references to Lorenzo Cuesta Ortiz performing as a violinist in Laredo, Texas.

From 1924 through 1926, Miguel Cuesta (Lorenzo’s older brother) appears in the newspapers as the Cuesta violinist. He does not appear after 1932.