| Date Span: | 1922-2005 |
| Creator: | MartĂnez, Adella (1929-) |
| Extent: | 2.50 linear inches. |
| Collection Number: | IWA0582 |
| Repository: | Iowa Women's Archives |
| Summary: | A former resident of Cook's Point, Davenport, whose parents emigrated from Mexico to the United States in the early 1900s. |
Adella MartiÂnez was born in Madelia, Minnesota, in 1929 to Esperanza Lopez and Cruz MartiÂnez. Esperanza Lopez was born in 1904 in Queseo de Hidalgo (known today as Abasolo) in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. She left home at the age of thirteen as a result of the Mexican Revolution and came to the United States eventually settling in Topeka, Kansas, where she met Cruz MartiÂnez, a railroad worker and migrant farm laborer; Cruz MartiÂnez was also from Mexico. Esperanza Lopez and Cruz MartiÂnez married in 1920 and settled in Manly, Iowa, working as agricultural laborers primarily in Minnesota and northern Iowa. The couple had eight children. Their oldest daughter, Florence MartiÂnez, died of tuberculosis in 1936; Cruz MartiÂnez died in 1937. Following the death of her daughter and husband, Esperanza Martinez and her remaining children moved to a farm in Lake Mills, Iowa, and then to the Mexican settlement of Cook's Point in Davenport, Iowa.
Adella MartiÂnez attended St. Alphonsus School in Davenport. She left school at the age of thirteen to help her mother care for the younger children in the family. In 1947 she moved to Chicago where she held various factory jobs. Adella MartiÂnez married Alfonso Constantino, whom she later divorced. She was the mother of nine children. MartiÂnez worked for the Wonder Bread Company in Davenport, Iowa, for twenty years where she was a member of the Bakery, Confectionary and Tobacco Workers International Union Local 36. She retired in 1991.
Alternate Extent Statement: Photographs in Box 1
Access: The papers are open for research.
Use: Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to The University of Iowa.
Acquisition: The papers (donor no. 1065) were donated by Adella Martínez in 2006.
Preferred Citation: Adella Martínez papers, Iowa Women's Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City.
| Repository: | Iowa Women's Archives |
| Address: | 100 Main Library University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City, IA 52242 |
| Phone: | 319-335-5068 |
| Curator: | Kären Mason |
| Email: | lib-women@uiowa.edu |
| Website: | http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/iwa |
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Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.
