St Johns Michigan History

Crossing borders: In besieged Mormon colony, Mitt Romney's Mexican roots ...

Kent Romney, Mitt Romney's second cousin, gets ready for church as wife Virginia Hatch Romney looks on in Colonia Juarez, Mexico. Kent has donated to Mitt's campaigns but has never met him. Illustrates ROMNEY-MEXICO (category a), by Nick Miroff (c) 2011, The Washington Post. Moved Sunday, July 24, 2011. (MUST CREDIT: Photo for the Washington Post by Dominic Bracco II.)

Three dozen of Mitt Romney’s relatives live in Colonia Juarez, Mexico, in a narrow river valley at the foot of the western Sierra Madre mountains, surrounded by peach groves, apple orchards and some of the baddest, most fearsome drug gangsters and kidnappers in all of northern Mexico.

Like Mitt, the Mexican Romneys are descendants of Miles Park Romney, who came to the Chihuahua desert in 1885 seeking refuge from U.S. anti-polygamy laws. He had four wives and 30 children, and on the rocky banks of the Piedras Verdes River, he and his fellow Mormon pioneers carved out a prosperous settlement beyond the reach of U.S. federal marshals. He was Mitt’s great-grandfather.

Gaskell Romney, Mitt’s grandfather, settled in Mexico as well, and Mitt’s father, George Romney, was born in nearby Colonia Dublan — raising the possibility of a 2012 presidential race between two contenders whose fathers were born outside the United States.

The story of Mitt Romney’s family in Mexico is not well-known or frequently mentioned by the candidate, who is widely viewed as the front-runner for the Republican nomination. But the extraordinary lives of Romney’s ancestors, and the current struggles of his relatives against Mexico’s brutal criminal gangs, present a significantly more complex family portrait than the all-American image of Mitt with his wife, Ann, and their five clean-cut sons.

Like President Obama, Romney has a family tree that crosses borders and cultures, and a genealogy that does not unfold neatly from a Mayflower landing or a dogged immigrant’s tale. His forebears came to the United States for spiritual reasons, but had to flee a generation later, finding the freedom they were looking for in Mexico.

Forthright, horse-smart and stubborn — these are the qualities that helped Miles Park Romney build Colonia Juarez, and that Mitt would bring to the White House, said his cousin Kent Romney, a peach farmer who makes fishing lures and is possibly the only person in Mexico with a Chihuahua license plate and a “Mitt Romney for President” sticker on his pickup.

Engine Pro ASCS Sprints on Dirt RETURN THIS Saturday, August 13th ...

THIS Saturday, August 13th, Renegade Racing Fuels & Lubricants Presents the second of three appearances by the Grand Rapids, Michigan based Engine Pro ASCS Sprints On Dirt Presented by ARP as the high flying, fire breathing, winged warriors will take on the fast 3/8s (0.375) mile high-banked dirt oval and return to their home track for the second of three appearances in 2011.

Let Us know you’re coming out! Go to our Facebook Fan Page Event Link located below: