PCA Archives
Margarita Wall was born February 14, 1882, most likely in
Arizona. She was the first-born daughter
of Fred Wall and Refugio Rebecca Ramirez.
Fred Wall is thought to have been an immigrant from Ireland and sometime
miner. A sister, Matilda, was born about
four years later, after which her parents parted. Their mother remarried several times
thereafter.
On February 15, 1904, Margarita (or Maggie, as she was
known), wed Carlos Robledo Chretin in Phoenix, Arizona. Chretin’s unusual surname was due to the fact
that his father, Jean-Marie Chretin, was a Frenchman who had married a Mexican
woman.
Maggie was probably suffering from tuberculosis already at
the time of her marriage. She gave birth
to a male infant on December 2, 1904, and died only six days later, on December
8. She was buried in Rosedale Cemetery,
with a three-piece marble monument marking her grave.
Maggie’s newborn son was originally named Fred John
Chretin. Upon his mother’s death, he was
given to his maternal grandmother, Refugio Rebecca Ramirez, who was already nursing
an eight-month-old daughter named Ruby O’Leary.
Baby Fred’s life was most likely
saved because of this steady supply of breastmilk, which also imparted some
degree of immunity to childhood illnesses.
Fred and Ruby grew up together, and Fred always regarded her as his
sister, even though she was actually his half-aunt. Being raised in his grandmother’s household,
Fred adopted the surname of her then husband, Daniel O’Leary.
Margaret Chretin’s widower, Carlos Chretin, eventually
remarried and had several more children with his second wife, Marta Hernandez. Both the Chretins and the O’Learys moved to
Los Angeles around 1918.
- by Donna Carr
