La Hacienda

My name is Elizabeth.

Edward Herbert Thompson was my great-great grandfather.

For as far back as I can remember, I recall hearing tales of "Papagrande" and his adventures in the Yucatan, Mexico. Tales of a distant land with magnificent ancient ruins. Tales of the great Sacred Well, where long ago beautiful maidens were adorned with jewels and tossed to their deaths as sacrifices. Tales of Papagrande's children speaking with a Spanish accent, because they spent much of their childhood in Mexico.

I remember looking through an old desk at my grandmother's house and finding a paper cup filled with pebbles and green stones, only to discover that these were in fact beads and jade brought up from the bottom of that mysterious Sacred Well.

I had so many questions about those pieces of jade; about where they came from, about who had found them, and about who they had once belonged to. My family was also very interested, and very willing to share what they knew about the history of it all. But each time I asked, I would receive only parts of what I knew was a much deeper story. It was all a fascinating tale that no one seemed to fully understand.

Now I am 18.

What is this all about?

A big thank you to my uncle Randy, my aunt Kathy, and my cousin Alex - without whom I never would have been able to have such an amazing experience in the Yucatan.

Thank you!!!

Please check out the site by clicking on the links along the top of the page!

It details our trip, photos included, along with background history and other explanations.

And click on "Plans" to see how much that trip in March affected me and changed my life - what I am planning to do now...

I am going back to Mexico...

Help me!

Please contact me at lizsaw2000@snet.net for more information.

Over the course of the past few years, I feel the great story of 'Papagrande' and his adventures in the land of the Maya have finally started to fill in.

In 2003, there was a grand descendants-of-Edward-Thompson family reunion in Boston, Massachusetts, where we all had the chance to enter the depths of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University to see beautiful examples of the artifacts E.H. Thompson had found in the Yucatan. We also saw many magnificent old photographs.

I saw it all, and it all intrigued me. But it was still a jumble of unassembled puzzle pieces for me. And it started to get even more complex.

Josh Albright, a writer from Cape Cod, had begun to do some research on E.H. Thompson for his book, Cape Cod Confidential. Through this research, he realized that he'd only hit the tip of an iceberg; there was way too much history to fit into a small section of his book. He completely delved into the story, doing more research than he'd ever anticipated doing, eventually leading him all the way to the Yucatan. He ended up writing a lengthy article for The Cape Cod Times, and the entire adventure inspired him to write a book.

Josh had pieced together an even more interesting history than I had expected. You see, there had always been a rumor in the family that E.H. Thompson had had a son with one of his Mayan workers. [For the whole story, go to the History page!] Josh had supposedly met the Mayan descendants of my great-great grandfather in person during his own travels throughout the Yucatan - the Marrufo family.

At a later visit to the Camp at West Falmouth, my mother, Janet, being the 'let's-take-a-photo-of-everything-to-remember' woman that she is, took pictures of all Josh's documents, including a taxista business card for Ariel Marrufo. And somehow, she got a few e-mail addresses of the Marrufos.

Now I was really interested. There were people - my own blood relatives - miles and miles away in Mexico, and we hadn't even known they existed. It became very personal to me - I wanted to contact them. I wanted to meet them. And it was now possible.

I began correspondence via e-mail with Erick Marrufo, Ariel's teenage son. We were both equally eager to communicate with one another (completely in Spanish), and we both hoped to one day meet in person.

One night, after receiving another e-mail from Erick, my mother and I decided that if a few other relatives would go with us, we would go to Mexico and meet the Marrufos. When several of her cousins showed serious interest in going, the deal was almost sealed. There was only one problem - money.

This is where I owe infinity thanks to my uncle Randy and my aunt Kathy. These two basically made our trip possible.

We made the plans. Janet Sawyer, Elizabeth Sawyer, and Alex Thayer. We went to Mexico. We met the Marrufos: Our long-lost relatives - fellow descendants of Edward Herbert Thompson!