Estrella Family

Joaquina and Manuel Estrella came from Sonora, Mexico to Arizona in the early 1900s. They lived and farmed near the Estrella Mountains (named in the 1800s), until the Salt River flooded and they moved into Phoenix. The Estrella family finally settled in Chandler around 1912. Manuel worked on the San Marcos Hotel, and tended ostriches at a local ranch owned by Dr. Chandler. He eventually became a greens keeper at the San Marcos Hotel. The Estrella children included Ralph, Mary, Ray, Marian, Manuel, Arnulfo, Isabel, Joaquina, Reynaldo, Louis, Jose, Lily, Amelia, and Dora.

The Estrella family built a wood frame home on south Colorado Street, and raised thirteen children there. The second to the youngest child, Amelia, was born in 1923. She remembers that their home had no running water, and they got water from a horse trough at nearby stables. Manuel died in 1925, and his sons began working in the fields, baling hay, and some as caddies at the San Marcos golf course. Amelia later married and worked as a housekeeper for the hotel for 21 years.