SOZA FAMILY NEWSLETTER August 1974

Re: 200th Anniversary Reunion, Soza Ranch State Park, Soza / Sosa Fund, Soza / Sosa Family Tree

For August 1975, to coincide with the 200th Anniversary of the City of Tucson, I would like to plan and arrange for a historical Soza / Sosa Family Reunion, to commemorate our family's 200th anniversary in Arizona. Our history started with Alferez Don Jose Maria Sosa Second grade, Caballeria at the Tubac and Tucson Presidios in 1775. His son, Don Jose Maria Sosa (11) was the Civil Administrator of the Tumacacori Mission and land holdings in the 1830's. Don Jose Maria Sosa (111) was the builder of the 1850 national historical landmark, in downtown Tucson, now celebrated as the "Casa del Gobernador". It is in this "Casa" that your donations to the Soza / Sosa Fund have been used to designate one choice front room as the "Jose Maria Sosa Room".

All families and friends receiving this newsletter are cordially invited to participate in the Soza / Sosa Family Reunion. Very few families in America, much less in Arizona, can boast of a 200 year history such as ours, and we feel that is reason enough for you and your family to want to participate. Let your honor and pride shine on this day.

To be able to successfully host a reunion of the scope and scale befitting our family, we will need help of every description. We will need the donation of mariachi musicians, folk dancers, flamenco guitarists, and flamenco dancers, and gypsy falsetto singers. We will need the donation of a social hall. The social hall at the San Augustine Cathedral would be ideal, as so much of our family history, as to births, marriages, and burials, took place in the early church. The Convention Hall would also be ideal. Expenses for such an ambitious undertaking will require further participation by everyone, and which we expect to recover through the use of a registration fee.

Are you interested and will you help in any of the above needs? Please write us and let us know how you are able to help.

Not much to report on the Soza Ranch State Park (proposed), except that I met with the Arizona State Park Director, and as a result, our project was on the July agenda of the Parks Board meeting, for consideration and feasibility study. We will continue our efforts to create the Soza Ranch State Park, in time for America's 200th Anniversary in 1975.

Since the inception of the Soza / Sosa Fund, we have received $3,925,00 in donations, and small interest earnings. On October 26, 19772, we donated $5,000.00 to the THF, and established the "Jose Maria Sosa Room" in the "Casa del Gobernador". This gift of $5,000.00 was made possible through a loan of $3,000.00, which was obtained through the generosity of my brother and sister-in-law Mr. & Mrs. Raul Soza of Wilmington, CA. We have repaid $1,750.00 on the loan, leaving a balance of $1,250.00. Against this debit, we have on deposit $175.00. We still need $1,075.00 to pay off this noble and generous loan. Donations are most heartily welcomed at this time.

Since the beginning, no expenses have been charged to the Soza / Sosa Fund, and none will be charged. The Fund has been, and will continue to operated strictly as a conduit for the THF. Legal counsel advises me that donations to the Sosa / Sosa Fund, under these circumstances, may be claimed as a "Tax Deduction" for tax purposes. If you have any questions, please consult your own income tax representative.

With respect to the Soza / Sosa Family Genealogical Tree, I have been invited to be a guest speaker at a future meeting of the Arizona State Genealogical Society, some time in November through May 1975. I have tentatively accepted for the second Tuesday in April, so I will be under pressure to complete some compilation of the family tree. The project remains as our prime goal and objective, and we will complete the work we have started. Continue to send me any changes that occurred in your family during 1974.