Mama Paulita
To her husband, Paulita was known only as "Mi Alma" which means "My very soul." The heritage of Paulita Villareal Benavides family can be easily found among the parrochial records of the ghost town of Guerrero "Viejo" formerly known as Revilla. Paulita who was a beautiful young woman on February 16, 1886, as can be easily seen in her wedding photo. Her dress was fine needlework with small pearls throughout, although not visible in this photo, which serves as testimony to the resources her family possessed. The families Villareal and Benavides are well known in south Texas and are considered prominent. Paulita was born in Guerrero on January 25, 1866. Her father was Valentine Villareal who married her mother, Maria Patricia Benavides, in 1856. According to that same record, her paternal grandparents were Toribio Villareal and Victoriana Peña. Her maternal grandparents were Agustin Benavides and Juliana Ramírez. Rancho La Violeta which was so named for her preference for violets. She and Martiniano had a home on the ranch and in Guerrero, where she bore her children, undoubtedly to be closer to her kinswomen, and in Laredo. The home in Laredo, prominently placed near the main courthouse at 1013 Convent street, was recently demolished as part of the county's expansion of that same courthouse. Paulita was mother to many children and lived as a widow for nearly twenty years when she passed away on April 28, 1946 at her home in Laredo. She is buried beside her husband in a beautiful and impressive burial site marked by an enormous cross in the Catholic Cemetary in Laredo, Texas. 
Los Garza del Rancho La Violeta
The history of the ranch and its founders:
Don Martiniano Garza Flores and
La Doña Paula Villareal Benavides de Garza
