Mitch Meznar

Ancestors

Son of Robert Martin Metzner and Pat (Mahon) Metzner

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Biography

Mitch is Potawatomi.

When Gatéyaské Mitcheal (Mitch) Alan Meznar was born on 31 Aug 1960, in San Pablo, California, his father, Robert, was 21 and his mother, Patricia, was 20. His first name was initially misspelled Mitchell on his birth certificate but not corrected later when presented to his parents, who had requested the ancient Gaelic spelling Mitcheal, later adopted by Mitch. He was the eldest of 3 sons, including Martin and Michael Metzner of his parent's marriage and later a half brother Dr. Thomas Metzner, from a marriage between his father Robert with second wife Nancy Lulofs.

Mitch legally corrected the spelling of his historical ethnic Slovenian family name to Meznar in 21 Oct 2022, originally corrupted when his Slovenian grandparents family purchased a ticket to immigrate through Bremen, Germany on 9 Apr 1904 aboard the S.S. Rhein sailing to the Baltimore, Maryland, United States, arriving on 25 Apr 1904 from Slovenia (the Kingdom of Noricum in the 2nd century BC, later part of the Holy Roman Empire and then Inner Austria under Habsburg Rule and the Autro-Hungarian Empire.) Mitch's Slavic paternal ancestors settled modern Slovenia in the 6th century CE, following and intermarrying with the earlier Celts who had arrived in the south-east Alpine region during the 2nd century BCE, and who had intermarried with descendants of the Neanderthals. Modern Slovenes are the ancestors of Alpine Slavs of the Slavic tribes. On 25 Jun 1991, Slovenia, together with Croatia, proclaimed independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. His paternal ancestors also include English-Canadian, Northwestern and Eastern European and Russian, Germanic European, Scandinavian people from Sweden and Denmark, and the Baltics states, including early Ukrainian and Kazakh–Turkish ethnic groups.

Gatéyaské (meaning: Shines all around the earth) "Mitch" has been an avid genealogist and world traveler. He is Native American Potawatomi and an acknowledged unenrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma www.potawatomi.org as well as indigenous Algonquin First Peoples of Canada, and of French, English and Northwestern European, Scots Irish, and Portuguese descent on his maternal side. Gatéyaské is Anishinaabe Potawatomi Jigwé (Thunderbird or Thunder) clan, passed down from his teachers and mother, her brother Ed, and his maternal grandfather’s brother “Blackie” through natural medicine, storytelling, tribal, ritual, and ceremonial participation in council and heart circles, sweat lodges, medicine drum making, anthropology, visiting reservations and tribal historical sites. The most meaningful of these being his Potawatomi Naming Ceremony on 11 Feb 2023 in Topanga Canyon California, on historical indigenous Chumash and Tongva land and officiated by his Potawatomi cousin, Mdwésenajewen (Pam Vrooman) “The sound of water over rocky rapids as it sprays up into the air.”

Mitch's Native American/First Peoples Canada bloodline can be traced through his maternal line, including Métis ancestors who intermarried with the first French-Canadian settlers in Acadia, Quebec, and Montreal and who later intermarried with Scottish and Scots Irish settlers through his mother Patricia "Pat" Ann Mahon, later Metzner (1939-living, Mahon-1375) and Pat's father Charles Arthur Mahon Jr's (1907-1961, Mahon-1376) mother Mary Elizabeth "Mamie" Mahon formerly Burns (1884-1925, Burns-20400) through her mother Alice Burns King Lyon's (1863-1930, King-54269), as well as the broader Anishinaabe and specifically Potawatomi ancestors of Alice's indigenous/French-Canadian parents, Lucinda Neddo/Nadeau Tatro King (1825-1883) and Nelson King formerly Le Roy and Roi (1823-1825, Roy-9890). Mitch's maternal bloodline also includes ancestors from England and Northwestern Europe, Scotland, Ireland, and Portugal.

Mitch's nationality and citizenship is American, United States. The language spoken at home was English as well as some German; additional spoken languages include Swedish, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, the first language he studied after English.

Mitch first married Patti Jean Ozenick of Narsarsuaq, Kitaa, Greenland on 14 Aug 1982 in the rose garden at Fountain Square, Fair Oaks, California and celebrated atop Horsetail Falls, Twin Bridges, California. Mitch was next partnered with Chuck Lilly III of Alexandria, Virginia in the summer of 1992 and celebrated in Cherry Grove on Fire Island, New York. In 1995 Mitch became engaged to marry Wanda Carlo Rico of Puerto Rico in Cancun, Mexico with a traditional Puerto Rican celebration in Falls Church, Virginia. In 2012 while same sex marriage was yet illegal in the U.S., Mitch meet Gabriel Gerlbart of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in Hollywood, California at the home of Buzz Young, celebrating their union in an Earth Nature "reacquaintance ceremony" on 1 Apr 2012 at their 1729 S Shenandoah St, Los Angeles, California home, officiated by shamanic practitioner Buzz Young and later when legal in the U.S., the couple were married on 4 May 2014 at their home, Anam Cara in Topanga, Los Angeles, California, officiated by Olivia Bareham and Kiowa Tim RedBird "Whitefeather" and celebrated at Mt. Shasta and a spiritual sanctuary in Weed, California. After meeting Saulo Cardoso Bruno on 23 Dec 2023 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, during a final world tour celebrating Mitch's retirement due to a terminal diagnosis of spondylosis with spinal cord compression and myelomacia, the couple registered a common law marriage on 11 Apr 2024, recorded a day later, in Presidente Tancredo Neves, Bahia, Brazil with a family and friends wedding ceremony planned for later in 2024.

Sources

First-hand information. Entered by Mitch Meznar at registration and later.