Alice Peneaca was born on 7 April, 1820 in San Francisco, California. She was a bright and talented young woman who dabbled in many different fields of endeavour but always returned to her native nationality, Spanish. Her mother died when Alice was five and Alice spent several years living with relatives in Mexico, finally settling in New York City. This was to prove extremely difficult as in America, people of Mexican descent were not welcome and often treated with little respect. Many immigrants from this ethnic group suffered the same fate and after a couple of years living in what was once their homeland, they emigrated to the United States.
Alice Peneaca did not have the opportunity to explore her national identity at the time of her death. She probably never thought about it since her parents’ original homeland was probably the United States. In fact, it is possible that she may have been born in Mexico since her birth certificate lists her as an American. Her birth date, papers and marriage documents all list her as being a US national while her real family may be Mexican. Over time, other family members who had relocated to the States began to challenge her birthright and to demand that the courts recognize her as a Mexican national.
After numerous attempts to correct the records, Alice Peneaca finally succeeded in gaining access to her American nationality by marrying a US citizen in 1855. Despite her background, Alice Peneaca did not assume her American name until after she died. Upon her death, she was finally given her American name, Alice Paula Peneaca. This is perhaps one of the more interesting stories concerning how an average girl from a Spanish speaking background would select a name reflecting her national identity.