About Us: Gijones, Member
My mother was Asturiana and my father is Gallego. I was born in Xixón, Asturias in 1962 in the Gota de Leche and lived there until 1969 in Magnus Blikstad. In 1969 I was sent to live with my father's parents in the Poboa do Caramiñal, La Coruña due to my mother's illness. My family came to the United States in 1972 and we lived in Newark, NJ for quite some time before moving to the NJ suburbs.
This first photo is my wife and me (New Jersey, 2002). She is an Italian-American.
To note, most of the spanish community that came to NJ followed the same path. Currently most of my US immigration graduating class (a relative term at best) is now living in the 'burbs. The majority are professionals with children who go back to Spain every year.
My grandfather and grandmother on my mother's side are now both dead as are all of their children (8) including my mother. There is one that I don't know about who was living in Cuba. My grandfather was a miner and died during the Civil War, he was killed by a fascist firing squad (actually a vigilante group) inside a burned out church.
On my father's side both my grandparents are also dead. My grandfather was in jail for twenty years after the Civil War because he was a naval officer on the losing side. I still remember my grandmother's stories about how she did 'estraperlo' [the black market] to survive in those days.
The second photo is of the entire family, New Jersey, 2002.
And you? Please submit your photo or whatever you want to share with us so we can add it to this section. Your participation helps build community!
For info on how to submit a photo, please contact us using the email address below. We can give you instructions for scanning or briefly loaning us the print or negative. You can send your bio text to this email address, too.