Hard times during the Great Depression

[Manuell Alvarez]

Hello Everyone,

My father once told me that he lost three thousand dollars when one of the local West Virginia banks fail during the Great Depression. This era in our Asturian family history must have had a devastating effect on a lot of other Asturians and I have wondered what life was like then for those who remained during this dark period in our country's history starting in 1929.

Ron Gonzalez, in Luis Argeo's AsturianUS film described life there in Harrison County as being hard for the Asturians and it was probably magnified for our families during the depression. He also indicated that they worked hard for so little money.

This is time period that may have caused some to abandon their American dreams of living and working here. I am not sure why my aunt, uncle, and their three children traveled back to Spain, I believe that probably it had something to do with the depression or the loss of my uncle's job. I also vaguely remember my father mentioning that one of our relatives went back after suffering the loss of his fingers. I know that it was before 1930, because they are not in that Census.


Manny ,(a.k.a. Manolito)