Asturian-American Migration Forum

This is basically a cut & paste from an email I forwarded to a couple of members here about my family. My father's family name is Vallina and his mother's family name was Garcia. Most of the family originally came through Cherryvale & ended up in the St. Louis area with my father's family going to Langeloth, PA.

As my father died when I was 13 & we lived in Indiana, I had limited contact with the Vallina family following his death. I do still occasionally communicate with my only living aunt who lives in Langeloth & did go back for an aunts funeral this past summer. A few years ago, I did find relatives in the St. Louis area & most of what information I do have I gathered through that venue. This is most of what I have:

These are the Vallina family members who came to America probably between 1905 - 1912.

Angel (my grandfather) who married Elvera Garcia & had three children:
Angel (my father), Johnny, & Alvera. Settled in Langeloth to work at the zinc smelter. He died in approximately 1935 when my father was 13.

Arsenio (brother to my grandfather) who had three sons, Louis, Sam & Joseph. I'm not sure if he was married to Celsa Rodriguez or if she was a daughter. These family members settled in the St. Louis area after originally going to Taylor Springs (which I believe is in Illinois/St. Louis area).

Paulino (brother to my grandfather) who had six children: John, Joseph (BTW Joe did live in OK for a period of time before going to St. Louis), Cherry, I'm assuming a nickname he picked up in Cherryvale, (he was a WWE-type wrestler during the 1950-60s and was one of my personal favorites; although he was a cousin, we called him "Uncle Cherry" and this is how I knew of relatives in the St. Louis area), Gloria, Mary and Olivia. Paulino orginally came to Cherryvale, KS but ultimately ended up in the St. Louis area. (I also have some information on the Cherryville smelter if anyone is interested. We stopped by what is left of the town last summer and I obtained some info & pictures from the library there.)

Herminia Vasquez (sister to my grandfather) who also had six children: Henry, William, Lela, Joseph, Fred and Amor. The came from Spain directly to the St. Louis area.

Family who remained in Spain include Jose, Servando and Salvadore. Jose's children include Pepe (a surgeon in Avilas in his 80s whom I have corresponded with in the past), Josephina (also in Avilas with children Imaculata, Maria, Santiago, Jose), Louis in Salinas and Nita and Pilar. I am unsure where they live. Salvadore had a son Salvadore who also lives in Avilas. Servando has a daughter Servandine who lives in Salinas.

I do have an 8 page handwritten reminiscings of Pepe when he came to the US to visit family in St. Louis. It has some history of the Vallina clan in particular but also speaks of Asturiano. I would be willing to fax this or make copies if you are interested.

Hi, Angela,

That's an interesting story. Thanks for sharing it. If you'd like to tell the stories you collected, we'd be interested in hearing them here. Depending on where you think they'd fit best, you could tell them here or in "Immigrant stories.

If you want to submit some photos of your family or of Cherryvale, you can send them to my email address (found at the bottom of every page).

I think the town many of your family members live in is "Avilés" rather than "Avilas." When I was in Spain, people in Madrid kept correcting my pronounciation of Avilés. They'd say, "Oh, you mean 'Avila." There's a provincial capital just north of Madrid called Avila that is very well known. It's pretty, too, but it isn't Avilés!

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Hola, Angela,

Cuentas una historia interesante. Gracias por compartirlo.

Si quisieras contar las historias que recogiste, estaríamos interesados leerlo aquí. Dependiendo de donde piensas de los cuentos cabrían bien, podrías escribirlos aquí o en "historias inmigrantes".

Si deseas compartir algunas fotos de tu familia o de Cherryvale, puedes enviarlos a mi email (encontrado en el fondo de cada página).

Pienso que la ciudad donde viven muchos de los miembros de tu familia es "Avilés" más bien que "Avilas." Cuando estaba en España, la gente en Madrid continuamente corregían de mi pronounciation de "Avilés". Dirían, "Oh, quieres decir 'Avila'." Hay un capital provincial llamada "Avila" al norte de Madrid muy bien conocido. Es bonita, ¡pero no es Avilés!

Vickie: you mention an Olga Fernandez who your Mom remembers from Cherryvale. She happens to be my late Dad's aunt. Here is the limited info that I know; My great grandfather Elisco Fernandez ( 7/22/1869-11/5/1932 born in Spain) came to the US in 1905, returned to Spain in 1909 and back to the US in 1915. They first lived in Collinsville Ok and then eventually Cherryvale to work in the zinc smelter plant. He brought his wife, Grace (Engracia) Arias Fernandez ( 4/16/1875-6/12/1942 born in Spain) and children Sarah ( Sagrario) ( 2/16/1900-5/10/1914), Elisco, and my grandfather Joe ( Ceasar) Arias Fernandez ( 7/4/1903-1992 born in Castrillon.) Children born after living in Cherryvale were Tony, Connie (Constantine)and Olga, who you mentioned. All are deceased and, except for my grandfather Joe and Connie, are buried in the Catholic cemetary west of town. My grandpa and Connie are buried in Fairview cemetary east of town. My grandfather Joe worked and retired from the zinc smelter plant. He and his wife Edith ( Nell Gray) (deceased) had two children, Lloyd C. ( my Dad) and Delores ( Dee). My Mom, Patty was born in Neodesha and still resides in my late grandfather's house in Cherryvale. My brother Russell lives in Kansas and I live in San Antonio, Tx. Vickie, you also mentioned the name Castarina; the son is in the Cherryvale nursing home. I saw him when I visited my Dad before he passed away ( 31 Dec 2007.) I believe his parents are deceased.

I am so pleased to have found this site and plan to spend much time reading about Castrillon and the life of my family working at the Cherryvale smelter plant. The Fernandez family were very private about their past and I'd appreciate it if anyone on this forum who knows something about them and this time period could inform me about that. Thanks.

The following link has a great photo of the Cherryvale zinc smelter plant where my grandfather Joe Fernandez, his father Elisco and many from Asturias worked. It also has a nice article on zinc plant production and cleanup operations around SE Kansas. Enjoy.

http://www.pittks.org/userimages/smelterhistory.pdf