Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hi Terechu
Yes, I'm getting more responses than I expected. It is nice that people are trying to help. But I am retired and the weather here has been cold and raining, so I have plenty of time to answer. Anyway, I think everybody likes to get mail.
I know that many refugees had a much more difficult time than I did. Under the circumstances, I was one of the luckier ones.
Yes, the ship was Portuguese, but we didn't sail from Lisbon. We left Marseille, France, on another ship, whose name I don't know, and landed in Oran, Algeria. From Oran we went to Casablanca by train. We sailed from Casablanca on the Nyassa. I know it was the Nyassa because we had to wear small identifying placards around our necks. Also, during the long trip, I made some friends among the ship's cooks and they were all Portuguese who could speak Spanish.

Corsino

Dear Corsino:

I found a website that you might find interesting. I do not think it will help your search, but it is interesting. It is www.spanishrefugees-basquechildren.org

As for the Quakers you might want to contact the American Friends Service Committee. It is the branch of the Quakers that helps people overseas. They may be able to point you in the right direction. Their website is www.afsc.org .

The only other thing I might suggest is trying to look up your old friends in the internet telephone pages at www.anywho.com. Of course you would have to know what State they may be in and the name they are currently using. It is a long shot, because many adoptees have their names changed and it is doubtful they still live in the same area. But it may be worth a try. For example, there are a handful of men named Juan or John Ruiz living in Connecticut.

Good luck!

Here is the reply from the Philadelphia Quakers to my inquiry.

Your message was sent to Jack Sutters in our Archives Unit for follow-up. He is AFSC's archivist and is knowledgeable in this particular area. Best wishes,

________________________________________
I wrote:


I am one of three people who maintain a website dealing with Asturian migration to the US at http://www.AsturianUS.org One of our members was a child during the Guerra Civil. He was evacuated to France and ultimately to the US, where he was adopted and his name changed. He is searching for other children like himself, who were taken out of Spain and never returned. His evacuation and adoption were assisted by a Quaker agency.



I would very much appreciate your informing me of any locations where such records of immigration may be kept. He would very much like to locate other children like himself.



Bob Martinez

Moderator

Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hi Sweeney
You are right about the American Friends Service Committee. I remember seeing that name on some of my paperwork.
Also, thanks for the link to the Basque website. I'll check it out. Coincidentally, it was a Basque organization that evacuated Asturians from the port of Gijon. In fact, during most of my stay in France, a lady called Ascension Andres Casaus was one of our main caretakers. According to my records, she was the sister of the governor of Santander ( before the war). Maybe that was the reason that we were reasonably well taken care of.....she may have had 'connections'.

Corsino.

Hi Bob,
Thanks for contacting the AFSC. They may still have records of the children's names. They probably will need more information, so if they ask for more details, I should be able to provide them. Let me know. Or if you prefer, I could contact them directly.
I have several other ideas, but haven't got around to following through on them yet.
My best bet was the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children, but I'm pretty sure that they went out of business in the early 1950's. But it seems that somewhere their records might still exist. The question is where.

Another possibility is the facility in the Bronx where we stayed after our arrival. I personally was there one whole year ( from the summer of 1942 to the summer of 1943). I'm sure some of the other children stayed there longer. I'm under the impression that it was supported by the Edwin Gould Foundation ( that's based only on the fact that a portrait of Edwin Gould was prominently displayed in the classrooms ). I don't know the name of the facility, but I do have the address ( one of the departing children mailed me back a postcard, which I still have). The facility was at:
1161 Stillwell Ave, Bronx, N.Y. But I don't know if it's still in operation.

There is no urgency in my search. It is something that I've been thinking about for some time. Actually, probably not too many of them are still living, although surely some of them had families and children.

Corsino.

Hola Corsino,

You can find some historial information about the Edwin Gold Foundation at http://www.bronxpress.com/3_28_02history.html

I think the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children still exists. It is listed as one of the majors donors to The Learning Project. See http://www.thelearningproject.org/about ... butors.htm There is also an Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families, which has a website at http://www.egscf.org/

Bob Martinez

Hi Sweeney,
It's me again. I did check out the website about the Basque refugees. Although those children went to England, what interested me the most was the ship itself. We sailed from Gijon in the summer of 1937 in a very similar ship.The website does state that the ship made several trips to France too, so it's quite possible it was the same ship I was on. But I was 7 years old and did not think of looking at the name of the ship, but it does look like it.
We were not fortunate enough to have an armed escort on the trip. Sometime during the first night at sea, I heard several 'booms' and people became very excited. I later learned that the pro-Franco warship 'Cervera' had fired on our ship. Obviously, it missed.
Corsino.

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the information.
I sent an e-mail to an address provided on www.egscf.org. I'll see if they answer.

Corsino.

Dear Corsino, I vividly recommend you this link:

http://www.asturiasrepublicana.com/2rep.asp

This web is maintained by a writer, Marcelino Laruelo Roa, which has published some books on Spanish Civil War in Asturias and on the subsequent fascist repression.

I writed him on your request, perhaps he could provide more information to you about the evacuation of the children from Gijon in the summer of 1937, preamble of the widespread flight of the following October.

This one is the text of the mail that I have sent Mr. Laruelo:


"Hola, Marcelino.

Existe una página mantenida por descendientes de asturianos en los Estados Unidos, cuya dirección es www.asturianus.org, y donde hay un foro con diferentes tableros, uno de ellos dedicado a genealogía, búsqueda de familiares, etc. Pues bien, en uno de estos tableros hay un mensaje de un señor mayor que fue evacuado como "niño de la guerra" del puerto de Gijón en 1937. Su nombre es Corsino Fernandez García, y fue evacuado a bordo de un barco que le llevó a Francia. Allí estuvo con otros niños bajo el cuidado de una señora llamada Ascensión Andrés Casaus, quien le parece recordar que era la hermana del Gobernador Civil de Santander. Del puerto francés de Marsella salió en dirección a Orán, Argelia, y luego viajó en tren hasta Casablanca, Marruecos, donde él y otros 25 niños fueron embarcados en un navío portugués llamado Nyassa, que los llevó hasta los EEUU, a instancias de la Iglesia de los Cuáqueros. Ahora está intentando recopilar toda la información posible y localizar a los demás niños que fueron llevados a USA. Todos ellos acabaron siendo finalmente adoptados, por lo que sus nombres fueron sustituidos por otros en inglés. Por ejemplo, Corsino pasó a llamarse Cole Kivlin.

Me pregunto si tú tendrías algún dato acerca de esta evacuación de niños, pues el hombre está muy interesado en volver a recuperar aquellos recuerdos borrosos, ya que por entonces tan sólo contaba 7 años de edad. En el foro mencionado le pongo un mensaje con un vínculo a tu página, que seguro que le resulta muy interesante.

Gracias de antemano por tu interés y tu amable respuesta.

Carlos M. García (Gijón)"

A strong hug for you, Corsino.

Carlos, thank you. Of course I am interested in all information.
It is obvious that you can read English excellently ! Most of the information you recounted, I wrote in English and you understood it all.

The only misconception by some that I have noted, is that I was adopted. Of course, that's a natural assumption because of my English name.
Actually, I was ALMOST adopted. I did live with an American family for almost two years and they were planning to adopt me. However, things didn't work out and I spent most of my teenage years in Children's Homes.

The American family had difficulty remembering my Spanish name, and since they were thinking of adopting me, they registered me in school under the English name. Eventually, I felt obliged to legally change my name to the English name to avoid confusion.

So I still 'belong' to my Asturian family !!!!

Corsino.

With the help of Bob Martinez, I contacted the archivist for the American Friends Service Committee ( AFSC), and after verifying that my name is on the list of Spanish children that the AFSC brought to the U.S.,the archivist has agreed to mail me the list of children. The archivist stated that the list includes the birthplace of the children, so I'll see if any others were from Asturias.

Corsino

Wow, congratulations, Corsino! I bet you were thrilled to find your name on the list of AFSC! Bob has done a great job. I hope that list will give you some leads on where you can find some of your childhood friends.

---------------------------------
Qué bien, felicidades, Corsino! Apuesto a que te emocionó encontrar tu nombre en la lista de la AFSC. Bob ha hecho un gran trabajo. Espero que esa lista te dé pistas sobre dónde puedes encontrar a algunos de tus amigos de la infancia.

Saludos
Terechu

Well, Terechu, I'll be glad to get the list of children and their birthplaces. But I'm also thinking that maybe some relatives of the children are wondering where they went. I can't believe that ALL the relatives in Spain of the children died during the Spanish Civil War.
In this age where many people have computers and have access to the internet, it's possible that some are searching, and might find this website.

Corsino.

Dear Corsino:

Congradulations! That was quick! You are correct, many families in Spain may want to know if their children are in the USA. I think at least one Forum member is a newspaper reporter in Asturias. I think her name is Elisa Campo. Perhaps she would know how to get the information out to the families in Spain.

Sincerely,

Donna

Dear Corsino:

If Elisa is not a member of the forum, Bob or Art will know how to get ahold of her.