Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hi
I would like to give you some information about people coming from Belgium and settling in this part of Asturias.
There is a village called Arnao, between Salinas and Piedras Blancas and kind of underneath S. Martin de Laspra where there is a mine and factory called now Asturiana de Zinc, before was called Real Compañia Asturiana de Minas, that started business in the late 1800s and use to own most of Salinas for many decades.
There were many engineers from Belgium coming to work in the factory at the beginning and some of them stayed and married locals, so today you can find many families with belgian last names. There are even streets in Salinas with the names of these engineers.
Hope these information is useful.
From La Ferreria Chema

Thank you for the information. I believe my great great grandfather Juan Luis Verdin came from Belgium to Spain around 1850. According to my grandmother, the factory he worked at was in Mieres. I do know his son was born in Trubia.

I was told the factory made machinery parts. I was also told they lost the factory in the 1860s during the Spanish revolution, but I have not found any information to confirm this story. Was there an uprising in the 1860s?

It could be Juan was an engineer for the mine, but the story changed through the years.

Thank you for your help!

Hi Donna

In 1860 there was not any uprising in Spain, in the XIX century we had 2 carlists wars, kind of civil wars, but before that date.
Only in 1934 in Asturias and in 1936 in Spain we had uprisings and a civil war, but nothing like that in 1860.
If I can help you in any other way, I would be very happy to do it.

Donna,

There were in fact a couple of revolutions in Spain that can match your request. The most important one (the so called Gloriosa) started in Cadiz in September 1868. The other (most likely the one you are looking for) started in July 1854 because of a strong famine in the period 1852-1854.

If Juan Luis Verdin was working as an engineer at Fabrica de Mieres in 1850 and then he moved to Trubia (20 miles away) before 1856 it should be for a good reason like a revolution in 1854. Trubia was an obvious destination for an engineer because the Fabrica de Armas was located there.

Regards.

Thank you for the information. What is the fabrica de Armas? Is it a factory that makes weapons?

Yes, it is. Trubia was an ideal place for the fabrica because of the its strategic position very close to the coal mines in Asturias and with an easy communication with the sea through the Nalon River.

Hola prima DONNA, me alegro muchisimo que´ hayas encontrado a nuestros primos despue´s de tantos años ,espero que´ encuentres a los que´ faltan y seguro que´ los encontrara´s porque´ te lo mereces y adema´s por lo poco que´ te conozco( pue´s nos escribimos desde Junio) me pareces una persona estupenda, generosa y con el corazo´n ma´s grande del mundo eso seguro que´ lo heredastes de tu´s padres y ellos a su vez de los suyos,porque´ tu´ bisabuela MARIA VERDIN ARTIMEZ(MARIUCA) era la persona ma´s generosa y de buen corazo´n de SALINAS en aquellos años y tu´ abuela FLORENTINA VERDIN ARTIMEZ era una persona muy generosa aunque yo no la conoci´ pero siempre en casa se hablaba de ella ,como no iba a ser generosa si lo vio´ en casa con buenos ejemplos .Bueno besinos y hasta pronto

Hola Donna. Respecto a tus familiares con apellido Verdín, originarios de Bélgica, te diré que la industrialización de Asturies (minería, metalurgia, etc) se hizo en buena medida con capitales no españoles (belgas, franceses, británicos, etc). Eso provocó que durante todo el siglo XIX llegaran a nuestra tierra un montón de extranjeros, no sólo los propietarios o accionistas de las industrias, sino también un buen número de ingenieros, geólogos y otros técnicos, muchos de los cuales dejaron descendientes, y cuando no fue así, al menos queda constancia de ellos en algunos nombres de calles de diferentes poblaciones asturianas.

Uno de los mayores especialistas, con varios trabajos publicados, es el profesor de la Universidad de Oviedo, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, don Germán Ojeda.

En esta dirección podrás ver información sobre él y sobre uno de sus trabajos:

http://helicon.es/7848432.htm

En esta dirección:

http://www19.uniovi.es/econo/

hay un link donde puedes solicitar el e-mail de Germán Ojeda y pedirle la información más detallada. Yo no tengo una gran amistad con él, ni mucho menos, pero en cierta ocasión tuve el placer de hablar con él y es una persona muy accesible, relativamente joven.

También existe un conocido político conservador regionalista asturiano, que con muchas probabilidades debe de ser pariente tuyo, llamado Leonardo Verdín. Precisamente nació en Trubia, (Asturias) el 25 de julio de 1.956, y es licenciado en Química. Tengo su dirección de e-mail:
[envié la direccion a Sweeney y lo quité de aquí para prevenir spam / I sent the address to Sweeney and removed it from here to prevent spam -- Art]

Espero que esto te sea útil.

Un abrazo.

Dear Carlos:

Thank you for the information. I sent an email to Mr. Verdin.

My great grandfather had a brother named Leonardo Verdin. He also had a son named Leonardo. It is very possible Mr. Leonardo Verdin is my cousin. Thanks!

Donna

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimado Carlos:

Gracias por la información. Envié un email (correo-e) a Sr. Verdin.

Mi bisabuelo tenía un hermano nombrado Leonardo Verdin. Mi bisabuelo también tenía un hijo nombrado Leonardo. Es muy posible, Leonardo Verdin es mi primo.

¡Gracias!

Donna

Donna, he visto el u´ltimo mensaje tuyo y Leonardo Verdin Bouza que´ asi se llama el politico de URAS(Unio´n Renovadora Asturiana ese es el grupo politico al que´ pertenece) es de los Verdines de TRUBIA su´ padre se llamaba LEONARDO VERDIN ARIAS y su hermano JOSE ANTONIO VERDIN ARIAS fue´ el que´ me mando´ la partida de bautismo de nuestro bisabuelo para que´ te la mandara osea que LEONARDO VERDIN BOUZA es biznieto de LEONARDO VERDIN LOPEZ,porque todos los VERDINES de aqui´ somos familia ,espero que´ lo entiendas lo que te explique´. besinos y hasta pronto

Estimado Manuel:

Gracias mucho por tu ayuda. ¡Tú es un primo maravilloso!

¡Gracias!

Dear Donna, please see my post on "Titanic Passenger". It's very possible that this person was a relative of you. Ovies is a genuine asturian surname, not too frequent. Some years ago it was published a news article in asturian newspaper La Nueva España about this passenger, unique Asturian, and I believe that Spanish, that it traveled on board when sank, if bad nonmemory the news article. I believe that it said that indeed he traveled with the United States as destination. You can try to contact with this newspaper in this address:

http://www.lanuevaespana.es/

There is a grey column in the left, and below a link that says "Contacte con LNE". If you click on it, it appears an on line formulary.

I have also an address, but I don't know if it corresponds to the Gijón's Writing Advice, or to the central Redaction in Oviedo (the journal is edited in Oviedo, but it has some different local editions):

pam@lne.es

I take advantage of to say that by means of this last mail address requests in search of relatives can be sent so that they are published in the section "Readers' Letters". LNE is with much difference the most read newspaper of all Asturias.

Please tell me if there is some more thing than I can help you. Greetings.

Dear Carlos:

It is possible Sr. Ovies is a distant relative. My great great grandmother (tatarabuela) was Florentina Ovies.

My great aunt Josephina, her husband's surname was Ovies. Perhaps her children would know if the man on the Titantic was a relative.

Thank you for the information.

Hola Donna, porqué no pones la fotos de tús abuelos en la página de este foro seguro qué todavía vive gente qué conoció a tus abuelos ,además me gustaría ver la foto en el foro de ASTURIAN -AMERICAN MIGRATION,qué te parece, una pregunta un poco indiscreta ,te escribió Leonardo Verdin?como dices qué le mandaste un a-mail,besos

I've posted Donna's photo of her grandparents here:
http://www.asturianus.org/images/family ... Verdin.jpg

Or you can see it here!