Asturian-American Migration Forum

Does anyone have any information about Gijon birth records? I am tracing my husband's heritage and his g-grandfather immigrated in 1905 (by way of Cuba I think). He listed his place of birth as Gijon. Is there a central place that keeps records? I read on another site today that during the civil war of the 1930s that the Gijon parish records were completely destroyed. When I read this I felt crushed. It has taken so much work to find the little information we have, and now I find out that may be all we will find. My ancestor was born Oct 11, 1880, so is there anywhere else I might be able to find his records? He is as far back as I have been able to get, and I would like to know more about his family. I only have the name Manuel Martinez from his immigration paperwork, and you can imagine how common that name is.

I would suggest writing to the registro civil in Gijón, in Spanish of course:

Teléfono 1: 985 175 512
Fax: 985 176 996

Dirección: Decano Prendes Pando, 1
Concejo: Gijón

Records in the registro civil, which are separate from church records, go back to about 1870, and should include your ancestor's birth certificate. Also, there are quite a few parishes in Gijón, so I would not automatically assume that all church records were burned in the guerra civil. You can find a list of them at http://www.vivirasturias.com/asturias/t ... index.html. Clicking on the parish name will bring up the address, name of the priest, etc.

It might also be worth looking at the online Ellis Island immigration records. Some Asturians who came to the US from Cuba did enter through New York. Some of our members from the centros asturianos in Tampa and Miami may also be able to help.

Thank you, I will definately try that. Hopefully we will be able to find something out!

Hi,
Not all churches were burned and at all events the archdiocesis of Oviedo keeps all Asturian church records in the their archives. They charge for issuing birth and baptism certificates, though.
You might get a copy free from the Ministry of Justice (www.Mjusticia.es), the following link is for the Gijón Civil Registry and you can request all types of certificates on line, but you have to have complete data, such as full name and birth date. See if it works. Good luck!

http://www.mjusticia.es/wps/portal/!ut/ ... mlv#7_0_SD

[Art: Links that use characters like "!" in them don't work in the program that runs the forum. You'll have to copy and paste the entire link, but even then, the link may not work. Sorry!]

The Family History Library of the Mormon Church have films with information of the Ayuntamiento de Gijon, Spain, dated back to 1836-1868. I found my ggg and his family when I rented one of their films. You can go to the nearest Family History Center and talk to a volunteer, they will answer all your questions.

Lourdes García Quirós
Glendale, Arizona