Asturian-American Migration Forum

Let me start my introduction by saying... WOW... was I glad to find this site! I have just recently begun researching my family history, beginning with my grandfather Conrado Rodriguez. He emmigrated from Spain in 1927, with stops in Cuba, St. Louis and Kansas before eventually settling in Donora, Pennsylvania. The only information I had to try to discover his birthplace were his emmigration papers. I was able to translate some of it and discovered that "he was born in Corvera, province of Oviedo." What little I could translate can be found here- http://mrdrod.angelfire.com/Index.htm
If anyone could help with the translation or any other information, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much!

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Trans. Ana

Permitidme empezar mi presentación diciendo… GUAU … estoy encantado de haber encontrado esta página. Hace poco que empecé a indagar en mi historia familiar, empezando por mi abuelo Conrado Rodriguez. Emigró de España en 1927, haciendo altos en Cuba, St. Louis y Kansas antes de establecerse en Donora, Pensilvania. La única información que tenía para intentar descubrir dónde había nacido eran sus papeles de emigración. Pude traducir algo y descubrí que “nació en Corvera, provincia de Oviedo”. Lo poco que pude traducir podéis leerlo aquí http://mrdrod.angelfire.com/Index.htm

Si alguien pudiera ayudarme con la traducción o con cualquier otra información, le estaría enormemente agradecido. ¡Muchísimas gracias!

Welcome MRDROD to the Forum. I hope you find all the information you are looking for.
I went to the address in your mail and I could see that most of the card is O.K. translated. There are only a few comments:

…..sets out to emigrate to New York (“Nueva Yor”...you know, the Spanish version )….
….is the son of BENITO and MARIA according to the folio (sheet) 120 of the 18th book, section of births.

The document is signed by the JUEZ (Judge), Bernardo Rodríguez

I’ll try to find some other information for you.
Again, welcome!

TRANSLATION---------
Bienvenido al Foro, MRDROD . Confio que a través de él encuentres toda la información que buscas.
He visitado la página que mencionas en el correo y puedo decirte que la mayor parte está bien traducido. Sólo algunos comentarios:

......intención de emigrar a New York (Nueva Yor....ya sabes, la versión española... .)
......es hijo de BENITO y MARIA según consta en el folio 120 del libro 18 sección nacimientos.
El documento está firmado por el Juez, Bernado Rodriguez.
Trataré de encontrar alguna información más.
Nuevamente, bienvenido.

Hi Richard,

I remember your grandfather, Conrado "Teddy" Rodriguez, his wife, Julia, and family. They had the small market across from the Lorenzo's and lived next to the Gonzalez's. They were very nice people. Your grandmother, Julia, belonged to Spanish Ladies club. I had sent Art a photo of the Spanish Club Ladies Association. I remember your dad and aunt Emily. Good luck with your family's history.

I have enjoyed this forum and I have learned a lot... especially, visiting Asturias. Please read some of my posts and others about Donora. My family lived on 12th St... the heart of little Asturias... the Garcia-Barbao family

The document on your website is signed by Bernardo Rodriguez, who is a "juez" - the word you indicate by a ??? in your translation - a sort of judge. The province of Oviedo mentioned in the document is the modern province of Asturias.

I think the name you recorded as Benicto should be Benito. The place name of the emigration site: the first word could be "Nueva" and the second word "Foz."

jbarbo wrote:...I had sent Art a photo of the Spanish Club Ladies Association....

I think I still have those photos in my in-box! I'm hoping that someone will volunteer to help with the photos. I've got too much on my plate. I can teach someone how to do it.

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jbarbo wrote:[trans. Art] ... había enviado una foto de la Asociación de Damas del Club Español a Art ....

¡Creo que aún tengo esas fotos en la bandeja de entrada! Espero que alguien ofrecerá ayudar en tratar con las fotos. Tengo demasiado cosas entre manos. Puedo enseñar a alguien cómo hacerlo.

Yes, that was my grandfathers store- Teddy's Dairy Bar. My fathers aunt and uncle, Oscar and Sara Vega, also owned a bar around the corner called El Chico. I saw in a post somewhere about the chorizo maker in Donora. That was Ramona Rodriguez (no relation) who lived next to my grandfather.

Art, if you'd like help with the photos, I will volunteer. I know a good deal about web posting as well as graphic files, so there shouldn't be a problem. Let me know, and thanks again to everyone!

Rich,

I did a little research on line and found the immigration record on your grandfather, Conrado Rodriguez Martinez. He arrived 15 Sep 1919 on the SS Excelsior from Cuba with a cousin, Jose A. Martinez, 18, and went on to Cherryvale, Kansas to work with a brother, Prudencio Rodriguez, and later married Julia, around 1926-27. The 1930 census shows the family living in Donora. I don't know Julia's maiden name. (Vega?)

From the 1919 immigration document,it states he was from Cancienes,Asturias and his father's name was Benito Rodriguez. I am sure that your father remembers these family names. I remember, well, Oscar Vega and El Chico's bar.

Ramona Rodriguez and her family were wonderful people. Frank Gonzalez had a market and made longaniza and morcilla. Also, Quico Lopez made great longaniza/chorizo and morcilla at their market. The best chorizo was from West Virginia!!! Just ask Ron!

A lot of wonderful memories for all of us.
jbarbo

Rich, your Spanish translation is very good, and the few remaining words are those Marta Elena says.

Incredibly, you have ALL the informations that a lot of descendants of Asturian ancestors need to localise alive relatives in Asturies.

With those data perhaps Marta Elena or some other volunteer can be able of giving you some names of today's relatives.

Wishes

mrdrod wrote:Art, if you'd like help with the photos, I will volunteer. I know a good deal about web posting as well as graphic files, so there shouldn't be a problem. Let me know, and thanks again to everyone!

Wow, that would be great, Rich. Thanks for your offer. I'll email you, probably Wednesday.

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mrdrod wrote: [trans. Art] Art, si quieres ayuda con las fotos, ofreceré mis servicios. Sé una buena cantidad de información acerca de fijar cosas en la web, así como archivos gráficos, por lo que no debería ser un problema. Dime, y gracias de nuevo a todos!

Vaya, eso sería fantástico, Rich. Gracias por tu oferta. Tu enviaré un correo, probablemente el miércoles.

I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to all of you good people for the helpful information! Unfortunately, every answer inevitably leads to more questions.
Jbarbo, I would love to know where you were able to locate that information. I've spent more hours than I care to admit to trying to track that down. The emmigration papers of my grandfather are dated 1927, so I assumed that is when he left Spain. How is it that you found the date 1919? And as far as my grandmother, her maiden name was also Rodriguez, and she was born in Cherryville, Kansas. Her father was Lazaro Rodriguez and her mother was Maria Alonzo. Her brother, Angel Alonzo, owned a small dairy bar near the bridge in Donora.
Yes my father Everett is still alive, but besides names, he doesn't know much about where his family came from. Like many of his generation, he was raised 'American', and much of the family history was not passed on.

A correction to my earlier post- the woman who made the chorizo was Ramona Gonzales. Her daughter was Morena Rodriguez- still no relation.

And yes- the best chorizo was from West Virginia! We used to get it from Josephine Alvarez. After she passed away, we were able to get the recipe from her sister, but haven't gotten around to making it yet.

Rich,
I have joined Ancestry.com and I get a lot of information from the census,immigration,military,etc... up to a certain point.I got Conrado's immigration date from the 1930 census.Then,I ran the immigration date and up popped his name with positive data... naming Cancienes where he was born and Corvera,as the county. Sometimes the names are spelled wrong or there is no information.Also, Ellis Island.org provides quite a bit... again, spelling is an issue...distroyed documents... slow processing... but it's free. I have some friends and family that live in Piedras Blancas that have obtained copies of birth,marraige and death certificates from the "Registro Civil" or the parrish and these documents provide additional family names and communities. Going to Asturias on your own would be an adventure.
Angel and Ramona Gonzalez,Morena,Moreno,Gabe,Manuel,Frank and Herman lived next to your grandparents.The Gonzalez's used to live in Cherryvale,Kansas.I think that your grandfather had another brother in Kansas,Belarmino. I remember Angel Alonso and his dairybar at the bridge.Please say hello to your dad,Everett... Pete Lorenzo and Pic Garcia say hello.
You should try making chorizo from Josephine's recipe... you would have a lot of customers!!
Hasta la proxima! Suerte,salud y felicidad...... jbarbo

I have been making chorizos according to my grandparents' recipe for decades. (You can find it on this website). Please post Josephine's recipe. I would love to do a side by side comparison.

I suppose I should join Ancestry.com. Seems like it certainly delivers what it claims.

Bob- I've seen your recipe, and it's not too different. I will post Josephines recipe over in the recipes forum under 'making chorizo'. I'd imagine that would be a better place for it.

Thanks again- Rich

Adding to what has already been said... When you translate you must also interpret, but it appears that your intent is to make a translation as closely as possible without the interpretation (probably to allow others to decifer the document). If that is the case then I believe it could be tweaked a tad...


D, Conrado Rodriguez Martinez
that, according to (his) DECLARATION*, sets out to emigrate to NUEVA**
York, and is of profession BUSINESSMAN (commerce/trade),
of state unmarried, that yes he knows to read, yes to
write, and he exhibits certificate OF ID num. 55 ISSUED in Corvera,
where he resides habitually; he was born in
Corvera, province of Oviedo, the day
eleven of December
of 1899, and *** is son of Benito and of
Maria, according to (1) AND STATED ON the page (sheet****)
120 of the 18th book, section of births.

30 of March of 1927

*The word Manifest is used to describe a list of passengers, in this case "segun manifiesta" means "according to his statement"
**The word was written in Spanish if you intend to translate it to English then you must be consistent and do the same with the rest of the document. The "D" at the begining for instance stands for "Don", Don is a term used to express respect although NOT the same thing the closest term in English I can think off would be Mr.
***Without the "he" or there would be an "el" in there
****Not sheet, a sheet is a single loose page, in this case they are referring to something in a book format, music books have loose sheets (I think) all other bound formats have pages not sheets.

Thank you very much, Eli. I speak no Spanish at all, and used Babelfish to translate the document. I realize that it gives a very literal translation, but the only thing I was really interested in was a place of birth.