Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hello,

I am a graduate student at Fairmont State University and with my professor for my folklore class, we are working on developing a biography of sorts of the Suarez Family who lived in Anmoore, West Virginia, Particularly a woman by the name of Abelina Suarez whose estate left many endowments to various community associations.

The Suarez family included ten children, one died in infancy, one as a teen ina swimming tragedy at hinkle pond, one in a TB sanitorium, and one would contract polio but survive. Three sons would enter the military.
The Suarez family owned a dairy farm near anmoore, after the father, aurelio, spent time working in the zinc industry.

Abelina would graduate with a Chemistry Degree, but never marry and never return to Anmoore to live with her family. She, instead, lived with the family she worked for while she attended Washington Iriving high school. She would spend her life teaching.

We would like more information on her younger years of growing up in Grasselli and the culture and traditions her family may have had. If you know of anyone who could contribute such information, please respond. We have a scant three weeks or so to get the information put together and presented.
The professor and I are also interested in learning more about the Asturian culture in the region of present day anmoore, the zinc industry and such. The university will be building a folklife center this year, and such contributions I'd suggest be considered by the center.

Thank you.

Hi, Cathy,

Can you tell us the names of the other family members? Some approximate dates? Was one of the sons named "Benny"?

As I mentioned in an email to you, there is a book you may find very useful because it talks about the experience of one family from Anmoore:
Pinnick Kinnick Hill

If that link doesn't work, you can click on "Pinnick Kinnick Hill" here:
http://www.asturianus.org/affiliateLinks.html#amazon
The book is an easy read and very illuminating.

----------------------

Hola, Cathy,

¿Podrías decirnos los nombres de los otras personas de la familia? ¿Algunas fechas aproximadas? ¿Se llamó uno de los hijos "Benny"?

Como te mencioné en un email, hay un libro que puede resultar de gran utilidad, ya que habla de la experiencia de una familia de Anmoore:
Pinnick Kinnick Hill

Si ese vínculo no funciona, puedes hacer clic en "Pinnick Kinnick Hill" en:
http://www.asturianus.org/affiliateLinks.html#amazon
El libro es fácil leer y muy esclarecedor.

Thank you Art.

Yes, Ms. Suarez had nine brothers and sisters: Angel, Benito (died as an infant), Benny, Henry, Manuel, Anna, Joe, Josephine, and Harry. At the time of Ms. Suarez's obituary in the year 2000, Ms. Suarez had outlived most of her siblings.

The professor I am working with looked at my earlier post and stated that Abelina may have lived with her family a while after graduation, she wasn't sure, But Abelina did live most of her life in Clarksburg.

Cathy, my mother went to school with Benny. I think Benny went to college for a year on a sports scholarship but his brother Harry asked him to come back home to run the family farm, perhaps after the father died in an accident at the zinc plant.

My mom says her sisters knew the family much better and would know more about them. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt that they'd be willing to talk to a stranger, especially by phone. There's a slightly better chance that one of them might agree if you'd be willing to visit her in person. (She's about 7 hours by car from you, I think.) I love listening to her tell stories, so I might go, too.

There is a German-American friend of Benny's living in Ohio who would probably love to talk with you. I think they played on sports teams together. Let me know if you want contact info.

I suspect that you'd get more responses if you can give us a little more information about the family.

Thank you again for your response, Art, and I will share the information you gave me with the professor who asked me to help with this research project for the university. I am sure any contact information you could give me would be appreciated.

Abelina Suarez spent her life, for the most part, as a teacher for Harrison County Schools, and was involved in several organizations in her community. She was part of the Church of Christ, Scientist church for most of her life beginning at about age 20 from what I gathered from reading her published obituary in the year 2000. Her parents were Ysabel and Aurelio Suarez. The Suarez family came to this area in 1911. First the father, then later he sent for his wife and infant Abelina who'd travel alone from Spain and meet Aurelio when they landed in the US.

What kinds of information or more details would you think be helpful in our ability to collect more information about the Suarez family and the Asturian-American culture? I was asked to find more, also, on the culture, traditions, customs, folk literature, foods, etc. of the Asturian culture in this region, and my only resource, so far, has been the Internet. Do you know if there are other places to find such information?

Thank you again. We are watching the video AsturianUS and we have found it to be illuminating in many ways. Do you know if that video will be available for sale in the US? We are borrowing the one we are watching, but I'm sure the opportunity to get a copy for the folklife center we have at the university (which will soon be in a new building.... exciting) would be something to consider.

Thank you again.

Other information that would be helpful would be data on the other siblings: their dates, where they went to school, where they worked, etc. My thinking is that someone may recognize one of them and then be able to tell you more about the family.

Yes, Luis Argeo says that his video should soon be available for purchase through WV's public television. Ron will know when it's available. (It's really good that you've talked with Ron. He's been a great help many times!)

That book, Pinnick Kinnick Hill, really does a good job of describing the culture and experience of the Asturian emigrants. It's a little quirky, but I recommend it highly. It's also available used pretty cheaply at Amazon, as you'll see on this page:
Pinnick Kinnick Hill
(Of course, WVU Press is the publisher, but they seem to be operating on a thin margin, so I doubt that they'll give you a copy.)

I'm not aware of other books on Asturian immigration to the US, so that makes Gavin González' book unique.

We're a small community and by this point we've spread out over the entire US. I think it was a fairly small percentage of Asturians who came here, as compared to the numbers who went to other countries.

In recent years, Asturian reporters have written a number of newspaper articles. Not nearly as many have beeen written here in the US. Similarly, Luis Argeo's movie is a big hit in Asturias, whereas here it has gotten only limited showing.

There are books on Asturias, mostly available in Asturias, I think. One source for information Asturias itself is the Asturian and Spanish Tourist Offices online. I think they'll send you info.

In researching Anmoore and after reading Pinnick Kinnick Hill I was wondering how many students of Anmoore would attend high school. If there was more than one grade school for Anmoore residents' children to attend. If the children attended high school, which high school was more popularly attended? Washington Irving, Bridgeport or some other school?

I am working hard to learn more about Anmoore, everyday events that went on, the Who's Who of the town etc regarding the community of workers who lived there as well as if there was a lot of effort by the Spanish Community there to maintain traditions, customs etc in Anmoore when they moved there, or what there more of an interest to be more like americans, especially by young adults growing up in the area.

Thank you very much.

Cathy, I'm not sure I wrote this to you earlier, but there is a man living in Ohio who was friends with Benny Suarez. He's got some great stories and would probably be happy to talk to you.

Also, another of my aunts said you should talk to my aunt who I said lives about 7 hours from you. She has a lot more info because she knew the Suarez family very well and used to go back to Anmoore to visit the family. (Actually, it's possible that this aunt would be more receptive than usual if you were to call her this weekend. Let me know if you're interested and I'll hook you up.)

All of my uncles and aunts attended, only one of the seven kids left the area before finishing high school, and most of them went to college or got further training. I don't know how typical that was. Eventually all of them moved away form WV. My mom thinks most of the Anmoore kids went to high school, but doesn't know what percentage graduated.

My mom says there was one grade school at Anmoore Elementary School for grade school. The Catholic Church in Anmoore may hve had a kindergarten for a while. She and all of her brothers and sisters went to Bridgeport High School. Some may have gone to the Catholic high school, St. Mary's High School.

Ron might have a better idea of these things.

My father, now 70 years old, grew-up in Anmoore - son of Celestino (Tim) Garcia. All of my father's elementary report cards are in my possession, and he attended Grasselli Elementary School. He graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1955.

I'm assuming that Grasselli School was in Anmoore. Does anyone know if that's correct? Next time that I speak with my father, I'll be asking him this question:)

Yeah, that's confusing because both Anmoore and Spelter have had several names. Did the documents call it "Grasselli Elementary? That'd be interesting.

Grasselli and Steelton were older names for Anmoore, just as Meadowbrook and later Ziesing were older names for Spelter.

--------------

Sí, es poco claro porque tanto Anmoore como Spelter han sido llamado por otros nombres. Es que los documentos llamaron a la escuela "Grasselli Elementary"? Sería interesante.

Graselli y Steelton eran nombres más antiguos de Anmoore, igual que Meadowbrook y luego Ziesing eran nombres antiguos de Spelter.

Thanks for the info. I am learning much about Anmoore and its history

My research is quite extensive, and I hope to create a sincere, objective, and well informed presentation with this information later this year for the professor I am assisting in this project. It would be of great interest to speak to your Aunt, Art, and Benny's friend, Thank you very much.

I just got a copy of my father's official birth certificate. Although he was born in Spelter as far as I know, the town given is Meadowbrook. Oddly, it was not filed until 1930, a full 13 years after he was born, but I don't think the asturianos paid much attention to government rules back in 1917.

When I looked at a modern map, Meadowbrook appeared to be on the other side of the river from Spelter.

I think Spelter was called Meadowbrook at some point, but it's possible that Meadowbrook was the Post Office back in those days. Maybe Ron can fill us in on that.

My mom's birth certificate was "lost", too. Evidently there was no official record. By the time she finally had one recorded, she had changed her name.

-------------------------

Pienso que Spelter fue llamado Meadowbrook en un cierto punto, pero es posible que Meadowbrook tuvo la oficina de correos en esta época. Tal vez Ron puede decirnos más.

La partida de nacimiento de mi madre era "perdida", también. Evidentemente no hubo ningún documento oficial. Cuando finalmente hizo el registro, ya había cambiado su nombre.

Bob,
Yes, Meadowbrook is the other side of the river. Meadowbrook was the train stop. Spelter was the post office. Ziesing was the town name.

My grandmother, Wilma Craig, (daughter of Jesse and Frieda Craig) grew-up in Spelter but her birth record shows Meadowbrook. All of these name changes get really confusing.

Linda