Asturian-American Migration Forum

I have gathered this information from my great grandparents social security number applications.

If someone could help me understand the relation between the places of birth and also - any Rua's out there? It seems to be an unusual surname and I wonder if it is shortened version of a surname?

Trinidad Reyes-Garcia born 12/18/1895
San Cristobal (Aviles), Asturias, Spain (place of birth)
Parents: Ramona Garcia De Reyes & Eugenio Reyes Nunez

Avenlino G. Rua
Aviles, Spain (place of birth)
Parents: Angel Rua & Juana Granda

I'm new around here - so feel free to train me!

Becky

Hi Becky

If someone could help me understand the relation between the places of birth and also - any Rua's out there? It seems to be an unusual surname and I wonder if it is shortened version of a surname?

San Cristobal is a neighborhood in Aviles.

I don't know how common the surname Rua is, but you can find telephone listing for Rua by using PaginasBlancas.es at http://blancas.paginasamarillas.es/home_ie.html. {NOTE: Gijones says it should be: http://www.paginas-blancas.net/home.html } Just enter Rua in the 1er appellido (first surname) field, and the name of the town you want to search in in the Localidad field. Select Asturias in the Provincia pulldown box, and click the Buscar (search) button. Repeat putting Rua in the 2o apellido field. In each case, leave all other fields blank. The names, telephone numbers, and mailing addresses will come up. You might also want to repeat the process for surrounding communities.

There are only seven Rua telephone listings as a first surname in Aviles, so the name may be uncommon, at least in that area.

Perhaps some of our Asturian friends could tell us about the origin of the name. It may be related to the asturianu "ruar" or the castellano "ruar" or "arrullar."

Bob Martinez

Dear Becky,

You probably know this information, but I will tell you anyway.

According to Ellis Island Records, 29 year old Trinidad Reyes Garcia (from San Cristobal, Spain) and her two children Maria (2 years) and Avelino (1 year) boarded the ship S.S. Alfonso XIII at the port of Santander, Spain in July 1916. They arrived to Ellis Island on 24 July 1916. They were going to join their husband/father Avelino Rua living in Meadowbrook West Virginia.

I assume these are your great grandparents.

I also found Avelino and Trinidad Rua in the 1930 census. They were living in Pittsburg, Allegheny, PA with their five children: Mary A., Avelino, Angel, Mary L., and Joseph. Avelino was working as a barber.

Hi "Sweeney" - Donna?

Yes - I had discovered all of that great information previously! My newly discovered facts were the extra details about my great grandparents city of origin in Spain. The one other thing I don't know if if they became citizens through the naturalization process. No one still living seems to know the answer to that question either.

The other question is where were they for the 1920 census - were they still in West Virginia, or had they made the move to Pittsburgh by then.

Thanks for your efforts!
Becky

Donna - just had another thought - my Mother told me that the barber chair was in the basement of their house; and depending on the number of hair cuts he gave in a week, depended on how well they ate!

Becky

Sweeney wrote:I also found Avelino and Trinidad Rua in the 1930 census. They were living in Pittsburg, Allegheny, PA with their five children: Mary A., Avelino, Angel, Mary L., and Joseph. Avelino was working as a barber.

Becky,

In 1920, could your great grandparents been out of country? Perhaps they went back to spain for a visit when the census people came through the town. Or they could have moved to a different state and missed the census taker.

I searched the 1920 census for Rua, Granda and found nothing. I also ran a search on first name only, but did not find them.

About the surname Rua, I think it's come from galician. Rua is galician for street, like rue in french. It's not very common in Asturias but there are many persons called Rua.

A search in Google, doesn't show many people with a first name of "Avenlino". There are a few people with Avenlino as a last name.

If the name is so uncommon, perhaps that tells us something about Avenlino's origins, too. Is Avenlino a Galician name? Or is it possibly derived from a place name?

I think it may be a typo for Avelino.

Bob

Ah, yes, that could be a misspelling. There are lots of Avelino's in Google. I was having trouble figuring out how Avenlino would be pronounced in Castellano!

Becky, are you sure the name is Avenlino?

Yes - it is Definitely a typo!

Avelino was his first name -middle initial is listed as G., which I assume represents Granda, which was listed as his mother's maiden name.

I have never located Avelino coming into the states, I found his wife and the kids coming over to meet him, but I haven't yet found him!

Thanks for everyone's input.

Becky Jones

I was looking up some of my relatives in the Ellis Island records when I came upon the name Avelino Rua.

A Robustiano Garcia traveled to America on 4 November 1916 aboard the S.S. Baltic from Liverpool. He states he is going to visit his friend AVELINO RUA living at Box 136 Meadowsbrook, WV.

Robustiano states he is from the town of Corunna, Spain and his father was from Castrillon, Oviedo. I am pretty sure Corunna is the port in Spain he probably departed from and that Robustiano is most likely from Castrillon, Spain.

I do not know if this is of any help. The Rua name just caught my eye and I thought I would pass on the information.

Oral history in my family indicates that my grandparents went from Salinas (in Castrillon) to La Coruña, then to Liverpool, and finally from there to Ellis Island (this last step is documented in the immigration records). They came to the US on the Adriatic, another ship of the same line as the Baltic (most of the line's ship names ended in "ic", including the Titanic). I suspect that must have been a common route to travel to the US from central Asturias.

Bob Martinez

The link to 'paginas blancas' is http://www.paginas-blancas.net/home.html.

Not what was mentioned in an earlier email.

<Translacion>

Las paginas blancas espanolas se pueden encontrar en http://www.paginas-blancas.net/home.html. No donde fue mencionado anteriormente.