Asturian-American Migration Forum

I have dozens of photographs from 1937 to about 1954 from Donora.
There are many of the Spanish Picnics in Donora going way back.
Most of them were taken by my husband's father.
Plus there are about 20 8mm films going back to 1956

We are very excited to be able to get these family treasures in our possession after they had been lost for several years. We have already transferred all of the 8 mm films to DVD. What a time capsule!

We would love to share some with you all.
Once I have some down time, I will try to post a few.

Hi, Botheration,

We'd love to see them! From what I've heard, the Asturian picnics at Donora were a big part of maintaining the wider Asturian network in the US back in in the early decades.

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Hola, botheration:

Nos encantaría verlos! Por lo que he oído, las romerías ? (¿picnics?) asturianas en Donora eran una gran parte del mantenimiento de la red extensiva de asturianos en los EE.UU. en las primeras décadas.

Can't wait to see them! I've been researching my family history. From Asturias, they went to Cherryvale, KS, and then onto Donora, PA. It sounds like quite a bit of the Asturian immigrants from that time followed the same path and stayed together. Does anyone know if this group came from Aviles?

I'm part of the Gonzalez family. My great-grandfather and his dad owned the Gonzales Bros Grocery store there for a time and of course were very active at the Spanish club.

It's is likely that a majority of the Asturians who worked in heavy industry (like zinc and steel) and who came over in the early decades of the last century were from the neighboring counties of Avilés and Castrillón. That's because there was a zinc factory at Arnao at which many of these people worked before emigrating to work in new zinc factories here in the US.

Many of these people knew each other at home in Asturias. Many were neighbors or family, so it may have been easier to maintain those connections here in the US. It was a very close-knit community.

There were also many who worked in cigar factories in Cuba and later in Tampa (perhaps in Miami, too, but I don't know). Of course, there were others who had first emigrated to Cuba and later came to the US to work in other fields.

Other Asturians, although fewer in number, worked in coal mining, but they appear to have been only a small percentage of the Spanish-origin coal miners in the US.

In earlier centuries, when what is now the American Southwest was Spanish, there were many Asturians working as cowboys. These may have been Asturian vaqueiros (an ancient Asturian group who made seasonal migrations with their cattle and households to move between lowland and highland pastures).

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Es muy probable que la mayoría de los asturianos que trabajaban en la industria pesada (como el zinc y el acero) y que llegaron en las primeras décadas del siglo pasado eran de los concejos vecinos de Avilés y Castrillón. Eso es porque había (y aún hoy en día hay) una fábrica de zinc en Arnao en lo que muchas de estas personas trabajaban antes de emigrar para trabajar en fábricas de zinc nuevas aquí en los EE.UU.

Muchos de estas personas se conocían en la tierrina, Asturias. Muchos fueron vecinos o familiares, por lo que pudo haber sido más fácil de mantener esas conexiones aquí en los EE.UU. Era una comunidad muy unido.

También hubieron muchos que trabajaron en las fábricas de puros en Cuba y más tarde en Tampa (tal vez en Miami, también, no sé). Por supuesto, hubo otros que habían emigrado a Cuba primero y más tarde llegó a los EE.UU. para trabajar en otros campos.

Otros asturianos, aunque menos numerosos, trabajaban en las minas de carbón, pero parece que habían sido solamente un pequeño porcentaje de los mineros del carbón de origen española en los EE.UU.

En siglos anteriores, cuando era español lo que hoy es el suroeste de Estados Unidos, habían muchos asturianos que trabajan como vaqueros. Es posible que habían sido vaqueiros asturianos (un antiguo grupo trashumante asturiano que hizo migraciones por temporadas con su ganado y sus hogares para desplazarse entre las tierras bajas y pastizales de altura).

Thank you for the reply and history lesson! This site has been a treasure and I'm very grateful!!

I just viewed the AusturianUS documentary and will be passing that onto my grandfather in Donora. I don't think he's seen it, and I'm sure he would love it! Him and Tony Menendez are very close friends.

One more question - do you know where to obtain birth records from Spain from the late 1800's? Are they online somewhere? Gracias!

I don't think they are online in most cases. You should post a message to the Genealogy forum. You'll need to tell us the names, date of birth, place of birth (village/city and county), and perhaps parents of the child.

These messages might help:
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3423
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2409

Great site for research. i beleive Mindis grandfather may be a 1st cousin of mine as my dad had some interst in the Gonzales Bros store and Uncle Franks CHORIZO was the best!

I know this is an old post, but did you ever finish transferring everything to DVD? IF so, may I please purchase copies from you? My family is from Donora during that time frame as well and I would love to show my Grandma Amor the videos and pictures!!!