Asturian-American Migration Forum

I'm searcing for records from my great-great grandparents. The names are:

Angel Fernandez Gonzalez, born Feb 12, 1882 in Aviles. He left Liverpool, Eng on the Carpathia and arrived in NY on Aug 5, 1904.

Ramona Muniz Gonzalez (wife) Born in Aviles around 1883 or 1884, she arrived in NY in 1906 with two children (Jose Moreno and Josephine Aurora).

They went to Cherryvale, KS first and then moved to Donora, PA where they owned an Ice Delivery Co and then Gonzalez Bros. Grocery store.

I'd love to find an address in Aviles where they may have lived, parents, siblings, a church, marriage record (I believe 1900), anything that may be of help.

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If anyone can help, I'd greatly appreciate it!! Thank you!


Yo soy buscando para registros de mis abuelos de gran-gran. Los nombres son: Angel Fernandez Gonzalez, nacido el 12 de febrero de 1882, en Avilés. Deja a Liverpool, Eng sobre el Carpathia y arribó en Nueva York, 5 de agosto de 1904.

Ramona Muniz Gonzalez (esposa) nació en Avilés alrededor de 1883 o 1884, llegó en Nueva York en 1906 con dos hijos (José Moreno y Josephine Aurora).

Se dirigían a Cherryvale, KS, en primer lugar y, a continuación, se trasladó a Donora, PA donde poseían un co de entrega de hielo y, a continuación, González Bros Grocery almacén.

Me encantaría encontrar una dirección en Avilés, donde ellos pueden han vivido, padres, hermanos, una iglesia, el registro de matrimonio (creo 1900), todo lo que puede ser de ayuda.

Si alguien puede ayudar, agradeceria mucho lo!! ¡Gracias!

Many birth and death certificates show addresses, so that would be an easy way to get that information. I don't think marriage certificates have addresses, but they might have other helpful information that would help you track down your ancestors.

Those are civil records. If they really were from Avilés, the records are available from the Registro Civil in Avilés.

The church would have another set of records, typically without addresses, although they often do show the village or city where they lived. Again, these records are probably available in Avilés, but it would be best to know which church they went to. The records at the Registro Civil would help you determine that because their home address would show you which church they had to attend.

Now, I'm talking about searching for a lot of different documents, so I don't think I'd do it by mail. The easiest way to get these records is by visiting, but it probably wouldn't be a quick visit. You'd need at least several weekdays, possibly more, depending on how many generations you want to search for. You'll also want to be sure that you go when the Registro Civil is going to be open (not on vacation or something similiar).

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Muchos de los certificados de nacimiento y defunción muestran las direcciones, de modo que sería una manera fácil de obtener esa información. No creo que los certificados de matrimonio tengan direcciones, pero podrían tener otra información útil que te ayude a rastrear a tus antepasados.

Esos son documentos civiles. Si realmente eran de Avilés, los documentos están disponibles en el Registro Civil de Avilés.

La iglesia tendría otro conjunto de registros, por lo general sin direcciones, aunque frecuentemente muestran el pueblo o ciudad donde vivían. Una vez más, es probable que estos documentos sean disponible en Avilés, pero sería mejor saber a cuál iglesia iban. Los registros en el Registro Civil te ayudará a determinar cuál, debido al hecho que el domicilio donde vivían indicará a cuál iglesia se tuvieron que asistir.

Pues, estoy hablando de buscar de una gran cantidad de documentos diferentes, así que no creo que lo haría por correo. La forma más fácil de obtener estos documentos sería por visitar, aunque probablemente no sería una visita rápida. Necesitarías al menos unos días de semana, posiblemente más, dependiendo de cuantos generaciones quieras buscar. Y también sería importante estar seguro de que no vas cuando el Registro Civil va a ser abierto (no de vacaciones o algo así).

I've hit a dead end in the U.S. and I now need to beg looking in Asturias for records to find out more information about my family. Im planning a trip to Spain in the next few years and would love to have some addresses to visit...churches, cemeteries, etc. I noticed the list of registro civiles. Is there someplace online for records or do I need to write directly to them?

Here's the information I've found for your interest:

Ramona Muniz Gonzalez was born 1 apr 1884 in San Martin to parents elmerehildo Gonzalez and bernardina Muniz. She married angel Fernandez Gonzalez on 21 feb 1903. She arrived in the U.S. on 8 sept 1906 where she settled in Cherryvale and moved to Donora, PA around 1924.

Angel Fernandez Gonzalez was born 12 feb 1882 in Aviles to parents Gabrial Gonzalez and Manuela Fernandez. He married Ramona Muniz Gonzalez on 21 feb 1903. He arrived in the U.S. on 5 aug 1904 where he resided in Cherryvale and moved to Donora, PA around 1924.

I've had to dig deep for records and it has been an amazing journey! The best part has been sharing information with my grandfather who still resides in Donora.

Welcome back, Mindi. I've moved your last message here so we can follow what's happened all in one place. Please use the "post reply" button when you're adding more information about an existing topic. This image might be helpful:
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4080

Hi Mindi,

If you haven't already, you may want to contact the civil registry in Spain at https://sede.mjusticia.gob.es/cs/Satell ... nicio.html

with the specific information you have, it should be easy to have the birth records send to you by mail free of charge. Once you receive them, they should have more info to request the next set of birth records. Hope this helps.

On another note, I am looking for more information on my maternal grandmother and great-grandparents and thought you, or perhaps your grandfather in Donora may be able to provide some info. The only information I have is of my g.grandfather, Jose Cuervo and his wife, Esperanza Barrero with their young daughter, Aurelia Cuervo going to work in a mill in the Pittsburg area circa 1922-1925. My g.grandmother gave birth to another daughter, Estrella in the U.S., but I cannot find any birth record.

Art once provided me info that Donora is outside Pittsburg and could look there, however, I'm not sure how many mills existed. Would you or your grandfather know any info? Perhaps you could point me in the right direction as I have hit a brick wall.

Thanks in advanced,
Bea

Donora, PA, which is south of Pittsburgh and on the Monongahela River, had steel and zinc mills -- a number of them, if I remember correctly. It was a fair-sized industrial center with immigrants of a variety of ethnicities.

There were other steel mills in the Pittsburgh area, even in Pittsburgh, but Donora is the only one I know of that had a large number of Asturians.

It wouldn't surprise me, though, to learn that a few Asturians worked in those other mills because I had an uncle who moved around the east coast working in various metallurgic factories that were not related to zinc.

There was another zinc mill in WV at Moundsville, which is on the Ohio River and to the southwest of Pittsburgh a fair distance. There was an Asturian community there, too.

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Donora, PA, que se encuentra al sur de Pittsburgh y a la orilla del río Monongahela, tenía fábricas de acero y zinc -- un número de ellos, si no recuerdo mal. Fue un centro industrial de buen tamaño con inmigrantes de una gran variedad de etnias.

Había otras fábricas de acero en la zona de Pittsburgh, incluso en la ciudad propria, pero Donora es el único sitio que conozco en el occidental de Pennsylvania que tenía un gran número de asturianos.

No me sorprendería, sin embargo, al enterarse de que unos pocos asturianos trabajaron en las otras fábricas, porque tuve un tío que se trasladaría alrededor de la costa este para trabajar en diversas fábricas metalúrgicas que no estaban relacionados con el zinc.

Había otra fábrica de zinc en Virginia Occidental en Moundsville, que está a la orillla del río Ohio y a una distancia considerable al suroeste de Pittsburgh. Había una comunidad asturiana allí, también.

Hi Art,

This is correct! I did a bit more research and Donora Zinc Works was actually the location that had a massive polution accident where 20 people died and many more were plagued with medical issues for years later. The government used the location and incident to create polution laws and for other zinc plants to have policies in place to minimize polution.

I was hoping to find somewhere the names of the immigrant workers of each of the plants. If I could narrow the area, perhaps I could visit the location for more information. Living fairly close in DC, I could make several trips to hit each one. Difficult to tell exactly where my g.grandfather worked or lived. I know that some plants had homes for the immigrant workers called "farms", but that's as far as I have gotten with my research. I think it may be time to go in person to each location.

Thanks again for your help. This forum is wonderful and reading through some of the posts brings back many memories of my childhood on both sides of my tree!

Bea

You may want to read more on the forum first. I say that because most of what you've reported is info that you'll find on the forum, too. So you might save yourself a lot of footwork and frustration by finding the info that's already been preserved here. Some of our members aren't active but we may be able to contact them and get specific info for you. Barbara Alonso Novellino, for example, may know something about the "Farm."

If you know that they lived on the "Farm," then you may want to check on Moundsville, WV, first. Barbara has written about the "Farm" many times on the forum. Moundsville is much more rural than many of the locations with zinc factories. I don't know how common that term was. I've never heard it associated with Donora, Spelter or Anmoore, but I wasn't around then!

To search for something specific like that, you'll want to type this into Google:
site:asturianus.org novellino AND farm

Here's a direct link, but you won't learn how to do it!

Art,

Thanks so much for your help. I'm still going through the forum for info...there is a lot of it. It is great that this forum exisits. I'll keep doing my research!

Bea

Bea, I've had some trouble with my email lately and apologize for not replying sooner. Thank you so much for the information on acquiring records in Spain. I'm very excited to start working on that this week!

As for the mills in Donora, you may want to check out this website which includes a nice overview of the industry's history in Donora.

http://www.donorasmog.com/industry.htm

The next time I speak to my grandfather, I'd be happy to ask him if he recognizes any of the names you mentioned. In the meantime, J Barboa, is an active member of this forum and Asturian research from Donora. he may be of more help to you.

good luck in your search and thanks for the help with mine!

Hello,

It has been a few years since I have a posted. I am finally going to travel to Spain in September. My mother and I are very excited to visit Asturias and walk in the footsteps of our ancestors! We are going this September and while I know the towns we need to visit, I would love to see a church, cemetery, or residence that would connect us to our family.

I am having trouble navigating the Civil Register website for records. Here's a recap from my earlier posts about what I know:

Ramona Muniz Gonzalez: Born 1 Apr 1884 in San Martin
Father: Elmerehildo Gonzalez
Mother: Bernardina Muniz.
Married- Angel Fernandez Gonzalez on 21 Feb 1903. (I believe they lived in Piedras Blancas) She arrived in the U.S. on 8 Sept 1906 where she settled in Cherryvale and moved to Donora, PA around 1924.

Angel Fernandez Gonzalez: Born 12 Feb 1882 in Aviles
Father: Gabrial Gonzalez
Mother: Manuela Fernandez.
Married Ramona Muniz Gonzalez on 21 Feb 1903. He arrived in the U.S. on 5 Aug 1904 where he resided in Cherryvale and moved to Donora, PA around 1924.

Any ideas or help is greatly appreciated!! I am also wondering if there is someone in Aviles that can help us create an itinerary while we are in Spain.

Thank you all so much!

Welcome back, Mindi! I've posted info on the Facebook page and asked folks to reply here if they have any info for you so we can keep the info all in one place for you.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AsturianUS/

Don't miss the church of San Martín de Laspra (Samartín de L'aspra in Asturian). Its three altars, windows preserved from an earlier structure, and bell tower alone are worth the trip. The cemetery is immediately adjacent, with graves old and new. I found some family names there in 1999 and more in 2016. The church had added a new building (albergue de peregrinos - pilgrim's hostel) in the years between my two visits. Not far away,at the top of the cliff overlooking Salinas, are the remnant of the gun emplacements from which Salinas was shelled by the Franquistas during the guerra civil.

In Salinas, try the cachopo at La Toldilla (excellent as of October 2016}.

Cemetery San Martín de Laspra - Castrillón
http://cementeriosdeasturias.com/cement ... castrillon

In addition to visiting Avilés and Castrillón, it is good to walk around the old Oviedo and the Prerrománico (San Julian de los Prados - Oviedo, Camara Santa de la Catedral de Oviedo).

Thank you Art for posting on FB. And thank you Bob and Jasm for the suggestions and help you provided. I will be sure to visit them. I'll continue to post updates about any findings.