Asturian-American Migration Forum

Good evening,

I posted a message a few years ago and received a little bit of information that didn't pan out so I thought I'd post again to see if a new set of eyes might know something.

My great-grandfather, Fernando Manuel Suco immigrated from Spain into the United States by way of Cuba. His information is below:

Born May 30, 1876 in Cangas de Onis, Asturias, Spain. We have no information about his side of family beyond him. He came to the US on the SS Masscotte on Sept 1903.

We would love to find out any information we possibly can about family in the area or other information we can. Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully respond.

Sincerely,

Michele Welch

The archives of the Centro Asturiano de Tampa, now housed at the University of South Florida, had one digitized picture of a Suco (Jose Suco Valdez):



Of interest, the SS Mascotte sailed routinely between Havana and Tampa, bringing masses of Spanish/ Cuban immigrants along with the tobacco to keep the city's cigar factories in business. The SS Mascotte figures prominently in the City of Tampa's seal:

I dug a little further and there is a Fernando Suco buried in the old Centro Espanol Cemetery, in Tampa. He was born in 1877 and died in 1944. This probably made him a socio of the Centro Espanol, though he may have had relatives belonging to the Centro Asturiano. Clearly, he settled in the Tampa or Ybor City area. The information below is from Findagrave.com:

Fernando Suco


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Birth: 1877
Death: 1944


Burial:
Centro Espanol Cemetery (Old)
Ybor City
Hillsborough County
Florida, USA

Created by: K
Record added: May 21, 2010
Find A Grave Memorial# 52679919

Fernando Suco
Cemetery Photo
Added by: Debbie Adams


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Click on image for full size.

Thank you for this information. The digitized picture you showed is my Uncle Joe. His father's last name was Suco and his mother's last name was Valdez. She was from Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba. My great-grandfather met her when he came from Spain to Cuba. My understanding was that he had to stay in Cuba for several months before coming to the US.

We're hoping to find any Suco family members that might still be in the Asutiras area where he came from. We know nothing of his life in Spain.

Our family does remember Centro Asturiano as well as Centro Espanol in the Ybor City area of Tampa. I was born and raised in Tampa and my grandparents lived in Palmetto Beach which is right by Ybor City.

Any other information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!