Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hello to all of you,
I have no American relatives, so actually I don't belong in here; anyway I would like to contribute to your efforts by pointing your attention to an interesting photobook that you might be interested in.
It was published in Oviedo in September 1933, so the date falls clearly wthin the scope of most of your researches.

The title is "Las Bellezas de Asturias", and the author (or publisher) was Juan Gil Cañellas.

The book is made up of series of stickers ("cromos") which you had to collect and stick in the appropriate places. It is divided into fifty series, each one dealing with a particular aspect of Asturian life (towns, mountains, gorges, beaches, bridges, coal-mining, salmon and trout fishing, monasteries, customs and "romerías", celebrations...

I would recommend it to everyone who wants to have a global pictorial view of everyday life in the region in the first half of the twentieth century. I imagine the book may be a bit difficult to find (as it always happens with old sticker books). If anyone of you is interested, please do tell me and I can scan some pictures for you.

Best wishes, and good luck

Ceferino wrote:I have no American relatives, so actually I don't belong in here

Oh, my! Not so! Ceferino, over half of the members and participants are people living in Asturias, many of whom don't have family who emigrated to the US. We're happy you've joined us!

You're not the only one who has thought this. It is true, however, that when we created the site we didn't realize that many Asturians would be interested. This has been one of the pleasant surprises of the forum.

Thanks so much for mentioning this book. I'd love to see a copy some day. (There is a copy available on at http://www.todocoleccion.net for 120 euros. Ouch!)

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Ceferino wrote:(Traslado por mi) No tengo ningunos parientes americanos, entonces en realidad no pertenezco en aquí

¡Dios mio! ¡No es así! Ceferino, más de la mitad de los miembros y participantes viven en Asturias, mucho de quien no tiene la familia que emigró a EU. ¡Somos felices que nos has unido!

No eres el único que ha pensado así. Es verdadero, sin embargo, que cuando creamos el sitio no comprendimos que muchos asturianos estarían interesados. Esto ha sido una de las sorpresas más agradables del foro.

Muchas gracias para mencionar este libro. Me gustaría ver una copia un día. (Hay una copia disponible en http://www.todocoleccion.net para 120 euros. ¡Ay!)

Hola Ceferino,

Thanks for the information about the book. You are very welcome to be a member of our forum whether or not you have relatives living "al otru llau del mar." If you want to be here, then you belong here. The number and enthusiasm of our Asturian members, as Art has pointed out, has been a welcome surprise. It has also enriched our lives enormously. Our website is not only about reestablishing connections that have been broken, but also about creating new ones. Again, welcome!

Bob Martinez

Thanks a lot for your warm welcome. I will be happy to help you in any way I can, and let me wish you success in the task you have undertaken.

I have visited the link Art mentioned, but I haven't been able to locate the book on the site. Be warned that I did not mean the famous work by Bellmunt y Canella, but rather a sticker-album. The funny thing about it is that my father met the author of some of the photos in real life (relatives of mine appear on them, that's why I bought the book in the first place).

Para los hispanohablantes del foro, y así le ahorro a Art el trabajo de traducción:

Gracias por su cálida acogida. Estaré encantado de ayudarles en cualquier modo, y les deseo éxito en la tarea que han emprendido.

He visitado el enlace que mencionaba Art, pero no he podido localizar el libro en el sitio. Aviso que yo no me refería al famoso trabajo de Bellmunt y Canella, sino a un album de cromos. Lo curioso es que mi padre conoció en persona al autor de algunas de las fotos (en ellas aparecen parientes míos, y por eso compré el libro).

Oops, that is impossible!

For a listing of Las Bellezas de Asturias, try this link instead:
http://www.todocoleccion.net/lote.cfm?Id_Lote=432357

Many thanks for writing in both English and Castilian. It really does help all of our readers and volunteer translators!

If you want to correct or add to one or your messages, you can click the "edit" button and change your message, add a translation, etc.

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¡Opa, si es imposible!

Para una lista de Las Bellezas de Asturias, prueba este eslabón en cambio:
http://www.todocoleccion.net/lote.cfm?Id_Lote=432357

Muchas gracias para escribir tanto en inglés como en castellano. ¡Esto realmente ayuda a todos nuestros lectores y traductores voluntarios!

Si quieres corregir o añadir a un de tus mensajes, puedes pulsar el botón de "edit" y cambiar tu mensaje, añadir una traducción, etc.

Ceferino Gancedo Vallina wrote: I have no American relatives, so actually I don't belong in here;

Hello,

Just for the small history, and as encouragement for those looking for distant family members via Internet: we have just discovered that we do have American relatives after all.

While looking for sites about Colunga, I found a message where somebody was asking for info about my grandmother's names in my father's little town. The message was almost a year old and there were no replies to it. After a short exchange with this person, it appears that we have a cousin in Florida. He pointed me to my brother's post here.

So good luck to all of you looking for relatives.

Isabel

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Hola:

Como es una anécdota curiosa y para dar ánimos a quienes buscan a través de internet a sus familiares perdidos : acabamos de enterarnos que sí que tenemos familia en Estados Unidos.

Al buscar información turísitca sobre Colunga di con un mensaje en el que se pedía información sobre los apellidos de mi abuela en el pueblo de mi padre. El mensaje tenía casi un año y no había tenido respuesta. Tras intercambiar varios mensajes con el autor, resulta que tenemos un primo en Florida. Fue él quien me mandó el enlace al mensaje de mi hermano en este foro.

En definitiva, espero que los que estáis buscando parientes tengáis igual de suerte.

Isabel

You and I share the same apellido. It's very possible that we are related if your family is from the Avilés/Castrillón area.

Saludos.

Hola Xosé:

I would be suprised if you happened to be a direct relative of my mother's.
My grandfather Vallina did a research on his family before the Church register books were burned during the Civil War. What he found is that his family had been living in the same place, Bada (Parres, Asturias), from the XVIIth century on. Mybe some of the male descendents moved to another place and started a new branch of the family, but we do not know.

Picture of Bada- http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id ... 761&size=m - Foto de Bada

Me extrañaría mucho que fueras pariente directo de mi madre. Mi abuelo Vallina pudo estudiar los archivos parroquiales de su pueblo (Bada, concejo de Parres) antes de que se quemaran en la Guerra Civil. Él descubrió una fila ininterrumpida de Vallinas en el pueblo hasta mediados del siglo XVII y de ellos descendemos nosotros. Puede que alguno se hubiera ido a otros pueblos, dando origen a una nueva rama, pero no lo sabemos.