Asturian-American Migration Forum

My great-grandparents emigrated from the Cabo Peñas section of northern Asturies (he was from Castrillón, she from Lluanco). They met in America when my great-grandfather, José Vallina, was a boarder in my great-grandmother's house (well, actually she was just a girl, so it was the house of my great-great grandfather, José Garcia). Her name was Tomasa Garcia Alonso. They married here in the States and had two children, Pilar and José Maria (Pepín), who was my grandfather.

Shortly after giving birth to Pepín, my bisabuela came down with pneumonia and, owing to the TB scare in the country at the time, she and the children were deported back to Spain, where they lived in Lluanco for four years. My bisabuelo stayed behind to earn money at the smelter to send back to them in the old country.

Meanwhile, my bisabuela and the two children moved to Havana, Cuba, in the hopes of re-entering the U.S. to be reunited with my bisabuelo. There was a substantial Asturianu community there at the time, and they stayed for a little over a year until my bisabuelo was finally able to get a congressman from WV to pull some strings and allow her a visa back into the country. He went down to Havana, and escorted them back to Clarksburg, WV where they stayed until moving to Moundsville.

My abuelo, Pepín, changed his name legally to Joe Vallina and, after studying in D.C. to become an electrician, moved to southern WV where he met my grandmother, a Scots-Irish woman whose family had lived in America for many generations. For this reason (and the prevalent racism at the time) my father never learned Spanish, and I had to study and live in Spain to learn it. Quite a shame, but water under the bridge, as they say.

My bisabuelos never left Moundsville, and I have fond memories of travelling up to the panhandle to visit them. My bisabuelo used to sing me Spanish songs when I was a young boy, and my bisabuela was a kind, gentle lady, who nevertheless was a little ball of fire when you riled her up! The Asturian blood, I suppose! I guess I inherited that, for better or worse.

I moved to Oviedo in 1996 to teach English and get to know my Spanish family, and I have great memories of living in Spain. (¡Vaya la sidra!) Whenever anyone found out that my apellido was Vallina, I was instantly taken in as a long-lost Asturianu brother. I'm proud of being of Asturian descent, and I hope to be able to pass on this legacy to children of my own someday.

Welcome to the forum, Xose. I was impressed with the story of your great-grandmother being deported just because she could have had TB and how easily a family could be torn apart by the whims of a civil servant. She must have been an awfully brave woman to travel to Cuba and try to reunite with her husband through the "back door". Crossing the Atlantic in those days was risky and she did it twice and with small children at that.
Anyway, nice to hear that you enjoyed your stay in Asturias and that you were made to feel at home from the start.
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Bienvenido al foro, Xose. Me impresionó mucho la historia de tu bisabuela que fue deportada sólo porque sospechaban que podría tener tuberculosis y lo fácil que era separar a una familia por los caprichos de un funcionario.
Tuvo que haber sido una mujer muy valiente al viajar a Cuba para intentar volver a EE.UU: con su marido por la "puerta trasera". Cruzar el Atlántico en aquellos tiempos era un asunto peligroso y encima con críos pequeños.
En fin, me alegra que hayas disfrutado de tu estancia en Asturias y que te hayan hecho sentirte como en casa desde el principio.

Saludos
Terechu

Xose,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting the information about your family.

My grandfather was born in Salinas and my grandmother in San Martín de Laspra, (in a neighborhood called La Vallina, which may relate to your surname). I have ancestors with the Alonso surname, as do you. Given the small population in Castrillón and Gozón at the turn of the century, it's hard to image that those of us who share surnames from the same area are not in some way related.

I often sing songs in castellano or asturianu to my granddaughters. Can you post the the lyrics to some of the songs that you remember?

Bob Martinez

If only I knew them! Alas, I was too young to remember. I just remember being at their house in Moundsville, out on the swing in the back yard with him singing to me in some crazy language I couldn't understand...

My bisabuelo spoke only broken English, although my bisabuela learned to be quite fluent, and also lived much longer, so I have many more memories of her.

I remember your Great Grandparents. They were my Aunt tomasa and Uncle Cuesta. My father Julio Garcia Alonso was Aunt Tomasa's brother.

As a child, I spent my summers in Moundsville, but my Grandfather Adelino Montes passed away in 1942 and then our summers there ended. However, we would come down and visit anyway because my family on both sides was still there.

Your Great Grandmother was indeed a fire ball. When she got angry her face turned bright red...We used to call her Aunt Tomato Face. I remember during a thunder storm how she would hide in the closet downstairs out of total fear. She would grab me and thats where we would escape until it was over.

She was an excellent cook and we had many meals there with them. She would never sit down with us. She was always busy at the stove making things and making sure we had enough to eat. We used to tell her to sit down but she always said later, later.

I remember your Great Grandfather as a very gentle man who was quiet. He would sit on the porch and smoke his pipe.

It's neat to have first-hand accounts of them other than our immediate family's stories. Thanks for the memories, as they say!

Hi. first is to say sorry for my very bad english.
My name is Santiago Vallina and i live in the East of Spain since 9 years for work reasons.
I was born in Aviles, a city very close to Castrillón. My grandfather was Jose Vallina and all of his brothers travel to Usa in the first days of last century.
My Fahter has some cousins in St Louis of Missuri. One of then, Louis dead a few years ago. He had a brother called Jose Vallina and a ¿cousin? called Joe vallina.
I was in St louis Vallina´s reunion in 1993 or 1994, i can´t remember and i know a lot of people of our big family in USA.
The sons of Louis are Van, Chris and Kim and her wife was Audrey.
Are You and me parents Xose?

Hola! I would write this in Spanish if I could. Maybe someone here would be kind enough to translate.

Louis was my cousin -- his mother and my grandfather were brother & sister. Do you go by the name Pepe also? I know Pepe came from Spain several years ago, and attended the Vallina family reunion in St. Louis.

I will email you also, but I cannot write in Spanish.

Angela
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Transl. Terechu

Hola! Escribiría en español si supiera. Quizás alguien sea tan amable de traducir esto.

Louis era primo mío -- su madre y mi abuelo eran hermanos. Utilizas también el nombre de Pepe? Conozco a un Pepe que vino de España hace unos años a la reunión familiar de los Vallina en St. Louis,

Te voy a enviar un correo electrónico, aunque no sé escribir en español.

¡Hola Angela! he estado leyendo tus posts, y ¿sabes que te llamas y apellidas igual que la que fué Alcaldesa de Castrillón al principio de esta legislatura? Angela Vallina.

No solo eso, su padre se llama Servando, son de Arancés y ella se crió en Naveces, con su abuelo. Asi es que, como diriamos en España, esto es "blanco y en botella"

¿es casual que tengais el mismo nombre? ¿o es que alguna de vuestras abuelas se llamaban asi?

Saludinos.....

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trans. Art

Hello, Angela! I have been reading your posts, and wondered if you realize that your name is like that of someone who was the mayor of Castrillón [an Asturian county] and before that served in its legislature? Her name is Angela Vallina.

Not only that, her father is called Servando, they are from Arancés and she grew up in Naveces with her grandfather. So, it's obvious; as we would say in Spain, "when you have something white in a bottle, it's milk, for sure".

[Art: The expression is "blanco y botella", also expressed "Blanco y en botijo, leche fijo". Thanks to Mafalda for explaining it to me. I think Mafalda is saying that the potential connection between the families is clear.]

[Art: This is a photo of the Asturian Angela Vallina de la Noval.]

Is it only a coincidence that you have the same name? Or is it possible that one of your grandmothers had this name, too?

Best wishes....

Santiago, lo siento solo ahora acabo de ver su mensaje. Es muy posible que nosotros somos familia. A mi bisabuelo se llamó Jose Vallina, y yo sé sobre la familia se llama Vallina en St. Louis, pero no sé si ellos serían la familia de mi bisabuelo. A él murió cuando tuve solo cinco años, y, es desgracia, pero no conozco su familia acá o en España. A me gustaría conocer a ellos, pero en este momento, no les conozco.

¿Sabe si el hermano Jose Vallina vivió en virginia occidental?

Xosé

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Santiago, I'm sorry, I just now saw your message. It's very possible that we are family. My great-grandfather was named José Vallina, and I know about the Vallina family in St. Louis, but I don't know if they would be my great-grandfather's family. He died when I was only 5 years old, and unfortunately, I don't know his family here or in Spain. I would like to know them, but right now, I don't.

Do you know if the brother Jose Vallina lived in West Virginia?

Xosé

Muchos saludos a todos los asturianos de ambos lados del Atlantico. No pude dejar de sorprenderme gratamente al ver que existía este foro que conecta astures de ambos lados del mundo , que existen Vallina en la otra orilla del océano y sobre todo de encontrar a otra persona que se llama igual que mi hermano Xose Vallina.
Nosotros somos de la Cuenca Minera, aunque en la niñez emigramos a Xixón donde pasamos, en mi caso, la infancia y la adolescencia para mas tarde regresar nuevamente a L`Entregu donde resido actualmente.
Saludos y un beso a todos. Ixuxú!!!!

Bueno,ne,ya veo que encontraste tus antepasados.Un besu a todos los vallinas.Si sois todos como los que yo conozco,merece mucho la pena su amistad.

Eso es lo que ha sido el descubrimiento de este foro para mi.

Me llamo,efectivamente, Ángela Vallina De La Noval,mi padre se llama Servando,igual que se llamaba su padre.Mi abuelo emigró a EEUU creo que sobre los años 30, a Chicago, luego volvió para Asturias,vivía en un pueblo que se llama " Las Vallinas ". Lo que si sé es que dos de sus hermanos se quedaron allí.También sé que tanto Luis como Pepe eran sobrinos suyos.Mi hermana si visitó St.LOUIS hace unos años cuando Luis estaba ya enfermo y ese otro Pepe que comentais estubo en una de las reuniones familiares es primo de mi padre.

Yo si recuerdo que cuando era pequeña habían venido unos familiares de ahí y que además habían traído su coche en el barco,lo recuerdo porque de aquella en España no se veían esos coches más que en las películas americanas.
Un saludo para todos estos parientes del otro lado del charco,como decimos aquí.

Ángela

Quiero felicitar a Angela por el exito conseguido en las elecciones municipales de Castrillon, estoy segura de que en esta nueva etapa que comienza, en nuestros pueblos se volverá a hablar de un gobierno eficaz, sensato y honesto que lucha por los intereses de los ciudadanos.
Porque imperarán esas cualidades, espero poder decir dentro de unos dias ¡enhorabuena, Alcadesa!

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