Asturian-American Migration Forum

This was relayed to me by Raymond Menendez, my grandfather's (John Menendez) nephew: He claims Sabino Menendez (the father of John) "owned" a Nickel Mine is Asturias. They were involved in organizing labor unions. Sabino heard he was going to be arrested. He threw a birthday party and invited the whole town. While the party went on the family "went over the mountains; " escaped to a ship and left Spain for America.

Part two of this story is that immigration laws limited the number of children that could come in. My grandfather was supposed to have come in as the child of another family.

This is an interesting story. I haven't check out the immigration laws but I did check the Ellis Island site. One Josefa Artimez came in with a number of children, the youngest child, John. There was no Sabino Menendez on this ship but he does appear a year earlier with a destination Clarksburg, WV!

Cathy,

Yes, Asturias has a long and rich history of labor organizing. I've always been interested in learning more about how workers' experiences in Spain affected the growth of labor unions and organizing in West Virginia.

On the question of restrictions on entry: I've done some pretty extensive research on admissions regulations during this period (I assume that you're talking about the period 1900-1917), and I've never seen reference to any laws restricting the number of children one was allowed to bring in.

This doesn't mean, however, that that there might not have been some informal rule among admissions officers at ports of entry. Perhaps other immigrants had this impression or were warned against bringing in a large number of children. Rumors like these about U.S. regulations have been documented and had a great influence on immigrants. Again, though, I've not seen any specific reference to a limt on the number of children. I'll keep my eyes open for it now though!

As I'm thinking about it, the Gonzalez family brought a 7 year old girl with them - this in addition to their three children. Family lore has it that the girl was the same age as the youngest daughter, so they lowered their daughter's age by two years to cover their tracks. I have no idea who this child was, or why she travelled with my grandparents to Clarksburg.

Suronda, your father showed me the Ellis Island record for his family when I visited. I think I remember seeing a name for this child. Wasn't it girl named Fernandez? I can't remember the first name.

Art,

The family name was Gonzalez - the family of Nicanor Gonzalez - when they entered Ellis Island in 1914. The children are all listed as Gonzalez, but the wife is listed as Maria Fernandez. It seems women, in the Spanish tradition, kept their family name in addition to their married name. Once in the U.S., however, she simply became Maria Gonzalez.

After Nicanor died, Maria later married Jose "Mieres" Bango. She was officially Maria Bango, but to the Spelter neighborhood she was known as "Maria Mieres."

As I learned from Maria Perez some years ago, there were so many "Marias" in the town that folks started attaching the husband's first name or nickname to the "Maria.' Maria Perez, for example, was always known as "Maria Mauro." "Mauro" was her husband's given name.

S.

Thanks, Suronda. I noticed the different last name, but hadn't realized it was the wife rather than a child!