Deciphering the SS ORTERIC Manifest ~

The ship's manifest that lists our family leaving Gibraltar at LaLinea, Spain in 1911 was an exciting find. It also produced questions and curious confusion because some people thought it was completed at point of departure and others thought it was completed at point of arrival in Honolulu 48 days after sailing away from the Spanish coast.

We know several babies were born onboard and also that many children died onboard due to measles, scarlet fever and possibly dehydration caused from the rampant seasickness. However, I still couldn't put my finger on when, where, how....and I also knew that several different people input the data.

My best imagined scenario was there were several lines of immigrants waiting to show their documents and proof of good citizenship and passing health exams. Since there were so many people, there were obviously several points where the pages of the manifest were completed. Several tables possibly. I do not think they were in alphabetical order though. Our Gonzales family names are shown several pages ahead of both of the Silvan families.

With the help of my new internet genealogy friend, Steve A., I believe he has the answer! The manifest was started in Gibraltar when our families began the boarding process and then the second page or at least the final check and balance input was completed at point of arrival. He reminded me that since babies were born (or died) on board, the general accounting was done in Honolulu. Oh, I am relieved to have that figured out! And it makes perfect sense.

It has been one of my genealogical dreams to put the list of family names from the Orteric ship on a spreadsheet so other family historians will have access to the listings to find their family information. Steve A. has offered to help me and jumped right on the task. THANK YOU, STEVE. So many genealogists and Spanish descendants have reached out to make the tasks we so enjoy easier for those who come after us!

Not only that, I now have more Spanish cookie recipes. I believe what we thought were "Roquettes" all our life, making those wine cookies at Christmas time, are really "Rosquetes". Since my dear abuelita couldn't read or write, my mother guessed at the spelling based on the sound. Now, with the cookie recipe in front of me, I smile in anticipation --- I will add the orange juice (not shown in our recipe) and bake up a batch to 'test'. And I just happen to have some Marsala in the cupboard, just waiting for me to whip begin baking.