More Silvans ~

Today, I received an email from another Silvan descendant with a cc to her sister. These ladies are children of Eusebio Gonzales, Jr., better known as SAB. Reaching out to my cousins during my research into the Silvan family line has given me an endless supply of relations and adding them up one by one forces me to start over after naming them on the first 10 fingers!

When I began this quest, all I really knew was my abuelita had one uncle and one aunt and their families who traveled from Spain with them to Hawaii and later, on to California. Since that time, I have names, dates, places, stories, photographs and during the process of gathering this family information, I have the family tree embedded in my brain. Now I know they left a mother and two brothers behind in Spain === That information must wait until I get to Spain next spring... but for now, I can fill in the AMERICAN blanks!

It will be a wonderful finish to go beyond publishing MANUELA'S PETALS and work on the one to follow which will be titled SILVAN LEAVES. Building the dossier for each Silvan member would be impossible without the help of so many descendants they left behind and I am touched and honored to meet and learn to know these Spanish (and some Portuguese) family members.

I am filling my calendar for my California visit that will include meeting these cousins IN PERSON vs. the internet and telephone conversations. It will truly be a combined effort by the time it is finally in print and I am moving toward filling up my notebooks with the thrill of the find!