The infamous Spanish trunk

After trying to visualize the type of trunk our ancestors must have struggled with across Spain in 1911 to load onto the ORTERIC at Gibraltar, my mind is now aflame with the real thing. Thanks to Lynda E. I now have a photograph and seeing it has filled in several blanks in the puzzle. This trunk belonged to her great grandfather, Victorino Silvan and great grandmother, Ramona Silvan. She inherited it from her grandmother, their daughter, Felisa Silvan Medeiros.

Seeing this trunk told me immediately that it could not have been carried twelve miles when they walked, camping their way south. This photograph opened up conversations between my daughter, Audrie, and I with 'what ifs' and 'maybe they'.......only to resume again in earnest when I arrived at Linda R.'s home in Elk Grove, CA. Further discussions began between Linda and her sister, Patte K. and I and we were enmeshed in the story of long ago. Once they saw the photograph, the brainstorming went into high gear and they remembered part of a story that fit one more piece of the puzzle: Our ancestors pushed a type of wheel barrow. It must have held the trunk and other belongings on that long trek AND possibly carried the babies in tow.

Now, I have another research project to add to my others -- this time, what did a wheel barrow in 1911 Spain look like? Just a little probing on the internet tells me it was called a CARRETIA. Other names were CARUCHA or CARRUCHA. It's another timid start and a large chunk of history that will meld with their long trip to make it real for everyone who will eventually read their story... in Manuela's Petals.