The Genealogical road to answers?

I have been lax with my blog recently ~ My dad has been extremely ill. I ask for prayers during this vulnerable and unsettling time for him and my mother please...

Yesterday, I attended my first Advanced Genealogy class at the Christopher Wren Assn.'s offering through the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. This is the third class I have attended given by Cliff Neilson, who is a professional genealogist and a fund of valuable information.

When I began my quest to 'find grandma and her family from Spain' my mind was set on questions such as "When did they leave? How did they get to Hawaii? Why did they leave? Who were the family members who were with her? I knew she was young... she thought she was 12 but since I began investigating the puzzle pieces I found she was really only 9 1/2 years old when she left Spain.

I have managed, with the help from my genealogy classes and the internet, to find ship manifests, census information, WWI registrations and a number of fabulous photos and stories that survived over the years.

In my class yesterday, we were told how important it is to list the 'source' of our answers and if we have any "my aunt/uncle told me....." that we must find corroburation proof that the fact was indeed a fact.

That being said, I knew there were two areas of concern that must be puzzled out.
(1) My uncle said.....our ancestors rode the train until their money ran out and then they walked, worked and camped for 12 days until they arrived in Seville, Spain to get on a boat to take them down the river to La Linea at Gibraltar where a ship awaited to take them to Spain.
OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS, with that information in hand, I have researched trains, train tracks running from Salamanca (closest town near their village with a train station) and all the villages and towns they would have 'followed the train tracks' through on their way to Seville. I found the ship manifest at Gibraltar showing they sailed on the ORTERIC on February 24, 1911 and included my grandmother's family, her uncle's family and her auntie's family. I cannot find a boat manifest at Seville --- nor can I find how/when they traveled down the river toward LaLinea. I know each family carried a large, heavy trunk and also know they couldn't have carried it... "My cousin said......." and my daughter and I assumed also that they must have pushed the trunks in a cart. I researched wheel barrows at that time and my questions began again...., "Did they bring the cart from Fuentesauco? Did they buy one at the train station after they got off or load it onto the train in Salamanca?"

(2) The two brothers left behind.??? Originally, I was told through family members.... there were two brothers named "HERMANO" and "MUNDO". Strange names assuredly. After much research, I realized that Hermano was GERONIMO, pronounced 'her-on-i-mo' and I was thrilled with the find. Mundo was another story.... and another cousin said the other brother's name was Agustin. Further research on www.ancestry.com gave me the start of more questions... I found GERONIMO SILVAN from Fuentesauco and his wife, Joaquina Bragado Vicente at ages 54 and 55 on a ship manifest sailing from Cuba back to Spain in 1930. I was jubilant. Then I found a second ship manifest sailing from Cuba back to Spain in 1931 listing AGUSTIN SILVAN at age 43 from Fuentesauco. Both ships sailed June 15th, one year apart. Then my questions! The family stories gave varying histories about both brothers --- one went to South America and was never heard of again. One stayed in Spain and never married. ETC ETC ETC. Now, we know they both left -- probably working in sugar cane fields of Cuba to earn money to return to Spain.
"Did they have families? Did they leave after their mother, Agustina Hernandez died? Did they stay in Spain because she was still alive when the other 3 siblings and their families left? Do we have any descendants of those brothers in Spain still? Where do I find the vital statistical information in Spain??"

Well, for just the first class, my head is alive with attitude and I'm ready for class #2... Maybe the classmates can help me find some more answers to our ongoing Spanish puzzle.