Who is Felicidada?

Felicidada is a name I have come across in my research for several years. Nobody heard of the name until "Aunt" Theresa reminisced with memories of her mother's (Christina) and father's (Eusebio Gonzales) conversations many years ago on their porch when she was very young.

In the early 1970s, my father's first trip to Spain led him to write a letter to his sister, Rose Ruiz Gobert, telling her about "Felicidada, his Uncle Geronimo's adopted daughter." After making a note of this name and the connection, I hit a brick wall ----- until Theresa mentioned it last year. Since that time, I still could not find any notation of this woman's name. It was as if she was a breath of memory nobody could remember.

Until my recent trip to California --- I 'sort of' found her. While looking through letters, documents and photographs with cousins, Linda and Patte in Elk Grove, the name "FELICIDAD" jumped out and slapped me. I was stunned. As it turned out, it was a brief translation of a postcard received from Felicidad --- sent to Phyllis, their mother. The postcard had been translated by none other than THERESA. I was quite excited and called Theresa but so far, I have not connected with her. I hope she still has the original postcard as the translation was in bits and pieces because Felicidad's handwriting was so poor.

I am working on the translation and hope to speak with Theresa soon! So, Felicidada is REAL. Maybe she will be another ghost I will find when I reach Fuentesauco in Spain in June. My anticipation rumbles and excitement mounts for my trip and all I hope to find in that faraway land of our ancestors.