Corrected translation from last posting

After another few hours of studying the letter from Felisidad, written by her sister, Cecelia back in 1981, I found I jumped to a conclusion without realizing it until later study.

In the past, a cousin told me the brothers of Juan Francisco Silvan Hernandez were named Geronimo and Mondo. Since I found, since then, the brothers named Geronimo and Agustin, I assumed Mondo might be a nickname... with no proof of such.

The letter from Felisidad was written in very badly-spelled Spanish and words were broken with dashes when a word couldn't fit on a line. That being said, I saw te-mando and mistakenly assumed 'mando' was the illusive Mondo. However, I took the letter piece by piece and word by word backing out the past tenses and found the conjugation made the letter much easier to read. She wasn't naming 'mondo';

"...te mando una foto que esta tu hermano..." This means that whomever this letter was written to was reminded that a photo was sent. Mando means "I send", mando with an accent above the letter O means he, she or a more formal you sent. (this was helpful from my brother, Steven).

The translation as best as I can read it is as follows:


Rte. Segundo Sánchez Arias
Calle Benjamín Martín numero 3
Fuentesauco (Zamora) España

Fuentesauco
- Noviembre 21, 1981

Esteemed Cousin Maria and family

Maria, Mr. Manuel (Zapatero), the postmaster, has given us notices; for many years, we had no knowledge Uncle Geronimo’s cousins.

He died many years ago and my mother, Joaquina, had no living family. My mother, 30
years ago, died shortly after Uncle (Geronimo).

Geronimo was always the one to write to your parents (the dates in your letter to your brothers, Felix and Eusebio). A few years ago, I sent a photo of your brother Eusebio for you (to know?).

Maria, you requested when your parents were born or from where they descended, if they were born on another date. You also ask in your letter if we have any letters from your parents. Since
it has been so many years that they died (Joaquina & Geronimo) she left nothing more. We are very glad of the notice and

I hope that you should understand my letter because I do not know English.

Signed with affection to our first cousins,
Segundo y Felisidad
A Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. I write to you as a daughter of your cousin, Felisidad. My name is Cecilia