A Silvan Christmas Gift from Linda and Patte ~

The box was sitting outside my office door on my wicker porch chair. I don't know how long it had been there.... the mail lady sometimes puts it there for safety in case animals lurk in the woods by the house. What a lovely surprise to see the address label was from one of my newly-found cousins, Patte, in Big Sur, CA. I tore it open! A small plate of candy from her and her sister, Linda from Elk Grove... their mother's fudge recipe. YUM. Their kindness and sweet thoughts made me smile and then I saw the the papers inside...

Oh, happy day. Copies of two letters, the envelopes they came in and information showing their Aunt Mary Gonzales M. had written to President Kennedy in 1962, asking if her father, Eusebio Gonzales, was eligible for Naturalization. The letter clearly showed he would be and the document from the Solano County offices in Vallejo, CA indicated they'd received his Alien Registration Form. Nearly fifty years ago.

The other letter was from Manuel Zapatero Garcia dated 27 August 1976. It appears he was the administrator of Correos (universal postal union?) writing to Aunt Mary Gonzales in response to her request to find relatives to Eusebio Gonzales and Cristencia Silvan Gonzales. It listed a lot of information and after careful translation, I found information we did not have;

1. Cousin to Cristencia Silvan was named Clara Silvan (Fallecida) with 5-6 sons all living in Fuentesauco.

2. He asked for more dates because he couldn't find further information for Eusebio.

3. He listed our great grandfather's name as Pedro and great grandmother's name as Agustina. We have our great grandfather's name as Celestino. Since several grandchildren and nephews carried on that name, can we surmise his name was Celestino Pedro or vice versa?

The second letter was from FELISADA written by her cousin, Cecelia, to Aunt Mary Gonzales from Fuentesauco dated 5 years later, 21 November 1981. More information!

1. We now know Felisidad's husband was Segundo Sanches Arias, living at Calle Benjamin Martin, numero 3, in Fuentesauco.

2. Her letter appears to say she did not know Geronimo Silvan had relatives and she was happy to find out they existed!

3. A big question surfaced immediately when I read that because my own father, Michael Silvan Ruiz, went to Fuentesauco 12 years earlier, in 1969 and spent the night with Segundo and Felisidad. So, why did she think no relatives existed? Definitely food for thought there!

4. We see in the letter that Felisidad lists her mother's name and I know this is JOAQUINA! This name is shown as Geronimo Silvan's wife (Joaquina Bragado Vicente) on the June 1930 ship manifest (SS Manuel Calvo) sailing from Cuba (sugar cane fields?) to Spain via New York. So we have definitely found Felisidad/Felicidada/Felicidad.

5. She listed Geronimo (whom we believe is her father or step father) and Tio Mando (which I believe is Agustin Silvan)

6. She also talks about Aunt Mary Gonzales M.'s brothers, Felis and Eusebio Gonzales, whom we know traveled to Spain and probably met and photographed Felisidad!

My list of questions grew for my visit to Fuentesauco with this wealth of information and I am antsy to get on my way!! Thank you Patte and Linda!