The 'sugar boat' book

I have a mile of web sites to research for further genealogy searches but one of the pieces of information I found was a book about the 'sugar boat people' which essentially means our Spanish ancestors who left their homes and traveled to Hawaii (and/or Cuba) to work in the sugar cane at the expense of the sugar cane plantation owners.

When I was led to the European and Hispanic Reading Rooms in Washington DC, I was delighted to meet the man on duty; a Spaniard from Galicia. He helped me learn the search routine by putting in at least 3 'key words' and ten books popped up! He printed out his findings and those I have added to the many web sites I have on another listing.

One of the books was actually in that specific reading room and I recognized the sugar boat name because one of our cousins in San Leandro area named Julie E. told me about it last year... she was sure her family had a copy but could not find it, so I kept the information logged into my brain's message center and the book was in my hands within minutes!

When one is at the Library of Congress, it is similar to being in a court house or other library where you purchase a print/copy card, load it with $ and then use it like a debit card in the copy machines. When I arrived in the Hispanic Reading Room, it was on a different floor as the Main Reading Room where the cards are purchased. Instead, I was given approval to use my cell phone to take photographs of the pages! And they turned out pretty well. I can definitely work with the photos and read the information. Much of the information I'd already learned but some specific details were quite noteworthy and I thank Julie for telling me about it!!

I will post findings in bits and pieces as I go one site at a time. I learned that the LDS Church has slowly digitized many documents in small villages of Spain. I had hoped Fuentesauco was included but not yet... The Spanish man who helped me in the reading room also said notarios are being digitized. What was that, I asked... He said they are copies of land documents and when they are finally available, I will see if I can find Silvan land documents!

For now, I am waiting to receive word that the four sibling's baptismal documents have been found and copied for me. When that happens, I will post one on this site.