SEEING clues to Rosa Romero Ruiz

How many times do we work on a project and get interrupted or set it aside for various reasons? How many times do we pull it out only to find clues to family history we'd overlooked before or been in too much of a hurry to SEE it when we look at it? In the past few years as I've been working on genealogy, this has happened and epiphanies shock me silly.

Audrie helped me SEE the name of the ship (Orteric) that our ancestors left Spain on (Silvan family). I'd looked at the document several times without seeing all the clues!

This brings me to today --- as this has happened many times during this family historical quest. I knew I'd better gather all the RUIZ family notes since half of my research in Spain would include my Abuelo/Grandpa Ben Ruiz's family. There are so many holes in that history and one of the big ones is finding his biological mother who died when he was 6 years old. Rosa Romero. I know her father's name was Miguel Romero Fernandez. It's been over a year since I received Grandpa Ben's Spanish birth certificate and I've looked it over, translating it many times. The script was very difficult to read which added to the discomfort of deciphering Spanish words as well.

TODAY I GOT SERIOUS! And found clues that knocked my socks off so to speak ~
The certificate lists BERNARDO RUIZ ROMERO clearly. And the names of her parents, Francisco Ruiz Romero and Rosa Romero Ruiz. It listed them from Malaga even though I'm sure this should have been Campanillas or Almogia but it is Malaga as the major province where his certificate was documented...

Paternal Grandparents: Juan Ruiz Vallejo and Maria Garcia Garcia. I grew frustrated because I couldn't read the name of the village they both hailed from .... only that it was a village in the provincia of Malaga. As a final resort, I sent a copy of the document to a friend who has helped me in the past and he had no problem~ They are from the village of BENAGALBON, which is east of Malaga about 12 km. This is about 7.5 miles and the the wonder of it all? This village is very close to my friend's ancestors from Chilches. So, I must add both these villages to my itinerary!

Maternal Grandparents: Miguel Romero Fernandez and Maria (can't read last name). Now I know where their village was: ALORA. This is the same village as Grandpa Ben's stepmother's family and the whitewashed village is beautiful. Cousin Janet Ruiz Martin visited a few months ago and sent photos. Now, maybe I will be able to find the elusive Rosa Romero and her family there? Despite the blurry last name, if the church records list Rosa's birth and/or baptism I will hit gold once again.
THIS IS TODAY'S POSTING IN http://onspanishsoil.blogspot.com/2012/08/countdown-to-spanish-dream.html - which will be my travel journal while in Spain... I'm in countdown mode toward next month's lift off.