All the LEAVES on our family tree

The leaves keep growing as if the tree knows it is Springtime! In the past week, I have received documents and pictures from every direction and from various family trees! The Silvan, Gonzales, Hubbard, Chubb, Steele, Williams, Ruiz and Arterburn lines. Wow. With my major focus on the Silvan and Ruiz families over the past couple of years, my genealogical key has been activated to such a degree that I now have 'grown' about 20 family leaves that I didn't know existed.

With the help and hard work of my cousin, Tess, we have managed to dig into our shared family links (through our mother's bloodlines) and found some very interesting stories and new family members as well as generating more questions! My mother is the last of her generation and she has a folder filled with fabulous old letters, pictures, poems, stories and diaries that have us rattled trying to gather, ponder and fill in the blanks.

Yes, sometimes it is an addiction as we try to put all the puzzle pieces together in our family lines but I truly feel our descendants will thank us one day for putting it all together and telling our story from the beginnings in England, Holland, Germany and Spain to where we are today and beyond.

It is gift day each time I receive valuable emails from anyone that are filled with stories and/or attachments..... the most recent being a newspaper obituary for the youngest Gonzales boy, Eusebio, Jr., that was sent to me a couple of days ago by his great niece (Jerilynn). A wonderful surprise and so much information in an obituary!!! Three days earlier, I received a bundle of information from a Gonzales niece (Alicia) and great granddaughter (Julie). When I publish my book, Manuela's Petals, it will be just the beginning of so many petals in the SILVAN LEAVES to follow my book. And the RUIZ book after that..... If anyone has any documents, pictures or stories to share with me about any of our family lines, please, please, please reach out to me and email to me through my web site, www.patriciabbsteele.com --- or ancestry.com or Facebook or email. I appreciate every tidbit and thank you so very much. PS

More SILVAN documents ~

Well, what new adventure will happen today, I thought, as I began my morning ritual of tinkering through the family tree in my mind and hoping for a tiny gem to add to my folder of ancestral information. And lo and behold! Alicia G. sent me some stunning documents related to her grandparents, Cristencia and Eusebio Gonzales. Spanish documents like ones I have noted for Cristencia's brothers, Juan Francisco (my great grandfather) and Victorino --- their brother, all of which followed the road from Fuentesauco to Seville and then to Gibralter to get on the ORTERIC and sail to the unknown beautiful islands of Hawaii in 1911. AND a bonus as well = Receipts from the boat tickets that carried the Gonzales family from Honolulu to San Francisco in 1918. $4 tickets!!

My day was jumping and I got a second hit about ten minutes ago. Another Gonzales relative googled their ancestral names and my blog popped up. She contacted me just as ten other descendents have found me and it is my fervent hope to enlarge my family file with more information SOON!

So many families. So many stories. So many documents and so many adventures still ahead. I can hardly wait to walk through the doors of this church, Santa Maria, in FUENTESAUCO in northern Spain and walk along the stone wall beside it to the cemetery within its shadowed realm. To actually see the gravestones of the SILVAN ancestors will be one giant step toward publishing my story. ESPANA IN 2011 ~

I met a new cousin today, CHRISTINA

I have my answer about my great Aunt Christina (Cristencia) and whether she was pregnant on the ship from Spain on her way to Hawaii. No. I was referred to her daughter today and she was named Christina after her grandmother. Cristencia had her first child on Hawaiian soil one year after arriving in Hawaii. Her first girl, named Maria Gloria Gonzales, born April 11, 1912. It was delightful meeting a new cousin and she wants to help me gain further information about her mother and will be in touch. Yay! Another relative. When I visualize our ancestor's exhaustive trip on foot for twelve long days, it was with a frantic heart that I thought Aunt Cristencia may have been pregnant; I am relieved that her main concerns were her two boys, Alejandro and Juanitco, food, rest, and athe overwhelming sadness at leaving her mother and two brothers behind.....not fighting the physical constraints and/or morning sickness from pregnancy thrown in also. I learned from my cousin, Christina, that her mother, Maria Gloria, died in Citrus Heights, California.... so more research is just waiting for me around the corner. AND another Americanized name..... changing the beautiful Maria Gloria to MARIE. I shake my head about that but remember that was a time when foreigners wanted to blend in and be like everyone else. They didn't want to stand out with Spanish names....but some of them were so beautiful. The name Christina is very special to me as it was the name of my first-born daughter....but if I had known it could have been CRISTENCIA..... I may have juggled the letters...

A Startling Revelation for Silvan Family History

Every time I find a new piece of evidence to add a piece to our family history, I get excited. Today, I spent quite some time putting family information into the SILVAN site of www.ancestry.com and found a 1930 Census in Silveyville, California for Cristencia and "ALFRED" Gonzales. Why oh why did our ancestor's replace those lovely old Spanish names with Americanized versions? This man was Eusebio Feliz Gonzales Hidalgo and he's called Alfred? Well, back to the good stuff. (And I am embarrassed to say I'd received this same census from a distant cousin nearly two months ago and hadn't realized it!). It listed every sibling's age in 1930 so I went backwards and stopped in my tracks! Cristencia MAY HAVE BEEN PREGNANT on the ORTERIC while she traveled from the Rock of Gibralter and Spain to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1911. If Maria Gloria was born in June 1911 as I surmise, this is the case. And if so, it will add such a different dimension to my manuscript as she left her mother and everything she knew behind in Fuentesauco, Spain --- Pregnant! The stubborn and wonderful guts this woman had! Sigh. My story continues to evolve and hope to connect with Maria's daughter, Theresa, to clarify the dates very soon!

Genealogical Web IMAGES

As the end of the week approaches, I scan the last few days in my memory and list all the research web sites I have fallen across and shake my head. With many family blood lines cruising around in files on my desk, my main focus is still on the Spanish lineage as I check any site that sounds plausible. How many times have I seen the Google words tacked across the left part of the brower home page? Web - Images - Videos - Maps - Shopping - GMail - And more....

On a long shot, I clicked on Images, a site I'd been told about but never used in my genealogy research. I typed in S.S. ORTERIC, the name of the steam ship that brought my Spanish ancestors from northern Spain to Hawaii in 48 days. When the images popped up, I stared at them....not just a little stupified. I'd looked for a picture of the ship for a couple of years and found a very fuzzy one on the Hawaiian newspaper's historical paper site. Never such a one that stared at me today. I saw S. S. Orteric printed across the bottom as though its name was swimming in the water beneath its length. What an incredible machine this computer is! The site also included the Weir Shipping Company's Flag (see above). But the ship's photo has been ordered and it will be added to the pages of my book. It is progressing nicely and within a month, I will know WHEN my airline ticket to Spain will be dated!

Boomers and War Ration Books

I am a Baby Boomer..... So, imagine my curiosity when, during my recent research into family history, I found a photo of a "War Ration Book Two" with a stamp in the right hand corner with the words, Office of Price Adm. printed beneath the stamp. It actually belonged to a man from Rubicon, Wisconsin and he was 49 years old. With photo in hand, I accessed www.ancestry.com and found his name and date of birth, learning (with my limited math ability) the card was issued in 1942. Before my time, but not much. So, my research bug went off in another direction and curiosity led the way... In 1942, my husband tells me (he was 7 years old) that he remembers his mother and father having such a war ration book. His father was an auto mechanic and parts and rubber were both at a premium, if not impossible to find. J.D. said only a few automobiles were made in 1942 and during the next war years, no new automobiles were built at all. The machinery and rubber required were, instead, used for war vehicles and other necessities. It wasn't until 1946 that new automobile manufacturing began again. He remembers sugar, rubber, nylon and other staples were part of that war ration book and without the stamps/coupons, you went without the types of staples that required rationing. I googled War Ration Books and was stunned to read their importance! The book instructed that it was the property of the U.S. Government. It could not be traded, sold or used by others. If someone died or found a lost book, it must be returned to the War Price and Rationing Board. Persons who violated the rationing board regulations would be fined $1000, imprisoned or both! OMG, they meant business! The stamps inside the booklet could only be torn out at point of purchase and the rationed items could not be purchased without a stamp. And don't toss the book away when stamps were gone because you might need to show the empty book to get another one! Rationing is a vital part of the country's war effort is printed on the back of the booklet. It was the governments guarantee of your getting your fair share of goods made scarce by war. Any attempt to violate the rules would be treated like treason... as it helps the enemy (?). Be guided by the rule, "If you don't need it, Don't Buy It!" As a Baby Boomer even thought born in the last month of 1946, this information was stunning. My parents and grandparents lived through such a difficult time in their lives! Now I understand why my mother drew lines down the back of her legs = faux seams as if she was wearing nylon stockings. And now I know why it was such an act of love for my grandmother to stand in line for hours just to get nylon stockings for my mother as a gift. The real gift was standing in those long lines. We take so much for granted. I am sure I will think of those ration books the next time I pull a package of sugar off the shelf or put new tires on our car. Never again will I forget what their lives must have been like in my blind quest to better my own.

The aura of Alexandria, Washington DC and beyond

Papers and photos clutter my desk. Clear memories of my recent trip to Washington DC fill my mind with chatter along with visions of marble, brick and the White House. I now have a picture ID Reader card as my key into the Library of Congress for future use into their research archives and reader room stacked book shelves. My legs ache from walking from the U.S. Capitol Building to the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue and I smile when I remember tossing orange peels along the White House cement wall to feed the birds that lingered in their bushes. What a wonderful trip and it was so easy with just a $33 Amtrak ticket to the beautiful Union Station. Then, my childhood friend, Sophia, braved the traffic from Rhode Island to Washington to pick me up so we could share in the Washington escape for a terrific visit.

And La Tasca, a Spanish Tapas Restaurant and Bar on King Street in Alexandria was muy excellente! We ordered Sangria laced with fruit pieces and wine. And then there were the Tapas ~ Calimari (her choice) and Tortilla Espanola (mine). The Sangria disappeared too quickly, the shared Tapas unique and tasty. The Tortilla Espanola is a traditional Spanish potato, onion and egg omelet about 2-3" thick sitting in a spicy sauce.....Sophia liked it with her Calimari better than her garlic mayonnaise condiment; shared dishes were a fun experience.

Now that I've scoped out the area for future visits to research family from all corners of both my family and my husbands, I feel much more confident knowing where to go, what items to take with me and how long I will need to study the archival information. I am nearly ready to apply to the DAR with the main intent of being able to access their data base for the family's quest for historical information.

With the help of www.ancestry.com and my cousin's (Tess) long and diligent research into our family history, I have learned so much. Also, a great help is another cousin's (Vicki) gift of a genealogical research book titled, The HANDYBOOK for Genealogists. This book is segmented by state and country to list archival repositories with contact information and lists steps for researching genealogy. Life can be quite amazing when one lets it and propelling yourself through life with optimism is the only way to combat any sadness, loss, frustrations or disappointments along the way.