Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Fernando Segura (Villalba)



The above is the birth record for Fernando Segura, another child of Juana and Alfredo Segura-Villalba, now found online at Familysearch.org This is a surprise because he does not appear in any of the family histories I have seen or heard.  There are several explanations for this that I will have to research; here are the most likely two:

1) he died when he was very young.  Often when this happened, it would be too painful for the family to talk about and then the later members of the families (including spouses who married into families) would not know about them to add them to family histories;

2) he was known by another name that I have heard of.  Sometimes there are saint or religious names that were added in front of the names people where called.  Or people were named for a relative, but because the name was used by a lot of members, people used another name to distinguish themselves;

Found in the 1902 Civil Registration book for San Salvador, El Salvador (click image to enbiggen!):

Mayo 2nd P.No. 944
Fernando Segura hijo legitimo de de Alfredo Segura y Juana Calabuig ambos originarios de Espana y vecinos del barrios del centro del esta cuidad, nacio a las cinco dela manana del dia cinco de Abril proximo pasado. [signature and title of registrar]

May 2nd [1902],  birth #944 in San Salvador
Fernando Segura, legitimate son of Alfredo Segura and Juana nee Calabuig.  Both parents are are originally from Spain but currently reside in a neighborhood in the center of this city (San Salvador).  Fernando was born at 5:00am on 5 April just passed (1902).

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Carmen Segura Calabuig


Finding the information about my great-grandmother's hotel motivated me to do some other web searches.  In addition, the LDS church has committed to putting its entire microfilm and microfiche collection online in digital form and indexed!  Every day more and more is being added, and I had seen where some El Salvador records had been uploaded to their site, FamilySearch.org.  I tried a bunch of names and got nothing at first.  Then I realized I was entering names as if they were American.  So I started entering the double last names that are used in El Salvador. Sure enough, I got a lot of hits!

The first is the entry above - for Carmen Segura Villalva, my grandfather's sister, and daughter of the hotel proprietess, Juana de Villalba.   The transcription and my best translation, plus a reminder to click on the picture to embiggen:

Diciembre 6 PN 1906Carmen Segura Calabuig, hija legitima de Alfredo Segura Villalva originario de Valencia Espana y de Juana Calabuig originaria del mismo lugar y ambro vecinas del  Centro de esta ciudad, nacio a las nueve de la manana del dia veinte y dos de Septiembre ultimo, dando estos datos el padre de la recien nacido y firma.
[Signature of clerk]
[Signature of Alfredo Segura Villalba and below that, possibly Juana Segura Calabuig) 
6 December 1906Carmen Segura Calabuig, legitimate daughter of Alfredo Segura Villalba, originally from Valencia, Spain and of Juana Calabuig, originally from the same place [Valencia, Spain], and both living in a neighborhood close to the center of this city [San Salvador], born at nine in the morning of 22 September last, given this information by the father of the newborn with signature.


This one small birth entry gives us a lot of information and a mystery in a short space.  First, it tells me a lot about my great-grandfather and shows me his signature.  It places his death between 1906 (this entry) and 1916 (when Juana is listed as a widow in the previous entry).  It also gives me his name: Alfredo Segura Villalva (similar spelling but not the Villalba we know today).  If we look at this with American eyes - which would be an easy trap given we know the family continued the Villalba name - we would assume that Villalva was his surname and Segura was just another family name (likely his mother's).  However, this is reversed from the nomenclature used in El Salvador.  Segura is his father's name - his LAST name as we would say - and Villalva was his mother's.  So technically, we should be Seguras instead of Villalbas. Somewhere between this entry and 1916 the family switched names and adopted Alfredo's mother's name.  Why?  Was there something that became associated with Segura?  To avoid debts?  hmmmm.... new mystery!

Other information includes verification of my great-grandmother's maiden name (Calabuig) and that both Alfredo and Juana came from Valencia, Spain.  I also love how the baby was born in September but they didn't do the civil registration of the birth until December!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Pension Espana and Juana de Villalba




The above is a picture of the Pension Espana, established by my great grandmother, Juana de Villalba.  This 25-room hotel stood at 8 Av. Sur y 2 Calle Ote in San Salvador and was established by her in 1920.

I don't have much on my great-grandmother, and found nothing searching for her with a last name of Segura, Villalba or Calabuik (probably Calabuig or Calabuix).  Then I remembered that my grandmother Rosie often used "de Villalba" to indicate her married name.  Searching for Juana de Villabla, I found three sources referencing her and her hotel!

The first was Camaro27's Flickr site, where this picture was taken from and where he has a whole set of pictures of El Salvador 1880-1950.  This picture had the following caption:

Pension Espana, San Salvador 1916
Vista de la Pension Espana de dona Juana viuda de Villalba.  Utilizado en los anos sesenta por Boarding House Warletta, este edificio permanecio en pie hasta 1986, cuando fue demolido.  En el presente, es un lote balidio. 
Translated:
View of the Pension Espana, owned by the widow Dona Juana deVillalba.  Used in the sixties by Warletta Boarding House, this building remained standing until 1986, when it was demolished.  Currently, its former site is a vacant lot.
Camaro27's wonderful set of photos can be view at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/camaro27/sets/72157624218503138/with/7876421686/

The second was a website devoted to hotels and tourism and contained a table with the Pension Espana listed (I listed the facts in my first paragraph above).  It can be viewed at:
 http://wwwisis.ufg.edu.sv/wwwisis/documentos/TE/647.94-A581p/647.94-A581p-Capitulo%20I.pdf

The last one was from the website for the Asociacion Salvadorena de Hoteles and had a little longer write up:

Pension Espana:  Segun relata el Libro Azul de El Salvador, su propietario Juana de Villalba habia logrado que este popular centro de recreo fuera merecedor de la alta estima de que gozaba.  La excelencia de sue mesa habia llamado la atencion de aquellas personas que la vistaban, el edificio tenia dos pisos y el segundo se encontraba las habitaciones de precios mas modicos.  Estaba ubicado a una cuadra de la residencia Presidencial, en la esquina de la 8a avenida y 2a calle oriente. 
Translated:
Pension Espana:  According to the Blue Book of El Salvador, the owner of this popular recreation center, Juana de Villalba, has earned high esteem which she enjoys.  The excellence of its appointments has garnered praise from those who have stayed there.  The building has two floors and the second floor rooms are more modestly priced.  It is located a block away from the Presidential Residence, on the corner of 8a Avenue South and 2a Street East.

The link for this website is: http://www.hoteles-elsalvador.com/old/index.php?lang=es&articulo=41

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Enlarging Pictures on the Blog

Ok, time out from genealogy for a little housekeeping. I've stated before that I have been working on getting the pictures on the blog to show up bigger and easier to read. Unfortunately, nothing I've tried has worked, so this has been really frustrating for me.
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Imagine my surprise when my hubby was reading my latest post and had a HUGE image of the census on his screen! When I asked how he got that, he looked mildly confused and said "I just clicked on the image." D'oh! Ok, I hadn't tried that.
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So for all those of you (if any) who, like me, hadn't figured this out: Click on the image to get a larger view of it. It makes things like the census much easier to read. To get back to the blog, just hit your browsers "Back" button.
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And thank you to my hubby for the tip (and not pointing out that I was being a ditz).

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Don Sixto Barrios (Part II)

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As per the previous post, this is the bottom portion of Don Sixto Barrios' page in the Miguel Angel Garcia's Diccionario. The Spanish transcription:

Senor Redactor de "El Faro Salvadoreno",

Ruego a Ud. se sirva dar lugar en las columnas de su periodico a las siguientias lineas que dirijo.

Al Br. senor don Abel Barrios, a consecuencia de la tragica muerte de su caro padre el senor don Sixto Barrios.

En sentimiento es el unico elemento
moral capaz de aniquilar al hombre.

El justo y acerbo dolor que un fatal acontecimiento engendra hoy en mi espiritu, hace que por primera vez haga escuchar al publico la debil voz que en medio del dolor alcamzo a pronunciar; omitir esta expresion que un sentimiento de mi alma me impele a dirigir, seria violentar [unreadable] justa y sensible inclinacion de mi consternado corazon.

Un suceso cuyas circuntancias an ignoro, privo la noche del 10 del que numeramos, a la patria de un honrado e interesante ciudadano; a la agricultura salvadorena de un valioso y excelente productor, que colocado por sus propios esfuerzos al nivel de los grandes empresarios del pais, era ya una columna que sostenia el comercio de la Republica; a una esposa de tierno y carinosa esposa; a un hijo de un padre que no era para el, sino un conjunto de halagos amorosos; desaparecio en fin la fatal noche en que el que fue don Sixto Barrios exhalo su ultimo suspiro, un amigo de un amigo de un sin numero de personas que hoy se miran precisadas a apurar la amarga copa del dolor.

Y tu querido Abel amigo mio, que consuelo pudieras recibir del que os ayuda tambien a padecer? nimguno.... Pues yo cual tu, tambien lo necesito; pero recuerda amigo, que "en el hombre hay algo mas que barro" y que ese algo no esta sujeto al poder de la materia; y al permitirme que yo pueda apreciar, cuanto tenia de grande, de noble y generosa el alma de vuestro querido padre podre decir con certeza; que ella goza de mejor vida en la mansion que a los justos da el Senor.

Sea esta una debil prueba el sufimiento con que os ayuda a llorar vuesto inolvidable amigo.

(1) El Faro Salvadoreno No. 248 de 23 de agosto de 1869.

The English Transcription:

Mr. Editor of "El Faro Salvadoreno" [the Salvadorean Light, a newspaper],

I request that you use this in your opinion columns of your newspaper.


To Mr. Abel Barrios, as a result of the tragic death of his beloved father, Mr. Sixto Barrios,

Sentiment is the only moral element
capable of annihilating a man

The fatal event generates a just and scathing pain in my spirit today, causing me for the first time to make the public listen to my weak voice the pain causes; to ignore this expression of my soul would cause me to do serious violence to this just and sensible incliniation of my heart's consternation.

An event on the 10th, whose circumstances I won't go into, deprived our Country [El Salvador] of an honest and interesting citizen; [deprived] the Salvadorean agricultural community of a valuable and excellent producer, who through his efforts was one of the great industrialists of the country, and a column which supported the commerce of the Republic; [deprived] a wife of a tender and loving husband; [deprived] a son of a father who was unequalled except for a set of loving flatteries; vanished for good that fatal night when Don Sixto Barrios breathed his last, a friend of friends without number, [friends] who today drink from the bitter glass of pain.



And you, my dear friend Abel, are you consoled by that which would also make you suffer [referring, I believe, to kind words about his father]? No... I, as your friend, also need it [to be consoled]. I urge you to remember that "man is but made of clay" and that we are all subject to this matter, and when time permits me to appreciate, to say with certainty, that the great, generous and noble soul of your father enjoys a better life in the house of one who gives justice to him.



May this weak attempt be sufficient in helping alleviate your sorrows, my friend.



(1) Published in El Faro Salvadorena, #248 on Aug. 23rd, 1869

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Don Sixto Barrios (Part III)

While the page from Miguel Angel Garcia's Diccionario does not provide a direct link to Don Sixto Barrios to Dr. Sixto Barrios (my great-grandfather), there are indirect clues.
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First, Don Sixto was murdered at his hacienda, Managua, the Sesori district of San Miguel, El Salvador in 1869. Dr. Sixto Barrios was born three years later on the same estate.
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Second, the flowery eulogy to Don Sixto was written to his son, Abel, who also lived at the above-mentioned hacienda. Abel Barrios was named as the father of Dr. Sixto Barrios in his write-up.
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Given that there was probably not two Abel Barrios of similar age living at the hacienda at the time, and that Dr. Sixto Barrios was probably named for Don Sixto, I am currently working on the assumption that Don Sixto was Dr. Sixto Barrios' grandfather. I will continue to try to prove this connection, and will post any findings when I get them.
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Also, to stop any confusion between the two Sixto Barrios, I will list their birth year next to their name. Hence, Don Sixto Barrios (1822) is grandfather to Dr. Sixto Barrios (1872).

Don Sixto Barrios (Part I)


Another Sixto Barrios (not my grandfather) is also included in Miguel Angel Garcia's Diccionario Historico-Enciclopedico de la Republica de El Salvador, Volume 7, page 23. I've divided up his page to prevent the blog entries from being overly long, and this is the top portion of his entry. After posting and translating his page, I'll post an entry discussing his relationship to our family.
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Transcription in Spanish:
BARRIOS DON SIXTO
Nacio en ano 1822 en la Hacienda de San Jorge en jurisdiccion de Sesori en el departmento de San Miguel. Fueron sus padres don Mariano Barrios y dona Gertrudis Espinosa, hondurena. El ano de 1846 contrajo matrimonio en la cuidad de Jucuapa de dona Encarnacion Araujo. A fuerza de trabajo honrado llego a formar una fortuna y prodigo el bien siempre que pudo. Para la introduccion del agua del Jucuapa contribuyo con fuertas sumas de dinero y el dia de la inauguracion en marzo de 1868 despues del discurso pronunciado por el ilustre doctor don Miguel Brioso, el senor Barrios obsequio a la sociedad de Jucuapa un esplendido banquete. Murio asesinado en su hacienda Managuare el dia 10 de agosto de 1869.
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Transcription in English
MR. SIXTO BARRIOS
Born in 1882 in the Hacienda de San Jorge, Sesori jurisdiction of San Miguel County [of El Salvador]. His parents were Mariano Barrios and Gertrudis Espinosa, a Honduran lady. In 1846, he married Encarnacion Araujo in the city of Jucuapa. By force of honest work, he amassed a fortune and lavished good whenever he could. For the introduction of the water [system] to Jucuapa, he contributed much of the money, and the day of the inauguration [of the water system] in March of 1868, he was subject to much flattery in the speech by the illustrious doctor Don Miguel Brioso, and was honored by a splendid banquet by the society of Jucuapa. He was assassinated on his property of Managuare on 10 of August of 1869.