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).

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!

Alfredo Villalba

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My mom has this beautiful photo of her grandfather, Alfredo Villalba, that I've scanned for you above. It is one of the few photographs that I have of the Villabla side of the family.
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Family lore has it that Alfredo was a conductor/composer for a Zarzuela Troop, and his wife, Juana Segura de Villalba was a singer/dancer. The Zarzuela Troop was on tour of Latin America from Spain, and while they were in El Salvador, Alfredo passed away. His wife stayed behind to bury her husband and thus ended her career, staying in El Salvador. Besides this story, I have really no other information on Alfredo.
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For those of you who are not familiar with Zarzuela (I wasn't!), it is a form of comic opera popular in Spain and Latin America. Think Gilbert & Sullivan with a Spanish flair.

Another Marriage in the Family

Sometimes researching a collateral line yields new information. A collateral line is a non-direct blood line, basically researching the sibling of someone in your direct line or another relative. As an example, and to continue the research on this line, I am posting the above, page one of the marriage license of Jorge (George) Villalba's brother, Robert to my "Aunt Helen" (although she is my mom's aunt. I won't be posting the second part of the marriage license, as I did with Jorge and Rosa.

My best transcription:

Groom Information (left side)
Name: Robert Segura Villalba
Address: 16 Walter St.
Race: White
Age last birthday: 28
Marital Status before this marriage: [blank, but x's over widowed, divorced]
Number of Marriage: 1
Birthplace: Spain
Occupation: Mechanic
Name of Father: Alfred S. Villalba
Father's Birthplace: Spain
Name of Mother: Juana Calabuik
Mother's Birthplace: Spain

Bride Information (left side)
Name: Mrs. Helen Elisabeth Vincent
Address: 16 Walter St.
Race: White
Age last birthday: 26
Marital Status before this marriage: [blank, x's over single, widowed, indicated divorced]
Number of Marriage: 2
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Occupation: housewife
Name of Father: Louie Hillcourt
Father's Birthplace: Denmark
Name of Mother: Phoebe Ranzan
Mother's Birthplace: Oregon
Maiden Name of Bride if previous married: Helen Hillcourt

We, the Groom and Bride named in this Certificate, hereby certified that the information given therein is correct, to the best of our knowledge and belief.
Signed: Robert Segura Villalba and Helen Elisabeth Vincent

Filled out in the presence of Barry J. Gould, Deputy County Clerk

Certificate of Person Performing Ceremony
I HEREBY CERTIFY that Robert Segura Villalba and Helen Elisabeth Hillcourt were joined in marriage by me in accordance with the laws of the State of California at [blank], City and County of San Francisco, State of California, this 16th day of October, 1923.

Witness to the Marriage: Salvador Brand, 1345 Laguna St.
[not listed is second witness named on pg. 2: J. Castille of 1714 Sutter]

Signature of Person performing the Ceremony: Frank W. Dunn, Justice of the Peace

Filed Oct. 20, 1923 E. Godchaux, Recorder


There is lots of additional and new information on this one page of the certificate. First, Robert was born in Spain around 1897 [date of marriage - 26 yrs of age]. This make the time spent in El Salvador by the family less than 30 years, and also gives me a new location -- Spain -- to look for information. With this time frame, I can now look for immigration information for the family from Spain to Central America to San Francisco.

Second, Robert lists his mother's maiden name as Calabuik, not Segura that Jorge listed. Given that the Spanish naming sequence is very different from the American one, it is possible that both are correct! This also give me more avenues to research.

The last bit of information is the names of the Witnesses. Normally these are more than passing aquaintances, and sometimes are relatives. If Salvador or J. Castille came to the US with Robert, it is possible they could be cousins or some other connection.

The Marriage of Rosa Josephina & Jorge, Part I

This is page one of the marriage license of Rosa Josephina Barrios and Jorge Villalba. I'll post the second page of this certificate next (with discussion). Even though I've tried to enlarge the blog post, it's still fairly hard to read. My best transcription:

Groom Information (left side)

Name: George Villalba
Address: 231 Delano Avenue [San Francisco]
Race: White
Age last birthday: 26
Marital Status before this marriage: Single
Number of Marriage: 1
Birthplace: San Salvador, CA
Occupation: Clerk
Name of Father: Alfred Villalba
Father's Birthplace: Spain
Name of Mother: Juana Segura
Mother's Birthplace: Spain

Bride Information (left side)

Name: Rosa Josephine Barrios
Address: 231 Delano Avenue [San Francisco]
Race: White
Age last birthday: 24
Marital Status before this marriage: Single
Number of Marriage: 1
Birthplace: San Salvador
Occupation: Domestic
Name of Father: Sixto Barrios
Father's Birthplace: San Salvador, CA
Name of Mother: Inez Monterie
Mother's Birthplace: San Salvador, CA

We, the Groom and Bride named in this Certificate, hereby certified that the information given therein is correct, to the best of our knowledge and belief.
Signed: George Villalba and Rosa J. Barrios
Filled out in the presence of A. J. Walcott, Deputy County Clerk

Certificate of Person Performing Ceremony

I HEREBY CERTIFY that George Villalba and Rosa Josephine Barrios were joined in marriage by me in accordance with the laws of the State of California at Sacred Heart Church, City and County of San Francisco, State of California, this 19th day of January, 1928.

Witness to the Marriage: M. Emma Barrios [no address given]
Signature of Person performing the Ceremony: Gil Casarez, Catholic Priest
546 Fillmore St [San Francisco]
Filed Jan. 20, 1928