A Pretty Spanish Lady in New York City, 1965 - Vintage Family Photo Friday

When Vincent's parents married in Madrid, Spain, they left right after the wedding to live in New York City, where my father-in-law worked at the United Nations.  These photos were taken in February 1965 in New York, and on the backs of each photo my mother-in-law wrote notes to her parents about the apartment and the furniture. She was always very careful to note the dates, people, and descriptions on the backs of most photos.  This has been very helpful in going over all the old family photo albums while we scanned the images! 

This note on the back is dated February 1965

"As you can see we have covered the sofa with black leather. We covered the chairs with blue leather (that is what we were doing in the other photo that the kid was with a hammer, and us on the floor)."

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Pretty Spanish Lady in New York City, 1965 - Vintage Family Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 27, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/09/a-pretty-spanish-lady-in-new-york-city.html: accessed [access date]).

Machu Pichu, Peru 1986 - Vintage Family Photo Friday

Vincent's Dad became a travel writer later in his life, and attended conferences on travel writing all over the world.  In 1986 he went to Peru for a conference, and was lucky enough to visit the ancient ruins of Machu Pichu high in the Andes mountains.  He was always famous for wearing a suit and tie in all his travel photos, including hiking in Machu Pichu.  

Although many of the family photos that were stored in sticky magnetic albums in Puerto Rico resulted in faded and discolored images, these photos are still clear and colorful.  

Machu Pichu is known as "The Lost City of the Incas" built about 1450 and unknown to the outside world until the American explorer Hiram Bingham discovered it and posted images in the National Geographic magazine in 1911.  It is a very rough tour, high in the mountains, and a dangerous climb or bus ride up there.  There is risk of altitude sickness, floods, hiking accidents, landslides and earthquakes.  The ancient structures also cause risks of falling debris and rocks. In 2011 and 2012 restrictions were placed on tourism to stabilize the structures, and to reduce the effects of tourism.  There are strict restrictions on the number of visitors per day.  My father-in-law was in Machu Pichu many years before these restrictions took place. 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Machu Pichu, Peru 1986 - Vintage Family Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 20, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/09/machu-pichu-peru-1986-vintage-family.html: accessed [access date]).

Greece, 1975 - Vintage Family Photo Friday

Here are some more photos from Vincent's family albums rescued from their house in Puerto Rico just before Hurricane Maria.  They are in very bad condition because of the extreme heat and humidity in Puerto Rico, but at least we have them.  Many families lost everything, including their lives, as well as their family photo albums, in this storm.  

Vincent's mother worked for Iberia Airlines when he was growing up.  They were lucky enough to travel to some exotic places every summer, riding stand-by with free or greatly discounted seats on Iberia or partner airlines.  Often they would get stuck at connecting airports until stand-by seats became available - which was part of the great travel adventure (sometimes!).  You can see a list below of some other international photos from their family trips.  

In this trip the Rojo family was joined by another family from the Iberia office in San Juan for a trip to Athens and the Greek islands.  You can see how much fun they had exploring the ruins, and even sitting or standing on the artifacts, which is now forbidden.  

How many of you have similar family photos, pretending to topple trees or landmarks?

Other Rojo family excursions from around the world:

Egypt- https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/08/1978-egypt-trip-vintage-family-photo.html 

Japan-  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/04/tour-of-tokyo-japan-1976-photo-friday.html  

Argentina - https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/02/photo-friday-dinner-in-buenos-aires.html  

I'll be posting more photos from these albums soon!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Greece, 1975 - Vintage Family Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 13, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/09/greece-1975-vintage-family-photo-friday.html: accessed [access date]). 

Vincent on a Tricycle! Photo Friday

This image was digitized from a photograph found in a cousin's collection of family photos in Spain.  Vincent and his parents were living in New York City, and this must have been one of the photos they sent back to relatives in Spain.

The back of the photo reads "Para Tios Joaquin y Luisa y tambien para primito Joaquin. Besos, Vicentin" dated 17-11-62.   English translation "To Uncle Joaquin and Aunt Luisa and also for my little cousin Joaquin.  Kisses, Vicentin [a nickname for Vincent in Spanish]"  Dated 17-11-62 or 17 November 1962, very near Vincent's second birthday.  Which explains the shiny new tricycle!

Vincent's mother was very, very good about labeling photos.  Even those she sent to relatives.  This is a lesson for all of us!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Vincent on a Tricycle!  Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 16, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/08/vincent-on-tricycle-photo-friday.html: accessed [access date]).

Photo Friday - Trip to Spain

Lunch with cousins in the town of Tres Cantos, near Madrid, Spain

This week I published two blog posts about our trip to Navarra, Spain to bring my mother-in-law to the village where she was born. You can read about the trip HERE and about an interesting weathervane on the church of her baptism HERE (if you like medieval epic stories, you'll like this connection to Roland and the Battle of Roncevaux).  Here are some other interesting photos of our trip, mostly in Madrid and Pamplona.

A display of tapas in a window at Madrid's Plaza Mayor

Puerta del Sol, the center of Madrid, and the center of Spain
(all points in Spain are measured from a marker in the center of this plaza)

Me and my mother-in-law boarding the high speed train from Madrid to Pamplona.
The trip took about three hours, with two stops, to go 400 km (about 250 miles)

On board the train, watching the scenery from Madrid to Pamplona

The Cathedral in Pamplona, Navarra, Spain - Santa Maria la Real

Interior view of the cathedral in Pamplona

The effigies of the King Charles III and Queen Eleanor of Navarra inside the cathedral

This marker shows the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrim way

Another marker for the "Camino"

The "encierro" is the route for the famous
running of the bulls in Pamplona

Our walk along the "Camino" through Pamplona

This street marker shows the intersection of the "Encierro" and "The Camino",
the two most famous routes which intersect in central Pamplona

Seen on a pharmacy along "The Camino"

This pub in Pamplona's Plaza Mayor was Hemingway's favorite watering hole,
and where he wrote "The Sun Also Rises" about Americans in Pamplona
for the San Fermin Festival to witness the running of the bulls.

Back in Madrid, at the local pub with more cousins

Vincent sorted and digitized two large boxes of family photos

These old photos from a cousin's house went back 100 years or more!

The most famous fountain in Madrid,
"Cibeles" is the mother goddess of the Earth,
also called "Gaia" or "Rhea"

This impressive building in Madrid used to be the central Post Office,
but it is now Madrid's City Hall "The Ayuntamiento"

Click here for the story of our visit to the Pyrenees:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-family-history-visit-to-pyrenees.html

Click here for the story about the weathervane in Orbaiceta, Navarra:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/05/weathervane-wednesday-song-of-roland.html

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Photo Friday - Trip to Spain", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 24, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/05/photo-friday-trip-to-spain.html: accessed [access date]). 

A Genealogy Surprise from Spain!

On January 3, 2018 four generations of ROJO cousins and friends gathered in
front of the St. Nicolas de Bari church in Sinovas, Burgos, Spain

Vincent's family is from Spain.  His father was born in the village of Sinovas, in the province of Burgos.  The Rojo family has lived there at least since the 1700s, because I have found all the baptisms going back to a Manuel Rojo born in the mid 1700s.  Records before this time are missing because of the Napoleonic wars. The local church, St. Nicolas de Bari, was built in the 800s.  It is my guess that the Rojo family has lived in this tiny village, of less than 200 souls, much longer than the 1700s, and maybe even back to the origins to the church.

I don't know much about the Rojo family.  Vincent's grandfather was killed by a firing squad during the Spanish Civil War in 1936.  This side of the family is a bit of a mystery, but we are learning new clues all the time.  This week, I learned another clue!

A distant cousin in Spain, whom I have never met except through Facebook, sent me three documents he found online at the Spanish Archives http://pares.mcu.es/   

These documents show that in 1877 Juan Rojo Peñacoba, 28 years old, from the village of Sinovas was at the University of Madrid to study chemistry.  How unusual is it that someone from this little village of farmers 167 miles north of Madrid (about 104 miles) would send one of their young men to study chemistry in 1877? 

Here is some family background.  Manuel Rojo was born in Sinovas, the son of Tomas Rojo and Narcisa Palomo, on 27 May 1818.  He married Andrea Peñacoba, the daughter of Eusebio Peñacoba and Candida Alameda, on 7 October 1844.  I know nothing about Manuel Rojo, and I assume he was a farmer.  They had six children born in Sinovas:

1.  Maria de la Nieves, no birth record or baptism, died on 17 Sep 1859 in Sinovas as a child

2.  Agapito, born 18 August 1845, married Maria Pilar Martin

3.  Juan, baptized on 7 May 1848

4. Vicente, baptized on 25 Jan 1857

5. Higinio, baptized on 19 August 1860 (this is Vincent's great grandfather)

6. Zacarias, baptized on 7 November 1863, died 26 March 1868 in Sinovas as a child. 

I know nothing about any of the children except Higinio, Vincent's great grandfather.  Higinio married Brigida Torres on 27 November 1884 in Sinovas and had four children of his own.  I assume that Higinio was a farmer, too, but I could always be wrong. 

The interesting thing is that Juan Rojo Peñacoba studied chemistry.  Vincent went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  This little fact about his 2nd great uncle is fascinating to him!  We can't wait to learn more!  Did Juan go on to become a chemist? Did he marry? Does he have any descendants?  (Scroll down to see an exciting UPDATE!)

Generations of ROJO babies have been baptized in this font
at the St. Nicolas de Bari church in Sinovas, Burgos, Spain -
including Juan Rojo Penacoba, described above.

UPDATE:  9:30am 19 January 2018 - Within a few hours of posting this story online, I had a good clue sent to me by Spanish genealogist Matthew Hovious, who had read this blog post. It appears that Juan Rojo Peñacoba went on to become a pharmacist in the city of Alcubilla in the contiguous province of Soria, Spain.  Matthew sent me this document from a newspaper in Alcubilla, dated 3 January 1883.  Thanks, Matthew!  You can read more about him at his website http://www.spanish-genealogy.com/

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Genealogy Surprise from Spain!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 19, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-genealogy-surprise-from-spain.html: accessed [access date]). 

Weathervane Wednesday ~ Above an ancestral church in Europe

I post a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in Spain.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #298?  Scroll down to find the answer.

This church is St. Nicolas de Bari in the tiny village of Sinovas, Burgos, Spain.  It has a population of 134 according to the 2010 census!  This is the village where my father-in-law, Vicente Rojo Benito, was born and the church where he was baptized in 1931.  I have looked at the church records from this parish and traced all the ROJO family back to a Manuel Rojo (born about 1750) and his wife Juana Arauzo, both of Sinovas, and their son, Tomas Rojo, who was baptized here on 7 March 1783.  There are no earlier church records in the parish office, nor at the archbishop's archives in Burgos.  The people of Sinovas think that the earlier parish records were hidden during the Napoleonic wars and never returned to the church.

This church was built in the 1200s AD.  The bell tower (on the left) was built in the 11th century as a defensive structure.  The church was declared a national monument on 9 July 1964.  It was recently renovated and the ceiling frescos on the inside were restored.

The weather vane is a simple arrow, with no cardinal letters to show wind direction. Above the weather vane is an ornate iron cross.  Weathervanes are not common in Spain, but if you see one it will probably be on a church.

Three generations of our family
visited this church in 2016

Click here to see the entire Weathervane Wednesday series of posts!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Above an ancestral church in Europe", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 15, 2017, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/02/weathervane-wednesday-above-ancestral.html: accessed [access date]).