Happy New Year and a Few Other Things

Here it is an entire year later — 2019.   It has been quite... a year.  

A year ago, I started 2018 with such high expectations and the best of intentions to stay the course for a year of writing about my ancestors. 

What was to be an ancestor a week quickly hit the ground right out of the starting gate.  

By February, I came to the realization that I couldn’t commit to even do an ancestor a month. 

So, I had to reassess and prioritize due to family priorities, new grand baby, my son’s wedding and other life happenings... and release what had to go.    

I took a mandatory ‘blog’ sabbatical for 2018 in order to attend the things that required my full attention and presence for my family. 

Sometimes we need to know the season we are in and just go with it. 

As the saying goes... you gotta do, what you gotta do. :)    

And with that said, I make no promises but I can say that I will do my best to stay the course as I am able this year. God willing. 

I hope you all are doing well in life and making headway with your family research. 

May this year bring health, peace and joy to you and yours and above all may God bless each one of you. 

January Ancestor of the Month: Mario Valuja Hernandez

Mario Valuja Hernandez: My Dad

Born in La Habana, Cuba,  in La Habana vieja or La Habana, central. The name of the neighborhood is still unclear. Through the years, I’ve been told Bejucal, Vedado, or Marianao, all near Quivican. 

It seems to me, that Havana is a pretty large area, yet it seems no matter where in Havana you’re from it is referred to as La Habana.  I guess, if you’re from there that makes sense, but to me it sounds rather vague. I don’t have his birth certificate to verify the exact location, but I can only hope to find a way to acquire a copy someday.  

A Bit of History...

My grandfather, Juan Valuja, left Cuba around c1908 to go to Tampa, Florida to work as a Cigarmaker.  I believe that is his first trip to Tampa, as per a Passenger List Record I found a few years ago, although, I am still piecing together his story.  

My Grandfather and Grandmother, Juan Valuja Garcia and Maria Hernandez Luis, met and married in Tampa in 1912, and the following year their first child was born. They left the United States to move back to Cuba in the summer of 1915, where their second child was born. 

The Early Years in La Habana.  


In La Habana, Cuba, my grandparents lived on Calle Virtudes, which I believe is where my dad, the youngest of 4 children, was born in 1920. 

The later moved to Calle Maloja in La Habana Central. It is this location, that my family remembers those years with great love and joy as they relay stories about the great house on Calle Maloja, where my grandparents lived. There were many family gatherings, and happy memories about those wonderful days and numerous accounts of how dearly loved my grandparents were by our family and friends. 

                   

Daddy in his teens. 

Daddy with his 2 sisters, and Uncle Francisco

From a very young age, my dad, always had a great desire and hope to come to America - the land of great opportunity. It seemed his entire family, all had a great love for America and the American Dream, and most of all, New York, the most wonderful and greatest City of the world. Ok, I am biased, as I was born in New York. 

Mario, attained a visa to visit the United States, for the first time in 1946, and absolutely fell in love with New York. He was here for several months and worked in hotel  and restaurants as a waiter. When his Visa expired, he had to return home to Havana, but he knew it would not be long before he would, someday, go back to live permanently. . 

Grandmother, Maria with Daddy and Uncle Jesse, Grand Uncle Francisco

Off to America.

It was 1954, when he was finally, able to immigrate to the United States. Initially, he stayed with his sister, Mercedes, my Aunt Icha, as everyone called her.  She immigrated to the United States, several years earlier, in the late 1940’s. Shortly after she arrived, she landed a job as a seamstress in a Manhattan factory, and was on her way to a new life in a new country with a future of promise.  

At work, she met a woman named Mary, who was also a recent immigrant from Cuba. They had a lot in common, a new country far from their homes and everything familiar, so they became fast friends and shared an apartment..  

 

                                   Mario Valuja & Maria del Carmen (Matos) Valuja

In early 1955, Mary’s sister, María Del Carmen Matos, came to this country. and stayed with her in their apartment.  She met Mercedes’ brother, Mario, and the rest is history… . they fell in love, married a short time later, and went to live in Brooklyn. I was born in Coney Island, the southern part of Brooklyn, two years later.  

Brooklyn, New York, 1959

Brooklyn and Queens. 

My daddy was a great, loving father. He was a faithful, hard working family man who took good care of his family. We had many friends, and lots of social gatherings. I remember a lot about Brooklyn… Flatbush, Sheepshead Bay, Junior’s famous New York-style Cheesecakes, Coney Island and the famous Coney Island Amusement Park and Boardwalk, and many visits to Brighton Beach. 

By trade, Daddy was proficient in the hotel and restaurant world. He worked for several years as a waiter in upscale hotels, he was well liked and did very well with the public, which he rather enjoyed. He loved to sing and had a great voice.. I think he and his brother, Jesse, must have received the same genes when it came to vocals. They were both great at it, and loved to sing every chance they had. I seem to remember someone had my dad record a demo, many years ago. I remember the Record but, I don't know what happened to it after all these years. 

Eventually, he was given the opportunity to work for The Metropolitan Club on 5^th Ave. and 60^th St. In Manhattan.  It is next door to the Pierre Club. 

The Metropolitan Club  is a  private social club, in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1891, for men only, by  J. P. Morgan, who served as its first president.  The rules did eventually change and allowed women into membership. Other original members of the club included William Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt and James A. Roosevelt. 

I remember visiting as a little girl from time to time, and how fascinating and beautiful it was. He was a professional bartender in this club and served many famous people and he became friends with a few of them over the years. I remember he would tell me about Richard Nixon, and General MacArthur’s widow, Ed Sullivan, Cecily Tyson, and others that I cannot recall. I remember he was friends with the man that was a friend of Judy Garland and a mentor or coach to Liza Minell, Ms Garlands daughter. My dad did very well there and had great favor as people liked him. He was a people person. He always had a great personality, funny and witty

We eventually moved to Queens Village, New York, where we bought our first home, in the 1960’s. I grew up in this house and remember it very well with many great memories. My sister was born in this home, in the late1960’s. 


Down South to Fort Lauderdale.

In the early 1970’s, we left New York and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

That was a huge move and change.  Even though, I have been away for a long time now, I am still a New York girl, always and forever, through and through. 
Daddy loved New York, but not the cold so much, and since most of our family was now living in Miami,  we went south to be closer to family. 

1976 - Daddy and Me, as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall, in New York. 

I returned to New York, to work at Radio City Music Hall as a Rockette, then married in the late 1970’s.  We moved to Mobile, Alabama, and a few years down the road, my mom and dad, also relocated there. A big change for them, both. Daddy never really liked Mobile, although they made many friends and he loved being close to us and his five grandchildren. 

I think of those years with such sweet memories of us all together and treasure every moment we had. He was a wonderful, loving father and grandfather. 

Daddy with youngest Granddaughter, Sarah. 

Daddy died in 2001 and I was never the same again. I still miss him so, even after all this time. 
Love you forever, daddy.

The Family Tree - 

*Mario B Valuja: 
1920—2001, 1920, Bejucal, La Habana, Cuba.  d. 2001, Alabama. 

*Father: Juan Jose Valuja (Baluja) Garcia. 1891—1964, b. 13 Jan 1891  Marianao, La Habana, Cuba. d. 1964  Queens, New York 

*Mother: María Hernandez Luis: 
b. c1879  Bejucal, La Habana, Cuba. d. 1948, Quivican, La Habana, Cuba.  

Photos: 

1. Map of Cuba: Wikipedia
2.  La HAVANA Vieja, OLD CITY, Cuba Street 1920s 1930.
3. Havana Cathedral - Cuba, circa 1920 - Stock Image
4. Old Havana c1920s.Old Havana, c1920s. Getty images. 

5. Havana, Cuba, circa 1920. Getty images. 

2018 ~ Happy New Year!!!!

This year I’m hitting the ground running and not thinking about it too much. 

Last week, I read an article by Amy Johnson Crowe called  ‘52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks’. 

The title caught my attention and as I thought more about it I realized that means a commitment to writing every week. 

Last year, I committed to write in my blog once a month. After about 4 years of hit or miss, I felt I needed to challenge myself to a deadline, of sorts. As a result, I am encouraged to say that I accomplished that challenge as I completed a post each month ending with my last post for 2017, in December. 
Although, committing to write about an ancestor every week sounded a bit daunting at first, I quickly decided to get on board. I figure, even if I cannot do all 52 weeks due to dodging curve-balls throughout the year, I will still be ahead of where I am now.  A win, win, I think. 

I signed up for the weekly prompts as suggested in the article. I believe it will help keep me on track, as well as serve as a weekly reminder. 

Since the first week is ‘Start’, I decided to begin with my dad this week, and my mom next week. Then, I will work up my family tree for the following weeks down the road.  For more details, see Amy Johnson Crowe's article.   

One thing that resonated with me, is that there is flexibility on how you go about it.  You can write on whatever platform you like, such as a blog,  social media, or in the form of a letter to someone.  
My take away, is that the important thing is that you write, and not focus so much on the logistics that can keep us from moving forward. That has been my particular obstacle in the past. 

I plan to make most of my entries here, on my blog, so that I can keep them in one place. I can also use the tag feature for future searches, should I need to refer back, or possibly update information. I may post a link to each post on Facebook and Twitter, as she suggests, as well as adding hashtags to make it searchable.  

I do know that there will be some weeks that I may miss. But I will have to be OK with that, realizing that in the long run I am am still moving forward and making progress.  I think it is important to focus on flexibility, so it can work with our busy lives and schedules.

This is the first month of a brand new sparkly year, and along with it brings new goals, new  projects, assessing current projects, and re-organizing methodology. This often includes patterns of research, re-organizing paper files, digital files... basically, a new beginning in some ways, and completing unfinished projects, in others. 

Either way, we are moving along the road to discovery, connections, and adding more information to some of those stubborn, long-term brick walls. Perhaps, more importantly, making written progress in our own efforts of leaving our generational legacy with our footsteps.  

May your 2018, be happy, enlightening and memorable. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

It's that season again — that most wonderful time of the year. 
The shopping, the holiday meals, the gift wrapping, the baking, and reminiscing of precious family memories, all the traditions, foods…Christmas music, Hallmark Christmas movies…  and on and on.  

It's also, that time of year, where we are aware of our loved ones who are no longer with us, parents, aunts, uncles…. 

Our family has many traditions. Since, my mom and dad were born in Cuba, we celebrated on Christmas Eve, which was called, Noche Buena.
I am sure that their traditions included those from Spain and the Canary Islands, since those are our ancestral roots, as we heard stories of their own happy and precious memories of their past Christmases. 

We opened gifts on Christmas Day, from Santa Claus. We would have a feast of a variety of foods and special desserts.
One item, I especially remember, was. turrones.  My absolute favorite to this day, is Turrón de Jijona.  A delicious, almond nougat confection, made of honey, sugar, toasted almonds, made in Spain.   Love it!!

We have created our own traditions with our children by intertwining past traditions and hopefully, in turn, they will keep some of those same traditions alive as well.


It appears, that  I have arrived at that point in life, that so many have reached, some in silence and solitude… that long, long, long road of change and transition, that for me has spanned many years, with five children. 

The road, that is actually, very normal and part of the path that we all must travel as we move along our journey in life.  As our children reach adulthood, move out on their own, marry and start their own lives, we come to understand in an intimate way, the meaning of ‘the ghosts of Christmas past’.

For the first time, I find myself feeling quite melancholy, with moments of downright sadness, as I
not only remember those wonderful years at home, snippets of time, the laughter, the joy, and love of our children and those who are no long r with us.. all those years gone by. 
Despite, the sadness, I am ever so thankful, for the blessings of having those memories, full of life, with all those special, beautiful people, of years past.

I have another child that will marry in the spring, yes, a time of joy, a blessing, yet bittersweet, as a mother, from the perspective that we are reminded of the natural progressions of our lives… the perpetual circle of life that our children, too, are walking in their own life journeys, and on and on it
goes. The nest empties out, one by one, slowly but surely.. until it's completely empty. 

I tend to be more reflective about life at this time of year, but after all, genealogy is about the lives of families.
We all share similar journeys and emotions, roads that they too, have had to walk, despite their point of reference in history. 

My hope, this Christmas season, is that those who are lonely, those that are feeling sad, or hurting due to a life circumstance or whatever the reason.  Know that we all feel similar emotions, maybe not at the same time, or for the same reasons, whether we acknowledge it or not. We are not alone. I pray, that you find a glimmer of hope that would bloom into encouragement, peace and much joy… and that in turn you would find someone to share that with and bring some light in their life..

After, all, we are all the same, and we are more alike than different. We need one another.

   

Merry Christmas to all, and I pray a Happy and blessed New Year - 2018.  God Bless You!!

The Holidays Begin ~ Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. We all have much to be thankful for, even in the face of any hardships and difficulties that life may bring.  It is often,  a time of reflection, as we think of family living in other geographical locations and precious memories of loved ones who have passed on.  

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, oil on canvas ~ Brownscombe 

My sister and her family came to visit for Thanksgiving week. It is always such fun for the young cousins to reconnect and enjoy playing with each another amidst all the family activities, cooking, eating, and of course shopping…

As for my research, this month has been busy with DNA tests, and connecting with a new Cousin on another family branch… all very exciting.  

The major DNA companies have placed their DNA kits on sale, this month and into December - a great time to take advantage of the sales to run some tests. 

Now, we look to the Yuletide season as we prepare for Christmas and the celebration of the birth of Jesus as a family. Every year, I think of ways to minimize the busyness and focused more on the joy of the season, enjoying family and all our cherished family traditions.  I enjoy reaching out to relatives living in other cities, and countries, either, by phone, or simply email, depending on where they live.

May this be a season of reflection and immeasurable joy with family and friends. May you  experience, a deeper insight and a new sense of inspiration in every area of your life. 

Marilyn at The Genealogy Gap 

Photo Credit: Wikipedia: The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, oil on canvas by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1914)