Monday 25 June 2012

Posession is nine-tenths of the law?

Or so it would seem if disheartening heraldic snippets in the Spanish press are any indication. The onetime home of the Marqués de Campo Villar, in the Bécares area of the Spanish province of León, has for decades lain in ruins; indeed the area seems to have become depopulated in the 19th century. Yet the armorial stone bearing the Marqués' arms clung to the façade of the Campo Villar manor house - until recently. Local newspapers report that the stone has been roughly removed, and taken a short distance away; it seems that the reporter was even able to suss out the stone's current hiding place, and photograph it prone on a pallet. Why? Who knows. Perhaps it's heading for eBay?

The most recent of the articles ends with reference to assorted ownership disputes in the surrounding area: Bécares being depopulated, the lands of the Marqués and the Municipality seem to have been divided three ways in 1961, part of the land used for agriculture, part as a private boar hunting reserve and part ceded to the nearest inhabited town. None of these claims however provide grounds for the wanton ignorance of Spanish legislation governing the protection of such heritage goods - yet there seems to be no will or means to properly enforce these laws or care for the items. 
Before and After



Thursday 14 June 2012

Curiosidades Genealógicas (XXIV): Defunciones de México Inscritas en Cantabria

De todos es sabido que muchos fueron los emprendedores que a lo largo de los siglos XVIII y XIX dejaron sus lugares de orígen al norte de España para buscar fortuna haciendo las Américas. Unos volvieron convertidos en ricos indianos, y se recuerdan sus historias en lugares como la casa-museo dedicada a ellos en la localidad Asturiana de Colombres; otros no volverían nunca a ver a sus hogares y familiares. Sin embargo, aquella ausencia permanente no significaba que quienes dejaron atrás se quedaban para siempre sin saber de ellos: comunicación había, aún antes de Twitter y Facebook. Como botón de muestra, dos apuntes en los libros de difuntos de la parroquia de Miera.

El 15 de octubre de 1828 el párroco apuntaba haber celebrado honras fúnebres por Don Andrés del Acebo, 'del comercio', fallecido en Tula 'Nueva España'; honras que fueron sufragadas por su hermano, Miguel del Acebo, residente en Miera. 

Años antes, el 14 de febrero de 1786, el entonces párroco Don Agustín de la Comba había aprovechado un momento libre para apuntar dos a la vez: señalaba 'Por noticias que he tenido de América, por cartas que recibieron Luis Gómez y Juan Bautista Pérez, vecinos de éste lugar, fallecieron en el Nuevo Reyno Don Francisco de la Mier, y Don Cayetano Cobo, naturales de éste lugar, el uno en Guadalajara y el otro en Guanajuato.'

FUENTE: Archivo Diocesano de Santander, Parroquia de Miera, Difuntos 1772-1804 y 1821-1847

Friday 8 June 2012

Genealogical Oddities (XXIII): A Belgian Baptism in Seville, 1868

A baptism recorded at Seville's parish of San Roque in December 1868 must have tested the limits of the priest's ability to spell phonetically - in the effort to detail so many foreign names and places, the child's name seems to have been omitted from the entry, unless the name 'Eduardo' scribbled in the margin, when taken with the godparent's name, can be held as sufficient identification.

The child was born on 10 Dec 1868 to Eugène Robelus [sp?] and his wife Constance Doquier, both Belgians, he a native of Heer, she of Brussels. Paternal grandparents were 'Adverto' Robelus (Albert? Adalbert?) and Caroline Hensyn, of Heer; Maternal grandparents, Jean Doquier, of Constance, and Constance Calbaerts, said to be of the same [I'm a bit concerned by this profusion of the word 'Constancia' and wonder if this may not simply be the point at which the priest gave in to exhaustion!]. The godparents were Eduardo Linsser and Concepción Quintanilla - relationship between these two, if any, not specified.

SOURCE: Archivo Municipal de Sevilla, Baptism Duplicates, Book 210, P. 578