MY FAMILY HISTORY
Tormented by the
certainty that he was his wife's brother,
Aureliano ran out to the parish house to
search through the moldy and moth-eaten
archives for some clue to his parentage [...]
... lost in the labyrinths of kinship,
trembling with uncertainty...
- from One Hundred
Years of Solitude by Gabriel García
Márquez
Family
trees are important, to remember "who
beget whom," but it's far more important
to preserve family stories. With the
knowledge of stories, our ancestors are
"fleshed out" and become more than
mere names on paper or faces on photographs.
By learning about the events and
circumstances that affected and influenced
our ancestors' lives, we earn insights and a
personal perspective into history. The
richest family story I've researched so far
has been the 1904 kidnapping of my distant
cousin Samuel
Scher, but I have
collected hundreds of little stories told to
me by my grandparents and older relatives.
You should collect
as many stories as you can. Write them down.
Save them. [...] What does it matter if they
are true?
- Elie Wiesel, quoted in Arthur Kurzweil's From
Generation to Generation [arguably the
best book on Jewish genealogy]
I have lots of information to
share upon request, and invite family members
to add to what I have found.
Email me, Edward Rueda, at
edwardarueda(AT)gmail.com
For
the sake of Internet researchers, here's a
laundry list of FAMILY
SURNAMES
• Paternal Grandfather's Side: Rueda, Prada,
Gómez, Camacho, Franco.
See
the Rueda family
tree.
Originally
from: San Gil, Barichara, and other towns of
Santander, Colombia.
Immigrated
to: New York City; Miami, Florida. My dad,
uncle, and grandmother were the first Ruedas
in our immediate family to live in the United
States.
Associated
Stories:
Lope de Rueda
(c.1510-1565), Spain's first notable
comedian and playwright, and mentor
to Miguel de Cervantes.
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The Royal Coat of
Arms of the Town of San Gil,
Colombia, presented by King
Carlos II "The
Bewitched" of Spain in 1694.
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• Paternal Grandmother's Side:
Vásquez, Cohen, Lara, Martelo,
Savignano, Noguera, Osorio, Restrani, Kamber,
Mejía, Molina, Dávila, Juliao, Pacheco,
Esquivia, Blanquiceth.
See
the Vásquez
family tree and Lara family tree.
Originally
from: the Caribbean coast of Colombia -
Barranquilla (Atlántico Department),
Cartagena, Galerazamba, San Bernardo del
Viento (Córdoba Department), Villanueva
(Bolívar Department).
Immigrated
to: New York City; Miami, FL; Switzerland.
Associated
Stories:
BARRANQUILLA
MÍA
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LA
VIOLENCIA
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TWIGS
IN HOLLYWOOD
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Clay pottery handmade
by my grandmother, Eugenia Rueda
(born Eugenia Vásquez Lara), in the
decorative style of the Quimbaya
Indians.
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A
performance of vallenato music, by
musicians wearing traditional
clothing of the Caribbean coast of
Colombia.
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• Maternal Grandfather's Side:
Fingerhut, Fischer, Niedrig, Siegel, Haspel,
White, Goldberg, Kikiniss/Kikenis.
See
the Fingerhut
family tree.
Originally
from: Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv,
Ukraine).
Immigrated
to: Brooklyn, NY (by way of Toronto, Canada).
Associated
Stories:
ELLIS
ISLAND
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ALFRED
THE GREAT
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A plaque depicting
the traditional blessing of the
Kohanim, the Israelites' high
priests, from which my Fingerhut
family claims direct male
descendancy. |
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• Maternal Grandmother's Side:
Davis, Karasov, Scher, Turner,
Zaslavsky, Axelrod, Berg, Cassell, Feinberg,
Feitlowitz, Fiber, Fraser, Geey, Haft,
Hiller, Kaplan, Lewis, Lora, Mallin,
Morosohk, Nemetz, Schwartz, Taitch, Wexler.
See
the Karasov
family tree, the Davis family tree, and the Scher family tree.
Originally
from: Kiev, Ukraine (formerly Russia); Lodz,
Poland (formerly Russia).
Immigrated
to: New York City; Spokane, Washington;
Paterson, NJ; Liverpool, England; Wrexham,
Wales; Manchester, England; Vancouver,
Canada; St. Paul & Minneapolis, MN; Los
Angeles, CA.
Associated
Stories:
Temple Emanu-El, the
old synagogue of Spokane, Washington
(my grandmother's hometown). Note the
very Russian-style onion top. |
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