Hey'all, did'ja miss me? Tell ya what, I miss me! I must have caught a chill at my friend's naming ceremony and didn't pay attention because mannnnnn did I catch me a doozy of a cold! Matter a'fact, Im only hanging around long enough to say I've missed you guys, tell yall whats happening and why I'm asking for help and put up the spoilers just in case someone can read Spanish better than I can. And help me understand what the Barcelona addresses were. Its story time kids!

A friend of mine from back in the day came over with this box of papers and started taking these almost transparent documents out of it - I about had a heart attack. Even I know you shouldn't be carrying around a christening certificate that's like .. transparent already in this weather! So I grabbed the tape before I put down saran wrap on the kitchen table, had her put the most fragile of them on it so I could put another layer on top and tape the edges a bit so they stayed put like a quickie self laminating job.

I've translated the information on the documents but for the life of me I can not figure out whats on the backs of a couple pictures that caught our eye. Usually there wasn't anything but a foto stamp on them. Which I would love to know what the address translates to for the information file. So I took pictures of the writing and am asking for some help figuring it out. I've also taken pics of the pics so you can see it in context. And there's an address that was in a little gold jewelry box .. I have tried figuring out how the postal system worked in the 60s in Barcelona but I can't make heads or tails of it. And the surname mystery.. yeaaaah.

Does anybody know if anything changes if the father died and the mother remarried someone with the same first names. That's exactly what seems to have happened and it's making me crazy.

The paper in the box

http://imgur.com/DsXcry5

Just between us, I remember stories about a castle and Carmen's mother not daring to approach the grounds for fear of living out her days in the dungeon. I would love to know thats where this address belonged back then <3

foto man

This is on the back of every picture except 1 so far. It must be the name and address where they processed the film, and if we can figure out who and where the shop was, maybe we can find the family still has the business. And keeps records or something. It's worth a shot!

Our Carmen makes five

The back:

http://i.imgur.com/YsEdjgI.jpg

I'm assuming that's Carmens mother, Carmen. They're all Carmens. Seriously. Four women, all listed on church documents that lead straight to Maria's mom. All Carmens.

I don't remember ever seeing that dress

The back:

http://i.imgur.com/XXOSO7O.jpg

I would have remembered a dress that poofy.

Anyone who can read Spanish and put it in context for us or is willing to give it a try, it would be much appreciated! I've been up much longer than I intended to be, time for me to take my cold stuff and get knocked out from it again. Thanks again y'all, I'll be on tonight I think, can't wait to see what these might say!

The foto man is definitely business information (telephone number, address of business) where picture was developed or taken. I bet you find it on the internet. So interesting keep us in the loop.

I have family photos from 1892 of my grandfather as a baby and many more old pics. LIke my grandmother in 1914 in a college basketball uniform and a flapper dress with headpiece included. Even a pic of my great-grandfather who must have been a character, because his in a photo with a car and a parrot standing on the edge of the windshield where the top of roof should have been attached. So many more old photos.

Sorry not much help except to wish a speedy recovery!

I'm going to take a stab at a couple of these. My Spanish isn't great but...

The Paper in the Box: Rambla, in the context of a city, refers to a promenade, avenue, or boulevard. There are a couple popular rambla in Catalonia, Barcelona. The most historically famous one is generally referred to as La Rambla but there are other streets called rambla in the same area. S. Sole Barbera may be a person.

Our Carmen Makes Five: It looks like "Para __ hija de tu madre y antonio" which I'm pretty sure would translate to "For __ daughter of your mother and antonio"? I can't quite make out that second word and I can't work out the word under the year.

I'd have a go at the last one but I'm still trying to piece together the handwriting enough to make out more than a couple of words.

Thanks so much y'all! This is a totally new journey I'm embarking on, I've never done this kind of information search before. Having a cold makes me miserable but I've noticed that when kicked back on the couch with the box we put the things Maria brought over in and my notebook, clipboard and notes I've compiled getting this adventure underway has helped keep my mind off the aches and pains.

I'm adopted so I can't do this for me, I know who my birthmother is but she refused to tell me anything about anything except some health history if it was hereditary. Genealogy hunting is kinda like medicine in it's own right. Might be because its so challenging.

Lets see if I can sum up where we're at with this little challenge before I go see what my pillow is doing.. Bones and bluegenes were able to figure out how the address works. I remember Carmen talking about Barcelona a couple times - the running of the bulls, the matador she knew and bull fights she could either see or hear them from her balcony. I don't know why she had that address tucked away but seeing she must have lived on La Ramblas street in Barcelona and there's no La or Las on the paper it might not be for that area. More digging is needed for sure!

Bones found a website that still has a sales page but I cant tell if his family maintains the page or its photographs Roberto has taken that other people have for sale. Awesome find! (http://www.todocoleccion.net/6-fotoss-fotografo-barceloneta-barcelona-roberto-fortet-grau-torras-57~x42551021)

If my head didn't hurt, I'd give m'self a forehead thump. Madre - how did I miss that?! I think the "scrawl" is much like the "un" or "nu" combos I've found over and over in the other documents, so.. would it be "Para un hija de tu madre y antonio Carmen 1959"

"For my daughter, of your mother and Antonio Carmen 1959"

The festive dress picture.. even staring at the big image its hard to figure this one out. Bones spotted what she and I both think is "amigas" or "amigos" And I see Carmen(s) in there. This one is really tough, all I have so far is maybe this:

C-- todo ---- -- ---- a amigo Carmen(?) de to A--------

I'm not even sure thats Carmen but when someone's in a rush and things are a bit smudged, it looks like Carmen to me. The capital A word should be a name .. and thats all I got.

Have fun gathering flowers luvs, I need to sleep before I fall over right here

Absolutely fascinating, I love history in any form.

Good luck translating those . Unfortunately I don't know any Spanish to help you. Oh and speedy recover for your cold.

, have a good sleep then enjoy your mystery hunt!

Thank you! I only got Ca-i- out of it.

Looking at it while I'm more awake, the first one looks like "Para mi hija..." so yes. "For my daughter..."

For the second one, if I try to make it make sense, it sort of looks like "Caer todo dare es foto a amiga (Carmen?)..." and then I lose the rest. To paraphrase, I think that sort of translates to "dropping everything to give this photo to my friend Carmen..."

A hurdle with translation is going to be not knowing the dialect. Like the Classical Spanish I studied in the US was different from the Spanish I learned when I studied in Guatemala. Basic structure and core vocabulary were mostly the same but the way people actually used it had some serious quirks. So if the people writing are living in Catalonia in the 50s/60s, the writing probably leans more toward Catalan Spanish as it was used back then and they might have phrased or even spelled things differently.

First of all, I love a good mystery! Secondly, can I just say that whoever wrote on the back of those photos had horrible cursive?! Gah! Neat, then sloppy, with capitals and lowercase all mixed up. Horrible. My teacher would've smacked my knuckles with the proverbial ruler! That being said, I think the writer is using Zaner-Bloser cursive. Badly, but whatever.

I have been working on some translations. I'm thinking the note on the back of the flamenco dancer photo is not a caption of a who or what about the photo, but rather a small note written to either the woman in the photo or a fan of the woman in the photo. Take my translation with a grain of salt, because as I said earlier, the handwriting is horrible and don't even get me started on the grammar. Plus I'm more familiar with French than Spanish. I do agree with about the dialect problem and he may be right about his translation. (I could be completely wrong here.)

Translation: Con todo mi afecto a amiga Carmen de todo(?) Amyavito/Amyanito (?) (unknown last word) With all my love/affection to friend Carmen of (todo?) Amyavito/Amyanito (?)

'todo' means 'all/every', not sure how that fits in there. I have no clue on the last word; the closest I could get was some strange definition of 'tiger' or 'brave like a tiger'. The second name is definitely Amy-to but I'm not sure on the exact spelling.

Hope this helps a little. I would love to know anything else you find out about the genealogy. I think it's so interesting that so many women in the family, one right after the other, were named Carmen. Usually it's the boys that are given the same name over and over because the girls marry off into other families.

Sorry not any help , just to wish you get well soon!

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