Veronica Knows ...

Senona Luna Luera Maltos, Gomecindo's Widow
photo circa 1900

 " I can tell you what happened to widows - the mine would assign an unmarried miner to live with her so she could earn room and board money.  He often became the next husband. They also took in laundry for unmarried miners.  Sometimes they would be lucky and have a widowed father to live with or a son old enough to work and support her and the younger kids.  You can see the story on the census records, showing boys as young as 14 working in the mine.  All of these scenarios happened in my families."

Veronica

  

Veronica Jordan is our go to girl in all things New Almaden. We were first introduced to her by Mary Hanel, the librarian at County Library History Room, on our first excursion Santa Clara. Veronica had to cancel our meet-up at the last minute, but we were assured that she knew a LOT about Almaden.

So true.  Veronica knows where all the bodies are buried.  She uncovered the Gomecindo Luera murder in the newspaper and tied him to our tree.  She is a crack researcher who has exceptional ability to source the really juicy stories, particularly when it comes to newspapers.

In addition, Veronica has deep knowledge of the families of New Almaden. As a child she visited her grandparents in New Almaden. Some of her kin still live in the area. We have discovered that her tree runs parallel to ours with some common families Avila, Sambrano, Paredes, Selaya.  Veronica holds the characters of the village of Almaden in decades past her head, and can make connections like no one else. 

Veronica is a great detective with the ability to put the pieces together. Best of all she is enthusiastic and lots of fun.  

Thanks Veronica, for being such a great Search Sister.