"Dicho" : Learning to decipher from Spanish to Spanish

Dicho : As they said it

Exploring the Spanish Archives & the stories of the ancestors

If you're wondering about what was on the minds of those Spanish and the folks they encountered in the early days, now there's a treasure hunt to help us find out!

Just like in this country there are new records online, the Archivo General de Indias   is now available online for those curious about digitalized primary documents from the European struggle for Florida.

It isn't easy to read. That's why I'm taking the Spanish Paleography class with Dr. Michael Francis at the University of South Florida Saint Petersburg in Florida Studies, which turns out to be quite exciting. The project I will tackle is "Cartas de Governadores" 1564, exploring the Spanish and Hugenot conflicts off South Carolina.

As students of FX Sanchez, there is the possibility there of learning something about the heritage of the mother of his first children, Beatriz de Piedra, as both of her parents come from this era. Her father was a carpenter who made parts for ships in Charleston and her mother was born in the islands, but became his slave. What was the culture and controversy from which they arose and met? How did they create this woman who set the tone of the beginnings of the FX Sanchez family?

But now we are simply at the point of determining one letter from another, a word from a scribble. Plus the class is only to translate from the written script into the Spanish word, not into English. That we leave for the experts.

 The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.