Activity 8 Family Tree: Tracing One’s Roots and Family Experiences

1. My Family Tree
by: Elena Fornes
EDF 2085

2. Maternal side - Family Name Yanes.
This is a picture of my grandmother Maria del Carmen
Yanes, she is the girl photographed in the center. Her
parents, (my great grand parents are seated next to her)
Emilia Buzzi (owned a small school in Havana Cuba) and
Francsisco Yanes (Land Owner) We do not know there
DOB’s
My grandmother was born in 1903, this picture was probably
somewhere between 1915 and 1917 .

3. Maternal Side (Yanes)
This is a picture of my Grandmother, Maria Del Carmen Buzzi Yanes (1903 –
1986) about 20 years after the previous picture. Here she poses with her
husband , my grandfather , Evaristo Yanes, MD (1907 – 1948) and my Uncle
Giraldo, who passed away in 1999.

4. Maternal Side (Yanes)
This is a picture of My Grandmother, Maria del Carmen Yanes, with my
mother (left) and my 2 uncles Jose and Giraldo. This was around 1941.

5. Paternal Side (Fornes)
This is a picture of my Father’s Parents. America Polo (1920-2012 )and Rafael Fornes,
M.D. (1917 – 1974) My grandmother was a teacher and artist. This pictures was
taken sometime in the 1950’s. My grandmother was the light of my life. I admired
her beyond words and she will always be imprinted in my heart.

6. Here are my parents…Rafael Fornes (1943)and Carmen
Yanes(1939)
They married in New York City 1971.

7. Family Picture - 1981
This is a family picture with my parents, my brother, Peter Fornes (1974)
,a family friend and I, Elena Fornes (1978).

8. This is my brother and I at a Wedding around 1999.

9. This my Husband, Guillermo Cardet (1968) and I in
2006.

10. Last but Not least these are my boys John W. Cardet
9/10/09 and Levi W. Cardet (1/11/11) 1.5 years ago at
the Nick Hotel.

11. John and Levi a few months back.

12. Activity 8
Family Tree: Tracing One’s
Roots and Family Experiences
From what parts of the world did your family (or families) originate?
As far as we know my family is mainly from Cuba with a few exceptions of course. My maternal great-great
grandfather is of Italian descent and his wife was born here in the United States.
What motivated your ancestors to leave their homeland for a New World? When did they leave? If
your ancestors were always in North America, what was their life like prior to European contact?
I wish I had a richer road map to my ancestors not only for the purpose of this assignment but mainly for
me. In fact this assignment has made me realize that we may need to create a family journal and pass down
as a type of heirloom to keep the future generations bonded. With that being said the only motivation my
family had was communism, it‟s actually pretty straight forward. Had it not been for that, the communist
regime my maternal and paternal families would have stayed put.
What hardships did your ancestors face in previous generations, either when they first arrived or
soon after contact? What did they do to overcome any hardships? Do they recall any prejudice that
was experienced?
My grandmothers, who are now deceased, but I knew, faced several challenges. Language aside they both
arrived to the United States at essentially the retirement age. That is a difficult thing to do because you
cannot truly rebuild your life. You must adapt to your new life at the mercy of your families choices. I do
not mean to say “mercy” like it has to be horrible but the older you are the harder it becomes to accept
change. Not to mention that when you spend 60 years in the same town, same house, with the same
friends and same surroundings it‟s not easy to leave. Truly there is no reason to leave, you are settle, retired
and then communism comes knocking on your door.

13. What did your ancestors do in the previous two or three generations? How did this influence
what the family does today?
On my paternal side my grandfather “Bebo” whom I never met was a medical doctor. My
grandmother, “Chiquitica” was a teacher and my father is an engineer. On my maternal side, my
grandfather Evaristo, whom I also never met, was too a medical doctor. My grandmother, Lela was a
teacher and my mother was a secretary for the dade county public school system for over 20 years,
she retired last year.
What languages did your ancestors speak? What has happened to these languages in your
family today?
My family mainly coming from Cuba spoke only Spanish in previous generations. My mother and
my father are both bilingual as am I.
What family traditions or practices have been performed over the years that are special or
unique to your family?
I can‟t think of any tradition specifically unique to my family other than typical Cuban Christmas
tradition. We celebrate that Holiday on the eve as opposed to the actual Christmas Day. We eat
roasted pork, yuca, rice and beans. However we also add turkey, sweet ham and mash potatoes to
give it an American feel, at least that is what we say, I think it we just what more food.

14. What do you know of the meaning behind your family name? How, if at all, has it changed over the
years? Do you know the reason for any changes?
My family said it may have originated in Spain but they are not sure. I did some research on line and per
ancentry.com and this is what I found. “Norwegian: habitational name from any of the twelve farmsteads
so named, from either Old Norse fura „pine‟ or for „foremost‟, „front‟ + nes „headland‟, „promontory‟ (the
latter etymology suggests a headland jutting out farther than others near it).Catalan (Fornés): respelling of
Forners, either an occupational or a topographic name from the plural of Forner 2.”
How are the experiences of your family similar to or different from those faced by various
immigrants or refugees today?
The main difference is the reason why the people are leaving. Some people arrive to a new country excited
and full of hope perhaps for a new job. Some people leave their homes for love and others for fear. I think
all in all it must be a intimidating; the language barrier is huge and the cultural differences can bring upon
fear. Like the song the lyrics from the song “People are Strange”, by the Doors, “People are strange when
you‟re a stranger faces look ugly when you‟re alone, women seem wicked when your unwanted streets are
uneven when you are down. When your strange, faces come out of the rain when you‟re strange, no one
remembers your name…” This song reminds me of that.
In what ways was this exercise easy or difficult for you to do? Under what circumstances might an
exercise like this be difficult for a student to do? What might you do as a teacher to modify it in
special circumstances?
It was easy because I had an interest to dig deeper into my families past but it was difficult because no one
is really left to tell the tail. For my student, if for example, they have no family to ask I would have them
make a family tree of what he or she dreams they were like. In the same or a similar situation I might ask
my student to create an imaginary family tree in reverse. If the student has no past that he can speak of
imagining a future family like who he or she will marry and how many kids they will have might be a nice
way for them to participate creatively.