How Did My Long Lost Relatives Find Me?
Visited 1229 Times Published by Rico June 26th, 2007 in Blogging, How, Philippines and Rico's Ramblings.
My paternal great-grandfather Jose Mossesgeld Santiago was an opera singer known as Jose Santiago-Font. Jose’s only child by Dolores was Enrico, my grandfather. Enrico had Simon, who had me.
While he was in the US during the 1920s and 30s, Jose married his second wife, Isabel. They had two children, the youngest named Phillip. Phillip had a daughter named Cheryl. This means Cheryl is my half-aunt, and that we share the same blood.
I’m only going biblical on you dear readers because, guess what? I had no idea Cheryl existed until 3 days ago. Turns out she was looking for her long-lost grandfather, who returned to the Philippines and vanished without a trace. So how did Cheryl find me?
Turns out she was Googling for “Jose Santiago-Font,” and it led her to a post where I explained my lack of athleticism by talking about my creative ancestors.
She used the contact form to get in touch with me, asking if I had a great-grandfather named Jose. Slowly, we realized that we shared blood, with my dad confirming the details she shared. I referred her to my dad, who was happy to finally find out more about his mysterious half-cousins.
So as Cheryl and my Dad get to know each other over email, I can’t help but wonder how much Fool for Five has helped me. I get to update friends, give advice, learn from the comments, enjoy all kinds of opportunities, and in this case, find out more about a long lost branch of my family. Dear readers and fellow bloggers, how have your blogs helped you out? 
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8 Responses to “How Did My Long Lost Relatives Find Me?”
- 1 Pingback on Jan 2nd, 2008 at 1:09 am
What a nice story. It’s a good thing you blogged about your ancestor or she’d be wondering whether her grandfather is actually a gynecologist based on the Google search results.
She did know our ancestor was an opera singer. In any case, I’ve taken over the #1 SER. So if I have any more relatives out there, they’ll find me.
hey rico! interesting story!!! how are you na????
I’m fine Cawol, how is El Huwapo and the babe?
Hi there! I am a Filipino-American opera singer based here in San Francisco Ca. Can anyone please inform me where I could purchase a recording of Signor Santiago-Font?
Maraming Salamat!
Mabuhay Carlo, always nice to hear from people who appreciate my great-grandfather’s work. I’ve forwarded your message to my dad; he and my sister know have a copy and I’m sure they’re very willing to share it with you.
Hello..Two or three years ago I purchased an odd lot of oriental items from a west cost auction house. Included in this lot was a record album with six records. Four appear to be chinese in content but two are Columbia records that appear to have been recorded on January 21, 1913. The artist is Jose Mossesgeld Santiago. The records are in excellent condition. The label also contains the name Francisco Santiago. The work is titled KUNG IIBIG KA. (two sides) The second record by Jose Santiago lists Nicanor Abelardo and is titled NA SAAN KA IROG.I would appreciate any information regarding the value of these records…Thank You…Charlie