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Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez

b. 1949

Born
24 Dec 1949, Oviedo City
Country of birth
Spain

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

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Facts and their sources

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  • Birth24 Dec 1949, Oviedo CityProbable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Oviedo City

    Birth, Oviedo City

  2. Child born: Queen Letizia of Spain

    Birth, Oviedo

What was it like?

The world around Oviedo City, 1949: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Jesús was born the same year as Meryl Streep, Valery Leontiev, and Sigourney Weaver.

Born the same year

  • Meryl Streep

    American actress

  • Valery Leontiev

    Russian singer

  • Sigourney Weaver

    American actress (born 1949)

  • Arsène Wenger

    French football manager (born 1949)

  • Benjamin Netanyahu

    Prime Minister of Israel (born 1949), (1996–1999; 2009–2021; 2022–present)

  • António Guterres

    Secretary-General of the United Nations since 2017

Fashion

Fines for immodest clothing in public

Municipal laws in 1940s Barcelona imposed fines of 25 to 100 pesetas for wearing immodest clothing, such as sleeveless dresses or short skirts, in public.

Painted Stocking Seams

Women who could not afford real stockings sometimes painted a line down the back of their legs with eyeliner to simulate a seam.

Music
Around 1950–1960

The Blacksmith's Hammer Song

The martinete is a traditional song associated with blacksmiths, who rhythmically beat their hammers on anvils to accompany their bitter, solitary singing.

Around 1936–1939

Accordion as a wartime companion

The accordion was a ubiquitous rural instrument during the Spanish Civil War, used in trenches to play popular dances and tangos as a way to cope with boredom and fear.

Getting around

Regional train speeds in Malaga

Until the tracks were dismantled in 1965, the steam and later diesel train between Malaga and Coin covered 38 kilometers in approximately one hour and 45 minutes.

Around 1950–1955

Donkeys as primary rural transport

In the early 1950s, the donkey remained the primary means of transport in rural areas, frequently carrying both heavy loads and passengers perched uncomfortably on its forequarters.

Daily life
Around 1950–1965

Rural Home Life and Water Access

In rural homes, water was not piped; women and young girls had to transport it daily from public fountains using pitchers and jars. Families frequently lived, cooked, and slept in a single room, often with dirt floors.

Child labor and limited schooling access

Poorer girls often worked as domestic servants for as little as one peseta a month plus food, while others stayed home to embroider or care for younger siblings instead of attending school. Schooling was frequently interrupted by teacher changes or seasonal farm work, with some children walking over two hours to attend.

Food
Around 1950–1951

The sustanciero: selling flavor to the hungry

For a small fee, a sustanciero would visit homes to place a ham bone into a pot of stew for a few minutes to provide flavor to the broth.

Around 1950–1952

Creative survival: coffee and tortilla substitutes

During the post-war years, extreme scarcity forced families to use substitutes, such as making coffee from roasted barley, chicory, or acorns, and cooking tortilla without eggs or potatoes by using orange peels, onions, and flour.

Prices and wages
Around 1950–1950

Low wages and high bread prices

In 1950, an average working man earned about 20 pesetas a day, while a kilo of bread could cost 12 pesetas, making staple food expensive relative to daily wages.

Around 1950–1974

Crafting shoes took 12 hours of work

Shoemakers in rural areas crafted shoes by hand over approximately 12 hours of labor, charging 140 pesetas for rustic field shoes and 300 pesetas for finer pairs.

Work

Precarious life for rural day laborers

Agricultural laborers in rural Spain typically earned only 3.5 pesetas a day and could often only find work for half the year. In some cases, these laborers slept in barns and stables with livestock when working in the fields.

Around 1950–1974

Long hours and multiple jobs for survival

Due to insufficient wages, families often relied on multiple jobs (pluriempleo) and long hours, extending the workday to the limit of physical endurance. Many workers also took on extra shifts to avoid the need for hiring additional staff, as layoffs were difficult.

News and letters
Around 1951–1951

Rural Mail Delivery by Donkey

In isolated Spanish villages during the early 1950s, mail could still be delivered by donkey, highlighting the significant rural isolation of the era.

Around 1950–1959

The Postman as a Local Hub

In small towns during the 1950s, the postman's house often served as the local post office, where residents collected mail and sent letters. Because of high illiteracy, postmen frequently assisted locals by reading or writing their letters for them.

During their lifetime

  1. 1950

    Tourism industry boom 1950-1970

    The annual number of tourists visiting Spain skyrocketed from less than half a million in 1950 to over 20 million by 1970.

  2. 1960

    Massive labor emigration to Europe 1960-1975

    Between 1960 and 1975, approximately three million Spaniards emigrated to European countries like Germany, France, and Switzerland to seek work.

  3. 1960

    Massive rural-to-urban migration in 1960s

    In the 1960s, approximately 3.1 million Spaniards moved from rural areas to industrial urban centers like Madrid and Barcelona.

  4. 1966

    Growth of household consumer goods in 1966

    By 1966, the rise in living standards meant that 36 percent of households owned a washing machine, 32 percent a television, and 12 percent a car.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.