Clearing Up A Mix-Up

In all honesty, my maternal grandfather's line has been one of the hardest to trace for what ever reason. Mostly because I have no communication with him, but I was fortunate enough that my grandmother was aware of some names in his family such as his mother's name as well as her parents which was a great start. His father (my great grandfather, Manuel Correa) was the hardest person I probably had on my tree to find. Every time I looked at my family tree, that area of the family tree was blank, along with my father's branch because no one was aware of names, dates or places, but later that all changed.

With my maternal grandfather's line, I knew that his mother's name was Ernesta Miranda Rivera who died in 1989 and that her parents' names were Jose Miranda and Ramona Rivera. I also knew that Ernesta was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico with a twin brother. The story goes that while her mother was giving birth at her home, first came out Ernesto (her twin brother) and then her mother gave birth to a 'bag' (which was the placenta of Ernesta) and the doctor cut open the placenta to find Ernesta inside. I don't know if this is medically possible but it makes a great story about her birth.

My Great Grandmother Ernesta Miranda Rivera (1923-1989)

Knowing she was born in Vega Baja and in 1923 she would have to appear on the 1930 Census with her family in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico I searched the records on ancestry.com and found them.

Ernesta Miranda Rivera in 1930 living in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico

For some reason, mainly because I was told that Ramona Rivera was Ramona Rivera Rodríguez , I thought her parents were Conrado Rivera Ortiz and Asunción Rodríguez Figueroa who lived in Vaga, Morovis, Puerto Rico in 1910; where my great great grandmother had also lived (There was a Ramona listed with them in 1910). Yet after finding both Ernesta's birth and death certificate, I found out that her mother was actually not Ramona Rivera Rodríguez but Ramona Rivera Rivera. Both her parents were Rivera Rodríguez themselves, Ramona's father being Francisco Rivera Rodríguez from Morovis and her mother Estebanía Rivera Rodríguez according to records from Barranquitas, Puerto Rico she was born abt 1839 and died on 23 July 1919 in Vaga, Morovis, Puerto Rico. (Estebanía and Francisco do not share the same parents and from the looks of it might not be closely related since it's said that his Francisco's father was from Bayamón and his mother from Morovis while Estebanía's family was from Barranquitas.) So for a while I was confused about who Ramona was but thankfully I've corrected her branch and added the right names! Pictured below is a woman who I believe is my great great grandmother Ramona Rivera Rivera, I'm not completely sure but I found her picture in my grandfather's photo album where I also found pictures of his mother and him as a child. Notice how half of the picture seems to be missing, there's a hand (looks like a man's hand) holding the woman around at the arm. Who could that be and was he intentionally wiped out of the picture? Sometimes some mysteries may never be solved!

A picture of who I believe is Ramona Rivera Rivera