Recently (as in just yesterday), ancestry.com uploaded the 1935-1936 Census for Puerto Rico. I have been waiting for this census for a while and I'm glad it's been released! It adds another set of records available on ancestry for Puerto Ricans to use for researching their ancestors.
Here is some background information given by ancestry:
This census is particularly helpful because it's right between the 1930 and 1940 censuses so if someone died between those years you'll be able to find out if it was after or before 1935. Also, there is a 1935 agricultural census which if your ancestors owned land on the island they would appear on and give you information on that.
So far the 1935 census has helped me in a few ways. I've been able to find all of my direct ancestors that were alive for that time period in the records, except for one pair of great grandparents who I'm still trying to track down.
Before the 1935 Census, I wasn't sure when my 2nd great grandfather Nicodemus Vélez Ríos died. I knew that it was sometime between 1930-1940 but that was a pretty wide area to cover. Luckily, I was able to find his wife Domitila Mercado Cruz living in Arenas, Utuado, Puerto Rico with her children and widowed. Now I know that Nicodemus must have died sometime between 1931-1935 and probably in Adjuntas where they had lived for a little over 12 years. Now I'm trying to track his death record between those years. Here is the 1935 census record of Domitila as a widowed woman living with her children in Arenas, Utuado.
Secondly, the 1935 Census gave me another piece to the life of my great grandfather Manuel Correa. Manuel Correa was born in 1920 as "Isidoro Correa Rivera"; his father would later die in 1929 and his mother in 1933 leaving him and his siblings orphaned. From the information I have, Isidoro, who went by the name Manuel lived in 1930 with his cousin in San Juan, Puerto Rico while his sister Modesta still lived with her mother in Río Jueyes, Salinas, Puerto Rico. It seems that 5 years later, Isidoro moved back to Salinas and lived with his sister and their aunt Senovia and her husband Francisco Alvarado. Also in the house was Luisa another aunt, mother of Celedonio. Later in 1940 he would move back to San Juan and work for a Luis Vahamonde-Sanchez and it seems that Manuel would stay there for the rest of his life until his death. Speaking with a great-uncle confirmed that I have the right family but I hope that Isidoro and Manuel really are the same person! Here is the 1935 Census of them in Río Jueyes, Salinas.
As I search for extended family, the 1935 Census will help with tracking movement across towns, births, deaths and even new relationships that formed between 1930-1940. Now for finding my missing great grandparents in this census!!
Here is some background information given by ancestry:
This census is particularly helpful because it's right between the 1930 and 1940 censuses so if someone died between those years you'll be able to find out if it was after or before 1935. Also, there is a 1935 agricultural census which if your ancestors owned land on the island they would appear on and give you information on that.
So far the 1935 census has helped me in a few ways. I've been able to find all of my direct ancestors that were alive for that time period in the records, except for one pair of great grandparents who I'm still trying to track down.
Before the 1935 Census, I wasn't sure when my 2nd great grandfather Nicodemus Vélez Ríos died. I knew that it was sometime between 1930-1940 but that was a pretty wide area to cover. Luckily, I was able to find his wife Domitila Mercado Cruz living in Arenas, Utuado, Puerto Rico with her children and widowed. Now I know that Nicodemus must have died sometime between 1931-1935 and probably in Adjuntas where they had lived for a little over 12 years. Now I'm trying to track his death record between those years. Here is the 1935 census record of Domitila as a widowed woman living with her children in Arenas, Utuado.
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| 1935- Arenas, Utuado, Puerto Rico |
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| 1935- Salinas, Puerto Rico |
