52 Ancestors – #37 Gertrudis Román (1790-1844)

I'm going to keep this ball rolling and continue posting about my ancestors. So here's post 37 about yet another ancestor from Toa Alta, my 4th great grandmother Gertrudis Román.

When I first discovered Gertrudis through the Toa Alta church records I was really excited, being the wife of my 4th great grandfather, Joseph de Rivera, it made her a part of the oldest set of ancestors on my direct paternal lineage.

I started digging deeper into the records searching for their death records, I was fortunate to stumble upon a "Gertrudis Romana" who I'm pretty sure is my 4th great grandmother. It states… "al cadaver de Gertrudis Romana [sic] como de veinte y seis años viuda de José Rivera, pardos libres". 

Gertrudis passed away on the 29th of December 1844, having already been widowed of her husband José Rivera. Her age is listed as "26 years old" which would mean she would have been born about 1818 which I know is incorrect. This is the only little bit of information that is very inaccurate, and for now I do believe this is my Gertrudis Román but it does bother me a bit that it's so wrong. Very possibly, her age was guessed at the time of her death. She could have been in her late 40s and someone gave a wrong age and that's what was written down. I'm not sure if there was another Jose Rivera and Gertrudis Roman couple in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico at the time (at least I haven't found one) so even though the age is wrong I believe firmly she is my 4th great grandmother.

What's interesting is that it states she is a "pardo libre", and the fact that it's in plural probably means it was referring to her late husband as well. I have talked about this term before in other posts, how "pardo" for a while was a term used to describe people of color in Puerto Rico and later the term "trigueño" kind of substituted this word, sometimes the word 'mulato' was used as well. However, there is some debate to what the "pardo" mix actually entails. I'm under the impression (and agree with) the belief that pardo was a term used for mixed Spanish and native Taíno people. It is also very possible that it was used for mixed Spanish and African people (and possibly for someone of all three). We know for sure that José Rivera would have been a descendant on his paternal side from a European man seeing as he (and I) are I2a1*, a European haplogroup. This is the first time I noticed on the record that it was in plural and that it could be a reference to the husband. Potentially both José and Gertrudis were mixed free people of color in the Toa Alta society and married because they were in the same social class.

Gertrudis and José would have nine children in total, from what I have so far! I'd have to look and see how they were identified in terms of "color". In my 3rd great grandfather's death record there is no note of his color, probably because the entries were much shorter during the time period he passed away in. None the less, it's very interesting to see my 4th great grandmother listed as "pardo libre", I would love to do some more research into that term and see what kind of life - whether they enjoyed certain privileges or hung in between two worlds - and how this category would impact their lives and that of their children. 

52 Ancestors – #36 Isabel de la Fuente

Okay, finally getting into my September ancestors! I can't believe that this is ancestor #36, so let's get started! This will be about my 5th great grandmother Isabel de la Fuente.

Isabel is also another ancestor from the town of the Toa Alta who I don't have clear years of birth and death due to her being only present in church documents. Isabel, like Juan de Dios Marrero, was most likely born in the early 1700s since her first child I have documented is in 1809. Isabel after a while dropped her surnamed to just Fuentes, which was common amongst those who had compounded or longer surnames; you see the same thing happening with the surname de la Torre/Torres. Isabel's husband was Paulino Vásquez and together I have been able to document 14 children - that's a lot of kids! From the information I have children births span across 50 years!! Paulino and Isabel passed away after 1828, where and when I don't know. What is interesting to note are the godparents of the children for Paulino and Isabel. Usually, a godparent is someone close to the family - either a family friend or uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. There are various couples who have come forward to become the godparents of the Vásquez Fuentes children, and amongst them there are various Fuentes individuals. Here are the list of godparents I have been able to accumulate for their children, listed by year of baptism:

1809- José María Ferré y Rosa Fuentes 
1811- Pedro Ferrer y Bárbara Martínez
1813- Marcelino García y Eugenia Fuente
1816- Fermin Fuentes y Juana Quiles
1817- Juan Angel Quilez y María Vásquez
1818- Marcelino Fuentes y Gregoria Fuentes
1820- Julian Fuentes y Juana Quiles
1823- Juan de la Fuente y Gertrudis Vásquez
1824- Manuel Ortiz y Cayetana Rosado
1826- Juan de la Fuente y Feliciana de la Fuente
1828- Remigio Vásquez y Juliana López

As you can see there are quiet a few Fuentes/de la Fuente godparents, both men and women. I haven't been able to tie them to Isabel de la Fuente so far. Julian Fuentes for example appears in my family tree as the son of Joseph Luciano Fuentes/de la Fuente, potentially this is someone in Isabel's family whether an uncle or even her father. I can't be too certain until I have Isabel's death record or some mention of grandparents for the Vásquez Fuentes children where it lists their grandparents. Truly, I wouldn't be surprised if all of these Fuentes godparents were related by blood to Isabel, it would definitely explain why she and Paulino chose them as godparents.

Again, Isabel probably died in Toa Alta but I have no record yet to prove that. Based on all the information I have of her I only know that must have been after 1828 (officially), there are a few 1840-1850 children born to Paulino and her but since they aren't officially documented with birth/baptism records I'll only go off the last official one I do have. One can only hope to extend their lines further, myself included! 

52 Ancestors – #35 Juan de Dios Marrero

My 6th great grandfather is a man of both very little and very interesting information. By FamilySearch uploading Toa Alta church records a while back, I was able to extend my once unknown paternal line far back; Juan de Dios Marrero being part of this family. My great grandmother, Mercedes Ortiz Marrero, is related to Juan de Dios Marrero (but it's not where she gets her maternal Marrero surname from).

Juan de Dios Marrero was mostly likely born in the early-1700s, seeing as how most of his children were born at the beginning of the 1800s. We don't know Juan's parents' names or if he/they were originally born in Puerto Rico, but I would imagine that Juan himself was. Juan de Dios Marrero was married to Rosa de Rivera and so far I have been able to trace six of their children in the Toa Alta/Corozal area. I only know that Juan and wife Rosa died sometime after 1818 but I haven't been able to find their death records in Toa Alta just yet. Who knows if they potentially died in Corozal? Also, potentially Rosa de Rivera might have some connection to my own direct paternal Rivera/de Rivera which were also in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico around the same time.

Juan de Dios Marrero and Rosa de Rivera, I have mentioned before somewhere in my blog. They were probably active members of their community seeing as how they served as godparents for other families. In 1809, they appeared as the godparents of Juliana Martínez Vázquez. Since both appear together I'm pretty sure these are my 6th great grandparents. Also, Juliana's family is tied into my family in Toa Alta somewhere far back probably marrying a descendant of the Rivera-Marrero family which also helps to strengthen the case that these are them.

Bautismo - Juliana Martínez Vázquez [Ancestry]

My interest lies in Juan's wife Rosa de Rivera, mainly because I have found records of slaves belonging to a woman of the same name. It is very possible that there was another woman of the same name who owned slaves in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico; but seeing as how we are talking about the early 1800s about a town that was founded in 1751, I wonder how many Rosa de Riveras there actually were. The only thing is that there is no mention of a Juan de Dios Marrero, could Rosa de Rivera have handled the affair of the slaves for the family? I won't know for sure until I have a clearer document but for now I do believe that it is very possible. Here are two slaves baptized/confirmed in Toa Alta mentioning their slave owner as Rosa de Rivera:

Teresa, esclava de Rosa de Rivera [Ancestry]

Joseph Bonifacio, hijo de Marcelina, esclava de Rosa de Rivera [Ancestry]

Hopefully I'll be able to find more information on Juan de Dios Marrero and his wife Rosa de Rivera. Potentially these Rivera and Marrero ancestors are tied to my other Marrero and Rivera lines of the same town. Especially in a time when endogamy was much more likely, I wouldn't be surprised to find cousins marrying each other either on purpose to "keep lines pure" or even by mistake. I'm not sure if there are any older documents for the town and church of Toa Alta but if there are I would sure love to see them!

52 Ancestors – #34 Agustin Calderón Meléndez (1859-1947)

Ahh!!! I know, I know! I'm late again with my posts (by about a month this time)! With settling into life in Spain, and three back-to-back weekend trips I haven't been able to dedicate much attention to my blog! But I'll try and catch up this week little by little posting more ancestor posts, I want to have all 52 done - I think it'd be a great feat! This post will be dedicated to my 3rd great grandfather Agustin Calderón Meléndez. Let's get started!

What's interesting about my 3rd great grandfather Agustin is the usage of surnames. Working my way backward from what I knew about him, I knew that he lived in Manatí and married Ana Morán Nazario and had many, many children with her. My second great grandfather would use the surnames Meléndez Morán and to this day the Meléndez surname is still being used by my family. In the 1940, 1935, and 1930 census records Agustin goes by Meléndez but in the 1910 Census we see him listed as Calderón Meléndez. Heads up: This branch for some reason has a scrambled use of surnames, sometimes Agustin uses Nazario as a maternal name, then sometimes Calderón, sometimes Meléndez, etc. Potentially there were mistakes on the records as a confusion with Ana who is Nazario through her mother.

We know that this Agustin is the same as mine because of the wife's name and the name of the children as well. They are living in the barrio of Coto, in Manatí where my family lived for a while. He is listed as living next to a Ramón and Manuel Calderón Meléndez, two of his brothers. Also his son, my 2nd great grandfather lived next door as well.

Agustin Calderón Meléndez - 1910 Census [Ancestry]

Agustin Calderón Meléndez - 1910 Census [Ancestry]

It seems that Agustin was born out of wedlock and never officially carried the surname "Calderón". In most records we just find him as Agustin Meléndez, illegitimate son of Cresencia Meléndez. But what helped crack the wall/mystery of the father, were sibling records that did acknowledge the father's name as Juan Calderón Nazario (and this is also probably a reason why Agustin appears with Nazario, his father had the name as well!) Both Juan Calderón and Cresencia Meléndez are natives of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico where Agustin was said to be born as well. 

Kind of crazy how one small event in your family's history, like not getting married can change your entire family tree, especially when it comes to the usage of surnames. Both of my surnames from what I know have been passed down from men Rivera and Correa but who knows if there was an ancestress how passed down the name. It goes to show you that how we view our families can change with just a document, in my case showing that Meléndez wasn't the name that was technically supposed to be past down. I'm not against maternal surnames being passed down and I'm so used to hearing Meléndez and actually like the surname so no need to worry about me being too patriarchal ;). 

Agustin ends up passing away in Manatí, Puerto Rico on the 6th of February 1947 from edema pulmonar (Pulmonary edema) at about the age of 88. He was already widowed by the time of his death for three years but I think a good number of his children were still alive (he and Ana did lose some children while they were young). Apparently Agustin and Ana married about 1886, either in Manatí or Vega Baja but I can't seem to find their marriage record. Their first child is born in 1888, so very believable that they married in 1887 as well. 

Hopefully I'll bump into another Calderón Meléndez cousin one day and see if they know anything else about the choice of surnames in the family! 

52 Ancestors – #33 Eglantine Lautin (1821-1889)

I have talked about my 5th great grandmother, Eglantine Lautin, before in previous posts. Many actually when I think about it, since it's only been a little close to two years since I found out about her. In one post titled "Tracing Eglantine Lautin" I discuss the possibility of discovering her ethnic origin through the mtDNA of female descendant. But I wanted to dedicate a post to Eglantine in the 52 Ancestors Challenge since she is a very interesting ancestress.

According to documents, Eglantine would have been born around 1821, which could be either correct or incorrect. Most of the French documents I have seen have been spot on for year estimations of births but seeing as how Eglantine was a slave, I don't know how reliable this given year is. Especially when you consider that she could have been (and probably was) taken from her family and traded amongst people who didn't speak her language. There is also the other option that she could have been very aware of her age and able to communicate it to someone along the way to or in Martinique. So many possibilities and so much to contemplate!

There is a very interesting website called "Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade" and I highly recommend it to anyone with slave ancestors or is interesting in the stats and information on the slave trade. There is a voyage database in which you can search by year and other variables such as: ship, voyage outcome, voyage dates, and slaves (numbers) to name a few. I decided to check for ships coming to Martinique between the years 1820-1844, I marked the last year as 1844 because my 4th great grandmother Julienne Malvina Lautin was born that year in Martinique meaning Eglantine had already been brought over. I image that Eglantine would have come probably in the 1830s as a young girl aged about 10, which according to one of the books I read states the children around that age were commonly brought over during the slave trade.

I then marked the principal landing place as "Martinique", there is always the possibility that Eglantine could have been sold from another island into Martinique but let's theorize that she was brought straight from Africa to Martinique. I then categorized the results by year to see which could be potential ships. The first trips between 1820-1826 I figure that Eglantine would have been too young and too small to be brought over. Slavery, however, knows no age and so who really knows if she could have been aboard one of those ships. But there were two ships in 1830 and 1831 that I feel could be more probable.

Voyages to Martinique [SlaveVoyages]

Both of the last voyages to Martinique appear to be completed by François Julien Santuary/Sentuary. The first voyage in 1830 was on a vessel named Auguste (a) Deux Frères while the second was on the vessel Bonne Aline. Again, not sure if Eglantine would have been on board one of these ships, but it's definitely interesting to think about and contemplate the possibility. Both of the ships picked up slaves in the area known as Bonny or the Bight of Biafra and the gulf of Guinea islands. This however doesn't indicate ethnic origin since there were slaves that were brought from inland countries and marched out to the western coast onto the ships.

The life Eglantine had on Martinique we know from records. We know that she had her first daughter Julienne in 1844 and later four more children: Pauline (1846), Jean (1851), and Marie (1855), and Rose (1858). Out of all the children, only one was recognized by their biological father and that was Marie Lautin, later known as Marie Boudré, her father being Adrien Boudré - another African slave. Eglantine was a slave to the Lapierre and Laroche family and later freed in 1848 with her two daughters Julienne and Pauline when they received the surname "Lautin" (I also imagine that Eglantine was not her origin name). Thanks to Julienne's birth record we know that Eglantine had previously been registered in a book of slaves under the number 192 in Register "C". Unfortunately, it seems that these books no longer exist or are nowhere to be found. If only these registers were available!! I imagine it would contain some sort of information in regards to Eglantine's origin, sale, and any other previous owners and/or characteristics to identify her. Hopefully one day these records can be recuperated if they are still around somewhere… one can only hope!

There is also the possibility to find out more information on Eglantine in a family will from the Lapierre family. When Jean Jacques Catherine Lapierre died on 17 September 1845 in Rivière Salée, Martinique he possibly left Eglantine and her Julienne to either his wife Anne Alexandrine Forget or his daughter Rose Hélène Lapierre. In 1844, Madame Lapierre née Forget registers Julienne Malvina's birth but in October 1846 (a little over a year after Jean Jacques' death, Dame Laroche née Lapierre registers Pauline's birth. Possibly Jean Jacques left in his will the slaves who two years later would become the "Lautin" family to Rose Hélène and her husband Jean Françoise Garnier-Laroche. I'm not sure however who the family would have gone to notary wise. Jean Jacques Catherine Lapierre was born in Le Marin, married in Saint Esprit and passed away in Rivière Salée – all different towns in Martinique. Did he previously have a notary in Le Marin that handled his family's estate and slave transactions or did he find someone new in Rivière Salée before he passed away?  There are records in the south of France available for notaries in Martinique but I have no idea where to begin searching there.

Eglantine would pass away in Petit Paradis, a section of Saint Esprit on the 2nd of September 1889, after her daughter Julienne headed for and started her life in Puerto Rico. It doesn't mention what she died of but according to what we have she would have been around 68; she would have seen her native Africa, life pre- and post- slavery in Martinique, and her daughter head out to a new land. Hopefully one day I'll get to meet descendants of the other Lautin children who stayed and lived in Martinique. Maybe some of them immigrated as well to other countries like Julienne. It would be interesting to see if we are truly genetically related, potentially what Eglantine's maternal haplogroup was, and share stories about our ancestors. 

52 Ancestors – #32 Alonso Maldonado

Almost caught up, almost caught up!! Here is another post of a pretty old ancestor, this time my 12th great grandfather Alonso Maldonado. [Note: because these ancestors are so far back there is always room for error, for example: paper records were wrong due to a NPE (non-paternity event) that occurred somewhere in the family and was kept a secret.]

Parcial view of Chinchón, España [Wikipedia]

Alonso Maldonado is another ancestor with connections to Spain, he himself was born around 1502 in the town of Chinchón in what was the kingdom of Toledo, Spain. This town, just like Pastrana, is not too far away from Madrid. I love looking up these towns and reading up on all the information I can on them. Since I've researched and read about many of the towns from my family in Puerto Rico and Martinique, every time I find a new town for an ancestor I look up images, maps, and any other information I can get my hands on.

Chinchón's population, like Pastrana's, is also pretty tiny, in 2008 it hovered a little over 5,000 people. It's interesting to note that the town's church, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, started construction in 1534 and was later finished in 1626. This means that my ancestors would have been in the town when the church's construction was underway but never saw its completion since my 11th great grandfather, Pedro Maldonado, left Spain for Puerto Rico in 1549. Alonso Maldonado, Pedro's father, on the other hand might have seen more of the church's construction. I'm not sure if Alonso stayed in Spain or moved to Puerto Rico as well but since he was born about 1502 he would have been in his mid-30s when construction began. I'm also not sure of his death, but I imagine he died by the late 1580s, any longer than that would be past the typical life expectancy and sooner than 1580 is possible as well.

View of Chinchón, España [Wikipedia]

Since Chinchón is a small town, there isn't too much going on or to see except the few historical monuments here and there. One of the interesting spots is the Castillo de Chinchón, also known as the Castillo de los Condes. I would love to visit this castle, since an event occurred here in 1520, which means my ancestors where still around. I'm not sure how easily or not it is to get to the town of Chichón and its castle, but I would love to attempt to go.

Alonso Maldonado was married to Elena de Torres, also a native of Chinchón. Both surnames, Maldonado and Torres, seem to be found in higher frequency in the south of Spain. I'm not sure of Elena's death date as well. There are many different trees online that include Alonso and Elena and since I'm not sure of who their parents are I'll hold off from believing or adding any of the information I see.

Excited to learn more about the town my ancestors lived in and hopefully see and walk the same streets they did! 

52 Ancestors – #31 Dolores Santiago Burgos (1859-1929)

Today's post is about my 3rd great grandmother Dolores Santiago Burgos -- a lot of recent posts from my 3rd grandparents' generation!

Dolores Santiago Burgos was probably one of the first ancestors I found when I began researching my family. Because my grandmother knew the name of her parents and grandparents, this allowed me to easily search the census records for my ancestors on my maternal side of the family. I knew that my 2nd great grandmother Francisca Orozco was married to my 2nd great grandfather Pedro Dávila and they lived in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico (we knew however that Francisca died in the early 1940s because my grandmother never got the chance to meet her). I searched the census records for Yabucoa, specifically in the barrio of Calabazas, and found them in the 1910 census. Luckily my 2nd great grandmother was still living with her parents so this allowed me the chance to learn the names of my 3th great grandparents (Dolores being one of them). This 1910 census would later also become an important piece for making a connection to a cousin of mine who found me on ancestry.com.

1910 Census - Yabucoa, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

With the help of the Puerto Rican Civil Registry on FamilySearch I was able to find Dolores' death record and also with the help of the microfilmed church records of Puerto Rico I was able to find Dolores' and her husband's (Benito Orozco) marriage record in 1876… which was pretty awesome to find!

Dolores in many of the records appears as either mulata or trigueña, I imagine that Dolores had some color to her! Dolores and Benito had eight children in totally and sadly I don't have any photos of any them, but I do have a photo of my great grandmother! From the research I have done, it seems that Dolores was an only child (which isn't too common in the 1800s in Puerto Rico). Many families had a number of children, anywhere from three to an upwards of ten, so for Dolores to be an only child is interesting and a bit strange to me. My spidey-sense tells me that there has to be more of them, but many there really aren't. None of the less, Dolores was the daughter of Manuel de Santiago and his wife Juana Burgos.

Dolores is also interesting to me because she is the carrier of my maternal haplogroup, C1b4 -- commonly referred to as a native haplogroup. Probably one of Dolores' distant ancestresses was a Taíno/Arawak woman who lived in the southern part of Puerto Rico and later mixed in with the people who came to populate the island. Many people think (and are taught) that the Taíno were wiped clean off the island of Borikén due to disease and slavery but the narrative is now changing with the help of DNA. It seems that over 65% of Puerto Ricans carry a native maternal haplogroup, which would mean that many assimilated into the changing culture rather than dying off. However, there aren't many male haplogroups (if any) on the island, which would mean that either the males were more likely to be killed or that the European paternal haplogroups overpowered in number and over time the native Taíno haplogroups began to disappear. I am proud to carry a piece of my history in my blood and to show that the natives are still with us, flowing through our veins and our culture.

Dolores passed away in 1929, already a widow of Benito Orozco. She was buried in Yabucoa, but unfortunately I don't think her grave would be around because she was most likely buried in the public town cemetery and the headstone (if there was any to begin with) is probably long gone by now. None the less, it would be nice walk through the barrio of Calabazas and visit the cemetery in Yabucoa to pay my respects to not only Dolores but also to my other ancestors who lived and were buried there. Without them, I wouldn't be here in the first place!