A Puerto Rican Look at: Colorized Pedigrees!

I've been seeing these style of pedigrees online for a while now and decided I should give it a go! Thanks to Zalewski Family Genealogy blog  I was able to use the template and create my very own pedigree. Because my family has been on the island of Puerto Rico for over 200+ years, I didn't think it would have made sense to create a chart with just the same color over and over again to represent Puerto Rico. With this template I was able to include up to my 3rd great grandparents, which are 32 different ancestors! I was able to include their surnames on the side as well, giving you an idea where my family surnames originate from on the island. It was interesting seeing how diverse my family tree is in terms of locations. If you notice, it was only recently that my family came to the capital of San Juan with 3/4 of my grandparents being born there, though all of them spent their formative years growing up and living there. If you take a further look, my family has been present on the island for those 200+ years in almost all my branches, there is only one ancestor that made the cut for being from another place and that's my 3rd great grandfather from Mallorca, Spain.

I definitely had a lot of fun doing this pedigree and there are so many other styles you could do as well! Though morbid, I'm thinking of creating a pedigree with family deaths to see if there are any recurring patterns and to have an idea of what is potentially passed down in my family. You could also even create a pedigree with signatures of your ancestors! Though I would love to create one, unfortunately most of my ancestors didn't know how to write since they were all farmers and barely attended school past what we know as elementary/middle school.

Colorized Pedigree [Personal Photo]

I'm not sure how common it is to move so much to different cities but if you notice my mother's side of the family, they were notorious for making moves across the island. My father's side on the other hand seems to stick more to certain towns. For example, we have been in the towns of Corozal, Lares, and Toa Alta for many many years on my dad's side of the family. To give you an idea, here's a list of all my family locations which include 20 different locations on the island, those being: 

• Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
• Barranquitas, Puerto Rico
• Corozal, Puerto Rico
• Jayuya, Puerto Rico
• Lares, Puerto Rico
• Maunabo, Puerto Rico
• Manatí, Puerto Rico
• Morovis, Puerto Rico
• Patillas, Puerto Rico
• Quebradillas, Puerto Rico
• Salinas, Puerto Rico
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• San Sebastián, Puerto Rico
• Toa Alta, Puerto Rico
• Utuado, Puerto Rico
• Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
• Vieques, Puerto Rico
• Yabucoa, Puerto Rico
• Yauco, Puerto Rico
• Mallorca, Spain

I recommend any genealogist who enjoys working with their tree to give this a go. It was super easy to create and could make a very cool poster for a wall! You could even include names and dates to give it more importance as well! 

Searching La "Gaceta de Puerto Rico"

Now that I'm on Spring Break I'll try and write a few times and get back up to date on things since I am in Puerto Rico. One of the posts I've wanted to write is on the "Gazeta de Puerto Rico" and how I've recently looked more into using this resource to learn more about my ancestors.

Gaceta de Puerto Rico [Library of Congress]

The Gazeta de Puerto Rico (linked) ran from the mid-1800s to the early-1900s and at first ran only a few days a month and later began to run daily. On the Library of Congress' website you can search under state "Puerto Rico" and then enter a name into the search option. Looking at my family tree I decided to search various names one at a time to try and see if anything would pop up for my ancestors. There are possibilities that the person I found might not be my ancestors but seeing as how the dates, the names, and the towns match there are high possibilities that most of the hits I got in the Gazeta are ancestors of mine. I was able to find some possibly ancestors and then there were a few that were definitely ancestors, and it was interesting what I was able to find about them in the newspaper. Tip: Try different search options: with both surnames, one surname, different ancestors in your tree - anything that'll help bring up different results.

Posible Finds

There were a few people that I found that I'm not sure if they are my ancestors, for example I found a mention of a Bartolo Marrero and Estefanía Marrero, both ancestors from Corozal and my 4th and 5th great grandparents. One article written in 1852 mentions a "Bartolo Marrero" (liberto) in Toa Alta who was placed in jail for 30 days for an infraction of art. 176 of the "Banda de policia". Despite by 4th great grandfather being born in Corozal, his ancestors were from the town right over which was Toa Alta so very possible this is him in his 30s being placed in jail. I tried looking up article 176 but couldn't find what exactly it was. What's interesting here is that this Bartolo Marrero was listed as "free", so it makes me wonder if at one point his ancestors were slaves and/or because of his color they mentioned he is free to not be confused with those still enslaved. Not too sure!

Bartolo Marrero (Liberto) [Library of Congress]

The next year in 1853 there's a mention of "Estefanía Marrero" in Corozal, exactly where my 5th great grandmother lived (and the same name!), it mentions that Estefanía Marrero had to pay "2 pesos" for publicly insulting the wife of Francisco García, Sinforiana de los Santos, and equally Francisco García had to pay for his wife's insults made. The article however states that both were insolvente or insolvent/bankrupt and thus had to pay in jail. I wonder what they could have been arguing about in public strongly enough to have them have to pay a fee. The year was 1853 so probably a simple curse word from a woman could have made people flip out. I guess we'll never know what was said unless there is some actual case or paperwork that had to be filled.

Estefanía Marrero [Library of Congress]

Interestingly enough I was able to find a possible record that could or couldn't be my 4th great grandfather. In an article from the 22nd of December 1840 newspaper there's a list of entries and exits from Puerto Rico and one lists: "de Guadeloupe: balandra francesa San Jou, capitan Jean Charles, con 7 hombres y bacalao". It lists a capitan Jean Charles who leaves from Guadeloupe with 7 men and codfish on the yacht or "sloop" San Jou. It's interesting seeing as how my 4th great grandfather was from Guadeloupe and also dealt with ships. Seeing as how "Jean Charles" seems very common amongst French names I wouldn't exactly say this is my ancestor but it would interesting if he did trade in Puerto Rico, like it, and eventually decide to stay here. Always possible!

Capitan Jean Charles [Library of Congress]

Definite Finds

There were however some definite finds in the newspapers of some of my ancestors in Puerto Rico. One especially interesting find was of my 4th great grandparents from Martinique and Guadeloupe and the mention of their daughter. I can't quiet figure out what happened with the type of language used in the article but it seems that there was some kind of problem with injuries/wounds. The article was written in 1886 meaning that Jean Charles would be in his 60s, Julienne Malvina would be in her 40s and their daughter only 19 years old. Despite the article being something negative that happened it was nice to see a mention of my foreign ancestors and seeing their names which at this point was a mix of French and Spanish.

Juan Carlos Gustave, Balbina Loten, Paulina Gustave [Library of Congress]

Also, my "I'm-fairly-certain" 3rd great grandfather is mentioned various times throughout the history of the Gazeta. Damián Magraner Morell, a native of Sóller, Mallorca, lived in Lares for various years throughout the mid-1800s but eventually returned to Spain where he passed away. The latest mention was in the article on the 10th of March 1900 granting some sort of licenses but no idea for what. It says it was endorsed by Francisco Seir and Ramón Cueto approved in Lares. In 1902 there's quick mention that some land bought borders Damián's land in Río Prieto, Lares on the east of the property purchased. 

Damian Magraner [Library of Congress]

The earliest records by name appear only the 1890s dealing with from what I gather with some elections and his contribution to said election. I imagined there would be more mentions seeing as how his siblings and he owned an hacienda in Lares and land there. His brothers Nicolás and Cristóbal do appear in the Gazeta as well. I am always willing to find out more about these siblings and about their time in Puerto Rico. 

For anyone researching their ancestors in Puerto Rico I would recommend to search these newspapers seeing as how you never know what/how your ancestor will be mentioned in. Maybe they played some role in local politics in their town or got charged for a loose pig or cow (it did happen!). But having a small mention of an ancestor can help you narrow down years, towns they lived in, and certain aspects of their daily live. Go and check what you can find! 

52 Ancestors – #47 María de Carmen Chéverez Santiago

Today I want to focus on my 4th great grandmother on my maternal side of the family - María del Carmen Chéverez Santiago.

María del Carmen was probably born in Corozal around the 1830s, it is also possible that she was born in Toa Alta but from my search I haven't been able to find her there. María del Carmen was the daughter of Felipe Chéverez Rosado and Teresa de Jesús de Santiago, her parents themselves were born in Toa Alta and at some point move around to Morovis and probably lived some time in Ciales. María del Carmen later would marry José María Santos Avilés and together have five children (documented so far): María Guadalupe, María Leonor, Felipe, Gumercinda and Lorenzo.

Since María del Carmen wasn't born around the time of census taking I don't have much information on her or her life. I know that she had a sister named Simona Chéverez Santiago who lived in Ciales and married a man named Jesús Ortega Ocasio. Also, that María del Carmen probably died in Morovis around 1893-1909 but I haven't been able to find her death certificate.

The main reason I wanted to include her in this challenge, is because of just that reason, she has been quite a challenge to learn information about! I believe her family holds a potential key to finding a connection to my dad's side of the family. Equally her husband could also be related to my paternal side of the family being that both of their families comes from Toa Alta.

Hopefully I'll be able to trace some more information on her family and learn more about her. Let's see! 

52 Ancestors – #43 Blasina Pérez Vásquez (1850-1945)

Playing my favorite game once again -- the catch up game! Since I've been traveling around Spain most of the weekends (which I truly enjoy), I haven't been able to dedicate as much time to these final few posts. And since my finals are coming up, what better way to procrastinate than to write blog post?! Today I'll be focusing on my 3rd great grandmother Blasina Pérez Vásquez.

Flag of Corozal, PR [Google]

Blasina was most likely born in the town of Corozal, Puerto Rico around 1850. Corozal as most of you know by now is a town very close to Toa Alta which shares historical ties with it. Blasina was the daughter of Alejandro Pérez Lozada and Martina Vásquez Fuentes, interestingly Alejandro was born in Corozal in 1812 and Martina in Toa Alta in 1813. Alejandro is one of the few ancestors who I have been able to document (thanks to a cousin!) being actually born in Corozal. A lot of my ancestors that were born in Corozal were born in the 1830s-1850s+ which means that those records aren't accessible online (just yet!).

Corozal, Puerto Rico [Google]

According to the 1910 Census, Blasina and her husband Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera would have been married around the year 1869 and most likely in Corozal seeing as they lived in their entire lives there until their respective deaths. They lived specifically in the barrio of Palos Blancos which is definitely on my list of places I want to visit in Puerto Rico (and boy is that list long!). So far I have been able to document 10 children in total for Buenaventura and Blasina, potentially there are a few more hiding around in the records but so far these are the ones I have documented. Their son, Martin Ortiz Pérez was my 2nd great grandfather.

Seeing that Blasina was born around 1850 and she lived until 1945, we can for sure say that Blasina had a long life (yay longevity genes!). From what he have, she technically passed away somewhere mid 90s but also possibly her late 80s if her birth year was guesstimated wrongly (which is very possible!). From the census records we can learn a bit more about Blasina's life. For example, we know that in 1910 she was listed as 'mulatto' and married for 41 years having given birth to 11 children all who were still alive in 1910 (so it seems I'm missing one child on my list!). She along with Buenaventura were unable to read or write but it seems that Buenaventura owned the farm he worked on which is pretty cool to see; and it says he worked for himself! Similarly in 1920 we see that Blasina is still illiterate and listed as 'mulatto', I don't expect Blasina to suddenly pick up the ability to read and write but it's important to look because you never know!

By the 1930 census, Blasina would have been widowed for 5 years since Buenaventura died in 1925. I'm not sure how inheritance of property works in Puerto Rico but it seems that she was able to claim the land and was listed as the owner of the farm and that she herself worked the land! Amazingly and awesomely, because I don't know how often you see it, my 3rd great grandmother appears in the 1935 Agricultural Schedule with the land she owned! Interestingly, her race is listed as "white" in this record and that the land she owned has been in use since 1915, which there might be a discrepancy seeing has how the land they had was being used since at least 1910. It also states she had 3 cuerdas (a little over 3 acres) the worth of $150, which I imagine back in 1935 was a good amount of land/worth to own! The form unfortunately is a bit blurry so I can't make out all the details on the page too clearly, but it seems that she grew corn on the land amongst other things.

5. Color o raza: "M" for mulatto [FamilySearch]

Interestingly in the 1940, just 5 years before her passing, Blasina was still in possession of the land. Here her race is changed to "col", which in 1940 was used for negro y mixto (black and mixed), which to me means her color was dark enough to be considered non-white by the census taker. Yet interestingly when it came to owning land she was listed as "blanca" (white). Blasina and Buenaventura's race has always been an interesting topic for me. Blasina in her death record is listed as 'm' for mulatto but in Buenaventura's we see a reference to Indio which I have talked about before. I imagine they both had a mestizo/mixed complexion which gave them the identity of indio, mulato, mixto depending on the record and year.

I wonder what happened to the land they owned in Palos Blancos, Corozal, Puerto Rico. Usually when a piece of land is owned and the owner dies, the plot gets divided into the children and they decide whether to keep the plot or sell it. With many children/descendants moving into San Juan, usually the property was sold and with that money they could invest in a home/place to live in San Juan. Between 11 children (and/or their descendants) I imagine they didn't get too much but I also can't be too sure what happened. Many some decided to live on the land and then later moved on? Or one sibling decided to care for the land him or herself? It would be awesome to find the land they lived on (at least the general area) or potentially even records that might point to more information of how they acquired the land, who bought it/passed it on, etc.

I have been in contact with one or two other descendants of Buenaventura and Blasina and it seems that their descendants also moved out of Palos Blancos and into other areas. With the industrialization of the island after the United States acquired the land, more jobs could be found in bigger cities and many families decided to give up their previous lives of agriculture and farming. Nonetheless, it would be nice to visit Palos Blancos and Corozal in general and see if I can find some remnants of their land, the plot, or even some cousins who could lead the way! 

52 Ancestors – #42 Bernarda Marrero

I can't believe that there are only 10 ancestors left to complete this challenge! I've said it many times before, but I've had a great time searching and researching for these ancestors in my tree and through the records. I've been getting behind again with traveling around Spain but I'm going to try and catch up now that it's finally November and December will shortly be here around the corner!! Today's post will be about my 6th great grandmother Bernarda Marrero.

Bernarda would have been born sometime in the mid-late 1700s based on her children's birth years. She was from the beloved town of Toa Alta and probably lived there for most of her life. I'm not sure if she and her husband Antonio de los Santos Rivera would move to Corozal and pass away there but many of their children would move and live there themselves. I do know that Bernarda would live passed the year 1818, however. Between Antonio and Bernarda, I have been able to trace nine children in total so far. She is one of my ancestresses from my maternal side of the family, who surprisingly has roots in Toa Alta which my father's side of the family has lived in for many, many years.

The Marrero also appears a few times in my paternal side of the family, so who knows if Bernarda has some ties to those families being that they lived in the same town in the 1700s, I can't imagine Toa Alta having a ton of inhabitants that weren't related or connected somehow seeing as how Puerto Rico is pretty connected even now a days.

Seeing as Bernarda was born in a time that I don't have records for, she doesn't appear on any census records. Neither do I have a baptism, marriage, or death record. I do have most of her children's baptism records and I can probably try and piece together some more family members through the names of the godparents. Hopefully I can find more records from Toa Alta dating further back in the early 18th century to try and piece together some of the lines I have from that town. 

52 Ancestors – #40 Cayetano de los Santos

I can't believe this is Ancestor #40 already!! Boy has time flown by! I am happy to have finally caught up (yet again) and hopefully I'll be able to continue to post on the regularly scheduled Friday like I had done before. Today's ancestor will be Cayetano de los Santos, my 7th great grandfather.

Cayetano de los Santos, who's surname was shortened to Santos, was my 7th great grandfather via my maternal side of the family. Unfortunately, I don't have documents on him or exact dates but I'm glad to have found him and talk about him nonetheless. Cayetano de los Santos was from, you guessed it, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico! Except this time it's interesting because he's from my maternal side of the family. This means that my paternal and maternal side of the family lived in the same town and in the same time frame as one another. It is also very possible that my parents are related to one another through these ancestors, they do share certain surnames with each other from Toa Alta so who knows if they lead back to common mutual ancestors.

Cayetano would have been born sometime in the early 1700s in Toa Alta, there he would marry Gertrudis Rivera Rodríguez and to my knowledge have three children together. It is very possible and likely that they had other children but being that I haven't found anymore in the church records of Toa Alta I can only for sure say that there were three.

Cayetano and Gertrudis' children would eventually make their way into Corozal, from Corozal they'd make their way into Morovis, then Vega Baja, and eventually back up towards San Juan. The family did a loop of sorts throughout the generations. I can't be sure that Cayetano and Gertrudis died in either Toa Alta or Corozal, it is very possible that just the children moved into the next town and the parents stayed behind. Or also, that they all moved into Corozal together and start a new life there. Until I have further records I can't be too sure about where they died.

Interestingly, I have found a document that could potentially point to my parents' families knowing one another in the town of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. My 3rd great-grandfather had a brother named Ruperto Rivera Román born on the 25th of March 1819, son of Joseph de Rivera and Gertrudis Román. The family came forth on the 10th of April 1819 to baptize their son. In the document below you can see who the godparents were for Ruperto:

Ruperto Rivera Román - Bautismo,  1819 [FamilySearch]

That's right! Ruperto's godparents were a Cayetano de los Santos and Gregoria Rivera! It is very possible that Ruperto's godparents were my 7th great grandparents from my maternal side of the family. That would mean that my 4th great grandparents and my 7th great grandparents knew one another! I know that they are pretty far apart, 4th and 7th generation ancestors, but due to child birth, longevity, etc. and how some generations waited longer to have children and thus creating such a big gap. The years do coincide and so do the town and the names; I wouldn't be surprised at all if these were my Cayetano de los Santos y Gertrudis Rivera. It makes me think… could Gertrudis and Joseph have been brothers and sisters? Maybe she was an aunt or someone close to him, a cousin? They both are surnamed Rivera and living in 18th century Toa Alta it is very possible that they had some type of family connection. 

It's very interesting to consider that both sides of my family knew each other 200-300 years ago in a town I had no idea my parents had ancestors in. I think it's very cool to find such documents like this, makes you think about whether our future is already "set" and how things work in life. For example, the lady that I met who my 4th great grandparents were godparents to one of her great-aunts. Life works in very mysterious ways!! 

52 Ancestors – #29 Valentin González Quiñones (1828-1907)

With this post of my 29th ancestor I'll have concluded the posts from July!! I'm definitely very excited to get into my posts for August and then line up my next ancestors for the next months to come. So without further ado, here is my 29th post about my 3rd great grandfather Valentin González Quiñones. (Note: I've rearranged the posts a bit, so this technically isn't the last post for July anymore but that's still okay :D)

Valentin is another one my 3rd great grandfathers, distant yet so close like Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera. Because Valentin was born in 1828, he comes from an older line in my family (aka a family that waited longer to have children), he seems much more distant than Buenaventura. Valentin was born according to a record I found in his marriage consanguinity record (more to come on that in a bit) on the 13th of November 1828 in Corozal, Puerto Rico. Even though he was born in Corozal he spent the remainder of his life in Toa Alta and that's probably because at that point the towns were in limbo between together and separate entities. Valentin is the son of Juan González and Isidora Quiñones, who sometimes appears as María Vásquez on other records. Valentin's birth record is mentioned to be in the "pardos y morenos" section of the books in Corozal.

I was able to find Valentin's marriage record thanks to the FamilySearch Toa Alta church records and it shows that he married my 3rd great grandmother Feliciana Mojica González on the 12th of September 1863. What's interesting is that Feliciana was 15 years his elder, who had five previous children and was widowed. In their marriage record it mentions that they were "2º grado de consanguinidad" which means that they were related to one another. At first I was kind of indifferent about it, I knew it was common in Puerto Rico for endogamy to occur and I didn't really know how the grados worked so I wasn't too creeped out by it. But it does make me think: Was this some sort of arranged marriage by the family to save Feliciana's status? Or maybe Valentin's status? He wasn't coming into this marriage as a widower like Feliciana was but he was also 35, an old age for the "average" couple having children in colonial Puerto Rico. I knew that Feliciana's mother was Juliana González and figured that the relationship had to be through that surname since Valentin didn't have Mojica in his tree.

When I visited Puerto Rico last summer, I headed to one of the offices where records are stored wanting to find consanguinity records for Toa Alta. Luckily, they did have the years I was searching for and the lady kindly pulled the records from the back room before I arrived to have them ready. I arrived, gave in my ID to have it photocopied, and started looking through the files. I was very discouraged at first because I had searched all the marriages within the 1860s with consanguinity records but didn't find a Valentin marrying a Feliciana. Towards the end of my search I looked in another packet that wasn't that set of years and found the record (almost giving me a heart attack from the excitement!). I was too excited, I actually had found the actual consanguinity record of 1863 for my 3rd great grandparents.

What the record pretty much stated, in short, was that they were related and there were witnesses that came forward to attest to their relation and their wanting to get married. In order to respect the Dioceses of San Juan I'll put some of the transcriptions of what the records say in stead of the images, which rereading them now is very interesting:

"Valentin González natural del pueblo del Corozal y vecino de este partido de Toa Alta, soltero e hijo lego [legitimo] de Juan y de Isidora Quiñones difuntos ante V.I. respetuosamente dispone: que habiendo tenido la desgracia de vivir en el concubinato con Feliciana Mogica [sic], hija lega de Valentin y Juliana González, natural y vecina de Toa Alta y viuda de Remigio Mogica, descando?? ponerse en estado de gracia alejándose para siempre de aquella mala vida, sin que en su concepto […] el 28 de enero 1862, por haber hecha diligencias antes del tiempo allí preferido para con aquella dispensa del parentesco de consanguinidad en segundo grado, cuyas diligencias no tuvieron efecto en atención a la insuficiencia de sus […] según la consta el noble padre cura de este pueblo de Toa Alta y a los testigos de que intentan valorme para que justifiquen…" [bold added by me for emphasis]

The words I highlighted myself because it seems like the church had no problem calling out Valentin and Feliciana on the sins they committed by having 1) having sex without being first married and 2) with someone from the same family in such a close range of cousins. Looking at it now, my 2nd great grandmother Laureana González Mojica was born out of wedlock in 1855 when Valentin was only 27! It is evident that they applied for the ability to marriage because they wanted to remove themselves from that bad life of disgrace in which they were living in, which the church called concubinage. Seems very extreme to me, but in the mid-1800s in a very Catholic-centric Puerto Rico I can image how serious it really was. Even today, we can feel the influence of the church on the island and in the Puerto Rican culture.

The records goes on to state: "Sí saben que Juan González y Juliana González difuntos fueron legítimos hermanos, primer grado, si de Juan procedió el pretendido Valentin y de Juliana la pretendida Feliciana, primeros hermanos y segundo grado." 

Here we see that their parents Juan and Juliana were brothers and sisters therefore making Valentin and Feliciana first cousins (of the second degree consanguinity). Various witnesses came forward to attest their relationship and consanguinity, for example: Facundo de Rivera, Alejo de Rivera, Joaquin Rodríguez, and Severo Camacho. These "de Rivera" men are probably related to me somehow through my 4th great grandfather Joseph/José de Rivera. The most important witness of them all was José María González, hermano mayor del pretended… al referido hermano Valentin." So here we see that his older brother José María González came forward for his little brother's marriage.

Valentin lived a relatively long life, until the age of 78, when he died of cirrhosis on the 3rd of July 1907. Valentin was still living in Toa Alta (the barrio of Río Lajas) and Feliciana had recently passed away three years before him.  His daughter, my 2nd great grandmother, was still alive and still living herself in Río Lajas. Again, I can only retell the information that the records have provided me. I can't tell if he was happy in his marriage with Feliciana, whether they chose to marry each other or whether it was a move by the family to protect themselves from something. I'm not sure how aware the family was of this marriage and that they were fairly close cousins, I'm not sure if it was something they talked about. And I really do wonder around what circumstances this was all happening!

This post was rather long winded and no pretty pictures to distract you guys but I do hope you've enjoyed hearing about Valentin and probably a somewhat (from what I imagine) difficult life he might have had. 

52 Ancestors – #28 Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera (1850-1925)

I'm kind of on a roll here so I'm going to continue with my 28th post about my 3rd great grandfather Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera!

It's kind of funny to think about a 3rd great grandfather. I was fortunate to meet two of my great grandparents and my father meet his great grandfather (My second great grandfather) – so in reality a third great grandfather isn't actually that far removed. I unfortunately don't have any stories or knowledge of Buenaventura; he passed away in 1925 when my great grandmother would have been in her late teens. I unfortunately didn't get to meet her and I wasn't raised around her son (my grandfather) so therefore another chain is broken. Kind of sad that I didn't hear too many stories of my ancestors but thankfully with records I can start to reconstruct some of their lives and pass on what I've learned about them!

Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera would have been born around 1850 in the town of Corozal, Puerto Rico. Corozal is the same town my great grandmother Mercedes Ortiz Marrero was born in herself and I have various other ancestors/extended family who lived there, many via the town of Toa Alta. Very possible that Buenaventura was born in the town of Palos Blancos since that is where he stayed the rest of his life. He was one of nine children and was the son of Ramón Ortiz and Sotera Rivera Pacheco, unfortunately I don't have Ramón's second surname since it seems that he passed away before 1885. Buenaventura's siblings include: Felipa, Manuel, Ramona, Francisco, Juan, Estanislao, Estevan, and Isabelo (the last three I haven't been able to find documents for yet).

Somewhere around 1869, Buenaventura would marry my 3rd great grandmother Blasina Pérez Vásquez (also spelled Vázquez). Very interesting name Blasina, I hadn't heard it until I found her in my tree. Buenaventura and Blasina also had a big family themselves, 10 children in total so far, including: Santos, Clemencia, Martin, Mercedes, Isidro, José, Juan, Buenaventura (Jr.), María, and Julia. Martin Ortiz Pérez was my 2nd great grandfather and I was fortunate to hear a few stories about him from my great-aunt before she passed away.

It's interesting to note that in 1910 the family was listed as living in Palos Blancos, Corozal, Puerto Rico and all as mulattos. There is a house guest named "Petra Figueroa" living with them. Buenaventura according to the census lived in a farm which he owned and worked on. No one in the house was able to read or write, so I'm proud to see that Buenaventura owned his own farm (and he is the one only on that sheet to be living on a farm!) Next to Buenaventura's house on the next page of the census was listed Manuel Ortiz Rivera his brother who also owned a farm, could they have inherited some type of land from their parents?

1910 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

1910 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

Later in 1920, the last census Buenaventura would appear on shows him still living in the barrio of Palos Blancos, Corozal, Puerto Rico. This time there is a new daughter listed named Mercedes and this time there are three house guests or boarders with the last name López. I'm not aware of any López ancestors on that side of the family but potentially they are some cousins or the neighbors children whom they let live with them. The family is still listed as mulatto and unable to read or write, it's interesting that none of the children were sent to school yet the children listed are girls so who knows if that's the reason they were never sent (of course, there is the possibility or rather the reality that they probably lived in poverty and couldn't afford education for multiple children). On the census out of the 25 people listed on the page, only three are able to read and write. Two are siblings, Juan and Casimiro, aged 13 and 10 respectively and the other, another Casimiro, is 14 years old. Again we see that he is living on property he owned and was working de su cuenta which pretty much means of his own accord. I'm guessing he sold and grew whatever he wanted and felt was necessary; according to the census it seems he grew mostly coffee!

1920 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

1920 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

Buenaventura would later pass away at the age of 75 passing away from "Enterocolitis Enteritis Crónica". What's interesting to note on his death record is his identification of race. His race is placed as "Yndia". At first I thought "Indian?!? as in from India?" But with the names Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera I was pretty sure that he was not from the country of India. My next guess was that he most likely looked very mulatto or pardo that they identified him as indio. I haven't seen this categorizing on many records and really can't think of any other in my family besides this one. Checking the next few records I did find a few more "raza india" individuals, so I'm guessing that for the man writing down the information he used three classifications: blanca (white), negra (black), and india ("indian/native"). 

Raza India [FamilySearch]

I wish there was a picture of Buenaventura to see how "native" he really looked. I do have a picture of his granddaughter (my great grandmother) and she definitely has some color to her. When Blasina, Buenaventura's wife, passed away in 1945 she was categorized as mulata. So I do wonder how much Taíno ran through their blood, or even African at that! So thanks to the power of documentation I have been able to learn about my 3rd great grandfather. Hopefully I'll be able to meet some descendants of Ramon Ortiz and Sotera Rivera Pacheco, as well as Buenaventura and Blasina, who can share more information or even pictures with me!

52 Ancestors – #24 Juana Negrón Chéverez (1820-1920)

Juana Negrón Chéverez was my 4th great grandmother through my paternal side of the family. Juana is the woman from which my great grandmother, Mercedes Ortiz Marrero, receives her maternal haplogroup. Here is what I know about Juana!

Corozal, Puerto Rico [Google]

Juana Negrón Chéverez was either born in one of two towns, Corozal or Toa Alta. She is from the part of my family that migrated towards Corozal as the town separated from Toa Alta. I'm guessing she was born in Corozal because I haven't been able to find her in the baptismal records of Toa Alta. According to her death record, she was born about the 1820s. She could have been born a little early than that or maybe a little later, she I don't have a birth or baptismal record for Juana I can't be certain of how old she was when she died. Her death certificate says she was 100 years old and died on the 11th of November 1920 in Palos Blancos, Corozal, Puerto Rico. A lot of my family lived in the barrios of Palos Blancos, Dos Bocas, and Palmarejo, which lie on the western side of Corozal -- closer to Toa Alta and even Naranjito.

Juana Negrón Chéverez was the legitimate daughter of Juan Negrón and María Chéverez. The surname Chéverez has always been of an interest to me and also appears on my mother's side of the family - from the Toa Alta/Corozal area as well. The surname is sometimes associated with Taíno natives, such as Varin Chéverez Chéverez who was said to be a full-bloodied Taíno Indian from the town of Morovis. I'm not sure how many full-bloodied natives there were after the original population began to dwindle once the Spanish arrived. I do, however, know that the Taíno are being kept alive through our DNA and our maternal haplogroups. Juana Negrón Chéverez carried a native haplogroup from her mother María Chéverez and is still being passed down today to descendants of Juana Negrón Chéverez.

Juana Negrón Chéverez at one point, probably in Corozal, married her husband Juan/José Monserrate Marrero. I have been able to trace so far four of their children: María, Rosa, Casimira, and María del Carmen. I am a descendant from Rosa Marrero Negrón. Her husband must have passed away before 1885 according to many of the records I have found, which means that Juana Negrón Chéverez lived many years as a widow without her husband (a little over 35 years!)

Juana's long life means that she was able to see the island of Puerto Rico go from a Spanish colony to that of a U.S. territory. She would have been around her 70s when the island was handed over and she then she lived another 22 years under United States rule. I would have loved to hear her stories of being under both Spanish and American rulings of the island. I can't wait to start collecting stories from the older generations about living in Puerto Rico! 

52 Ancestors – #23 Manuel Santos Marrero (1814-????)

My 23rd post will focus on my 5th great grandfather Manuel Santos Marrero. Manuel is from my mother's side of the family and finding him was interesting for a few reasons. At first, when I began to trace the Santos family, I started with my my 2nd great grandfather who was born in Morovis. His mother was apparently also from Morovis, but his grandfather was from Corozal. Since my 4th great grandfather José María Santos Avilés was from Corozal and born about the late 1830s-1840s, I knew that Manuel Santos Marrero was probably from Toa Alta. I was able to find Manuel's baptism record in Toa Alta.

Manuel Santos Marrero was born on the 26th of September 1814 and later baptized on the 10th of October of the same year. His godparents were Anselmo Colón and Rosalia Marrero. Very possibly Rosalia is related to Manuel through his mother, Bernarda Marrero -- possibly an aunt to Manuel. Manuel's parents were Antonio Santos/de los Santos and his wife Bernarda Marrero. He would have most likely been born at home and later taken to San Fernando Rey to be baptized. The church began its construction in 1752 and was finished by 1826, meaning that when Manuel was baptized the church was somewhere in its construction phase. I really want to visit this church someday!

Parroquia San Fernando Rey–Toa Alta, Puerto Rico [Google]

What's interesting to me is that Manuel was from Toa Alta, which is the town my paternal side of the family predominately comes from (via my Rivera family). When I found out that Manuel Santos Marrero was born in Toa Alta, I couldn't believe it! His family and my dad's ancestors were living in the same town in the late 1700s – early 1800s. The Marrero surname can be found in my family as recent as my great grandmother Mercedes Ortiz Marrero. My paternal 2nd great grandmother herself was surnamed Marrero Marrero and so I have two Marrero lines on that side of the family living in Toa Alta. Very possibly my parents could be related to one another through these families from Toa Alta. 

Manuel would marry Ferminia Avilés Pérez and have 5 children: José María (my 4th great grandfather), Carmen, Antonia, Clara, and Manuel. Ferminia herself also is from the town of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. I'm not sure whether Manuel and Ferminia would have married in Toa Alta or in the town of Corozal, Puerto Rico. It seems that all of their children were born in Corozal according to various records they appear on. 

Manuel himself was 1 of 9 siblings: Antonia, Francisca, Juan, María Josefa, Bartolome, Manuel (5th great grandfather), María Ramona, and Francisco. They themselves were all born in Toa Alta as well, the earliest birth occurring in 1802!

Until I'm able to access Corozal church records before 1885 I have a lot of information missing for certain ancestors pertaining to their births, marriages, and deaths. I have heard that you can view the books but you have to get permission from the church and obviously be in Corozal to view them. One day… one day!

52 Ancestors – #12 Estefania Marrero Rivera (1809-1890)

After a two week hiatus, I'm back and ready to continue my 52 Ancestor series- which means I have to catch up on past posts I missed. Today I will focus on ancestor #12, a paternal ancestor named Estefania Marrero Rivera (my 5th great grandmother).

Puerto Rican Records [FamilySearch]

When I first learned about the Puerto Rican Civil Registry on FamilySearch I was super excited to extend my branches further back than what the census records had allowed me. When suddenly some of the church records became available I was über excited because it meant I could potentially push the branches even further. I descend from Estefania Marrero Rivera through my great grandmother, Mercedes Marrero Ortiz, who I had previously written about. Here is my line from Mercedes to my 5th great grandmother.

Mercedes Marrero Ortiz --> Antonia Marrero Marrero (mother) --> Juan Marrero Rivera (grandfather) --> Bartolo Marrero (great grandfather) --> Estefania Marrero Rivera (2nd great grandmother)

My great grandmother would have never gotten the chance to meet Estefania but she might have heard stories of her 2nd great grandmother through her own grandfather Juan or even her great grandfather Bartolo who lived up until 1917 (Mercedes would have been around 13 years old at the time of his passing).

As you might remember, Mercedes my great grandmother was from a town called Corozal, Puerto Rico. Her mother, grandfather, and great grandfather were all born in Corozal as well. The family spent their years mostly living between the barrios of Palos Blancos and Palmajero in Corozal. Yet Estefania Marrero Rivera was born in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico- a neighboring town of Corozal to the north-east.

Corozal, Puerto Rico [Google]

Flag of Corozal, PR [Wikipedia]

When you take a look at Corozal's history, you realize that Corozal was founded in 1795 and officially became a town in 1804. Before Corozal became the town we know it as today, many of the lands were part of Toa Alta. Meaning that my Marrero family could have been some of the first families to help populate the newly formed town of Corozal in the early 19th century. Estefania was for a long time the oldest ancestor I had been able to track down with a paper trail due to Toa Alta's church records being readily available online. Look at the record below! This is Estefania's baptism record in the year 1809 in the town of Toa Alta, how I was able to finally break apart and understand this document I will never know! The ink is badly smudged and the words are barely legible, but her entry is on the right hand side, the fourth one down.

Estefania Marrero Rivera- Baptism [FamilySearch]

According to her baptism record Estefania was born on the 3rd of August 1809 in Toa Alta. Her godparents were Lucas Marrero and Catalina Rivera which I'm wondering are an uncle and aunt for both sides of her family since her parents' names are Juan de Dios Marrero and Rosa de Rivera. Estefania was one of five children potentially being the youngest or second to youngest of the bunch. Estefania's parents I think were well known and established in the town of Toa Alta, they were godparents to various children that from my knowledge are not related to me. See below for an example!

Padrinos: Juan de Dios Marrero and Rosa Rivera [FamilySearch]

I also have a theory that Estefania's parents might have been slave owners! Various documents show slaves being baptized and owned by a "Rosa Rivera/Rosa de Rivera" and sometimes "Juan de Dios Marrero", however they never appear together. Here is an example of a slave being confirmed, notice that the slave belongs to Rosa de Rivera and the godmother of the slave was (drumroll please) Catalina Rivera!!

Teresa, slave of Rosa de Rivera [FamilySearch]

Estefania at some point would move to Corozal since all of her children seem to have been born there. Her first child and my 4th great grandfather Bartolo Marrero was born circa 1828 which would mean that Estefania probably moved in her early/late teenage years. No father was listed for her children so all of them took on the name "Marrero" which should have been their maternal name and not passed down, had Estefania gotten married to the father of the children my great grandmother would have been Mercedes Ortiz (insert other Spanish name!). Crazy how certain circumstances can change a family's line. In total, Estefania had five children: Bartolo, Elena, Francisco, and Olivia and all of them lived long lives in Corozal. Estefania passed away in Dos Bocas, Corozal, Puerto Rico from chronic dysentery on the 31st of January 1890.

I wonder if Estefania is related to my 4th great grandfather Juan/José Monserrate Marrero, who is also from the Corozal/Toa Alta area. He would have been born in the early-mid 1800s so he could have been a cousin to Estefania. Only time will tell, hopefully I'll be able to see records from Corozal's church one day!

Small World, Smaller Island!

It's always crazy when something finds you serendipitously, especially in genealogy! So far throughout my searches I've come across some interesting things that have made me say "WOW! What a small world!". I'll talk about 3 different events that have happened to me that showed me that not only is this a small world but that Puerto Rico is indeed a small(er) island!

Look up! 

Looking for baptisms of my umpteen grandparents can sometimes be a taxing job. Especially in a town like Toa Alta, Puerto Rico where in the early 1800s the baptism books were divided by race categories such as Blanco (White), Pardo & Moreno (People of color/Black) and Esclavos (Slaves). If you didn't know what category your family was placed under, you'd have to search and search until you found them.

Finding my 3rd great grandmother Feliciana Mojica González wasn't to hard of a task. I knew her family was usually categorized as "pardo" so I checked those books first and found that she was baptized in Toa Alta on the 14th of March 1813. Easy enough! But finding my 4th great grandmother, Martina Vásquez Fuentes wasn't too easy. Her descendants moved into Corozal, Puerto Rico where my great grandmother Mercedes Marrero Ortiz would be born. So I thought that she too was born in Corozal. Yet looking over Feliciana's baptism record and looking at all the names I noticed that right above her was a "Marta" being baptized- turns out to be my Martina!! Since Corozal originally started out as a part of Toa Alta, many families originally had roots in Toa Alta before moving into Corozal or just falling into the section of the new town. These two women are not related but Feliciana's grandson and Martina's great granddaughter would father my grandfather! It would be so funny if these women either lived near each other or were behind each other on a line to baptize their children in the church. Small world!! Here is the record of Feliciana and Martina!

Baptisms in 1813 of Martina Vásquez and Feliciana Mojica
Toa Alta, Puerto Rico

An odd reunion

While doing some genealogy at one of the centers I visit, I met a nice woman who's family was also from Puerto Rico. As we started to chat we realized that we both had family in Toa Alta but no similar surnames. She was stuck with finding some records and so I decided to help her out since I knew the Toa Alta church records pretty well. While searching for her great grandmother's baptism record, I came across a great-aunt of her's being baptized in 1856. While looking at the names, I noticed something super interesting- the godparents of this great-aunt of her's were my 3rd great grandparents! So our families 157 years ago gathered at a church to baptize her great-aunt. Finding that record revealed that we actually had the surname Rivera in common! So far I haven't been able to confirm that we are connected by blood but our families did know each other. How weird that 157 years later in a different town and a different country, two strangers would meet who's families once knew each other!

My 3rd great grandparents: Pedro Rivera & Eusebia Diaz
as godparents in 1856.

At last!

Earlier last week, I had one of the best moments of serendipity. While looking for my paternal 2nd great grandmother's birth certificate (or her sister's) in Utuado, Puerto Rico I came across very unexpectedly someone else. I saw the surnames "Sánchez Arvelo" and right away realized those names were on my mother's side of the family! Oddly enough I found a 2nd great granddaughter being born in Utuado, Puerto Rico despite her parents being from Quebradillas and San Sebastián. This whole time I was looking through Lares, San Sebastián, Quebradillas and Manatí for them when out of nowhere I find one of them in Utuado! Odds are my 2nd great grandmother was also born there but since the records aren't indexed I'll have to search 1 by 1. Finding this record gave me the name of 2 sets of my 4th great grandparents- I was so happy to find out more names in this family because I had searched for so long to find out more about them.

I'm constantly surprised by how small this world really is!

Race Categories

In Puerto Rico, there can sometimes be a hodgepodge of culture mixing. Besides the typical European, African and Native mix there also happen to be other cultures that have found their way onto the island. From the French and Corsicans, to the Dutch, Italians, Irish and nearby Dominicans and Cubans, and through my research I've even seen Syrians and Chinese! I bring this up because when on certificates they categorize people, they tend to write blanco, negro, trigueño, pardo, mulato, which are the most I've seen. A lot of these are argued about what they mean and when to actually use them so I won't classify them or explain them myself.

One interesting classification of race I came across during my research for an ancestor was 'Indio/ Indian'. My first thought would be India!- but seeing as how Indian took both the Native American and Indian meaning back then I would have to say that it is the former rather than the latter. My g-g-g grandfather, Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera was identified in his death certificate as 'Indio' as well as his parents. Look below:

Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera's Death Certificate

Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera was born abt. 1850 in Corozal, Puerto Rico to Ramón Ortiz and Sotera Rivera, both from Corozal, Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of these ancestors or of their descendants such as my great grandmother Mercedes Ortiz Marrero, daughter of Martin Ortiz Pérez, son of Buenaventura Ortiz Rivera and Blasina Pérez Vásquez. It would be very interesting to see a picture of them seeing as how they were written down as 'Indian' race rather than say mulato, pardo or trigueño. I wonder how 'Indian' they were.

The Importance of Storytelling

I would say I'm a strong advocate for parents telling children stories about their family's past, of course I don't think there's some campaign for this; but for me most of the stories, whether true or leaning towards false, can contain important information for when looking up family history.

There's one story on my dad's side about his great grandmother that helped me crack a brick wall with both her and her husband. My paternal great grandfather Alejandro Rivera González was born in Quebrada Arenas, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico according to his Baptismal Record on the 9th of December 1883. He would marry three times in his life: the first time to Brigida Hernández Vélez who later died sometime between 1906 and 1916. His second marriage was to Petrona Ortiz Nieves who he later divorced in 1922. And his third wife, my great grandmother, was Mercedes Ortiz Marrero. Yet since I didn't know that Alejandro was my great grandfather, I wasn't able to find Mercedes. One of my aunt's knew that Mercedes and Alejandro were her grandparents and that they lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico. So with that I found them together in San Juan in 1930 and in their parents in the 1910 and 1920 Censuses. 

Yet I didn't know when Mercedes had died but this strange and sad story helped me find her death certificate: Tia Toña who lived in Carolina died the same day as abuela Mercedes. They say that Toña died first and when Mercedes saw her in the coffin she died on top of it. With this story I started searching Carolina/San Juan Death Certificates around the early 1980s, I was looking for a Antonia Rivera Ortiz and Mercedes Ortiz that died in the same year. Finally I struck gold and found the death certificate for them both dieing in 1984. When I looked at their records, it gave me a chill because not only did they die the same year but the same day, the story could be true!

Antonia Rivera Ortiz' Death Certificate

Antonia 'Toña' Rivera Ortiz was born in 1942 and died at 7:30am on December 1st, 1984. She apparently had gone up to the 4th year of university and worked in Centro Medico my guess as secretary (the word is cut off but it shows 'aria' my guess from secretaría). She had been in the hospital for 18 days and died from a respiratory cardiac arrest. Her mother, Mercedes Ortiz was born in 1903 in Corozal, Puerto Rico daughter of Martin Ortiz and Antonia Marrero. Mercedes' death certificate says she died 5:45pm also on December 1st, 1984. It says she died while arriving/on route and only minutes was at the hospital; it says she also died from a respiratory cardiac arrest. I'm not sure if her daughter was already in a coffin being that it was the same day but surely hearing about her daughter's death might have caused her to die. (The death certificate states that Hypertension also could be a contributing factor to her death.)

Mercedes Ortiz' Death Certificate

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of these ancestors, hopefully one day I will!! But until then I'll have to settle for the stories of the past that help extend my tree.