A Look at my 5th Great-Grandmother's Testament

Currently I am in Puerto Rico for Spring Break, and instead of laying down at the beach soaking in the sun, I have been visiting various genealogical places in order to get research done that I can only do while on the island. One of the places I visited was the Archivo General de Puerto Rico (AGPR) in search of my 5th great-grandmother's testament (amongst others). This post is in fact two fold, today March 22nd is the day Puerto Rico celebrates its abolition of slavery. Though I want to bring to light the possibility of finding records such as wills & testaments while here in Puerto Rico, it is also important to highlight the information found in them - in my case, the fact that my ancestor(s) had owned slaves in the 1800s. This fact has been something I have been aware of for a while now but seeing these names listed in her will was both saddening and raw. I think it's important to acknowledge the role our ancestors played in the past, whether good or bad, and to acknowledge the benefits we have reaped from them and learn from their actions.

Gazeta de Puerto Rico, 03 May 1873

Visiting the Archivo General de Puerto Rico

There was a lot of worry that after Hurricane María, many genealogical places would be closed or have received irreversible damage. Luckily, the AGPR is open and running and even offers visiting hours on Saturday. With a simple email of the information of my ancestors (their names, year they made their testament, and name of the notary) they were able to find two protocolo boxes. Unfortunately, other ancestors' testaments were not available for viewing - some because their records might have never made it to the AGPR or because they never came before a notary and just made their testament amongst witnesses. Luckily, María de la Cruz Román, my 5th great-grandmother, did leave behind a will in front of a notary and they were able to find the box. So I headed to the archive to find out more about her life and the worldly possessions of my 5th great-grandmother.

María de la Cruz Román - Defunción 1854 [FamilySearch]

Going into this search, I knew that Bernardina Sepúlveda Román, my 4th great-grandmother, had owned slaves right before their freedom in 1873 but I wasn't sure if they were inherited from María de la Cruz Román (her mother) or purchased separately. Taking a look at my 5th great grandmother's testament provided me with some more clues and information. 

Viewing her Testament

Notary Records, AGPR [Personal Photo]

Notary Records, AGPR [Personal Photo]

Getting to see the testament was very cool, the documents were very old and fragile but in fairly good shape and very easy to read. I was lucky the notary had an index of all of his transactions of the range of years I was searching, such as: transferring of power, selling land, testaments, freedom records, etc. I was easily able to find María de la Cruz Román's record, as well as while sifting through I was also able to find other documents that I'll focus on in another post. My 5th great-grandmother's testament was 5 pages long which started with fairly religious jargon about her soul, forgiving her sins, and believing in God and the Trinity, etc, etc. She left behind money to pray for her in the church (30 masses of San Gregorio) and to pay her debt mainly to her son (Juan Lorenzo Sepúlveda) and to a neighbor (Juan Soto, originally from Lares) residing in Adjuntas. In her will she left behind 450 cuerdas (acres) of land which she states has planted coffee, plantain, fruit trees, pastures and "montes" (which depending on how you use it could be wooded area, hills or mountains). She listed having 8 cows (5 with their offspring), 1 bull, 1 calf, 2 horses, 2 mares, 2 cows, and 1 sow. Interestingly enough, she left behind 18 cuerdas of land in Limón, Mayagüez. I find this interesting since she was originally from San Sebastián while her husband was the one from Mayagüez. It is possible that when he passed in 1829, he passed this land onto his wife who then passed it to her son Juan Lorenzo Sepúlveda Román. Unfortunately his testament was made in front of witnesses so it is likely to have never been officially recorded and sent to the AGPR. 

What shocked me, but I expected, was a list of slaves she left behind, which on her will she lists as "siervos" - known as serfs or servants in English. They are given no value, nor age, or relationship between them but only listed by first name. Listed are: (1) Pedro José, (2) Teresa, (3) Severino, (4) Belén, (5) Francisca, (6) Tomasa, (7) Miguel, (8) María del Rosario, (9) Juana Bautista, (10) Petrona, (11) María Antonia, (12) Blasina, and (13) Manuela. In total, 13 slaves are listed in her will. There is nothing in her will about who they are going to, whether they received freedom, or what the plan is after she passes away. She made her will in 1852 and passed two years later in 1854, freedom from slavery didn't come until 1873. So what happened to these slaves? 

I have only been able to track a few so far (some of those who passed before María de la Cruz's will, which means they aren't included in the total 13 at the time of her will) and those that had children which Bernardina Sepúlveda inherited. Before 1852, María de la Cruz would have 7 slaves pass away (so far this is the number I have, which is possible to raise as I continue to search Adjuntas church records). These are those who passed: 

• 1829, Rafael 40 years old, married with María
• 1833, Ignacia, 35 years old, married with Ramón
• 1834, Saturnino, son of Pedro José and Teresa
• 1835, Juan Xavier, son of Ramón and Ignacia
• 1836, Marcos, son of Martín and Petrona
• 1836, María Cipriana, daughter of Pedro José and Teresa
• 1836, Juana Cipriana, daughter of Pedro José and Teresa

Here, you can see that some of the slaves from María de la Cruz's will got married and had children within their group. With these deaths it brings the current total to 20 total slaves. 

The next time slaves appear are in the slave registry of 1872, just one year shy of abolition. These appear listed as Bernardina Sepúlveda's slaves. In total she was 4 slaves: (1) Felipa, daughter of Martín and Petrona; (2) María Tomasa, daughter of Pedro José and Teresa; (3) Juan, son of Gerónimo and Felipa; and (4) Lorenzo, son of Ramón and Felipa. Here we can see some of María de la Cruz's slaves' children belonging to Bernardina. This would make me think that Bernardina inherited some of the 13 slaves and they had children which she continued to own up until abolition in 1873. 

My goal is to try and track down what happened to the slaves María de la Cruz Román listed in her will. Did some of them receive freedom? Did they go to her children or were sold to other families? Part of this mystery could be solved with notary records but finding them could be like a needle in a haystack and take much more time in the AGPR that I unfortunately do not have. Interestingly, two slaves left a "deposit" of money to María de la Cruz Román which after her death is said should be paid back to them with 5% annual interest starting the 19 of August 1848. Was this a deposit for freedom? For insurance of freedom for their children? I don't think it's the latter since one of them was Pedro José and Bernardina owned one of his daughters. 

With the abolition of slavery being today it's an interesting day for me. As someone who descends from both slaves and slave owners, it is hard to understand what this day means for me. Interestingly enough, my slave ancestors were freed before 1873 - those that came from the French islands were freed in 1848 and early where my Puerto Rican slave ancestors seemed to have received freedom in the 1700s, for example like my recently discovered Manuel Ruiz, pardo slave ancestor. Overall, it is a great day to celebrate that equality was somewhat given (though as we know not fully) to slaves and at the same time it stings to know that some of my ancestors took part in a dark part of history. Yet, we need to face our past, as Germans put it - Vergangenheitsbewältigung ("struggle to overcome the 'negatives of' the past" or "working through the past"), in order to better understand the society we currently live in and the struggles people face each day in order to make a better tomorrow. 

Manuel Ruiz - A Pardo Slave in the 1700s

In line with my goals for the new year, I've been taking a look at my lines trying to push them back in the 1700s. Many of my Coamo lines have been pushed back to 1700s but I always like to take another look at them and see if I'm missing any children or to find new hints. Taking a look at the catalogue of indexed baptisms in Coamo created by another Puerto Rican genealogist, I noticed that in two years there is a Manuel (esclavo de María Ruiz) and Victoriana Sánchez listed. In my tree, I have a Manuel Ruiz and Victoriana Sánchez (my 7 great-grandparents) so immediately I was intrigued. So I began to search more into the possibility of them being my ancestors seeing as how both names matched up. So in this post I will break down the information I currently have on Manuel Ruiz and run through the documentation that these two men are one and the same.

Who was Manuel Ruiz?

Before finding this new information, I knew that one of my 7th great-grandfathers was named Manuel Ruiz. He lived what it seems most of his life in Coamo, Puerto Rico where he both married and passed away.

Coamo, Puerto Rico [Google Maps]

Manuel Ruiz would have married around the 1750s and 1760s based off the years of baptism from his children. He married a woman named Victoriana Sánchez (sometimes she just went by Victoria and in one occasion her last name was written down as "Matos"). Victoriana Sánchez fairly young, died around the age of 37 on the 15th of October 1775. No parents were listed for Victoriana and she had left no testament or will since she was poor. Later in 1784, almost 10 years after his first wife's death, Manuel Ruiz would marry for the second time to a woman named Lucia Morales.

From his first marriage, so far I have been able to count about 10 children: Francisco (1758), Manuel, José (1761), María (1763), Lucas (1765), Francisca (1768), Gregorio, Juan Manuel (1770), Josefa, and María de Gracia (1773) - my 6th great-grandmother. Those children who have no birth year listed after their names means that so far I have no baptism record in Coamo for them though I may have found a death or marriage record. Manuel would pass away in October 1795 in Coamo and left no will for lack of worldly possessions. 

Recently, I discovered sons Francisco and José by chance. I noticed that a Manuel, slave of María Ruiz was registering his children's births in 1758 and 1761 and that his wife was listed as Victoriana Sánchez. What are the odds that there were two men with the same wife's name in 1700s Coamo? I would guess the odds were slim. So I decided to take a look at the records. 

Tracing Manuel Ruiz through records

Originally, my earliest child for Manuel Ruiz and Victoriana Sánchez was María, born in 1763. Below, you can see underlined the name of Manuel Ruiz and Victoriana Sánchez. As you can see there is no mention of either of them being slaves, pardos libres, or white. 

María Ruiz, hija de Manuel Ruiz y Victoriana Sánchez [FamilySearch]

As I had mentioned above, there were various children from this couple that I had no idea when they were born exactly. One of them was Francisco Ruiz, who married in 1783 to a slave named Angela de Santiago. I found it interesting that Francisco Ruiz would marry a slave seeing as how in the 1700s, social class and status was probably a big deal. Thinking nothing of it, I tucked it away in the back of my head and keep researching for other siblings.

Francisco Ruiz y Angela de Santiago, eslava [FamilySearch]

Seeing as how they married in 1783, I would guess that Francisco Ruiz was born somewhere in the 1750-1760s. Usually when I find a marriage but no baptism, I take away 18 years from the marriage date to get a guesstimate of when the person was born. In this case, Francisco was potentially born in 1765 (this is definitely not an exact science, but it helps to give me an idea of where to search next for baptisms). I was very surprised when I found a "Francisco, legitimate son of Manuel, slave of María Ruiz, and Victoria Sánchez, parda libre" being registered for a baptism in 1758. 

Francisco, hijo de Manuel Ruiz y Victoria Sánchez [FamilySearch]

I was initial surprised to see this! Mainly because it went against one of my theories about the pardos libres in Puerto Rico. I had always thought that a pardo libre was someone who had never been a slave and was marked that way to signify their free status in society. Here we can see that Manuel Ruiz, who I am guessing was the same man, was originally a slave before receiving freedom. Though no race is mentioned in these current records, later on in his second marriage to Lucia Morales there are multiple times that he is mentioned as "pardo libre" (this term could possibly be akin to the term "mulato"): 1786 (baptism of his son Antonio), 1787 (baptism of his son José), and 1790 (baptism of his daughter Petrona).

If memory serves me correctly, Puerto Rico like the United States based the status of a slave on their mother. In this case, since Victoriana Sánchez was a parda libre herself, all of her children would have been born free despite Manuel Ruiz having slave status. Manuel Ruiz and Victoriana Sánchez had another child while he was still a slave, born in 1761 by the name of José Ruiz Sánchez.  I would imagine Manuel was freed between 1762-1763, since when María was born there was no mention of him being a slave.

José, hijo de Manuel, esclavo y Victoria Sánchez  [FamilySearch]

After finding these records, I was intrigued by Manuel's status of slave to pardo libre and continued to dig around. And this is where things got interesting!

Manuel Ruiz A.K.A. Manuel Torres?

Manuel Ruiz and his wife also served as godparents a few times for other children in Coamo. Here in 1767 for example, we see Manuel Ruiz coming forth with Victoria Sánchez to be the godparents to a boy named Manuel, son of Francisca (slave of María Ruiz) - to me this helps solidify that Manuel (slave of María Ruiz) and my ancestor are the same man. 

Padrinos: Manuel Ruiz y Victoria Sánchez [FamilySearch]

Now seeing that María Ruiz had another slave named Francisca Ruiz, I decided to look into her and see if she could potentially be a sister or of some other relation to Manuel Ruiz. I found another baptism for Francisca's son in 1762, a son named Martín was being baptized - 5 years earlier than this one above. This time the godparents were Manuel Torres and Victoria Sánchez. I did a double take, I thought my ancestor was Ruiz and not Torres? Martín Ruiz was registered as free though his mother was still a slave herself.

Martín, el que se bautizó libre [FamilySearch]

What's interesting here is the year 1762, the middle year between José Ruiz's birth and María Ruiz's birth when my ancestor went from enslaved to free. Could María Ruiz having passed away in 1762, given Martín freedom knowing she was at the end of her life and ultimately freed Manuel Ruiz upon her death? I was able to find a María de las Nieves Ruiz passing away in December 1762, who was married to Juan Manuel Feliz, no testament was left upon her death though. I'm not sure if I'm connecting threads that are supposed to be separate, but the odds here seem to be high that these are one and the same man. Could it have been that Manuel originally was the slave of a Torres and then transferred over to a Ruiz? Would that explain the back and forth of Ruiz and Torres? One more document helped to make things even more interesting.

Defunción - María de las Nieves Ruiz [FamilySearch]

As I had mentioned, there were some children of Manuel Ruiz and Victoriana Sánchez in which I only had a marriage for... another one of those was Francisca Ruiz Sánchez. Francisca would marry in July 1785 to man named Francisco de Borja Piñero, illegitimate son of Bernardina, deceased. 

Francisca Ruiz, hija de Manuel y Victoriana Sánchez [FamilySearch] 

Taking Francisca's marriage year and subtracting 18, I got 1767. I had found no Francisca being born to Manuel Ruiz and Victoriana Sánchez in that year, but could she have been born a "Torres"? BINGO! I was able to find a Francisca, born to a Manuel Torres and Victoriana Sánchez! 

Francisca, hija de Manuel Torres y Victoriana Sánchez [FamilySearch]

Remember that by 1767, Manuel would have been free already so the use of "Torres" is interesting. There is always the possibility that this was another man but seeing as how Victoriana/Victoria Sánchez was the wife and that is constant throughout all of these records helps to plead a stronger case for it being my 7th great-grandfather.

It seems like María Ruiz and another slave owner had a close connection seeing as how their slaves married and then based off his last name I think creates a bigger tie - his name was Manuel Torres. In 1756 a slave named "Vicente" was born to Andrés, slave of María Ruiz and María, slave of Manuel Torres. Later, a set of twins were born in 1759 to Andrés, slave of Manuel Torres, and María, slave of Manuel Torres. It seems that Andrés would have been transferred over from María Ruiz to Manuel Torres now that these two slaves were married. The twins, Tiburcia and Valeria, had two separate godparents. Tiburcia's godparents were Felipe Torres and Anastasia Torres while Valeria's were Manuel Torres and Victoriana Sánchez, and here Manuel is a Torres again, could he have been named in honor of his first original master? 

Andrés, esclavo de María Ruiz y María, esclava de Manuel Torres [FamilySearch]

As you can see there is still some searching to do. Could Manuel Torres or María Ruiz have left wills in Coamo detailing their slaves and what to be done now that they had died? What was Manuel's life like as a slave in the 1700s? Would his life been any different to other slaves since he was pardo? Did pardo slaves have a certain mix to them,  for example white father, slave mother? No records point to parents for Manuel Ruiz and the baptisms from the 1730s in Coamo seem to be missing, so for right now there is no more to learn about his background. 

I'll definitely have to keep my eyes out now for pardos libres who potentially were slaves before they received their freedom status!