Those Places Thursday – Salinas, Puerto Rico

Finally a prompt I can use on the actual day! This post is similar to Tuesday's prompt so I want to focus on a specific town I visited back in March 2015. One of the main towns I wanted to visit while I was in Puerto Rico was Salinas in the southern region of Puerto Rico. I mainly wanted to visit Salinas because my great grandfather Manuel Correa Rivera was from this town – who was a very hard line to crack! This was also the town my 4th great grandparents Jean Charles Gustave and Julienne Malvina Lautin settled in after reaching Puerto Rico through Vieques and traveling down the eastern coast. So I knew this town meant a lot to my family history and I wanted to set foot here.

My first stop in Salinas was the church which was located downtown. I stopped by to see the church where many of my ancestors had married and were baptized. While there, I started talking randomly to some people who were there setting up for an outside mass. The man had keys to the church so let me in to see this inside which was nice of him. He gave me a quick little tour giving me some information about the church and the parts that were recently renovated. I appreciated the fact that he took the time to give me this little tour though he had something else to do – Puerto Rican hospitality at its best!

Iglesia de Salinas, Puerto Rico [Personal Photo]

Inside the church [Personal Photo]

Cuna del Mojo Isleño - Salinas, Puerto Rico [Personal Photo]

My next stop was heading towards Playita or Playa, the area of Salinas I knew my family had last lived in. I knew distant family had owned a restaurant there named "Ladi's Place", so I headed there with the help of GPS to see if family still lived nearby. We parked the car and headed towards the water to get a view. It was amazing to see how close to the shore things were in this area of Salinas. Literally the ocean was the backyard to many families here!

As I stopped to take pictures we were approached by a woman selling lottery tickets. My grandmother decided to buy one and this is where my genealogical trip took a turn for the best! 

The ocean and mangroves [Personal Photo]

As my grandmother bought the ticket I worked up the courage to ask her if she knew of any "Correa" families living in the area. She stated that she herself was a Correa (from Río Jueyes… which is another area my family is from though she didn't want to engage me on her family history) and she pointed across the street and said that the man there was a Correa himself. I was excited because he was probably a cousin as well! We knocked on his door and he came out to speak to us – turns out he WAS a cousin! I think I scared him though when I started rattling off names and relations to his family and mine. He said that if I wanted to learn more, there was a cousin who would know more information about the family and that she was another cousin who lived down the street and was 100 years old.

100, I thought?! I asked him for her name and was surprised when he said the name, as I already had her on my family tree with the help of census records! We walked over and knocked and luckily she was there! We were let in and we chatted about our family's connections, she showed us pictures, and talked about our family's origin in Salinas. Apparently our family had been one of the first families to arrive in Playa, Salinas, Puerto Rico and helped to settled the area. They had come from Coamo before that which was nice to hear because it is true on paper trail as well! She told me stories of how her father was referred to as "Monsieur" because of his mother's Martinican & Guadelupean mix; her father and my 2nd great grandfather were brothers! 

Salinas, Puerto Rico [Personal Photo]

I was amazed to have met this family and yet kicking myself in the butt for not having a DNA kit with me at the time to see if she was willing to test!! Pro-Tip: Have at least one DNA kit with you as you travel just in case you meet distant family members willing to test! I'm hoping she's still alive and that I can write to them and send a letter over explaining my interest in getting her tested! I imagine her African percentages are higher than most Puerto Ricans seeing as how she is a descendant of slaves on various lines and fairly recently as well. Fingers-crossed she's alive and able/willing to do it!

My family in Salinas were mainly fishermen and sugarcane workers while they lived there. This statue below is dedicated to those fishermen in Salinas who day-in and day-out worked in the waters to provide for their families. I'm glad I was able to take a picture of his statue while there. Here's to returning to Puerto Rico soon and returning to Salinas!

How a RAOK Broke my Guadeloupean Brick-Wall

[Google]

A few months back while I was still in Madrid studying abroad, I received a message from another 23andme member wondering if I needed any help searching for my ancestors in Martinique. As you might already know, offering your help to others is known as a RAOK or Random Act Of Kindness, and in the genealogical community, you can surely find it pretty easily with people sharing their knowledge either with documents, countries, or languages in order for others to find their ancestors. Luckily, I had figured out the mystery of my Martinican ancestors with the help of David but I was stuck on the Guadeloupean side. Where was Gustave Jean Charles from? We know he had been married in Basse-Terre previously to a Françoise Jackson but with no marriage certificate or town of origin for Gustave we were stuck. We knew Françoise was from Marie-Galante but there was no marriage certificate for them there, or basically in any other town… my search was so thorough that I pretty much searched all of the towns nearby Basse-Terre and other parts of the island, such as Point-à-Pitre. However, no luck. So I told this member about Gustave and all the information I had on him, such as his occupation, estimated birth year, his mother's potential name of María Luisa, and his marriage to Françoise Jackson. We exchanged some messages about Gustave Jean Charles, and to be honest, I wasn't very hopeful. I knew that my search had been ongoing now for a couple of years and since I had searched most of the island, I had a feeling that he might actually be from Saint Thomas or another Caribbean island. When I received the response starting with "I found him" my heart dropped, could this really be Gustave Jean Charles?!?

An island of an island 

Pompierre, Terre-de-Haut, Les Saintes

The message continued with, "he is not from Basse-Terre but from Terre-de-Bas (Les Saintes)". My initial reaction was "HUH?!" Terre-de-Bas? Where's that? I've searched all of Guadeloupe and I haven't seen that town! But of course, I had stupidly ruled out a tiny island belonging to Guadeloupe, just below the area of Basse-Terre, and of course, it would be MY ancestor to have lived there!! The chain of islands, known as Les Îles des Saintes, include the islands of Terre-de-Bas and Terre-de-Haut (part of 9 islands in total). The island's population is rather small and because of its rather 'different' influx of immigrants, the islands diversity isn't completely the same as mainland Guadeloupe, "the archipelago of Les Saintes is mostly populated by the descendants of colonists from Brittany and Normandy, and inhabitants of Poitou, Saintonge, and Anjou who are mostly from the first French families that lived on Saint Christopher and Nevis when it was a French colony. The population has the peculiarity of being primarily of European origin and speaks a variety of popular American French, with some terms of Old French" [Wikipedia]. This would explain why Gustave Jean Charles' descendants carry a European Y-DNA haplogroup! 

Guadeloupe [Google]

The messages then began to flood my inbox with new documents, information, dates, and names. I was completely flabbergasted, could it be possible that my search for Gustave Jean Charles was really coming to an end?! After so much time wondering, contemplating, and trying to figure out where or who Gustave Jean Charles, were the walls finally starting to come down! 

A New Name in the Mix

When I glanced over the marriage record I was sent from 1843 in Terre-de-Bas, my first reaction was "OH OH! this isn't the same man". The marriage record was for a Gustave Chaleau and a Françoise Jackson, but I don't know a Chaleau! As I started reading the record I started to realize that this in fact was my ancestor and I'll explain why in a bit. The record stated that "the sir Gustave Chaleau, 21 years old [born about 1822], a sailor, born and domiciled in Terre-de-Bas, of age, the legitimate child of Chaleau Jean Charles and Marie Lucie, both landowners and domiciled on this island; and the miss Françoise Jackson, 20 years old [born about 1823], a seamstress, born on the island of Marie-Galante and living in this community, the natural daughter of Clarice Jackson, a laundress, domiciled at Point-à-Pitre, both appeared for marriage". 

For starters a lot of the information matched up, such as Françoise being from Marie-Galante and Gustave's birth year, his profession dealing with boats/sea, and especially that his mother was named Marie Lucie (which in Puerto Rico was translated to María Luisa). What's also important here to notice is that Gustave's father was named Chaleau Jean Charles, therefore we know that the Jean Charles name is there somewhere and as we know, the names did jump around in Puerto Rico so for it to happen in Guadeloupe wouldn't be so surprising. Also, luckily there was signature for Gustave which was similar to his Puerto Rican signature: 

Here on the right you can see his Puerto Rican signatures, if you focus on the first way he wrote Gustave you find some similarities to his signature in Guadeloupe. His signatures are a bit sloppy but this is probably due to the fact that he was in his 60s when signing as a witness in Puerto Rico. Here on the Terre-de-Bas signature we can see that Gustave signed with this new name of Chaleau, which has never appeared in any Puerto Rican records. The mystery of this new surname though can easily be solved with the help of another document -- the freedom record of my 5th great grandfather, Chaleau Jean Charles. 

A Free Man

My 5th great-grandfather Chaleau Jean Charles was manumitted from slavery on the 26th of August in the year 1842. Though it doesn't state who was his master, it does state that Jean Baptiste Caille came forward along with Paul Désiré Petit during his manumission. David has told me that it is possible for one of them to be an owner or even friends, though the record does not state an relation between the men. It states that Chaleau Jean Charles at the time of his freedom was 56 years old and a carpenter (which makes sense since various of his descendants would also take up this job!). It also states that he was a native of Terre-de-Bas, meaning that he was born there and not brought over as a slave like on my Martinican side of the family. However we don't know who Jean Charles' parents were and where they were born.   

Nº 8 Chaleau Jean Charles - Manumission, 1842 [ANOM]

Nº 8 Chaleau Jean Charles - Manumission, 1842 [ANOM]

So we see that Chaleau and Jean Charles were probably his names and out of there comes the confusion of using either "Chaleau" or "Jean Charles", and in some records they use Jean Charles as the surname rather than Chaleau. Most likely he was known as "Jean Charles" most of his life and then the Chaleau was added later on as a surname, however Gustave stuck with Jean Charles when he immigrated to Puerto Rico and even his other son goes back and forth between both Chaleau and Jean Charles on records. 

With his new found freedom, Chaleau Jean Charles was able to marry the next year and married on the 4th of September 1843 my 5th great grandmother Marie Lucie; two months later his son Gustave would marry Françoise Jackson. Chaleau Jean Charles' marriage record states that he and Marie Lucie were both from Terre-de-Bas and he 56 and she 55 years old. Their record also states that before this said marriage, together they had three children who apparently were: "inscrits sur les régistres de l'état civil de cette dite commune, de leurs actes d'affranchissements, en dite la premier janvier mil huit cent trente trois" meaning that the children were registered in the records for manumission on the 1st of January in 1833, records which I have yet to find! These three children include Charles (aged 23), Adelaïde (aged 28), and Gustave (aged 19) all living on said island. It's nice to see that Chaleau Jean Charles and Marie Lucie were able to marry! And even though Chaleau Jean Charles wasn't able to sign his own name on his marriage record, it's interesting to note that his son - my 4th great-grandfather  Gustave - at only about 19-20 years old was able to sign his own name, which makes me wonder about their education and childhood upbringing as slaves. 

Conclusions

At this point, I'm fairly certain this is the same man, just like with the records in Martinique, there are far too many coincidences for me just to brush it off. Because things like the name, year of birth, and especially the mother's name matches, I'm fairly confident that these two men are one and the same. I can't believe that that my search for Gustave Jean Charles is over, especially with all the confusion in the records and the craziness that was name order in Puerto Rico. Goes to show that with constant searching and some help a lot can be achieved. My next goal is to try and find out more information about Jean Charles and Marie Lucie, for example we know that Jean Charles was manumitted in 1842, but Marie Lucie seems to be manumitted in the year 1832 along with her children. I wonder why so much earlier then he was. Were they from two different plantations or owners? I don't know much more about the family and I would like to hopefully one day find where they were from before Terre-de-Bas. 

I'm excited to finally have names of towns in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and I can't wait to hopefully one day visit these two places. I can't wait to add more pieces to this puzzle, or rather make this picture a bit clearly in regards to their life on these French islands and the history that comes along with them to Puerto Rico. So happy that I can add more to my own story of my ancestors especially to a branch of my family that was so closed off to me genealogically for many years. 

Remember to keep searching, asking questions, revisiting documents and never give up! Sometimes it takes stepping away from a puzzle in order for you to gain a new outlook on how to potentially solve it. For any Puerto Ricans that might have ancestors from Guadeloupe and/or Martinique, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions on how to get started on finding those ancestors. Also, I have written about it on my blog what feels like extensively, so feel free to poke around and read other posts for some tips and tricks. 

Can't wait to see this view one day! :D

Grande-Anse, Terre-de-Bas, Les Saintes, Guadeloupe [Google]

A New Piece to the Puzzle! The Jean Charles Gustave Mystery Continues...

When fellow French Guadeloupean genealogist David Quénéhervé began his email with "Hi, I think that I've found something in Basse-Terre", I knew that I was going to be delivered some new information pertaining to my ancestors. David has helped me numerous times from finding and using the BNMP, to understanding documents and life in Martinique during the times of slavery. I am definitely thankful for all the help he has provided and have been doing my best of paying it forward to other new and amateur genealogists.

The first thing that struck me was "Wait? Information in Basse-Terre?!  That's in Guadeloupe!". With the whole run around of my 4th great grandparents and their origin, I have pretty much started to recognize and learn many of the towns in Guadeloupe and Martinique (at this rate I've checked every single town in Martinique for my 4th great grandfather, Jean Charles Gustave).

Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe [Google]

It has dawned on me before that I might have always been looking in the wrong place, that maybe Jean Charles Gustave was never actually from Martinique but from Guadeloupe, some records even stated he and Julienne were from Saint Thomas. What was so interesting about the document that David found was the information that it held, its accuracy and a potential small crack on a big genealogical dead-end wall.

Martinique & Guadeloupe on the map [Google]

What David found was a jugement for a Françoise Jackson, who was the wife of a Gustave Jean-Charles! I immediately thought, my 4th great grandfather was previously married?! The record goes on to state that on the 12th of April of 1869 this judgement was taking place, then the next few lines is the usual run-down as genealogist know of who was writing what and his position yaddah-yaddah-yaddah. The next line what was struck David and definitely me as well: … que la nommée Françoise Jackson née à Marie-Galante, en mil huit cent trente trois, épouse du sieur Gustave-Jean-Charles [sic], capitaine au cabotage, demeurant au Vieques, est décédée à la Basse-Terre, où elle résidait dans le courant de l'Epidémie du Choléra. The document goes on to repeat this about another three times for whatever reason, but here is the gist of the information for my English speakers:

that the named Françoise Jackson, born on Marie-Galante, in eighteen thirty three, wife of the sir Gustave Jean Charles, sea captain, residing at Vieques, died at Basse-Terre, where she resided during the time of the Cholera Epidemic. 

Another similar version of the text later in the document [ANOM]

What shocked me the most was that his name was written exactly as I know it Gustave Jean Charles (we are still debating whether or not Gustave was a first name or surname, the record was registered in the index under "Jean-Charles"). Also, it stated that he was currently living in Vieques -- which is EXACTLY where my 4th great grandfather was living at the time!! We chatted back and forth about this, David suggested that Jean Charles was probably marrying at the time and needed to prove that he was single and thus someone came forward in Guadeloupe to register the death of his wife which probably wasn't registered at the time of her original death in 1865 rather than in 1869. Could it be that distraught, Jean Charles left Guadeloupe immediately after his wife's death and never was able to register her death? Also, this Gustave Jean Charles was a sea captain while mine was a carpenter, could they really be the same person I asked? David assured me that carpenters could build ships (duh, how could I not think of that!) and also many people back then took on multiple/different jobs to make ends meet.

When David suggested that maybe Jean Charles was about to remarry I went straight to two records I was fortunate to find in the Vieques baptismal books, my 3rd great grandmother's baptism record and her brother's. She was born in 1867 while he in 1869 and I was sure these records could provide some clues. Foolishly, I had not realized two small clues that would help tie in the record from Guadeloupe to my family in Puerto Rico. I have faith that these two men are the same, the evidence is too overwhelming similar!

Baptism- María Paulina "Charles" [LDS Vieques Records]

When my 3rd great grandmother, María Paulina Gustavo Lotten, was born on the 15th of January in 1865 in Vieques, Puerto Rico she was baptized as a "hija natural reconocida" which means that she was a natural born daughter recognized by her parents, who here are written down as Juliana Lotin and Gustavo Juan Carlos. Notice that the name is in the same order as in Guadeloupe. I also realized that María Paulina was baptized with the surname "Charles", so it is very possible that Jean Charles was the original combined surname and then the Jean part was dropped and Charles stayed. Yet the family used Gustavo for a long time and then later switched to Charles, who started the switch? 

Baptism- Tomas Octavio "Charles" [LDS Vieques Records]

Now, look at this record that took place in 1870 recording Tomás Octavio's birth which occurred on the 28th of December 1869. Here we can see that Tomás was registered as a "hijo legitimo" which means that he was recognized as a legitimate child of Gustavo Juan Charles and Juliana Lotin, again the name is written in the same style we see in Guadeloupe. Every child born after my 3rd great grandmother is referred to in their baptismal and/or birth record as legitimate children of my 4th great grandparents!

The document in Guadeloupe occurred in April of 1869 and Tomás was born in December of the same year, perhaps Julienne wanted to be married before she delivered her second child? If Tomás was born at the 9 month mark, then it is possible that he was conceived in the window of March-April. I never thought to check the "status" of the children as they were born, I figured it was just a mistake on Paulina's record but now it seems that it held some weight to it. I have ordered the Vieques marriage records from that time period and I am anxiously hoping and waiting that a marriage record will appear in 1869 for Jean Charles Gustave and Julienne, and hopefully give some more clues as to Jean Charles Gustave's origin. Will the record mention a previous marriage to Françoise Jackson? I'm very excited to finally add some more meat to the story of Jean Charles Gustave. Hopefully, I'll be able to finally pinpoint a town of origin for him as well as parents and maybe even grandparents. 

Hopefully, one day I'll be able to travel and explore the towns of my ancestors in Martinique and now maybe even in Guadeloupe! Gotta brush up on my français before that! :)

52 Ancestors – #2 Jean Charles Gustave (1819-1891)

This second post will be about a challenging ancestor of mine who I have mentioned a lot before but I
want to dedicate a post to him since he has been a troubling ancestor to pinpoint. This post will be about my 4th great grandfather Jean Charles Gustave.

Jean Charles Gustave has been very elusive since the first moment I set eyes on his name in a birth certificate of his grandchild, Julio Correa Gustavo (my 2nd great grandfather). When Jean Charles was registered in Puerto Rico with his wife, he was registered as living in Fajardo, Puerto Rico as a "domestico" from Martinique, married, and 55 years old. They were registered on the 30th of May 1874 as domiciled in Fajardo but were still French subjects. In his registration his name became "Juan Carlos Gustavo" and in subsequent documents his name remained in the Spanish form. Yet every time Jean Charles Gustave signed his name in documents he consistently used the French form of his name.

Jean Charles Gustave's Signature

We also know that by the time he was registered in 1874, he was already living at least 7 years in Puerto Rico because his first child and my 3rd great grandmother, María Paulina Gustavo Lotten, was born in 1867 on the island of Vieques, a municipal of Puerto Rico. Jean Charles and his wife "Juliana Balbina Lotten" who I later came to learn was Julienne Malvina Lautin, a native from Rivière Salée, Martinique had 7 children (to date) that I know of. I've decided to use the surnames "Gustavo Lotten" because it is the most similar to its original form, Gustave Lautin. There have been many variations of both surnames used throughout documents and the family eventually switched over to the surname "Charles". Here are the children in order:

1) María Paulina Gustavo Lotten 1867 – 1948
2) Tomás Octavio Gustavo Lotten 1869 – 1957
3) Valentina Gustavo Lotten 1878? – 1938
4) Areopajita Gustavo Lotten 1879 – 1900
5) Dionisio Gustavo Lotten 1880 – 18??
6) Alberto Fermin Gustavo Lotten 1882 – 1953
7) Martina Isabel Gustavo Lotten 1886 – 1888

Gustave Lautin Family

I have been able to track five out of the seven children from the Gustave Lautin line but I don't know what ever happened to Dionisio and Martina Isabel. Dionisio was born in Fajardo while Martina Isabel was born in Santa Isabel yet they never appear in census records and I have not found death records for them yet.

Something very interesting that I have noticed (and probably literally just right now), is that the family has always stuck by the ocean. For whatever reason, in whatever town they lived in, it was always by the coast. Vieques, Fajardo, Santa Isabel, Salinas, Guánica, Ponce – all coastal towns of Puerto Rico. Jean Charles Gustave was a carpenter by trade, so wouldn't he have found better work in San Juan? The family would later become fishermen with some carpenters here and there but I think it's interesting that they were always near water (most of their children and grandchildren were born in parts of the town called "playa" – in Santa Isabel, Ponce, and Salinas). Could Jean Charles Gustave originated from a coastal town in Martinique?

Despite knowing where Jean Charles Gustave has lived I have yet to find his death certificate. I know that his death had to have taken place between November 1887 – August 1891, with the help of his grandchildren's records. The question is where?! This span of 4 years is a pretty small gap to look for someone yet I have had no luck finding his death record in Salinas, Yauco/Guánica or Ponce (I'll be double checking again shortly!)

Jean Charles Gustave always seemed to me to be of a créole background for various reasons. 1) He didn't appear in the Actes D'individualités in Martinique – This could mean he was born free or freed before 1848. 2) He was able to sign his name in 1885 – which I think is a big feat for a black man in the mid-1800s from a colonial island. 3) His wife was much younger than him which makes me think she married "up" for a better life – either love brought them together or his status did.

After researching the Gustave line for quite a while, I was able to find a cousin who shared a connection with me. Her great grandfather, Alberto Fermin, and my 3rd great grandmother, María Paulina, were brothers and sisters. This 3rd cousin, 2x removed is more connected to the Charles family and thus was able to find a male descendant of Jean Charles Gustave who was willing to take a Y-DNA test to figure out our Martinican male haplogroup.

I was able to get a Y-DNA test through FTDNA from a 2nd cousin, 3x removed, the grandson of Alberto Fermin Gustavo Lotten. I was very excited when the results started coming in this week. I was caught between hoping it was an African haplogroup and a European haplogroup, but my gut feeling was that it would come back European – due to the créole theory. The group came back R-M269 (shorthand) also known as R1b1a2, which turns out to be part of one of the biggest European haplogroups. Hopefully I'll be able to pinpoint a surname through FTDNA which would give me a clue for my male ancestor in Martinique!

Haplogroup R1b Distribution [Wikipedia]

Take a look at this new blog post called "A New Piece to the Puzzle! The Jean Charles Gustave Mystery Continues…" with some new information regarding my 4th great grandfather!

My Gustave-Lautin Family

This genealogical year has been off to a good start! The mystery of my Martinican ancestors is almost coming to a close (though there is still much to sort out!) Last week the Vieques church records I ordered to the LDS center arrived and I was pumped to search through them.

I knew that my 3rd great grandmother was, as far as I know, one of 7 children. She being the first born and the next 6 in chronological order being: Tomás, Valentina, Areopajita, Dionisio, Alberto Fermin, and Martina Isabel. I had Dionisio's (born in Fajardo), Alberto's (born in Salinas) and Martina's (born in Santa Isabel) birth/baptismal certificates but I didn't have my 3rd great grandmother, María Paulina or Tomás', Valentina's and Areopajita's. Here is a pedigree I made of the Gustave-Lautin siblings and family. 

The Gustave-Lautin Family who immigrated to Puerto Rico

Luckily in the Vieques church records I was able to find both María Paulina's and Tomás' baptism records. My 3rd great grandmother was born on the 15th January 1867 and baptized on 14th February 1867 in Vieques, Puerto Rico. While her brother Tomás (who's picture I found in the passport records) was born in Vieques as well on 28 December 1869 and baptized on 20th February 1870. What I found very interesting is that they both were surnamed "Charles" in these records. Also Tomás' middle name is "Octavio" and my 3rd great grandmother went by Octavia sometimes, so the name might be passed down from another family member! It mentions that the father's name was Gustavo Juan Charles, mixing around the order of the names. The paternal grandparents were listed as Juan Charles and María and the maternal as Eglantina Lotin. This helps me to solidify the Lautin line which I had theorized about in a previous post but had no solid proof. The baptism record helped to show that Juliana was indeed the daughter of a Eglantina Lotin (Eglantine Lautin) and helped to tie up all the loose ends. 

Now, the problem lies with figuring out the origins of Jean Charles Gustave. I fear that his surname might have been "Jean Charles" rather than "Gustave". Yet for now I will believe it is "Gustave" because he signed his name on the two documents I have as "Jean Charles Gustave". It could be plausible that his last name was "Jean Charles"; if his dad was a freed slave who was just named Jean Charles then his son would have taken his whole name as the surname. Which is most likely the origin of Gustave as well. Jean Charles Gustave's parents are listed as Jean Charles Gustave (which could mean he was named after his father or they didn't know the name of his father so they just duplicated his) and his mother appears as María Lucia, María Morianga and sometimes just María. So my guess is that she was Marie for certain but whether she was Marie Lucie or Marie-Ange (probably from Morianga) beats me!

We know Jean Charles Gustave (Juan Carlos Gustavo) appears in the the Catalog of Foreign Residents living in Fajardo in 1874. Juan Carlos Gustavo is listed at the age of 55 making him born circa 1819 and was married and "domestico" meaning he probably didn't work at the time. What's interesting is that there is a "Balbino Gustavo" also listed in the book with the age of 29 making that person born circa 1845. My guess is that the "Balbino" was actually my 4th great grandmother who's middle name was Balbina and she herself was born in 1844, it was probably transcribed incorrectly in the book. 

Here's a image I made from Google maps showing them hopping around Puerto Rico from Vieques, to Fajardo, to Salinas with years attached showing when they were living in those towns. Martina Isabel was born in Santa Isabel for whatever reason but the family lived for the most part in Salinas before spreading out along the southern coast. 

Gustave-Lautin family moving around Puerto Rico

I'm currently stuck on finding more about Jean Charles Gustave. So far I've checked all the towns of Martinique between the years of 1818-1820 for the birth of a Jean Charles Gustave. So far--- no luck! There is a Gustave family living in Ducos (previously known as Trou-Au-Chat) which could be promising though they were there towards the end of the 1800s. Also, there is a Charles Gustave being born in 1821 in Le Carbet to a Marie Olympe, he is the only closest match I have. My guess is that Jean Charles Gustave was of some kind of Mulatto mix born out of slavery (in the 1848 records of the slaves being entered, I found no Gustave-surnamed family that could match). I'm also not 100% sure that he was truly born in 1819. That would make him much older than Julienne, could be possible of course!

My next hope is to get the 1870s Catalog of Foreigners (I'm currently trying to get it through the interlibrary loan). The only thing that worries me is that because by 1867 they were already in Puerto Rico, they might not appear in it. Estela Cifre de Loubriel had to have seen their name in some type of document to jot them down in her book- the only thing is which document!!

Hopefully this mystery will be wrapped up soon enough! I wonder if Jean Charles was fixed with French/some European ancestor or just a descendant of slaves. I'll update once I figure out more!

The Ending to a Search?

Sometime late last month, I decided to fully explore the possibility of Juliana Balbina Lotten's death in Ponce, Puerto Rico. I had checked before but to no avail, nothing came up. I checked for the surnames Charles, Gustavo, Pedro, Pérez, Lotin, Sotin, and pretty much every other possibility that I knew was out there. I knew that Juliana died some time between June 1895 and June 1897 according to other documents I had. In most, if not all of the documents I had from that time period, it was that stated that Juliana was alive, widowed, but that she was living in Ponce. Yet I never knew why Juliana would move away to Ponce- Juliana's children lived in Salinas, Guánica/Yauco and only one daughter lived in Ponce around the time she would have. The daughter was Areopajita (spelled that way according to documents) and she would pass away in Ponce on the 11th of June 1900 of Tuberculosis Pulmonar. Pedro Rosado Sierra reported her death and despite it saying he was the 'neighbor', Pedro was actually Areopajita's husband (not wed through the church though) and they had one son named José Laureno Rosado Gustavo who lived with his maternal uncle after the death of his mother.

Searching in Ponce through the indexes I couldn't quiet figure out why Juliana did not appear. I checked the towns of: Yauco, Guánica, Ponce, Santa Isabel, Salinas, Guayama, Fajardo, Vieques, and Guayanilla, San Juan- Pretty much any town and neighboring town possible where either she lived or could have lived. Yet for some reason- absolutely nothing! It wasn't until that I decided to check in Ponce between 1895-1897 under "J" for a 'Juliana'. I imagined that if she died and someone were to report her death who didn't know her well, they might have not known her last name or had changed it around even more than from what it originally was. Lo and behold, in Ponce in May of 1897, there would occur the death of a Julia Juliana! I figured this was highly possible for it to be her.

I decided to transcribe the entire document to pull out any and all details to make the claim that this was Julienne Malvina Lautin, the woman born into slavery in Rivière Salée, Martinique and who would later move to Puerto Rico as a free woman with Jean Charles Gustave to become known in documents as Juliana Balbina Lotten. Here is the information in Spanish with bolded important/interesting information which I'll translate over:

"En la cuidad de Ponce, a las tres y media de la tarde del veinte y ocho de Mayo de mil ochocientos noventa y siete antes Don Carlos Lopez de Toro, Juez municipal y Don Enrique Colon y Ferrer secretario interno compareció Juan Santos Ocasio, natural de Peñuelas, soltero, empleado y domiciliado en la calle del Coto de esta cuidad, manifestando que Julia Juliana sin otro apellido de treinta y ocho años de edad (Ygles) digo, Ynglesa [sic] y asilada en el Hospital de dementes de esta cuidad falleció ayer a las seis de la tarde a consecuencia de diarrea ygnorando las demas circunstancias personales y demas datos preciso para justificar su personalidad y de ello daba cuenta como encargado de dicho. En vista de esta manifestación y de la certificación facultativa presentada el Señor Juez dispuso se extendiese esta acta y que la finada se entierre en el cementerio de esta cuidad. Fueron testigos Victor Sanchez y Santiago, natural de Ponce, soltero, empleado y domiciliado en la calle del Mendez Vigo de esta cuidad y Serafin Perez Garcia natural de Muesa, Provincia de Salamanca, casado, empleado y domiciliado en la calle del Coto de esta cuidad…"

• She died on the 27th of May 1897.
• Juan Santos Ocasio appeared to announce her death. He was employed (which will be important in a minute).
• She was named Julia Juliana, with no other surname (remember in Puerto Rico both the paternal and maternal surnames are carried). 
• She was 38 years old and known as "the Englishwoman". 
• She was 'asilada' (an asylee or had asylum status in the hospital of the insane). 
• Victor Sanchez Santiago was a witness, also employed. 
• Serafin Perez Garcia was also a witness, also employed. 

There a few interesting things about this. For starters- she was in a hospital for the insane!! She was known as Julia Juliana the "Englishwoman". And all three people to appear where employed, my guess in the hospital. I've yet to find this so called "Hospital de dementes" in Ponce so it might not exist now but existed in the late 1900s. Also, she was known as the "Englishwoman". Could it be possible that while in the hospital she would have bouts of speaking French or Creole and the employees just thought: "Oh, she must be speaking English again". There are documents which misstate where she was from, so they could have also easily thought she was from the English Caribbean rather than the French Caribbean and political correctness isn't always top priority when nicknames are being dealt out. 

I'm not 100% sure this is my Juliana but for the time being I will believe she is! Everything seems to fall into place- the year (1897), the place (Ponce), and this nickname (La Inglesa). The only thing that doesn't match is the age which states she is 38 at the time of her death placing her being born around 1859. Of course, the man who reported her death most likely underestimated her age and could have rounded down. I remember seeing a death certificate for an ex-slave woman in Puerto Rico with the age of 125. Of course, it could be possible that she was around 100 but 125 is probably overestimated. My Juliana was born in 1844, so 1844 and 1859 aren't really too far apart considering that it was most likely estimated. 

Unless I find an English background woman born around the 1860s who lived in Ponce, Puerto Rico and was named Julia Juliana, I will hold this record as the death certificate for Julienne Malvina Lautin.

UPDATE: I was able to find my 3rd great grandmother's death record! Ironically she died the same year, 1897, but in Salinas, Puerto Rico under the name "Balbina Pérez Glantin". All the information about her matches and I can surely say it is 100%. Though this Julia in Ponce, Puerto Rico isn't my ancestor, I will leave this post up since it is a part of genealogical research. Always check, re-check, and confirm that you have the right ancestors and family branches! 

A New Year- New Genealogical Resolutions

A New Year Is Here!!

As the new year rang in, I thought about all the things I want accomplished in my life throughout 2013. But I also thought about the genealogical resolutions I would make for this upcoming year. So I decided to come up with some resolutions and wishes (in no particular order) for my genealogical adventure this year! I came up with 13 resolutions +1 for good luck, just in case :)

Resolutions for 2013:

• Discover more about Jean Charles Gustave (Juan Carlos Gustavo), like whether he was from Martinique or Guadeloupe, his parents' names, his background, etc. 
• Extend my branches in Puerto Rico further back. 
• Learn more about my ancestors from Martinique and their lives. 
• Speak to more relatives and collect more stories about my ancestors. 
• Discover more about myself and my family through DNA. 
• Connect with more genetic cousins on 23andme and AncestryDNA.
• Find out more about my 2nd great grandmother Amalia Rivera Rodríguez (Masantini). 
• Find out more about José Avilés and whether his father really was Damià Magraner from Sóller, Mallorca. 
• Look through more Puerto Ricans records at the LDS Family Center. 
• Learn more about my Correa family and their J1/J1e paternal ancestry. 
• Try and figure out my parents' family connection to one another. 
• Find out more about Jewish genetic connections in my family. 
• Read more about the history of Puerto Rico and Spain and their contributing cultures . 
• Discover a new set of ancestors from outside of Puerto Rico. 

Hopefully these resolutions will inspire you to find something new, discover more about yourself or to dig deeper in your family tree and genealogy! There are still 363 days for you to get started :)

PS- Thank you to everyone that has viewed my blog, so far 3000+ views! Hopefully I've helped answer questions or spark interests in your own genealogy! Happy 2013!!

Sorting, Waiting and Hoping

With my sudden potential discover of a definite Martinique connection, my brain has been yelling "Full Steam Ahead!!!!" I've been searching the internet for Martinique books, websites and even videos to find an insight to what my ancestors would have gone through. David Quénéhervé recommended to me  a book titled "Black Shack Alley" written by Joseph Zobel which he says gives a good look into the life of Martinique (the book is set in the 1930s). I've found some other books which sound pretty interesting such as: "Sugar and Slavery, Race and Family", "The Diligent", and "Sweet Liberty". I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy at least 2 or maybe 3 of them to do some more in-depth reading of Martinique. I even looked into Martinican Creole or Créole Martiniquais which was really cool to look at and listen to.

With this new intense focus on my Martinique connection, I've been trying to figure out how I could learn more about Jean Charles Gustave through records. I searched in the Record of Foreign Residents, 1815-1845 but figured that the years were too far back for him to have arrived in Puerto Rico. I searched for Charles, Gustave(o), Pedro, Lotten/Lautin but found none, which I expected. In the Catalog of Foreign Residents from Puerto Rico which Estela Cifre de Loubriel wrote she mentions that Juan Carlos Gustavo was living in Fajardo in 1874, so I knew there had to be some other record available with more recent years. After typing many things into Google and trying to figure out if another register existed I was finally able to find the one I was looking for. It is known as the Register of Foreigners, 1870-1875 and is located in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. under Puerto Rico Miscellany. I knew that the other registry was housed there but had no idea that another set existed. I don't know if this an extension to the Cedula de Gracias or just a foreigner log but I'm excited to see it! I'm going to have to travel to Washington D.C. to see these records and I'm willing to sit the ride out to see them, I just have to figure out when to go! My hope is that there is a lot more information included in these records such as place of origin in Martinique, the wife's name (which hopefully will be written the French way), maybe some parent names, along with his signature to confirm whether or not I have the right person. Unfortunately the records are not microfilmed by LDS or NARA so I have to travel there to see the documents. 

I sit here hoping the documents will provide me new information, waiting to figure out how to plan this little excursion and sorting through all the information I have and don't have on this family. I'm excited, nervous and ready for this flood of information!

When You Least Expect It...

I took a little hiatus from searching for my ancestors after I started working and since I was stuck at home due to Hurricane Sandy I decided to give it go again. (I can't stay away from my tree for that long anyways!) I decided to glimpse through my line of potential Martinique ancestors. There's one document which I've always found extremely helpful and this time it helped me out once again. The document is the birth certificate of my 2nd great aunt, Luisa Correa Gustave (Gustavo). She was born in Salinas, Puerto Rico on the 2nd of June 1885. She is the first child born to Manuel Correa and Paulina/Octavia Gustavo at the start of the civil registry and I'm pretty sure the only child to be registered as Gustave rather than Gustavo. I've posted about the surname here and the changes it has gone through throughout the years.

Luisa Gustave being registered in Salinas, PR

I've always looked at this document because it states that her grandfather, Juan Carlos Gustavo was still alive, was from Guadeloupe and was a carpenter (I believe that he was from Martinique from all the other evidence I have). He was also listed as one of the 'testigos' or witnesses to her birth. But it wasn't until yesterday that it clicked! Most of the witnesses sign their names at the end of the certificate. Could Juan Carlos Gustavo, my 4th great grandfather been able to write and sign his name as a witness? Lo and behold, his signature was there to my surprise!! Also he signed his name the way it was before the Spanish-fication of it. Therefore he signed his name as Jean Charles Gustave.

1885 Salinas, PR- Juan Carlos' signature

Now I had a new piece of evidence that I could use. Sadly, in 1887 when his 2nd grandchild Cruz Correa Gustavo was born he was not present and neither was he for any other's birth. From the certificates, we know that Jean Charles died some where between 1885-1890 but we don't know where. I've checked Salinas where his daughter lived, my 3rd great grandmother, and he was not there. Jean Charles' wife is said to have lived in Ponce, but I haven't found her death certificate and Jean Charles also was not there.

Yesterday I decided, for whatever reason, to check the town of Santa Isabel. I decided to check the index for births from 1885-1931. There I checked for any possible Gustavo/Charles families. There I came across a birth registered as "Martina Isabel Gustavo Pedro" in 1886 and decided to check it out. Despite the fact that I wasn't aware of any "Pedro" surnames in my family I suspected that this could be a possible connection.

Martina Isabel registered along with others in 1886- Santa Isabel,  PR

When I found her birth certificate I was very surprised! The father who appeared to make the declaration of her birth was named JUAN CARLOS GUSTAVO! From Martinique and a carpenter! I was so excited to find this! But I had to keep in mind that this could be someone else, especially since it was Gustavo Pedro, rather than Gustavo Lotten (and all its variants). I kept looking at the document and found more interesting things. The wife was Juliana Pedro, also from Martinique. It also matched! Juan Carlos' wife has gone by many names and Julia/Juliana is one of them along with Balbina and Barbara. This was the first document to mention parents for Juan Carlos and Julianna, which was interesting to see.

Juan Carlos' parents according to the document were Juan Carlos Gustavo and Maria Lucia both from Martinique and had passed at the time of Martina's birth. Juliana's parents were Pedro Pedro and Eleuteria Eglantin, both from Martinique. He had passed and the mother was alive, a widow, a washerwoman, who was still alive [from what it seems she lived in Martinique still. At first I thought it said in Santa Isabel but it says in Spanish "de la misma naturaleza y domicilio", which would mean from the same origin/nature and address.] This was one of the most interesting parts of the document. Pedro Pedro most likely doubled his name or took his dad's first name (Pedro) as a surname. Eleuteria Eglantin is probably most of the interesting pieces to this puzzle. Her last name when pronounced sounds VERY similar to the name Lotten which was what passed to my 3rd great grandmother. This,  probably real last name brought over from Martinique (probably somewhat distorted from its original spelling) and worked better than Pedro. The 'Eg' part could have been dropped and when pronounced was written simply as Lotten. Feel free to write "Lantin" into French>English Google Translate to see what I mean. [I would later learn that 'Eglantin' was her first name.] Interestingly enough, I can't find Martina Isabel in the 1910 Census as well so she might have died as a child.

The Maternal Grandparents of Martina Isabel

Lastly, I decided to check for a signature! This could be the confirmation that I needed to prove whether or not they were related to my Charles/Gustave(o) line. Here are both signatures. I believe that they are the same man. Despite the small differences such as neatness and depth of the ink, etc. I believe that this is the same man's signature.

Salinas, Puerto Rico 1885

Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico 1885

Both for some reason it seems are spelled "Jeain" with the "J" having the bottom looped hook. Both Charles have the "Ch" connected then "ar" and then "les" connected. Then "Gustavo" has the same bottom looped hook in the "G" and then "gus" in connected and then "tavo" with the "o" connecting to the line beneath it. Also, notice that all three are lower case while I've seen other people capitalize their first and last name. I do believe that both of these are the same people. Also, Santa Isabel and Salinas are actually both southern towns and here you can see that they're both neighbors to one another.

Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico

Salinas, Puerto Rico

Hopefully I'll find out more about this family and keep extending this line. I would love the opportunity to be able to find where in Martinique they would have been from and actually visit the town they lived in and figure out the historic background to their lives. Of course, it might not be possible if they didn't mention where they were from in Martinique but with the records from that island I hope that hopefully it'll be possible!