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! 

52 Ancestors – #49 Ana Morán Nazario (1870-1944)

Ana Morán Nazario, according to records is said to have been born in the town of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico around the year 1870. She would however spend most of her life in Manatí, where she would eventually pass away. 

Ana Morán Nazario married Agustin Calderón Meléndez around the year 1886, I haven't been able to find their marriage record and I'm not too surprised with this set of ancestors. Their surnames are constantly changing! Agustin was an illegitimate child so he therefore passed on the name Meléndez to his children and grandchildren. Ana on the other hand appears with the maternal surname "Rosario" or "Nazario" depending on the year and who is reporting the information. Ana and Agustin would have a big family -- about 16 children so far counted! This family so far has been a big tangled web that I'm still trying to take apart, since names are repeated across generations and the information for the family isn't consistent as well. It has truly been a dizzying experience to try and figure out exactly who is who! 

Ana in the 1910, 1930, 1935 and 1940 census appears as living in Manatí, Puerto Rico in the barrio of Coto with her husband Agustin. Ana would live there until her death in 1944 from a cardiac arrest. Ana was listed as white in most of the census records while her husband Agustin appears as mulatto. 

Ana's ancestors and her mix of surnames is one mystery I'm definitely still trying to crack! 

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

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

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

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

Agustin Calderón Meléndez - 1910 Census [Ancestry]

Agustin Calderón Meléndez - 1910 Census [Ancestry]

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

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

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

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

52 Ancestors – #25 Juan Francisco Sánchez Flores (1855-1916)

I'm kind of late adding my 52 Ancestors post for the week, but not too late! Today, my post is about my  3rd great grandfather Juan Francisco Sánchez Flores.

When I first began to search for my 2nd great grandmother Anicasia Sánchez Arvelo, I knew pretty much nothing about her. Luckily, she appeared on the census along with her father, mother, and her husband. Francisco (sometimes he just went by his middle name) here was listed as Sánchez Martínez, and was listed that way in many other records.  Francisco is listed as being married for 25 years as of 1910, employed on a sugar farm and could not read or write.

Francisco Sánchez Flores – 1910 Census [Ancestry]

Juan Francisco Sánchez Flores is stated to be from Quebradillas, Puerto Rico. Quebradillas is located on the north-western shore of the island. The town was originally founded in 1823 by Felipe Ruiz; possibly Francisco's parents were one of the first inhabitants of the newly created town.

Quebradillas Flag [Google]

Quebradillas, Puerto Rico [Wikipedia]

It wasn't until I searched for Juan Francisco's children with his wife Juana Arvelo Vera, did I find new information both on him and his background. One of their daughters was born in 1892 in the town of Utuado, Puerto Rico. On this record I was able to find out that Juan Francisco was actually surnamed Sánchez Flores and that his parents were Blás Sánchez Martínez and Micaela Flores Valentin. I was also able to learn that Juana Arvelo's parents were Manuel Arvelo and Luisa Vera. I was very excited when I bumped into that record in Utuado because for so many years I had known so little about Francisco and Juana. To date I have been able to track down five children: Marcelino, María Agustina, Anicasia, María Aurora, and María Francisca Paula Sánchez Arvelo.

The way this family moved around was very interesting (and also gave me headaches trying to track them down!). Records point to the families beginning in two different towns, Quebradillas (Juan Francisco's town of origin) and San Sebastián (Juana's town of origin). Now, instead of moving into one of their respective towns, one of their daughters was born in Adjuntas while another was born in Utuado. The family then in 1910 appears to be living in the barrio of Coto in the town of Manatí! That's five different towns in the span of 3 generations! Which I feel like isn't too common from the research I have done so far. Many families seemed to have decided to stay rooted in their towns of origin of jump one town over. Take a look below at all the different towns they were living in!

Migration around Puerto Rico [Google Maps]

So far I was able to find three siblings to Juan Francisco: a sister named Lorenza, another sister named Ruperta and a brother named Basilio. They, unlike Francisco, didn't go to far off -- Lorenza lived and passed away in Quebradillas, Ruperta passed away in Lares, and Basilio passed away in San Sebastián. Unfortunately, I don't know much else about Blás Sánchez and Micaela Flores. I only know that they were deceased by the year 1887 according to records, both seemed to have died in Quebradillas. I hope to one day visit Quebradillas and San Sebastián and poke my head around the towns, discover their respective histories, and how my family ties into them. Hopefully I'll get to learn more about Blás and Micaela along the way as well!

52 Ancestors – #21 Juana Arvelo Vera (1872-1912)

I'm posting early since I won't have a chance to write this weekend! Today I want to focus on my 3rd great grandmother Juana Arvelo Vera. She is another ancestress I don't know much about and hope to learn more as I continue my research.

Juana's estimated year of birth is 1872 according to her death record, she is also said to be a native of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. At the time of her death in 1912 she was about the age of 40, living in Coto, Manatí with her husband and categorized as "white" and her cause of death is listed as "anemia". Fortunately, Juana lived long enough to appear on the 1910 Census record. She appears to be living in the same household as José Meléndez Morán (my 2nd great grandfather), his wife Anicasia Sánchez Arvelo (one of Juana's daughter), and her husband listed as Francisco Sánchez Martinez (who actually was Francisco Sánchez Flores). Both Francisco and Juana are listed as mulato, along with everyone else in the household.

Juana Arvelo Vera- 1910 Census [Ancestry]

From the 1910 Census record, we can tell that Juana and her husband Francisco married around 1885 and had 5 children in total, 3 of who were still alive for the 1910 Census. So far, I have only been able to identity four out of the five children: Marcelino, Agustina, Anicasia, and María Aurora. It seems that Juana and her husband did some traveling since she was originally from San Sebastián and he from Quebradillas, one of their daughters was born in Utuado, and finally they ended in Manatí. We also know that Juana and her husband were unable to read and write, along with José and Anicasia (remember many low-income farming rural families really had no need for higher education back then). 

It's also very interesting to think that Juana and Francisco would have been in their late 20s when the Spanish American War broke out and Puerto Rico was handed over to the United States in 1898. How would have Juana and Francisco felt? Did they side with Spain or the US? Or where they unfazed by the change of hands between the two countries? It's very interesting to think about, especially with recent events in our own history such as the issues between Ukraine, Crimea, and Russia. 

Juana also is one of my only ancestors to carry a non-native maternal haplogroups. Juana through her mother Luisa Vera was a carrier of U5b1b1b, which can be found in Europe, Northern African, and the Near East. Luisa Vera herself is said to have been born in San Sebastián and would have been born roughly in the mid-1830s. I have no idea so far how the maternal haplogroup was introduced into our family and from where. 

There is much to learn about Juana Arvelo Vera, her life, her husband, her children and her background. Hopefully one day I can get my hands on some baptismal records from the church in San Sebastián and begin to ravel the mystery behind the Arvelo Vera family! 

52 Ancestors – #16 Cayetano Mercado Cajigas (1855-1905)

When looking through records for my family in Puerto Rico, I have been fortunate that many of my ancestors have lived either in the same town or a neighboring town for many years if not generations. Some of the migrations across the island in my family happened early when many of the towns were being created such as from Toa Alta to Corozal or from Coamo to Salinas. However, there are a few ancestors who seemed too antsy to stay put in one single town. There are many external reasons from wanting to move to a new town: new opportunities for work and land, droughts/bad weather, and of course running away from the past in order to start a new life. One of my 3rd great grandfathers on my paternal side of the family was born in one town, married in another, and died in another. So tracking him down wasn't the easiest of jobs - this is my 3rd great grandfather Cayetano Mercado Cajigas.

Cayetano Mercado Cajigas- Moving Around Puerto Rico

Cayetano Mercado Cajigas is my 3rd great grandfather via Felix Vélez Mercado (Cayetano was Felix's grandfather) yet they would never have the chance to meet since Cayetano passed away in late 1905 while Felix was born in early 1905. When I first discovered Cayetano I had no idea where he was born, I had seen the possibility of Utuado, Adjuntas, Lares, and San Sebastián. It wasn't until I discovered by coincidence his marriage in Adjuntas to Cristina Cruz Pérez that I learned his place of birth. Cayetano and Cristina married in Adjuntas in 1876 and on their marriage record it mentioned that Cayetano's town of origin was "Pepino" while Cristina was from Lares, Puerto Rico. There is currently no town named Pepino in Puerto Rico but doing some research allowed me to know where the name "Pepino" came from. The name "Pepino" refers to the old town name of San Sebastián on the western side of Puerto Rico. The town founded in 1752 with the help of Captain Cristóbal González de la Cruz was recognized as "Las Vegas del Pepino" due to nearby farms. In 1865 the town was still known as "San Sebastián de Las Vegas del Pepino" (Pepino being the Spanish word for cucumber). The town would later shorten its name to San Sebastián yet the residents of this town are still to this day known as Pepinianos. 

Cayetano and Cristina seemed to have about 5 daughters in total (currently this is the number of children I have) and their order of birth are as follows: María Juliana, Enriqueta, María del Carmen, Domitila, and Eduarda. I descend from Domitila, mother of Felix Vélez Mercado. The first three girls were definitely born in Adjuntas because I was able to find their baptismal records there but it seems that Domitila (of course it would be her, my ancestor!) to have been born in either Adjuntas or Utuado. I have searched Adjuntas around the time of her birth and have found nothing, so it is very possible that she was the first daughter to be born in Utuado. I'm not sure how Cayetano and Cristina ended up in Adjuntas, whether through a family move or through their own free will. Cayetano would have been in his early 20s if he had decided to move to Adjuntas which is very possible. I would have to find death records of their parents and see if they passed away in Adjuntas or in their native towns. 

Cayetano's birth is placed around 1855-1860 in San Sebastián to his parents Francisco Mercado Tirado and his mother María Isabel/Margarita Cajigas Ramos. His death certificate in Salto Abajo, Utuado helped to provided second surnames to his parents which is a very important detail when conducting genealogical research in Puerto Rico. His mother's last name is very interesting, I had never really run into it before and it doesn't seem to be very common in Puerto Rico (at least on the eastern side of the island). It seems the surname can also be found as Cajiga and Caxigas, which to me looks like a Basque name- when certain Spanish surnames have an 'x' or sound very strange I always think of Basque names. Even though this theory might not always correct, I always associate it with the Basque country. So I decided to see if I could find a website that would create a frequency map with the surname in Spain. 

I found a website called Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Institute of Statistics) which allows you to enter surnames and names and search for either the frequency of the name in the province of residence and/or the province of birth. I searched for "Cajigas" and its frequency in the province of birth to see where my Cajigas could have potentially originated in Spain. It seems that my theory was right for the surname "Cajigas". See below where the highest frequency is in Spain for the surname which was found in Bizkaia (Viscaya), a province of the Basque country in northern Spain. This is the first time I used a frequency map for Spain and I think I'll try and use it more often to find out more about the surnames in my family. 

Cajigas frequency in Spain [INEbase]

Cayetano was listed as being blanco in his death certificate so who knows if his background was purely Spanish or had recent immigrants to the island (of course there is the possibility that he was just white but very mixed - as I am). So far only one other daughter of Cayetano has mothered any children and that was María Juliana who had about six children with Simplicio Bermudez Villanueva, I haven't found any recent descendants of María Juliana who might have some more information about our shared Mercado Cruz family.

Cayetano did however have two brothers, one named José and another named Juan Santos, both oddly passed away in 1900- José in Manatí and Juan Santos in their native town of San Sebastián. So it is very possible to find common Mercado Cajigas descendants through those lines, only time will tell!

52 Ancestors – #13 Juan Calderón Nazario (1829-1889)

Today I want to focus on my 4th great grandfather Juan Calderón Nazario, a native of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico and the father of my 3rd great grandfather Augustin Calderón Meléndez. But the story gets interesting here!

Juan Calderón Nazario according to his death certificate was born about 1829 and the legitimate son of Juan Calderón and Concepción Nazario both natives of Vega Baja and deceased by the time Juan passed away.

Vega Baja, Puerto Rico [Google]

Juan Calderón was never married to my 4th great grandmother according to all the records I have found. Cresencia Meléndez always appears as single in her records and never really mentioned with Juan Calderón. My 3rd great grandfather went on to pass the surname "Meléndez" to his children rather than "Calderón" and so my great grandfather ended up becoming Meléndez. Juan Calderón never appeared on a census record and I don't have access to Vega Baja's church records so I had to rely on the information of his children and grandchildren to truly find out if he was their father/grandfather.

Here on the 1910 Census we see my 3rd great grandfather along with two his brothers living in Manatí, a town to the west of Vega Baja and carrying the surnames "Calderón Meléndez". I know this is my 3rd great grandfather because the wife is Ana Morán and my 2nd great grandfather José Meléndez Morán is listed as one of the children. 

Calderón Meléndez Brothers, 1910, Manatí, Puerto Rico [FamilySearch]

Since all of Juan Calderón's children were born before 1885, I can't find their birth records but I can look at this children's and nephews'/nieces' birth records to find Juan Calderón. Here is an example of Agustin and Ana's daughter carrying the surnames Meléndez Morán rather than Calderón Morán. 

María Luisa Meléndez Morán, Death Record, 1893 [FamilySearch]

Agustin's brother, Victoriano, however did use the surname Calderón for a good portion of his life. In 1897 Victoriano married his wife Raimunda González Rodríguez and we can see that he used the surnames "Calderón Meléndez" and listed his parents as Juan Calderón and Crescencia Meléndez. Also, when his daughter was born in 1918, she took the surname Calderón González. 

Victoriano Calderón Meléndez, Marriage Index, 1897 [FamilySearch]

Victoriano, son of Juan and Crescencia, Marriage, 1897 [FamilySearch]

Deogracia Calderón González, Daughter of Victoriano, 1918 [FamilySearch]

I'm not sure if there are descendants of Juan Calderón who still carry the surname "Calderón" rather than Meléndez, it seems that many of them switched over to Meléndez even if they began with Calderón. Something interesting about this Calderón paternal line is that the paternal haplogroup is R1b1b2a1a2f*, which is commonly found in Ireland, the Basque country, Britain and France. It makes me wonder where Juan Calderón Nazario's paternal lineage is from. Hopefully one day I'll be able to trace this line further with the help of Vega Baja church records!

R1b1b2a1a2f*, Calderón Haplogroup [23andme]

Losing a Loved One

A little over a month ago, I received a call from my mom who told me that my great grandfather had passed away. That quickly I had lost the oldest family member from my line, my maternal great grandfather Narciso Meléndez. I was fortunate to have met my great grandfather and visit him in Puerto Rico while I was on vacation many times throughout my life. His lines were some of the more difficult ones to crack and to this day I continue to work on them. Yet, my great grandfather's passing brought along many interesting and new things as well. A picture of his father was found while looking through the home along with other old family pictures; I was also able to visit his grave where his wife my great grandmother is buried and I was able to find out the date when they were married.

My great grandfather was born in Coto, Manatí, Puerto Rico on the 29th of October 1922. I remember while I was growing up my grandmother always said her father never really knew his birthday was but they always celebrated towards the end of October. I was fortunate to find his birth record and confirm that he was actually born on the 29th of October which makes sense since it is the day of Saint Narcissus.

Manatí, Puerto Rico

Even though being born in Manatí, my great grandfather headed to San Juan to find work. It was there that he met my great grandmother, Epifania Dávila Orozco who was originally from Yabucoa. He ended up moving to Yabucoa with her for a while and my grandmother was born there. They then moved back to San Juan together and would stay there for the rest of their lives. My great grandfather mainly worked in construction but I remember that my grandmother told me that he used to work in the restaurant "Casa de España" in San Juan. My great grandfather would bring home things that were hard to find in stores for the family to have to eat. I imagine there was some economic hardship being that he probably worked here sometime in the late 1940s-1950s.

Restaurante Casa de España

Finding my great grandfather in the Census records was a bit difficult at first. I couldn't find a "Narciso Meléndez" living in Manatí. So I decided to ask my grandmother for the names of his siblings to see if any of them would appear. My great grandfather had a brother named Anacleto Meléndez Sánchez and it was by typing in his name that I found the family in the 1930 Census. Turns out that my great grandfather was recorded as "Carmelo Meléndez Sánchez", a nickname which my family knows he used for all of his life. Interestingly, only in the 1935 Census does my great grandfather use the name "Narciso".

Meléndez Sánchez Family in Manatí, PR- 1930

My great great grandparents were José Meléndez Moran and Anicasia Sánchez Arvelo, as you can see per the 1930 Census. I didn't know much about them since I never got to ask my great grandfather about them. All I know about them is information I've attained through records. I know that they married in Manatí in 1908 but they came from different towns- José from Vega Baja and Anicasia probably from Utuado. Which in itself is complex because Anicasia's dad was from Quebradillas and her mother from San Sebastián. José was one of MANY children, he had about roughly 14 other siblings (12 of which I have documented through birth/death certificates, the other two appear in census records)! He also worked most- if not all of his life- as a farmer/laborer on a farm. It's also interesting to note that on his WWII Registration Card he was marked as 62" of height, which makes him roughly 5'2".

There are many unanswered questions about my great grandfather's ancestors. On one side of the family there is a mess of last names which we used both officially/non-officially on records while on his maternal side no church records were microfilmed by the LDS church so any records I want to find on his mother's side of the family I probably have to write to the church or visit with permission to search through the books; sometimes this is difficult because they are a) don't grant permission to anyone or b) the books I want to use are no longer available to the public.

However, I was fortunate to take a DNA sample of my great grandfather which will hold and show so much information as time continues. For example, recently a cousin born in Zimbabwe came up!

4th-Distant Zimbabwean Cousin!

I hope to continue learning about my great grandfather's ancestors and their respective stories!