52 Ancestors – #35 Juan de Dios Marrero

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

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

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

Bautismo - Juliana Martínez Vázquez [Ancestry]

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

Teresa, esclava de Rosa de Rivera [Ancestry]

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

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

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

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

Puerto Rican Records [FamilySearch]

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

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

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

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

Corozal, Puerto Rico [Google]

Flag of Corozal, PR [Wikipedia]

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

Estefania Marrero Rivera- Baptism [FamilySearch]

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

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

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

Teresa, slave of Rosa de Rivera [FamilySearch]

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

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

Slave Owning Ancestor?

Puerto Rico's history is very interesting because a lot of the inhabitants that have been on the island for a long time (like my ancestors) probably have ancestors that were slaves, and/or ancestors that owned slaves. So far I haven't found any slaves in my family but I do have ancestors that are written down as dark, mulatto, etc. I did find a document stating that my 4th great grandmother was a free person of color but in that same town where she was from (Toa Alta) also lived my 6th great grandfather both from my dad's side of the family.

Juan de Dios Marrero was probably born in the late 1700s in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. I haven't found his birth record nor his marriage record to Rosa de Rivera, the Toa Alta records online don't go that far enough to include them. (Hopefully there are more records in Toa Alta!!) So far, I've found 5 children from Juan de Dios and Rosa; one of them being my 5th great grandmother Estefania Marrero y Rivera. In the baptism records I noticed that for the slaves there was a record for a José Quintin Marrero.

José Quintin Marrero who was born on the 31 of October 1817 was the natural son of his mother Marcelina Marrero who in turn was the slave of Juan de Dios Marrero. When I first saw this I was in shock! Could my 6th great grandfather have owned slaves? Being that the town was founded in 1751, I don't think there were too many Juan de Dios Marreros running around Toa Alta. It could be very possible that it could be someone else but the odds are low. Since they don't state Juan's wife's name, I can't be 100% sure that this is the same man.

"Marcelina, mulatto slave of Juan de Dios Marrero" (translated)

When you do family history you always want to think your family wasn't involved in things like this, but with the mentality at the time making slavery OK, a lot of people were involved in it. Hopefully, I'll be able to confirm that this is him because it'll give me more about his life. He must have had either land or property to have these slaves I'm guessing. It's good to see that they at least baptized them.