The Power of Names

I wanted to share this record I found while searching the Toa Alta baptism records again. In all my years of researching, I have rarely come across an entry this detailed for a slave's baptism. Four years ago, I posted "Whispers of the Past" where certain entries for slaves in the Registry of 1872 contained the name of their parents. This is first time I am seeing a church record include so much information for a slave.

Juan Luis Sandoval, negro adulto - Bautismo [FamilySearch]

Below is a transcription of the document above.

Transcription: En la Rivera de Toa Alta el día diez y ocho de mayo del año mil ochocientos y siete yo el beneficiado presbiterio Don Joseph María Martínez Cura Rector de esta parroquia de la Inmaculada Concepción de Nuestra Señora bauticé solemnemente puse oleo y crisma a Juan Luis negro adulto de diez y seis años de edad natural de Guinea en el lugar llamado Gabó, hijo de Ocai y de Gavena y a él lo llamaban Guinbi, esclavo de Doña Manuela Sandoval, fue su padrino el caballero regidor Don Juan Antonio Mexía a quien advertí el parentesco espiritual y sus obligaciones, de que doy fe. [firmado] Joseph María Martínez. 

The main information to discern from above is that on the 18th of May 1807, Juan Luis, a black adult of 16 years of age, native of Guinea from the place of "Gabó" son of Ocai and Gavena who was previously known as Guinbi, slave of Manuela Sandoval, was baptized in the church of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico.

Interestingly enough, three other slaves belonging to Manuela Sandoval are also baptized in 1807 along with Juan Luis, none of them however have as much information to them as Juan Luis. The slaves are as follows: 

Juan Manuel, esclavo de Manuela Sandoval, adulto, natural de Guinea

Andrés Antonio, esclavo de Manuela Sandoval, adulto, natural de Guinea 

Manuel Antonio, esclavo de Manuela Sandoval, adulto, natural de Guinea 

Besides stating that they were "natives of Guinea" no ages or parents' names are mentioned. These type of entries are more common amongst slaves and it's interesting that Juan Luis' entry has so much detail. 

Why only Juan Luis?

It is possible that Juan Luis was quick to learn Spanish and was allowed to share his information when baptized. I'm not sure if Manuela Sandoval was kind enough to let him share this information or if Joseph María Martínez asked him these questions himself when he was baptized. It is likely that Juan Luis was brought to Puerto Rico that year or maybe the previous year and was well aware of who he was, where he was from, and the names of his parents. Potentially even his age is maybe correct seeing as how he was the only slave of four to mention an age. This would mean that Guinbi, later known as Juan Luis, was likely born around the year 1791. 

"El lugar Gabó"

My guess would be that Guinbi was originally from the country today known as Gabon (Gabón in Spanish). From my understanding of the 17-18th century slave trade, most of the western area was known as "Guinea" and so it included various countries that today are: Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and various islands and other countries as well. A map of the times gives us a better idea of the extension of this area known as the "Gulf of Guinea". 

Map of the Gulf of Guinea, 1740-1749 [Bibliothèque Nationale de France]

Unfortunately, this is the closest we are to knowing where Guinbi was from, no town is mentioned and the fact that his baptism includes the actual country and his parents' names is a feat in and of itself.

Guinbi, son of Ocai and Gavena

Since we are dealing with Spanish orthography, we are not sure the correct or accurate spelling of their names. For example, the "u" is used after the "g-" in Spanish but this might not be the case in other languages, the "n" might be a "m" giving us something like Ginbi or Gimbi. His father's name might take a "k" instead of a "c" and the "a" might be a more "e" sound, something along the lines of Okai or Okei. Lastly, his mother's name could take "b" instead of a "v" since Spanish doesn't distinguish the two giving us Gabena. And who's to say these weren't short versions of longer names as well! 

The three main indigenous languages in Gabon are Fang, Mbere, and Sira - all being Bantu languages. I would imagine their names fall under one of these languages but of course there is always the possibility it doesn't. An ethnographic and linguistic analysis of these names and cross referencing other sources of the time which help to distinguish African names in Spanish orthography would be helpful to discover their Gabonese names.

Conclusions

It would be interesting to follow Juan Luis' life and see what became of him in Puerto Rico. How long did he stay enslaved? Does he end up marrying and having children in Puerto Rico? Does he have descendants out there? If only these type of detailed records existed for all of our enslaved ancestors! 

A Puerto Rican Look at: My X-Chromosome

With Mother's day being this Sunday here in the United States, I decided to take a different and closer look at my DNA - I wanted to see how my X-Chromosome and those of my grandmother, grandfather, and great-grandfather were passed down; all exclusively inherited from my maternal side of the family. Since I am fortunate to have these members tested on 23andMe, I can visually see how this inheritance how trickled down via 4 generations. 

X-Chromosome Inheritance [Personal Photo]

Above you can see how I get my X-DNA through various generations and ultimately down to me. Having used DNAPainter (I've posted about it before) to trace my matches I have been able to trace which segments belong to which ancestors along potential my X-chromosome inheritance ancestors. It is important to note that as a male I have one X-chromosome inherited from my mother BUT from various ancestors including my BOTH maternal grandparents, both great-grandmothers, one great-grandfather, etc. This is demonstrated below:

X-DNA Male Inheritance [The Genetic Genealogist]

This would mean that by understanding which pieces of DNA came from which sets of ancestors I could have a better idea of part of their cultural inheritance passed down to me via my X-chromosome.

My X-Chromosome Inheritance [Personal Photo]

You can see above that mainly my maternal grandmother's DNA is the one I carry while my maternal grandfather's DNA "bookends" my grandmother's genes. Looking at my ancestors that have contributed to my X-Chromosome, I can start to unravel a bit of a story for my ancestors. It's also important to note that various siblings can inherit in similar but different patterns a X-chromosome, so while I may have a smaller amount of my grandfather's DNA my brother's may have inherited different segment start and end points along their X-Chromosome.

Genetic Breakdown

North African & Arabian; Broadly European

These two pieces of DNA here were inherited from my maternal grandfather's ancestors. I'm not sure from which specific ancestors these are from yet but these ancestors were from the areas of Toa Alta and Barranquitas/Morovis in Puerto Rico. The Toa Alta side includes surnames such as Santos and Chéverez while the Barranquitas/Morovis side includes Rivera and Rodríguez - these are the surnames from 7 generations back of my 4th great-grandparents.

Native American

The first Native American chunk seems to come from my maternal grandmother while the second Native American piece of DNA is from my maternal grandfather. Interestingly on the first native segment I have two matches from my dad's side of the family that match me on my X-chromosome. This would mean that somewhere along my 2nd-great-grandmother's line there is a shared ancestor that comes from my great-grandfather, to my grandmother, and to me who is tied to my paternal Rivera side. 

Surnames on the first Native DNA segment include Arvelo, Flores, Sánchez, Vera and were from the area of Quebradillas and San Sebastián in the 1700-1800s. The second DNA segment include the same ancestors from the previous "North African & Arabian; Broadly European" which where ancestors from the areas of Toa Alta and Barranquitas/Morovis. The Toa Alta side includes surnames such as Santos and Chéverez while the Barranquitas/Morovis side includes Rivera and Rodríguez.

Broadly Southern European; Spanish & Portuguese

This whole blue segment basically comes from my grandmother. The beginning broadly Southern European segment I think is tied to my great-grandfather while the Spanish & Portuguese I think is tied to my great-grandmother. Deducing that, that would mean that the Spanish and Portuguese DNA is mainly from my Maunabo and Yabucoa side of the family. Surnames on this side of the family include Burgos, Dávila, Orozco, Ramos, Ruiz, and Santiago. These family branches have been in this area for hundreds of years with some lines stretching back to Las Piedras and Humacao back in the 1700s. It be interesting to try and see if I can find more matches to try and parse down genealogically which of these Spanish & Portuguese segments are attributed to whom. Having recently discovered my Dávila line from Spain it would interested in seeing which of these segments could potentially come from that family. Also, these ancestors were mixed between identifying as "white" and "pardo" so it's interesting that such a big chunk is specific to Europe - it makes me wonder if it's specifically from a certain set of white ancestors. 

Conclusion

Studying my X-Chromosome has only given me a look into certain ancestors along my family tree. The more matches I have on my X, the better I will be at trying to triangulate which ancestors contributed to those segments and understanding their mixes. Of course, autosomal DNA and matching on other non-X-chromosomes is helpful as well but it's interesting to see that certain ancestors carried for example North African DNA to Puerto Rico and potentially those ancestors also contributed North African DNA to other chromosomes in my DNA as well. It's also amazing to see how the colors showcase the diversity of my family as well.

A Marriage Where You Least Expect It

Recently, I was taking a look again at my "Rivera" line. This is my direct line going back to the early 1700s in Toa Alta. Besides my father and my grandfather, every male ancestor (4 in total so far) have been born in Toa Alta. Though 4 may seem insignificant, that's a total of close to 300 years of my family living in this one town. This post is going to be about discovering some new information about my 4th great grandparents!

Setting the Stage

My Rivera family was one of my catalysts for wanting to research my ancestry when I was younger. I wanted to know where my Rivera family was from and wanted to know where potentially in Spain they were from. Though initially it was difficult to find out about this family, I was fortunate to find out that they were from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico which led me to using the Civil Registry and the church records in order to push my ancestors back to the early 1800s. My earliest ancestors were José de Rivera and Gertrudis Román. José passed away sometime between 1824-1844 and Gertrudis passed in 1844, but besides that I had no idea of their parents' names. The "Rivera Román" children were all born during a time grandparents weren't added into baptism entries so I had no idea of their parents' names. I also had no siblings for José and Gertrudis to help with my search for parents or potential origins outside of Toa Alta.

Toa Alta [Google Images]

One day however, while looking through the records for Guaynabo I came across a "Rivera Belén" marriage entry in 1773. The reason this was important was because José was written as "Rivera Belén" in one of his son's baptism record. However, in neither of the other 8 baptism records does José appear as "Rivera Belén". Not wanting to lose the record I attached it to José as a possible brother and moved on.

Recently, I took a look at other marriages in Guaynabo to see if I could find any other "Rivera Belén" siblings and found a new record that completely shocked me!

A New Record

José de Rivera & Gertrudis Román - Marriage [FamilySearch]

José de Rivera & Gertrudis Román - Marriage [FamilySearch]

Searching my way up from the 1770s I bumped into a record that made me gasp - it was a marriage record for a José Rivera and Gertrudis Román. Could these be my ancestors?! The marriage took place on the 2nd of March 1802 and my ancestor's first registered child was in 1806 in Toa Alta so it was possible... So I took a closer look at the record:

José de Rivera was widowed of María Feliz and the legitimate son of Pedro and María Morales, resident of Toa Alta and Gertrudis Román legitimate daughter of Manuel and Margarita Ayala, all pardos libres.

So here we had some new information, José was widowed before he married Gertrudis and now we had the names of both of their parents, interestingly enough José named a son Pedro so having a father with the same name wasn't surprising.

With this I was able to go back into the marriage records of Guaynabo and find José's first marriage to María Feliz in 1791, stating again that he was a native of Toa Alta. Gertrudis herself was probably from Guaynabo seeing as she had other siblings born there, I have yet to find a baptism record for her there though.

At first I was hesitant to believe these were my ancestors, but the lack of a marriage in Toa Alta, the fact it mentions José was a native of that town, and Gertrudis Román's fairly uncommon name was enough to convince me that these were my 4th great-grandparents. The question remains though why José de Rivera lived in Guaynabo for a while and then ultimately decided to move back.

Something else that's interesting is the use of "Belén" in that one baptismal record. Could there be a connection to the Rivera Belén family somehow still?

I recently heard a genealogist say "solving one mystery, means adding two" (sorry I can't remember where I read it, if I find who I'll add credit here!), and this is absolutely true! Having a new generation of the Rivera family is amazing because hopefully I can research some more into these lines and find out more about them. I also have to learn more about Guaynabo, its history, and find out more about the Román Ayala presence there. 

A Puerto Rican Look at: Colorized Pedigrees!

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

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

Colorized Pedigree [Personal Photo]

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

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

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

Searching La "Gaceta de Puerto Rico"

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

Gaceta de Puerto Rico [Library of Congress]

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

Posible Finds

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

Bartolo Marrero (Liberto) [Library of Congress]

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

Estefanía Marrero [Library of Congress]

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

Capitan Jean Charles [Library of Congress]

Definite Finds

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

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

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

Damian Magraner [Library of Congress]

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

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

52 Ancestors – #50 Manuel de Jesús Rivera Díaz (1855-1932)

Post #50! Almost at the end of the 52 Ancestor Challenge! This post will be about my 2nd great grandfather from the town of Toa Alta, where all my ancestors seem to be from haha. 

Manuel de Jesús was born in Toa Alta on the 1st of January in 1855 and baptized on the 3rd of March of the same year. Manuel appears in the pardo books of the town, which I have talked about before as one of the race identifiers of people on Puerto Rico which sometimes was synonymous with mestizo. Manuel was the son of Pedro Rivera Román and Eusebia Díaz Pacheco. Manuel's godparents were Juan Martin Pérez and Rosa Gutierrez who I'm not sure if they're related by blood or just good friends/neighbors of the parents. 

Manuel de Jesús later would marry Laureana González Mójica in 1855 in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. For most of life in records Manuel de Jesús would just appear as "Jesús" rather than Manuel de Jesús and it's not too uncommon to go by one's middle name especially when your first name is pretty common. Jesús was one of about 7 (documented) children and he himself would have 11 children with Laureana. 

Interestingly in 1910, we see Manuel de Jesús living on a farm he owned and lives on with his wife and children yet he is unable to read or write. To me this tells me that Jesús could have inherited the land he worked on from his parents or was a really hard worker and able to buy his own land. He would live on this land most of his life up until about 1930. He would later move to San Juan where his son was living and he would die there in 1932, living in the barrio of La Perla. 

I do wonder what Manuel de Jesús would have looked like, being listed as pardo yet a carrier of an European Y-DNA haplogroup. I would imagine that he would have darker features to categorize him under pardo. I have only one picture of his son late in his life and his son Alejandro does look mestizo-ish in the photo. It would be interesting to compare other pictures if any exist of the other children. As we know, within one single generation and within siblings the characteristics and phenotypes of each child can vary. 

I haven't been able to find any new Rivera cousins yet, but I am hopefully that one day I'll be able to find some Toa Alta cousins that connect with me on my Rivera side of the family! 

52 Ancestors – #47 María de Carmen Chéverez Santiago

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

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

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

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

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

52 Ancestors – #44 Alejandro Rivera González (1883-1958)

So I'm not gonna lie -- this is kind of a cheat post! Before the 52 Ancestor challenge was created I had gone about doing my own little series back in 2012 (has time flown by that fast already?), in which I would focus on ancestors' stories via the records I had of them. I started with Alejandro Rivera González and probably added a few more before I officially decided to go and join the 52 Ancestors Challenge bandwagon. So if you want to read some more about Alejandro's life click here  to see what I already knew about him through the records I had. I'll give a quick overview just in case the other post is too long or not worth reading (don't worry, no judging is happening here!). I want to add more to his story which I'll be doing here by closing any ends of the story which I previously didn't have information for and might have now!

Summary: Alejandro Rivera González was born in Toa Alta in 1883 to his parents Manuel de Jesús Rivera Díaz and Laureana González Mojica. Alejandro would marry three times throughout his life, his last wife being my great grandmother Mercedes Ortiz Marrero. In total, Alejandro would father 16 children in total from his three marriages. He was also a short little fellow of 5'4" :) who could read and write and owned land in Toa Alta before moving to the barrio La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

New Details: 

His first wife's death: With the release of the Puerto Rican Civil Registry on Ancestry.com I have been able to track down certain death certificates extremely quickly or with much more ease than through FamilySearch. Fortunately, I was able to find Brigida Hernández Vélez - Alejandro's first wife's death certificate. Brigida passed away in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico on the 28th of June 1913 to gastroenteritis. This would mean that Alejandro would lose his wife on the 28th of june and his last son Pedro from Brigida on the 16th of July 1913. I imagine this must have been extremely hard on Alejandro, losing his last born child from his first marriage and wife only a month apart.

Alejandro's death: Like the record above, I was FINALLY able to find Alejandro's death certificate by playing around with the settings of the ancestry Puerto Rican Civil Registry search. I was able to find out that Alejandro Rivera González passed away on the 5th of June 1958 in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico. For whatever reason, he was incorrectly written down as "Alejandro Rivera Marrero" even though his mother is correctly listed as "Laureana González". I imagine this was a mistake caused in confusion with the surname of my great grandmother and his wife "Mercedes Marrero". It says he worked in "obras públicas" which I really don't know what that means; he worked in that "field" up until 1951. Interestingly, the person who registered the death of my great grandfather was my own grandfather Felipe Rivera Ortiz who was probably still living with the family when his father passed away. His cause of death is registered as "senility", as well as fallo cardiaco "a heart attack", and derrame cerebral "a stroke". He was buried one day later on the 6th of June 1958 and thanks to my cousin I now know exactly where he is buried. I was very happy to have found his death certificate since it puts a close on his life and what happened to him and when/where he died. It's also interesting to put into perspective that my grandfather lost his dad at 22 which must have been hard on him, his dad was much older than a "typical" dad was in those days in Puerto Rico but still I imagine they had a close connection.

I would love to meet descendants of the siblings of Alejandro and maybe compare photos (if any are available) of them to see how they each inherited genes from their ancestors and how they similar/different. It's so interesting to see that my great grandfather was a pretty short man when I myself measure 6'0". Hopefully one day I'll be able to learn more stories about his family, his parents and maybe even what life was like for them back in Toa Alta and maybe find out what brought him to San Juan after living in Toa Alta for so many years. 

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

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

Flag of Corozal, PR [Google]

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

Corozal, Puerto Rico [Google]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

52 Ancestors – #42 Bernarda Marrero

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

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

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

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

52 Ancestors – #40 Cayetano de los Santos

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

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

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

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

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

Ruperto Rivera Román - Bautismo,  1819 [FamilySearch]

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

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

52 Ancestors – #37 Gertrudis Román (1790-1844)

I'm going to keep this ball rolling and continue posting about my ancestors. So here's post 37 about yet another ancestor from Toa Alta, my 4th great grandmother Gertrudis Román.

When I first discovered Gertrudis through the Toa Alta church records I was really excited, being the wife of my 4th great grandfather, Joseph de Rivera, it made her a part of the oldest set of ancestors on my direct paternal lineage.

I started digging deeper into the records searching for their death records, I was fortunate to stumble upon a "Gertrudis Romana" who I'm pretty sure is my 4th great grandmother. It states… "al cadaver de Gertrudis Romana [sic] como de veinte y seis años viuda de José Rivera, pardos libres". 

Gertrudis passed away on the 29th of December 1844, having already been widowed of her husband José Rivera. Her age is listed as "26 years old" which would mean she would have been born about 1818 which I know is incorrect. This is the only little bit of information that is very inaccurate, and for now I do believe this is my Gertrudis Román but it does bother me a bit that it's so wrong. Very possibly, her age was guessed at the time of her death. She could have been in her late 40s and someone gave a wrong age and that's what was written down. I'm not sure if there was another Jose Rivera and Gertrudis Roman couple in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico at the time (at least I haven't found one) so even though the age is wrong I believe firmly she is my 4th great grandmother.

What's interesting is that it states she is a "pardo libre", and the fact that it's in plural probably means it was referring to her late husband as well. I have talked about this term before in other posts, how "pardo" for a while was a term used to describe people of color in Puerto Rico and later the term "trigueño" kind of substituted this word, sometimes the word 'mulato' was used as well. However, there is some debate to what the "pardo" mix actually entails. I'm under the impression (and agree with) the belief that pardo was a term used for mixed Spanish and native Taíno people. It is also very possible that it was used for mixed Spanish and African people (and possibly for someone of all three). We know for sure that José Rivera would have been a descendant on his paternal side from a European man seeing as he (and I) are I2a1*, a European haplogroup. This is the first time I noticed on the record that it was in plural and that it could be a reference to the husband. Potentially both José and Gertrudis were mixed free people of color in the Toa Alta society and married because they were in the same social class.

Gertrudis and José would have nine children in total, from what I have so far! I'd have to look and see how they were identified in terms of "color". In my 3rd great grandfather's death record there is no note of his color, probably because the entries were much shorter during the time period he passed away in. None the less, it's very interesting to see my 4th great grandmother listed as "pardo libre", I would love to do some more research into that term and see what kind of life - whether they enjoyed certain privileges or hung in between two worlds - and how this category would impact their lives and that of their children. 

52 Ancestors – #36 Isabel de la Fuente

Okay, finally getting into my September ancestors! I can't believe that this is ancestor #36, so let's get started! This will be about my 5th great grandmother Isabel de la Fuente.

Isabel is also another ancestor from the town of the Toa Alta who I don't have clear years of birth and death due to her being only present in church documents. Isabel, like Juan de Dios Marrero, was most likely born in the early 1700s since her first child I have documented is in 1809. Isabel after a while dropped her surnamed to just Fuentes, which was common amongst those who had compounded or longer surnames; you see the same thing happening with the surname de la Torre/Torres. Isabel's husband was Paulino Vásquez and together I have been able to document 14 children - that's a lot of kids! From the information I have children births span across 50 years!! Paulino and Isabel passed away after 1828, where and when I don't know. What is interesting to note are the godparents of the children for Paulino and Isabel. Usually, a godparent is someone close to the family - either a family friend or uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. There are various couples who have come forward to become the godparents of the Vásquez Fuentes children, and amongst them there are various Fuentes individuals. Here are the list of godparents I have been able to accumulate for their children, listed by year of baptism:

1809- José María Ferré y Rosa Fuentes 
1811- Pedro Ferrer y Bárbara Martínez
1813- Marcelino García y Eugenia Fuente
1816- Fermin Fuentes y Juana Quiles
1817- Juan Angel Quilez y María Vásquez
1818- Marcelino Fuentes y Gregoria Fuentes
1820- Julian Fuentes y Juana Quiles
1823- Juan de la Fuente y Gertrudis Vásquez
1824- Manuel Ortiz y Cayetana Rosado
1826- Juan de la Fuente y Feliciana de la Fuente
1828- Remigio Vásquez y Juliana López

As you can see there are quiet a few Fuentes/de la Fuente godparents, both men and women. I haven't been able to tie them to Isabel de la Fuente so far. Julian Fuentes for example appears in my family tree as the son of Joseph Luciano Fuentes/de la Fuente, potentially this is someone in Isabel's family whether an uncle or even her father. I can't be too certain until I have Isabel's death record or some mention of grandparents for the Vásquez Fuentes children where it lists their grandparents. Truly, I wouldn't be surprised if all of these Fuentes godparents were related by blood to Isabel, it would definitely explain why she and Paulino chose them as godparents.

Again, Isabel probably died in Toa Alta but I have no record yet to prove that. Based on all the information I have of her I only know that must have been after 1828 (officially), there are a few 1840-1850 children born to Paulino and her but since they aren't officially documented with birth/baptism records I'll only go off the last official one I do have. One can only hope to extend their lines further, myself included! 

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 – #29 Valentin González Quiñones (1828-1907)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1910 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

1910 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

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

1920 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

1920 Census - Corozal, Puerto Rico [Ancestry]

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

Raza India [FamilySearch]

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