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 el "Registro de la Propiedad"

While in Puerto Rico during my spring break, one of the main things I wanted to do was go to a Registo de la Propiedad. I had heard a lot about them and how they could provide certain information that census records and church records didn't. So I knew that this was a place I wanted to visit since according to census records various ancestors in my family had owned land. I mainly wanted to see if I could find land records for my Avilés family in Lares (equally searching for the Magraner side as well) and Benito Orozco and the land he owned in Yabucoa according to the census.

I'll go over my process of getting to the Registros and what I was able to find out about my family along the way!

Getting Started

First, I began by looking up all the information and jotting it down for the necessary ancestor. In particular I was searching for José Avilés and Benito Orozco, both illegitimate children so that was something to keep in mind. I jotted down what barrios they lived in, their birth and death records, and the list of their children. I did this because I wanted to make sure I had everything necessary readily available for when I went to do searching. Since I'm fairly young, I wanted them to see that I was serious about my searching as well.

I chose these two ancestors for a reason: since José Avilés and Benito Orozco are illegitimate children, I wanted to learn more about them. How did they acquire their land? Was it through their parent or through handwork? Would it mention a father's name or something new that I previously not known? With José Avilés I'm fairly certain his father is Damián Magraner as I had mentioned in other posts and thoroughly searched finding pretty good evidence. Benito on the other hand had no father mentioned on any of his records, we know that Benito used the surname "Santana" later in life, but we aren't sure who his father was.

Preliminary Checks

Before heading out I checked where exactly these records would be held. Since Puerto Rico has many municipalities, each are clumped together into bigger regions. This isn't only true for Registro de la Propiedad records but it's also true for church records as well. Lares for example falls under the "Utuado" Registro while Yabucoa falls under the "Humacao" Registro. If you don't know where each town may fall, like how I didn't, check out this link to the Departamento de Justicia or here to see where you would need to go.

After that I made sure to call each place beforehand, not only to make sure they would let me go and look for records but to see that they were actually open. Since my first week in Puerto Rico was during Semana Santa (Holy Week) I knew that some places would be closed and would have to go the second week. So make sure to check and call before heading over. My first call was to the Humacao register and the lady there was very nice explaining what I needed to do. She asked if I knew the numbers for the plots of each land (número de finca), and since I didn't she said I would have to search for my ancestor through the actual tomes of indexes. I didn't have a problem with that since I had done it a million times already for the church and civil registry books, and so I was ready for what was in store. She told me that even though the actual books are in their offices, the Registro de la Propiedad has moved online and so with the numbers I could search the online database for my ancestors. Calling Utuado was easy since I already had known what I needed and what I needed to do. Do not get deterred from going and searching!! From my understanding the records are available to be searched by the public, all you need to do is go in and search!

Also, before heading out make sure to map out where the place is. A lot of places in Puerto Rico don't necessarily match the GPS or can't be found. So even though the Registro wasn't showing up I would look at the nearby landmarks to see how to find them. That way when I was close enough because I had noticed the supermarket, gas station, etc. that I had seen on Google Maps, I would ask someone where I could find the register. In both cases I was just one turn and one street away from the location and people were nice enough to point me the right way. So don't feel nervous about getting lost either if you've done your work beforehand!

Searching

This was the bulk of my time at the registers, I was searching the gigantic books for mentions of my ancestors and trying to see if I could find some sort of mention of land being sold or bought by Benito Orozco, I searched under "O" and "S" for Orozco and Santana respectively in Humacao. In Humacao, I had found some cousins who had bought and sold land, cousins of Benito's children and grandchildren but I was unable to find a mention of Benito himself. I decided to ask the lady how this could be possible, I knew that my ancestor owned land but why wasn't he showing up? She responded that though many people owned land, some of it was bought, sold, and passed on to children without the registry being informed (before I think it was actually required). So even though Benito could have owned land, he could have left it to his children without leaving anything written with the Registro. This made sense, seeing as how I couldn't find my other ancestor Pedro Dávila Ruiz who also owned land in the south of Puerto Rico. It is also possible that I could have missed his name in the registry books but I have pretty good eyes when it comes to searching names, so I don't think I missed him. Though a bit bummed I was still looking forward to the registro in Utuado!

Registo de la Propiedad [Personal Photo]

Sección de Humacao [Personal Photo]

Next in Utuado I checked for José Avilés and any mention of Damián Magraner, though Damián owned land during the time of Spain's rule, I wanted to see if maybe there was a mention of him. When I arrived to the registro in Utuado I was told that I was welcome to search the indexes but that the internet was down and therefore I wouldn't be able to use the computers until they had the restored internet service. I thought this was a bit of an ironic situation seeing as how their walls are LINED with all the books that I would potentially need to check, all of the information online was readily available in person. But seeing as how all the documents were digitalized, they wanted people searching online and not in person -- bummer! So I got to work searching the books, in both cases I was luckily to have my grandmother with me who would initially scan over some books with me searching for names. Searching the indexes my heart jumped as I came across the name José Avilés Magraner -- my 2nd great grandfather! I jotted down the número de finca and all the information next to his name. I continued to search all the books just in case anything else came up, I was able to find two mentions of my 2nd great grandfather. Towards the end of my search I was bummed that the internet hadn't come back on but as I closed the last book, I heard the only other man there say "¡Llegó el Internet!" The internet was back! I was elated that I would actually get to search for José and his plot of land!

In Utuado! [Personal Photo]

Registro de la Propiedad - Sección Utuado [Personal Photo]

Some results

With the number at hand I got the lady to help me log on to their website (known as "Karibe") and I searched under Utuado to see if I could find José Avilés. Lo and behold the number took me to his record of land. Quick side note: The website is technically able to be used from home once you register yourself but I have yet gotten it to work, if someone has gotten in, let me know!

I was able to learn that my ancestor José Avilés Magraner purchased the land from a José Rodríguez Santiago married to Matilde Torres Vélez, both from Lares which means that José didn't receive land from his father but bought it himself. It doesn't seem that José Rodríguez and Matilde were neighbors with my ancestors and who knows if they knew this family somehow before purchasing their land. It seems that José bought that land for 760 dollars in 1924. Interestingly enough, the amount of land and when he purchased it coincides with the 1935 Agricultural Census! Also, José is mentioned as "Avilés Magraner" again on this record, helping further demonstrate that his father was indeed a Magraner.

I was also able to find the record for my ancestor leaving the land to his children! I somehow can't dig it up on my computer at the moment but the record mentions all of his children from his different marriages, where they were at the moment this was being written up, and how much land he gave each of them. My great grandmother had inherited land and when it was turn for my grandmother to get a piece she decided to sell her share since she wasn't interested in living in Lares and using that land. Though we don't currently own land ourselves there, many of our Avilés cousins still live and work the lands in Río Prieto, Lares. I was fortunately enough to visit the town of Lares but not the barrio of Río Prieto -- definitely next time around!

Conclusion

I'll make this brief! If you're interesting in searching for land records, make sure you have all the necessary information readily available, you call ahead of time to see if they are open, be ready to search index books for your ancestor(s), and have patience along the way. Even though I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, I was happy to find a mention of my ancestor nonetheless! Hopefully you'll be able to find something too! Happy searching! 

52 Ancestors – #48 Nicodemus Vélez Ríos (1878-1934)

I unfortunately never got to finish the 52 ancestors series before the end of 2014, with traveling around Europe and getting back into the swing of things here in Spain I haven't really been able to write new blog posts. But hopefully I'll be able to finish up the 52 Ancestors Challenge and write new posts I have been waiting to write for a bit now. Today I want to focus on Nicodemus, my 2nd great grandfather.

Nicodemus Vélez Ríos at first was a hard ancestor to track, in most records he appeared as "Nicodemo" and I only knew he was "Vélez" but no maternal surname. With some more researching and digging around I was able to learn more about his life. Nicodemus was born in the barrio of Guayabo Dulce in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. His parents were José Severo Vélez Sepúlveda and Ana Ríos González. Both sides of Nicodemus' family seem to come mainly from the towns of Mayagüez and San Sebastián. Luckily, some of his lines have been traced back to the early 1600s and to Spain by previous genealogists.

In 1906, Nicodemus would marry his wife Domitila Mercado Cruz, and at the time of their wedding Nicodemus would have been 28 years old while Domitila would have been only 15 years old. I'm not too sure why there was such an age gap between them, maybe Domitila's parents wanted to marry their daughter off into a well-to-do family (which from my research seems to be the story behind Nicodemus' family) or potentially Nicodemus fell in love and asked for her hand in marriage. I would need to read up more on Puerto Rican marriage and family ties throughout the island's history to better grasp their situation. Nicodemus and Domitila would have a TON of children, so far I have been able to count up to about 19 children in total… which is a humongous family!

By 1910, Nicodemus was married with Domitila and living in a rented home working as a majordomo on a coffee farm; he was unable to read or write. The family spent a lot of time moving back and forth from Utuado and Adjuntas seeing as how in 1910 they were living in Utuado but in 1918 he was working for Alfredo Palmieri in Adjuntas, in the 1920 census he would still be listed with his family in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Throughout his life, Nicodemus mainly worked on coffee farms and never owned land of his own.

Nicodemus would pass away in the barrio of Juan González in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico in the year 1934. I had a really hard time finding his death certificate since I didn't know if he had died in Adjuntas or Utuado but finally I was able to track it down in Adjuntas. His cause of death was listed as "nefritis crónica" which is an inflammation of the kidneys and can be caused by toxins and infections. He and his wife died fairly young -- Nicodemus aged 55 and Domitila at the age of 48.

I didn't really grow up knowing too much about the Vélez family and most of the information I have learned is through genealogical searching, for example that Bernardina Sepúlveda (Nicodemus' grandmother) had owned slaves. I would like to learn more about this family and how things economically seemed to have changed for them within two generations. So far the Vélez family has been traced back to the mid-1700s in San Sebastián. I would love to learn about the paternal haplogroup of the Vélez family and see if I can trace them further back in Puerto Rico.

With 18 siblings for my great grandfather, I can only imagine that I have a ton of Vélez cousins spread around Puerto Rico and most likely the USA -- hopefully I can find some of them! 

52 Ancestors – #45 José Severo Vélez Sepúlveda (1837-1894)

Today I'm going to focus on my 3rd great grandfather from my paternal side of the family. This will bring me into my November posts and only 7 posts away from finishing the 52 Ancestors Challenge!

José Severo Vélez Sepúlveda was born on 6th of November 1837 in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico according to his baptismal record which occurred on the 19th of November 1837. José Severo was the legitimate son of José María Vélez Pérez and his wife Bernardina Sepúlveda Román (who I've mentioned in this challenge!). His godparents were Valerio Pérez and Jacinta González, I'm not if Valerio was an uncle to José María via his mother but it could be possible.

I'm not sure how long José Severo would live in Adjuntas but it seems that the family spent time between both Adjuntas and Utuado, located in the central part of Puerto Rico. This family did some moving around seeing as José María was from San Sebastián, Bernardina from Mayagüez, both passed away in Adjuntas but José Severo himself would pass away in Utuado. All of these towns though are fairly close to one another so traveling around wouldn't be as bad as saying going from Mayagüez to Fajardo.

José Severo would marry sometime around the early 1860s to his wife Ana Ríos González, she was said to have been born in Lares but her own parents were born in San Sebastián (so possibly she was born in San Sebastián herself). Together they would have an astonishing number of children: 17!! This is the number I have been able to trace through records, but who knows if there are a few missing. It seems that José Severo and Ana both came from pretty big families themselves so probably for them it wasn't out of the ordinary. It seems that José Severo was one of 10 children and Ana one of 12, those are pretty big numbers!

José Severo like most of my other ancestors was most likely a farmer, but I was surprised to see that he could sign his name! José Severo was born in the early 1800s and I imagine the importance of education wasn't forced onto children, especially when they themselves grew up to be farmers. José Severo's death certificate in 1894 doesn't mention his profession but I would imagine it was that of an agricultural farmer. None the less, here is his signature:

Signature- José Severo Vélez Sepúlveda [FamilySearch]

It does make me wonder however about the kind of wealth his family had, seeing as his mother had slaves in 1872. This probably means that they owned some land and got enough profits off of it to own slaves and have their children educated. Could this be wealth that they inherited from old Spanish immigrant ancestors? Did they work their way up and earn money through hard work and dedication to farming? I'm actually not too sure. The Sepúlveda side of the family does have a line long of ancestors living in Puerto Rico tracing back to the early 1500s and some of the wealth could have come from that side of the family. Only digging further into more records could expose more information on this matter. José Severo died four short years before Puerto Rico became an American territory, but I do wonder about his political standing during the time. His wife on the other hand did live during the Spanish-American war and but died one year short of seeing Puerto Ricans become recognized American citizenships. It's always interesting to look at genealogy through a historical lens seeing as it does add to the story of the ancestor and your family in general. 

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 – #1 Felix Vélez Mercado (1905-1953)

I guess I'll start this challenge with a man who I know both some about but yet know nothing about. This man is my great grandfather Felix Vélez Mercado. Felix's family photo was what catapulted me into genealogy and it was featured in my first post ever in my blog!

L-R: Felix (standing back), Carmen (kneeling),
José (standing), Rosalia (sitting w/ baby)
[Personal Family Photo]

Felix Vélez Mercado was born on the 17th of November 1905 in Salto Abajo, Utuado, Puerto Rico. Interestingly, when my great grandfather was born, he was listed as an illegitimate child since his parents hadn't yet married. His father, Nicodemus (sometimes written as Nicodemo) Vélez Ríos, was the one who registered his son's birth yet no mother was listed! His father later married in the same town on the 14th of December 1906, just a little over a year after Felix was born, to Domitila Mercado Cruz. I worry about this not being his mother since he was born out of wedlock but being that the parents married soon after his birth and we always knew his last names were "Vélez Mercado", therefore I assume that Domitila is his biological mother. 

The reason why Nicodemus and Domitila probably weren't married during Felix's birth is evident in their marriage record. When Nicodemus Vélez and Domitila Mercado appeared to get married, it stated the Nicodemus Vélez was 32 years of age while Domitila Mercado was only 15 years old!!! In Puerto Rico, since many people weren't literate or properly knew their birth years, ages were either exaggerated a few years or people scratched a few away here and there. Nicodemus during his marriage was actually 26 years old- this I know because I have his baptism record from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico where it states he was born in the year 1878. I have yet to find Domitila's birth record but it's probably somewhere in the 1890s. What's also interesting is that according to the 1910 Census record, Felix had an older sister and younger sister both named "Amelia" yet in the column where it asked how many children has the wife had and how many of them are alive it only states "1" and "1". So something there isn't adding up. Could it be that it only states "1" because that was the number of children born "officially" since their marriage?

"who has 15 years of age"- Domitila's marriage record

Felix appears in the 1910 Census living with his parents and two sisters in a rented home in Arenas, Utuado, Puerto Rico. However, in the 1920, 1930 and 1935 Census Felix has disappeared! My great grand-aunt told me that Felix would travel around selling goods and so this could potentially be the reason why he doesn't appear with his family. In 1940 he resurfaces in San Juan, Puerto Rico living in the Santurce area already living with my great grandmother and one of his children. It seems that his profession of selling is still with him since he is listed as "vendedor de billetes"and as "ambulante" which means he travels.

My family says that Felix Vélez Mercado passed away around 1953 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Which means my grandmother was about 13 years old when her father passed away leaving her mother widowed with three children (there was another child born around the 1940s but passed away in his infancy). Despite Felix coming from a gigantic family I know very little about his family. In totally I have about 17 different children listed for Nicodemus and Domitila, including Felix himself. 

1) Amelia Vélez Mercado 1902-?

2) Ramón Vélez Mercado 1904-?

3) Felix Vélez Mercado 1905-1953

4) Amelia Vélez Mercado 1912- 1942

5) Amelio Vélez Mercado 1911-1936

6) Ana Vélez Mercado 1914-?

7) Juana Vélez Mercado 1918-?

8) Evaristo Vélez Mercado 1919-?

9) José Miguel Vélez Mercado 1922- ?

10) Jesús María Vélez Mercado 1925-?

11) José Vélez Mercado 1926-?

12) Nerco Vélez Mercado 1926?-?

13) Ramón Vélez Mercado 1927-?

14) Jesús Vélez Mercado 1928- ?

15) Monserrate Vélez Mercado 1930-?

16) María Mercedes Vélez Mercado 1931- ?

17) Juan Moises Vélez Mercado ?-?

Seems like the family also spent time moving between Utuado and Adjuntas, the parents' respective towns of origin. So while Felix was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico, his sister Ana Vélez Mercado was born in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico in 1914. His daughter (my great-aunt) says that he met my great grandmother while traveling which means he might have met her in her hometown of Lares, Puerto Rico. Hopefully I can learn more about Felix, his life and his siblings. I wonder if there are more pictures of Felix somewhere in my family's possession? 

1935 Social & Population Census of Puerto Rico

Recently (as in just yesterday), ancestry.com uploaded the 1935-1936 Census for Puerto Rico. I have been waiting for this census for a while and I'm glad it's been released! It adds another set of records available on ancestry for Puerto Ricans to use for researching their ancestors.

Here is some background information given by ancestry:

This census is particularly helpful because it's right between the 1930 and 1940 censuses so if someone died between those years you'll be able to find out if it was after or before 1935. Also, there is a 1935 agricultural census which if your ancestors owned land on the island they would appear on and give you information on that.

So far the 1935 census has helped me in a few ways. I've been able to find all of my direct ancestors that were alive for that time period in the records, except for one pair of great grandparents who I'm still trying to track down.

Before the 1935 Census, I wasn't sure when my 2nd great grandfather Nicodemus Vélez Ríos died. I knew that it was sometime between 1930-1940 but that was a pretty wide area to cover. Luckily, I was able to find his wife Domitila Mercado Cruz living in Arenas, Utuado, Puerto Rico with her children and widowed. Now I know that Nicodemus must have died sometime between 1931-1935 and probably in Adjuntas where they had lived for a little over 12 years. Now I'm trying to track his death record between those years. Here is the 1935 census record of Domitila as a widowed woman living with her children in Arenas, Utuado.

1935- Arenas, Utuado, Puerto Rico

Secondly, the 1935 Census gave me another piece to the life of my great grandfather Manuel Correa. Manuel Correa was born in 1920 as "Isidoro Correa Rivera"; his father would later die in 1929 and his mother in 1933 leaving him and his siblings orphaned. From the information I have, Isidoro, who went by the name Manuel lived in 1930 with his cousin in San Juan, Puerto Rico while his sister Modesta still lived with her mother in Río Jueyes, Salinas, Puerto Rico. It seems that 5 years later, Isidoro moved back to Salinas and lived with his sister and their aunt Senovia and her husband Francisco Alvarado. Also in the house was Luisa another aunt, mother of Celedonio. Later in 1940 he would move back to San Juan and work for a Luis Vahamonde-Sanchez and it seems that Manuel would stay there for the rest of his life until his death. Speaking with a great-uncle confirmed that I have the right family but I hope that Isidoro and Manuel really are the same person! Here is the 1935 Census of them in Río Jueyes, Salinas.

1935- Salinas, Puerto Rico

As I search for extended family, the 1935 Census will help with tracking movement across towns, births, deaths and even new relationships that formed between 1930-1940. Now for finding my missing great grandparents in this census!!

Small World, Smaller Island!

It's always crazy when something finds you serendipitously, especially in genealogy! So far throughout my searches I've come across some interesting things that have made me say "WOW! What a small world!". I'll talk about 3 different events that have happened to me that showed me that not only is this a small world but that Puerto Rico is indeed a small(er) island!

Look up! 

Looking for baptisms of my umpteen grandparents can sometimes be a taxing job. Especially in a town like Toa Alta, Puerto Rico where in the early 1800s the baptism books were divided by race categories such as Blanco (White), Pardo & Moreno (People of color/Black) and Esclavos (Slaves). If you didn't know what category your family was placed under, you'd have to search and search until you found them.

Finding my 3rd great grandmother Feliciana Mojica González wasn't to hard of a task. I knew her family was usually categorized as "pardo" so I checked those books first and found that she was baptized in Toa Alta on the 14th of March 1813. Easy enough! But finding my 4th great grandmother, Martina Vásquez Fuentes wasn't too easy. Her descendants moved into Corozal, Puerto Rico where my great grandmother Mercedes Marrero Ortiz would be born. So I thought that she too was born in Corozal. Yet looking over Feliciana's baptism record and looking at all the names I noticed that right above her was a "Marta" being baptized- turns out to be my Martina!! Since Corozal originally started out as a part of Toa Alta, many families originally had roots in Toa Alta before moving into Corozal or just falling into the section of the new town. These two women are not related but Feliciana's grandson and Martina's great granddaughter would father my grandfather! It would be so funny if these women either lived near each other or were behind each other on a line to baptize their children in the church. Small world!! Here is the record of Feliciana and Martina!

Baptisms in 1813 of Martina Vásquez and Feliciana Mojica
Toa Alta, Puerto Rico

An odd reunion

While doing some genealogy at one of the centers I visit, I met a nice woman who's family was also from Puerto Rico. As we started to chat we realized that we both had family in Toa Alta but no similar surnames. She was stuck with finding some records and so I decided to help her out since I knew the Toa Alta church records pretty well. While searching for her great grandmother's baptism record, I came across a great-aunt of her's being baptized in 1856. While looking at the names, I noticed something super interesting- the godparents of this great-aunt of her's were my 3rd great grandparents! So our families 157 years ago gathered at a church to baptize her great-aunt. Finding that record revealed that we actually had the surname Rivera in common! So far I haven't been able to confirm that we are connected by blood but our families did know each other. How weird that 157 years later in a different town and a different country, two strangers would meet who's families once knew each other!

My 3rd great grandparents: Pedro Rivera & Eusebia Diaz
as godparents in 1856.

At last!

Earlier last week, I had one of the best moments of serendipity. While looking for my paternal 2nd great grandmother's birth certificate (or her sister's) in Utuado, Puerto Rico I came across very unexpectedly someone else. I saw the surnames "Sánchez Arvelo" and right away realized those names were on my mother's side of the family! Oddly enough I found a 2nd great granddaughter being born in Utuado, Puerto Rico despite her parents being from Quebradillas and San Sebastián. This whole time I was looking through Lares, San Sebastián, Quebradillas and Manatí for them when out of nowhere I find one of them in Utuado! Odds are my 2nd great grandmother was also born there but since the records aren't indexed I'll have to search 1 by 1. Finding this record gave me the name of 2 sets of my 4th great grandparents- I was so happy to find out more names in this family because I had searched for so long to find out more about them.

I'm constantly surprised by how small this world really is!

Making Ends Meet!

Last week I was pretty fortunate to be able to search through the Adjuntas church records which were microfilmed by the LDS. I knew that some ancestors in my family through my paternal side lived in Adjuntas for a while thanks to the Census records.

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico- a town nestled in the Central Mountain Range
Picture: Wikipedia

I knew that my great grandfather, Felix Vélez Mercado, was born in Utuado in 1905 but his parents somewhere between 1911 and 1914 moved to Adjuntas and some of the birth records of Felix's brothers and sisters pointed to their parents being naturally from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Felix's father, Nicodemus/Nicodemo Vélez Ríos and his wife Domitila Mercado Cruz were a bit of a mystery to me. I didn't have any birth records for them and neither any death record. I knew that they married in 1906 in Utuado, Puerto Rico- but besides that I had nothing.

Utuado, Puerto Rico
Picture: Wikipedia

The Adjuntas church records were able to clear up some things about this side of my family! I was fortunate to find a lot of baptismal and death records in the church documents, which would help to prove some lines and extend others. Nicodemus Vélez Ríos was born in Adjuntas in 1878 to his parents José María Vélez Sepúlveda and Ana Ríos González. I knew that his dad, José María Vélez, was a part of a pretty extensive line of Vélez and Sepúlveda family members that dated back to the 1600s in Puerto Rico and even to towns in Spain. Now that I have confirmed that Nicodemus is the son of José María Vélez, I have been able to solidify that line. Thanks to all the research of those that came before me, I was able to extend some of these lines like I mentioned to the early 1600s. Nicodemus is also the grandson of Bernardina Sepúlveda Roman who I wrote about before, who owned a few slaves in Guaynabo Dulce, Adjuntas, Puerto Rico when the slave census was taken in 1872. My Riós González family is still missing a bunch of ancestors and this is due to the fact that this family probably originated in San Sebastián and those records aren't microfilmed with the LDS so to figure out more I'll probably have to visit the church itself.

My Mercado Cruz line on the other hand had eluded me for a long period of time! Most of the records say that Domitila's father, Cayetano Mercado was born Lares and would end up dying there. Cayetano's wife, Cristina Cruz Pérez was also said to have been from Lares but she was still alive in the 1910 census living in Utuado, Puerto Rico with her daughter.

Surprisingly, Domitila had a few sisters who were born in Adjuntas! Finding the baptism records of these sisters allowed me to extend these lines one generation further. Now I know that Cayetano's parents were Francisco Mercado and María Isabel Cajigas and that Cristina's parents were Francisco Cruz and Gabriela Pérez (she is sometimes written with the last name Gerena). The records state that the Mercado Cajigas family was from San Sebastián while the Cruz Pérez family was from Lares. I've tried to find some of these grandparents' death records in their respective towns as well as in Adjuntas but so far no luck.

I was pretty happy to be able to push the Mercado Cruz line one generation further on the paternal side because I had been struggling with that line for so long now. And hopefully I'll be able to find Domitila's birth certificate which I've also had a hard time locating. Hopefully more will be discovered about this family!

It's also interesting to note that San Sebastián and Lares are actually neighboring towns in Puerto Rico demonstrated below:

Lares, Puerto Rico

San Sebastián, Puerto Rico