A Puerto Rican Look at: Colorized Pedigrees!

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

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

Colorized Pedigree [Personal Photo]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Agustin Calderón Meléndez - 1910 Census [Ancestry]

Agustin Calderón Meléndez - 1910 Census [Ancestry]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vega Baja, Puerto Rico [Google]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Victoriano Calderón Meléndez, Marriage Index, 1897 [FamilySearch]

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

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

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

R1b1b2a1a2f*, Calderón Haplogroup [23andme]

Sibling Saturday: Family Twins Ernesto and Ernesta

I haven't used any of the Geneablogger blog prompts yet since I've been busy with the 52 Ancestor Challenge, but I think today is a great day to use one and you'll see why.

Today is my great grandmother's birthday, as well as her twin brother's! Unfortunately, my great grandmother and her brother have passed on and if they were alive today they would have been celebrating their 91st birthday. They were both born today, March 1st in the year 1923 in the town of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Their parents were from Morovis and how/why they gave birth to their twin children in Cabo Caribe, Vega Baja is beyond me. (I recently talked about this in a post about Ernesta's mother Ramona Rivera).

Ernesta Miranda Rivera [Personal Family Photo]

The story of their birth is an interesting one! My maternal grandmother tells me that when Ramona Rivera Rivera was delivering her child, they were unaware that it was a set of twins. Back in the days in Puerto Rico, many childbirths occurred at home due to inaccessible to centralized hospitals and the low socio-economic status of many working class families. The story goes that Ramona gave birth first to Ernesto and after his birth there was another placenta. When they cut open the placenta, inside was my great grandmother Ernesta. Quickly googling the phenomena, it is scientifically possible - it is known as "intact amniotic sac" and according to an article it is "ultra rare". I'm not sure how true this story is, their birth certificates don't mention anything of the sort yet at the same time I wonder how birth certificates would actually even mention birthing stories on documents. 

Ernesto Miranda Rivera [Personal Family Photo]

My great grand-uncle Ernesto Miranda (pictured left) worked as an ambulance driver. I actually don't know too much about Ernesto, I have that his wife's name is Angelina Rodríguez and that they had two sons together. Ernesta (our family calls her Ernestina) moved to San Juan as well as her brother but I wonder if the family just drifted apart, whether on purpose or by mistake. According to a social security record I found, it seems that Ernesto passed away in 2010 in San Juan, which actually wasn't too long ago. My maternal grandmother remembers talking and meeting Ernesto but we really don't have too much on him and his life. I have this picture thanks to some searching I did in my grandmother's closet while looking through my grandfather's things. In the photo album he had, there were many pictures of his mother and some of his uncle and cousins from his maternal side of the family.

Hopefully I'll learn more about Ernesto's life one day! Especially since he was my great-uncle, which is pretty close genealogically speaking. In Puerto Rico, we still would have called him tío just as I do with my other great-uncles and great-aunts (tía). 

52 Ancestors – #9 Ramona Rivera Rivera (1887-19??)

When I began to start my genealogy, I remember asking my maternal grandmother for every and any name she knew of the family. Luckily, she was also pretty well informed about some of maternal grandfather's maternal ancestors. On this post I want to focus on my 2nd great grandmother Ramona Rivera Rivera, or as my grandfather called her "las tres R's" (eRRes) – "the three Rs".

Ramona Rivera Rivera [Personal Family Photo]

Ramona Rivera Rivera was born in the barrio of Vaga in Morovis, Puerto Rico – a municipality located in the central region of the island. Morovis, was originally connected to the town of Manatí and later separated in the year 1815. Before that, the town was part of the lands of the Taíno Cacique Orocobix. Ramona was born on the 17th of August of 1887 and had an older sister named Gregoria who was around 10-12 years her elder. Despite being born in Morovis, Ramona's parents were from a different town according to records. Her father Francisco Rivera Rodríguez was from Barranquitas as well as his wife Estebania Rivera Rodríguez (so far there is no relationship between the two, seems that their double surname is just a coincidence).

Morovis' Flag [Wikipedia]

Ramona lost her father around the age of 13 and was raised by her mother until 1919 when she passed away from senility. In the 1910 census, Ramona and her mother Estebania appear living with Gregoria who already had eight children with Agustin Rosado Olmeda. In 1920, my 2nd great grandmother was married and living with her three children (Miguel, Isabel, and Lorenzo) and her mother-in-law María Santos Chéverez in a rented home still in Vaga, Morovis while José was employed as a worker on a coffee farm. Oddly enough, Ramona is written down as "Ramona Rivera Rodríguez" and also my great grandfather remembers her as "Ramona Rivera Rodríguez". Yes, her parents were both Rivera Rodríguez but she in turn was Rivera Rivera; just a simple confusion?

José Miranda Santos, 1920 Census [Ancestry]

Ramona Rivera "Rodríguez", 1920 Census [Ancestry]

Notice how they seem to be living in a shared home with another family, this is the first time I have seen my family sharing a home with others who (from what I know so far), are not related to them either biologically or through marriage. My 2nd great grandmother lived in Vaga, Morovis from 1887 through about 1937, but for whatever reason she gave birth to her twins (my great grandmother and her brother) in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Judging by the map below, Vaga is not a bordering town of Vega Baja, so why would Ramona give birth in that town? The information on the birth certificate is a bit funky, it mentions that the person that came to register the birth of the twins (Ernesta and Ernesto) was "José Miranda Cheveré" the "mother" which has some mixed up information. The rest of the siblings were born themselves in Vaga, Morovis. A weird little mystery here!

Barrios of Morovis, Puerto Rico [Google]

Many if not all of Ramona's children lived past childhood, but in 1938 the family would go through a tragic event. Sometime between 1935 and 1938 the family moved from Vaga, Morovis to the town of Damián Arriba, Orocovis, Puerto Rico. Damián Arriba and Vaga and neighboring towns straddling the Morovis/Orocovis border, so getting there was much easier to explain in this case. It seems that the family moved to Damián Arriba in April of 1937 according to a record I found in Barros, Orocovis. On October 11th, 1938 José Miranda Santos passed away. At first I thought nothing of it, but when I looked at the cause of death it sent a shiver running down my spine. 

My 2nd great grandfather José Miranda Santos committed suicide by hanging himself with a rope. It broke my heart to read that at the age of about 52, he felt this was the only way out. I don't know the situation behind this tragic death, he last appeared on the 1935 Census and it gives us some clues to his life but not his death. José was still employed at the time and seems to have received a raise since he was now an "administrator" on a coffee farm. He was living in a home with two rooms and even had the luxury of a latrine. 

Barrios of Orocovis, Puerto Rico [Wikipedia]

José left my 2nd great grandmother with 8 children, two of which were less than 8 years old. My great grandmother, Erestina Miranda Rivera, would have been 15 at the time of her father's death, how did she feel about all of this? I couldn't believe that all of these years of hearing the names Ramona Rivera and José Miranda, no one had told me that José had killed himself. When I rushed to my mom with what I thought was "new information", she just shrugged her shoulders and told me that she knew about her great grandfather's death. But how come I, the family genealogist, wasn't told!?!

How was Ramona's life afterwords? My grandmother got the chance to meet Ramona and remembers her living in Cataño in a wooden house with a sink that was outside her window enclosed by a wall with nails she could hang things up on. She said that Ramona had blue eyes and always wore white embroidered shirts with a handkerchief over her head. She had white hair and usually wore it up in a bun. She also remembers her being tall, missing a few teeth, sold tapetes (rugs?) and had a "witch nose". My grandmother says she was buried in Río Piedras but I have yet to find a death certificate for her since I am unaware of the range of years for her death.  

Interestingly with 23andme I have been able to find out that Ramona Rivera Rivera's maternal haplogroup would have been A2, since Ramona is my grandfather's direct maternal ancestor. I have only one photo of Ramona and in it she has some indigenous looking features to her face. Ramona's ancestress could have been a Taíno/Arawak woman living in the central region of the island under Cacique Orocobix's command and leadership. Hopefully one day I will be able to find her death certificate and maybe even a tomb! I imagine Ramona was a very strong woman to continue raising her children despite the death of her husband – and in her I find strength.