More on Angelina

I've written a post on my great aunt Angelina Rodriguez Davila, a while ago. You can find it HERE.  Back when I wrote that post I didn't know as much about Angelina as I do now. Angelina is special to me. Through Angelina, I was able to connect with distant cousins of mine that I discovered in Brooklyn.  Through her descendants I was able to learn more about my father's paternal side that I didn't think would be possible. I'm so grateful for her. So grateful she left so much behind for me to uncover. Most ancestors aren't as easy. 

A few months ago I was searching on Ancestry.com's "U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925". On here, a familiar name popped up. I clicked on it & although everything about the passport application pointed towards my great aunt Angelina, there was one portion of it that seemed odd. 

It shows that Angelina was making plans to travel to Venezuela to join her husband. I had no idea they ever left the country or how they were connected to Venezuela. I assumed it had to be work related, but I couldn't find a passport application for Angelina's husband Jacobo Gomez. I also found it odd that when I met Angelina's family a while back in NYC that they never mentioned Venezuela. So I contacted them with what I found, sent them over the photo of what at the time would of been Angelina at about 20 years old. They confirmed that this was indeed Angelina's passport application, but like me, had no idea of any trip to Venezuela. They also highly doubted, if she was going to leave Puerto Rico, that it would be to join her husband. This is why...

Early on in their relationship Jacobo became abusive. Jacobo was so violent that Angelina believed that if she ever attempted to leave him, Jacobo would find her & kill her. Possibly even hurting their girls as well. I was told after their first child together in 1914, Jacobo apparently takes their sleeping baby girl, places her inside of a dresser draw & leaves without telling Angelina where he's put the baby. He was known for riding away early in the morning, on his horse & not coming home for days at a time. Angelina didn't know where he went or when he'd return. These were times where most everyone on the island was financially struggling . So Jacobo's absence put Angelina in a rough spot. She often times didn't have enough to eat & lived off the fruit trees on their property. It's while all this is taking place that Angelina discovers she is pregnant again. This time with twin girls. She makes a brave choice to leave Jacobo after the twins are born. Sadly, only one of the twin girls survives & is named Juana, after Angelina's close friend. 

Fearing for the safety of her girls & her life, she makes secret plans to move to New York City. In order to do this, Angelina makes probably one of the biggest sacrifices in her life. Knowing that making a move this big required money that she didn't have, she works, leaves her girls with her friend named Juana Fuentes. Angelina saves up enough to make the move to the city on her own. Her friend Juana agrees to watch her girls temporarily while Angelina goes to NYC to find a job, a place to live & save up enough to bring back both her girls to NY. I'm not certain how long the girls were living with her friend Juana when Angelina returns to pick up her oldest daughter Nicolasa. Apparently, Nicolasa was having a hard time being away from Angelina, which is why Nicolasa is chosen to go first. Several years pass & then when Angelina's second daughter Juana is 12, Angelina comes back to get her. Why Angelina waited this long, we aren't sure. We do know she meets someone new in NY that treats her good. I was told she experienced a new kind of freedom when she got to the city. Not sure if this is what caused the delay, but nearly 12 years goes by before she makes preparations to pick up her next daughter. At this point Juana calls the other Juana mom & doesn't remember her sister. Juana is completely attached to what would now be known as her adopted family & Angelina secretly makes plans to get Juana off the island.

Now, here is where things become weird. Her secret plan is so secret that she doesn't even tell her friend Juana about it. She tells her friend that she's taking little Juana school shopping & from here boards the ship to Ellis Island. Seeing how there was no closure, Juana mourns over this for the rest of her life. Missing her former family & adoptive mother, whom she never has contact with again. She moves to a big city, with a new language & culture. It must of all been so overwhelming for a young girl. As hard as I am positive this was for little Juana, I can't help but feel that it was because Angelina knew something that we don't. Maybe she assumed telling her friend would somehow get back to her ex-husband & he would find them. Or maybe she knew little Juana was so attached that she would not want to leave. Maybe it was a combination of both of these guesses, but either way Angelina came back. As painful as it was for her daughters, I know that those were not easy choices. Angelina was so brave. As painful as this story is, behind it I see a woman that was daring & full of courage. 
 

We are still in the dark about Venezuela. It could of been another secret plan of hers to get away from her ex, that fell through.

Angelina's passport photo taken 1917

Cousin connection

Something amazing happened recently. 

Over the weekend I was able to visit New York City & while I was there I was able to connect with cousins on my Dad's side of the family that we didn't even know existed. We found each other on Ancestry.com & over several messages back & forth were able to link our families trees together through one common ancestor. Primitivo Rodriguez is my paternal great grandfather originally from Gurabo, Puerto Rico. He was married twice in his life time. In his first marriage he has 5 children, one of the 5 is named Angelina Rodriguez Davila. The cousins I discovered in NY are Angelina's descendants. In his second marriage he has 2 sons, the oldest being Antonio Rodriguez Torres, my grandfather. 

It was exciting to alone make a connection with someone that knows & remembers so much. It was even sweeter to have the opportunity to meet them all. I met up with my Dad & together we went to meet this new part of our family lost for so long. 

I wasn't sure what to expect & seeing how this was NYC, I knew we were taking a risk meeting strangers that could potentially drug & kill us. However, not once did I get a bad vibe. I felt so strongly that these people were exactly whom they said they were & lucky for us my gut was right. We were welcomed with cheerful open arms & talked for a few hours. I learned so much & tried to remember as much as I could from the stories & names I listened to. 

Aside from this they also had photos. I have longed to see photos of them. I have often imagined what they might look like but now I had a real-life photo of what Angelina Rodriguez Davila & what her 2 daughters look like. 

 Angelina Rodriguez Davila

1895-1975

Isn't she beautiful? She looks so classy & elegant. I love this photo of her! This is the only surviving photo of Angelina. I also can't help but notice that she has the same exact nose as her younger brother Antonio, & it's the same nose my father has. 

Here is Angelina's life in a nutshell, according to all the records I've found. Angelina was born on DEC. 18, 1896 in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. She is the second daughter & 3rd child born to Primitivo Rodriguez & Manuela Davila. At the age of 3, Angelina's mother dies.  At age 16, Angelina marries a man named Jacobo Gómez Ruiz. At the age of 17, her father remarries for the second time. When she's 22, her oldest sister Petrona dies. I assume they must of been close because Petrona names 2 of her daughters after both of her younger sisters. Angelina has two daughters in Puerto Rico. Sometime after this, their family moves to Brooklyn, NY where she lives for several years. Her husband dies in 1967. In her old age, she meets a man named Manuel Diaz, who is her companion. Towards the end of her life she becomes ill with Alzheimer's. She then moves back to Puerto Rico, where she spends the last of her days before she dies in Arroyo, Puerto Rico at the age of 78.

Her 2 girls spend most of their lives in NYC.  

Her first daughter is Nicolasa Gomez Rodriguez.  Her first name is changed to Jacqueline soon after moving to NY. Towards the end of her life she lives in Oklahoma.

The second daughter is Juana Gomez Rodriguez. Her first name is also changed when moving to NY to Jennie. I was told this was to avoid the racism that was heavy in those days. Supposedly, the name changes were to give them a better chance of blending in. 

Can't tell you how happy this makes me to be able to peek into these small windows into my family's past. Hoping that together these new cousins of mine & I can uncover more.

Petrona Rodriguez Davila 1893-1917

Today I wanted to write about my grand Aunt. I can't help but feel drawn to her because of all the death that comes so many times into her short life. Her name is...

Petrona Rodriguez Davila

It is clear to see that Petrona understood pain and loss. She is the oldest child of 5 to Primitivo Rodriguez Cuevas & Manuela Davila. Petrona was born in Gurabo in December 1893. At the age of 7, Petrona's mother dies. I imagine being the oldest she helped raise her younger 4 siblings. 

In 1909 a few days after her 16th birthday Petrona marries a man named Nemesio González Rodriguez, who is also from her home town of Gurabo. After 2 years of marriage they have their first child together, a girl named Carmen González Rodriguez born February 7, 1911 in Gurabo. According to Carmen's death record this baby girl of hers only lives to be 18 days old. I'm still trying to make out the cause of death. 

In 1912, Petrona has a second daughter named Angela González Rodriguez, she dies as well at 2 months old. Another daughter is born in 1916 named Antonia González Rodriguez. Antonia like her two sister before her, also dies as an infant, at 4 months old. This makes a total of 3 baby girls born to Petrona & Nemesio that die as infants. Sadly my grand Aunt Petrona dies too in 1917, a month before her last baby daughter dies. At the young age of 24 years old, Petrona leaves this earth. According to her death record the cause of death is "fiebre gastrica" which in English is translated to  typhoid fever.  . 

I was so sad that my family line ends for Petrona's family with the death of her last baby girl, but then I found Petrona's husband's World War 1 registration card. This card provided a big clue for me. 

Above you can read that this was recordered in July of 1917. This date would be after Petrona & all her 3 babies die. Yet, Nemesio says on the first page of his card that he is widowed with 1 living daughter. So I searched & searched some more & found her. I missed it because Petrona is recorded as "Petra", which I assume was probably her nickname. In February 15, 1914 a fourth daughter is recorded that makes it to adulthood, her name is Basilia González Rodriguez born in Caguas. I was also able to find Basilia's death record, she dies in Caguas, on November, 13 1949 at the age of 35. 
Her death record indicates that she was married at the time of death to a man named Juan Baez Rosario. With the name of her husband on her death record I was able to locate a marriage record for them. Basilia marries Juan at 18 years old on January 9, 1933, also in Caguas. The 1940 census record shows they had one son together. I have not been able to find his birth record yet but it's very possible he could still be alive. Their son's name is Juan Báez González, who would of been born about 1934. I am hoping that perhaps one day I will be able to connect with these long lost cousins of mine. 

It kills me to see so much death take place in one small family. I can only imagine that loosing his wife & 3 daughters must of been extremely hard for Petrona's husband Nemesio. Then becoming a single-father I'm sure was not easy. I tried to track him down in census records to see if I could find what happens to him next but I was only able to find him for sure in 1930 & then again in 1940.  He is remarried, in both census to 2 different women. Basilia is shown living with him in 1930.

It's heart-breaking to think that Basilia looses her mother at the tender age of 3, along with loosing all her siblings. I wonder who helped raise her? Who was her mother figure? Did this cause her to be close with her father Nemesio? 

Then I think of Petrona, I think of how devastating it must of been to loose 2 of her daughters & then die realizing that you are leaving 2 of your babies behind. What a sad way to leave, knowing you are not done raising your young family. Wondering what will happen to them next. Luckily one of her daughters lives on, what a blessing. My heart is so full for this grand aunt of mine.

Primitivo Rodriguez Cuevas

My paternal great grandfather is named Primitivo Rodriguez Cuevas.  While growing up, I remember my Dad told me this was the name of his father's father.  Unfortunately my Dad never got to meet him & we all knew so little about him aside from only his name. 

With a little digging I was surprised how much I found for him. He appears on of all the census records available for Puerto Rico which was a huge help.

Primitivo is the son of Jose Rodriguez Cuevas & Maria de la Cruz Cuevas Berrios. He was born some time around 1865 in either Gurabo or San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. In 1885, at the age of 20 he marries his first wife named Manuela Davila. With Manuela he has 5 children, 3 girls & 2 boys.  
  
The names of these 5 children are:
-Petrona Rodriguez Davila born 1893 in Gurabo dies 1917 in Caguas
-Eusébio Rodriguez Davila born 1894 in Gurabo
-Angelina Rodriguez Davila birth about 1895
 -Antonia Rodriguez Davila born about 1897
-Luciano Rodriguez Davila birth1900 in Gurabo


Sadly after 15 years of marriage, in 1900 Manuela dies at the age of 33 from postpartum hemorrhaging from delivering her last baby. I imagine Primitivo & his 5 children must of been heart broken. So by the 1910 census Primitivo is shown as widowed. He is living in Gurabo with 3 of his unmarried children. 

In 1912 he marries for the second time to Maria Ana Torres Torres from San Lorenzo. With Maria Ana he has 2 boys. The first is my grandpa named Antonio Rodriguez Torres born 1914. You can read more about my grandfather here. Their second son is named Juan Ramon Rodriguez Torres born 1916. Either during Juan Ramon's childbirth or shortly after Maria Ana also dies. The cause of death on her death record states anemia. Juan's birth record states she was already dead by the time of the recording of his birth. 

By 1920 Primitivo moves to San Lorenzo, is living with his son from his first marriage Eusébio, my grandpa Antonio & Juan Ramon. Primitivo is white, can read & write & is working on a farm. 

By 1930 they move back to Gurabo, & he is now only living with his youngest 2 boys from Maria Ana. 

I found a 1935 Agricultural census for him that shows that since 1931 he is leasing a farm that grows tobacco, corn & beans.

In 1935 it doesn't look like much has changed & Primitivo is still living with his 2 youngest sons. In 1937 both of those 2 youngest sons get married. By 1940 Primitivo has the status of divorced. I'm feeling like this is wrong because I have not been unable to track down a third marriage record for him. He's also living with an 8 year old boy that is of no relation to him. I have no clue who the boy belongs to because he has a completely different surname. 

From what my father tells me, Primitivo moves to New York City sometime in the mid 1940's. For work he drives a delivery truck & dies in a car accident. I haven't had the chance to locate his death record because I have no idea of a death date. My father doesn't remember anything more to give me more leads.

I discovered that Primitivo goes back & forth on how he records his full name. He sometimes goes by Primitivo Rodriguez de la Cruz. However on all the census records he chose to use Cuevas. There is obviously a mix up with the order of his mother's name. My guess is that Maria de la Cruz is her first/ middle name & Cuevas is her last.

With only a name I was able to track down so much information about his life. My Dad was amazed because he wasn't aware about Primitivo's first wife. 

I would love to learn more about why he chose to move to New York so late in his life. It seems like such a big move. Did he go to be with someone? Was he just following the big migration of Puerto Ricans who settled in NY? Did he like the big city after living most of his life in a small country town? I'm sure the culture shock must of been overwhelming. 

I also wonder how he coped with being a singe-father twice in his life time. I imagine that must of been challenging especially since he was the main provider. I'm sure he must of had help in raising at least the youngest 2. Who was it that helped him, I wonder. I've uncovered so much but there are still so many mysteries about Primitivo. I hope to answer more as I continue my search.