He is the Gift

Recently I received an email newsletter from our church announcing a new Christmas video. At least, I think it's a new video because I've never seen or heard of it. It's such a simple short clip about the real meaning of Christmas. If you're in the right mood, watching it can be powerful. 
 
The video shows how the the real first gift of Christmas wasn't wrapped or bought in a store. The real gift was sacred, given to us by a Father to all his children. You and me, every single one of us. He gave us his son. He is the Christ. He is Christmas! He is the Gift. I 'm guilty of forgetting the real reason of Christmas. This time of year I get caught up in all the worldly things Christmas is slammed with that sometimes I overlook the real reason to Christmas. This video was such a perfect & sweet reminder. I love the good feeling it gives me after watching it. I've been fortunate enough to have several experiences in my life time to validate that He does lives. His love for us is very real, just as He is very real. I'm so grateful we live in country where we are allowed to celebrate his birth & life. This real-life first gift is really what it's all about. 

Merry Christmas!

A Veteran's Day Tribute

Old family photos tell tales of service and sacrifice. On Veteran's Day, we honor loved ones who served their family and their country.

 

My maternal grandfather is one of these heroes.  
His name is Nicolas Rodriguez, born in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico on December 16, 1935. 

In 1954, at the age of 19, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Korean War. He was assigned to what at the time was a Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment. This regiment was the only all-Hispanic unit in the history of the US. Army. Segregated into 2 groups, white and black Puerto Ricans. This unit of soldiers was also known as the Borinqueneers.  I recently saw a documentary about this unit and loved it so much I purchased a copy of the DVD for myself as a keepsake. It was fascinating. I wish I had asked him more about his time serving.

Following his honorable discharge, he moved to New York City, where he soon met my grandmother. 

Grandpa Nick passed away recently, on February 11, 2014 in Poughkeepsie, New York. I still have some of his recorded voice messages saved on my cell phone. He was bilingual, with a Spanish accent that held a thick raspiness to it. I remember most he was a jokester & always looked for ways to make me laugh during our phone calls.

I especially love all his service photos above. In his uniform he looks so young & handsome. 

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.

Maria Ana Torres Torres

For the longest time the only thing I knew about my grandfather's mother is her name which is... 

Maria Ana Torres y Torres. 

I knew this because this is the name that appears on my grandfather's death certificate. With some digging I found her marriage record, than her death record. My father has no memory of her & I soon found out it was because she died from anemia when my grandfather was just 3 years old. Chances are my grandfather probably had no memory of her either.

Her death record says she died at age 30 in 1916. I am very curious to know what went on in her short 30 years of life. 

What I do know is that,  Maria Ana was 20 years old when her mother passed. Aside from this, I also know her marriage record says she was married in 1912 at the age of 26 to a widower named Primitivo Rodriguez Cuevas. Primitivo was about 21 years older then Maria Ana. He also already had 5 children from his previous marriage.  Some of those 5 children, were still living with him at the time him & Maria Ana were married. What I find interesting is that Primitivo's oldest daughter & his new bride were only 7 years apart. I wonder if this caused any friction in the home or if this was an advantage.

Maria Ana & Primitivo are married for 4 years. During this time they have 2 children, 2 boys. The oldest is my grand father named Antonio Rodriguez Torres born in 1914. After giving birth to her second baby boy Juan Ramon Rodriguez Torres, Maria Ana dies. She dies either giving birth or shortly after having him because on his birth record she is already stated as deceased.

Aside from this I know her parents names. They are Juan E. Torres Galvez & Ramona Torres Masa both from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. With this information I was able to locate her on the only census record she appears on which is the census of 1910. 

Here she is found living in Gurabo, with her father who is widowed. She appears to be the oldest sibling living in the home of 6 children. I assume, being the eldest daughter in a home with no mother she would of played the motherly-role of doing house work & helped raise her younger siblings. 

I couldn't help but notice the similarities in her home in 1910 to the home to moves into next with her husband Primitivo. Both are homes of working widows & both with children who need a mother. I wonder if the similarities is what attracted her to him. A familiar home setting in her same town. 

The 1910 census lists her younger siblings who are:

Andrés Torres Y Torres  1888-1930
Rafaela Torres Y Torres  1895-1983
Agripina Torres Y Torres 1899-1977
Joaquina Torres Torres  1899-1984
Rafael Torres Y Torres  1899

Although the census only names a total of 6 children in the home in 1910, I was able to locate records for some additional children not living there then. So according to all the births I was able to track down, Maria Ana's parents had a total of 10 children. The additional children I found are: 

Fernando Torres y Torres  1884-1960
Nemesio Torres y Torres  1887
Felipe Torres y Torres  1895-1983
Ramon Torres y Torres  1899

I recently found someone on Ancestry.com who has almost the same information for this family as I do. I noticed they even included a black & white group photo that I hope includes Maria Ana. Oh, how I would love to see her. Love to see any of them. I contacted them & am really hoping we can exchange our information & find out how we are linked.

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.

New release of records from Puerto Rico

In case you haven't heard the good news, this week  Ancestry.com announced they have just released a collection of more then 5 million vital records from Puerto Rico.  

At first, I assumed it would to be exactly like Family Search.org. So technically it is the same thing, the same records are found in both spots now. What makes it different from Family Search is that it's already organized & categorized using a search engine that filters the information of the specific person you are searching for. There isn't always a "shaky leaf" that appears with hints like other records do. You have to look specifically through this search engine, link here. This new method of searching eliminates having to search through indexes, page numbers & book numbers, which sometimes can be SO time consuming. Ancestry.com already has done much of the work for you. It's wonderful & a huge time saver.  I briefly got on there today, typed in a last name & already found 3 new records for ancestors in my family tree. If there was ever a good time to start your family history, it is now. What a blessing it is that people took the time to manually go through all of these civil books & electronically organized them for us. I am so grateful for this & excited to see what more I will find.

Click here to read more about the new records available & to learn how to search for them.

Civil registration began in Puerto Rico in 1885

We’ve just launched a new collection with more than 5 million vital records from Puerto Rico. - See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/06/09/new-puerto-rico-records-and-research-guides/#blogComments

Matias Pabellon 1830-1925

In honor of Father's day coming up this weekend, I wanted to write about my 2nd great grandfather. He is the patriarch of my Pabellon family line. His full name according to his death record is Matias Pabellon. 

Matias is so interesting to me for many reasons. I will start with the most recent info. I found for him. According to his death record Matias was born in Gurabo in 1830. He was born to a black mother named Isabel Ramirez who was also from the town of Gurabo. This is all I know of his mother. 

His father is Juan Maria Pabellon, a former black slave. Juan & Isabel have 8 children together that I know of. All of these 8 children were also bond in slavery, which leads me to believe that their mother Isabel was too. 

When slavery was abolished in the US, slavery sadly continued on the island of Puerto Rico for an additional 8 years. it wasn't untill March 1873, that Puerto Rican slaves were declared free. This would of made Matias 43 years old at the time slavery ended. Seeing how he was black I tried to locate records for him on the only slave census taken for Puerto Rico in 1872. With the help of another genealogist I was able to locate what I'm sure is Matias. 

His surname is spelled differently as "Pavillon", also his age does not match what was recorded on his death record but I still feel convinced this is him. I only wish there was a way for me to validate it more. 

Sometime in the late 1800's, Matias fathers 10 children with a woman named Maria de los Santos. You can learn more about Maria here. I'm not positive that Matias & Maria ever legally married. If they were both slaves as I predict they were, it is possible that their marriage was never documented. What I do know is, that Matias officially recognizes all of these 10 children to be his. If they were not married, this speaks big of him. This was a time when many illegitimate children were born for reasons such as adultery or father's not wanting the financial responsibility.  So really giving all these children his last name & claiming them as his own is a big deal. 

On the 1910 census Matias is found living in Gurabo all by himself. However, he is living next door to one of his sisters & her family. He declares himself single, black, working in a sugar cane field & as many at his time, illiterate. 

By 1920 Matias is still in Gurabo, but now living with his son named Ricardo Pabellon Santos. Ricardo is married at this time & has 7 children of his own. I image the living conditions in their home must of been very tight with 10 people in what I assume was a small house. I'm not sure how close Matias was with all his children but seeing that he lived with his son again towards the end of his life shows me that they must of had some what of a good relationship. I'm sure Ricardo wanted to help his elderly father, who in 1920 is still shown as working.

What is also interesting about these 2 census records is that both times Matias includes a second surname which is Ramirez. "Matias Pabellon Ramirez" would traditionally suggest that his father is a Pabellon & his mother a Ramirez. Although no where else (that I've located yet) is his name documented with both of these surnames, this just validates to me that this is the same Matias as the one found on the slave census record. 


Matias dies at the age of 95 in Gurabo in October 1925. The death record indicates that no one living had knowledge of who his grandparents were, so his family line ends for me here.

Matias lived such a long life. I only wish he left more behind for me to learn more about him. In all my searching, I found one other possible clue into his life. I found what I thought was a random birth record, it caught my eye because the father is named Matias Pabellon. However, the mother is not Maria. It's another woman. I know from my searches that there is no other Matias Pabellon in the town at the same time.  Could this be why him & Maria split? Did he have another family on the side? This would explain why Matias is found living alone in the 1910 census? I will have to do more digging to confirm it.

I'm so glad I even know about Matias. Sadly his life stories & name had passed away with him some time after his death because my father has no recollection of him. I discovered Matias all on my own via census records. What a life he must of lived. What a story he must of had. I hope to one day be able to piece more of it together.