Cayetano de los Santos, who’s surname was shortened to Santos, was my 7th great grandfather via my maternal side of the family. Unfortunately, I don’t have documents on him or exact dates but I’m glad to have found him and talk about him nonetheless. Cayetano de los Santos was from, you guessed it, Toa Alta, Puerto Rico! Except this time it’s interesting because he’s from my maternal side of the family. This means that my paternal and maternal side of the family lived in the same town and in the same time frame as one another. It is also very possible that my parents are related to one another through these ancestors, they do share certain surnames with each other from Toa Alta so who knows if they lead back to common mutual ancestors.
Cayetano would have been born sometime in the early 1700s in Toa Alta, there he would marry Gertrudis Rivera Rodríguez and to my knowledge have three children together. It is very possible and likely that they had other children but being that I haven’t found anymore in the church records of Toa Alta I can only for sure say that there were three.
Cayetano and Gertrudis’ children would eventually make their way into Corozal, from Corozal they’d make their way into Morovis, then Vega Baja, and eventually back up towards San Juan. The family did a loop of sorts throughout the generations. I can’t be sure that Cayetano and Gertrudis died in either Toa Alta or Corozal, it is very possible that just the children moved into the next town and the parents stayed behind. Or also, that they all moved into Corozal together and start a new life there. Until I have further records I can’t be too sure about where they died.
Interestingly, I have found a document that could potentially point to my parents’ families knowing one another in the town of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. My 3rd great-grandfather had a brother named Ruperto Rivera Román born on the 25th of March 1819, son of Joseph de Rivera and Gertrudis Román. The family came forth on the 10th of April 1819 to baptize their son. In the document below you can see who the godparents were for Ruperto:
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| Ruperto Rivera Román – Bautismo, 1819 [FamilySearch] |
That’s right! Ruperto’s godparents were a Cayetano de los Santos and Gregoria Rivera! It is very possible that Ruperto’s godparents were my 7th great grandparents from my maternal side of the family. That would mean that my 4th great grandparents and my 7th great grandparents knew one another! I know that they are pretty far apart, 4th and 7th generation ancestors, but due to child birth, longevity, etc. and how some generations waited longer to have children and thus creating such a big gap. The years do coincide and so do the town and the names; I wouldn’t be surprised at all if these were my Cayetano de los Santos y Gertrudis Rivera. It makes me think… could Gertrudis and Joseph have been brothers and sisters? Maybe she was an aunt or someone close to him, a cousin? They both are surnamed Rivera and living in 18th century Toa Alta it is very possible that they had some type of family connection.