Salinas
Back in 2015 I visited Salinas, Puerto Rico. Here I was able to meet some cousins who were Correa distant cousins as well and was able to chat with them about our history. Since this is the more recent town in our family’s history finding baptism, marriage, and death records has been fairly easy. My great-grandfather was born there in 1920 along with my 2nd great-grandfather born there in 1895. My 3rd great-grandfather Manuel Correa Ortiz, was either born in Salinas or Coamo, I have yet to find a baptism record for him. His siblings born before and after him are registered in the baptismal books of Salinas yet my Manuel is estimated to have been born around 1858 and he doesn’t appear in the 1st baptismal book of Salinas which covers the years 1854-1867. Maybe he’s a bit older than I expected or maybe he was actually born in Coamo?
Coamo
My 4th great-grandparents married in Coamo in 1850, They were Juan (Nepomucino) Correa and Bibiana Ortiz. They’re both listed as “pardos libres” and being natives of that town. Their parents are listed as José León Correa and María de la Cruz Rodríguez for Juan Correa and Antonia Ortiz for Bibiana Ortiz. It is possible that the first children from this relationship were baptized in Coamo and honestly I’m not sure if I’ve ever checked the first years after their marriage to see if any children were born in Coamo. However, by 1854 they had registered their daughter María Asunción Correa Ortiz.
A quick look at the baptismal book of Coamo between 1851-1855 show no “Correa” children indexed at the end of the book.
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| Marriage Nº 193- Juan Correa & Bibiana Ortiz [FamilySearch] |
Moving up to my 5th great-grandfather José de León Correa, he married twice in Coamo – once in 1809 to Rosa Ortiz and a second time in 1819 to my 5th great-grandmother María de la Cruz Rodríguez Ruiz. In his first marriage in 1809 it seems that the church in San Juan was aware of his marriage seeing as how it mentions … “Santa Yglesia Catedral de Puerto Rico”. It seems that José León Correa had permission or was approved by the church in San Juan to marry and the priest in Coamo was aware of that. No race is mentioned here for them but in other records José León Correa appears as “pardo libre”.
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| Marriage- José León Correa & Rosa Ortiz [FamilySearch] |
The question now is: Where in San Juan are they registered?
San Juan
In San Juan for the 1700s there was one church that appears on FamilySearch which is the “Iglesia Católica, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios”. What’s interesting is that in the notes it states: “La iglesia también se conoce por las denominaciones Catedral de San Juan, Basílica Menor o Sagrario de la Santa Iglesia Catedral” (FamilySearch). Here we see the same terminology of Catedral de San Juan and Santa Iglesia Catedral, so my hunch is that my family should be somewhere within these books.
But unfortunately… I can’t find ANYTHING!
I’ve searched between 1783-1800 in the San Juan pardos baptisms searching for José León Correa. According to the records I have he would have been born around 1790, so technically this range of years should be enough to find him… Nothing!
Next I checked marriages for Juan Francisco Correa and María Eugenia Carcaño – my 6th great-grandparents. I searched the white marriages from 1772-1778, the pardo weddings between May 1797-1818… Nothing! I even checked in Guaynabo which is nearby between Aug. 1771-Dec. 1790 and nothing there as well. I know there is a chunk missing before 1797 in the pardo marriages so it’s possible that they’re in there somewhere.
I’ve also checked the confirmations of San Juan between 1792-1808 for any Correa Carcaño children… nothing! Here there are a mix of white, mixed, and slave children so I would technically catch one of their confirmations one way or another, but still no hints of a Juan Francisco Correa or María Eugenia Carcaño.
My last searches were the death records of San Juan, I’ve searched between 1803-1809, 1820-1834 for my 6th great-grandparents and of course… nothing!
Something I do suggest is keeping track of these searches in the notes of your family tree, I have mine on Ancestry and so I have notes on what and where I have searched. That way I’m not searching in circles for their records, especially when you stop and pick up searching months later.
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| Notes on José León [Personal Family Tree] |
Elsewhere?
It’s possible that they were registered somewhere else and that José León Correa really wasn’t from San Juan. Usually when someone says they’re from another town, jumping into those records I have been able to find them. This is the first time that I’m having such a hard time finding even any hint of them. There are actually very little mentions of “Correa” in San Juan to begin with. Some people have suggested that he might have been from Arecibo where there are a good number of Correas, but seeing as how the records for this town aren’t online I haven’t been able to search their church records. Coamo is another town with Correas, but as you can see my family is from there and I have searched those years to no avail.
Conclusions
Really there aren’t any! My next guess would be to push back the years and see if possibly José León was born before the 1780s. This would make him a bit older than Rosa Ortiz when they married seeing as how she was born about 1791 but honestly in this time and even recently, men could be older than their wives and no one would blink any eye. Another theory is that they were not consider pardo in San Juan but “mulato” or even “blanco” but I feel that might more of an off theory. Still, it’s important to keep an eye open for changing of races across documents which definitely happened back in the days.
Also, I’d have to continue searching in nearby towns for any hints of Juan Francisco Correa and María Eugenia Carcaño. Hoping that sooner rather than later I’m able to crack this wall once again and push these lines further back!