More pieces to the puzzle?

With the official indexed release of the 1940 Census, I’ve been searching endlessly for my ancestors hidden within these documents. Only one of my grandparents was born by 1940 and so I’ve only be able to locate all my great grandparents and some great great parents- those that were still alive. The 1940 Census doesn’t bring that much light into my family but it does help add some distant cousins and push some branches out collaterally. But there is my great grandfather, Manuel Correa Rivera, who was very elusive to me until about sometime last year and so there is still a lot to learn about him.

According to the 1930 Census, and if all my information is correct, Manuel was living with his cousin Celedonio Secola and his wife and daughter in San Juan, Puerto Rico. By 1940, Celedonio has returned to Salinas, Puerto Rico and is living there with his mother as well as ‘single’ which is interesting. Both report that by 1935 they were still living in San Juan.

Now, looking for Manuel was a bit difficult. I tried searching with various things such as name, location, age, sex, etc. Finally I found a “Manolo” Correa Rivera living in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico who I’m pretty sure is my great grandfather. A lot of the information matches with what I know or have about him.

His race was ‘colored’, he was born about 1920, it says his residence in 1935 was Ponce which is interesting because in my grandfather’s birth certificate he mentions Ponce and so does my grandfather whenever I talk to him about his father. So maybe he lived there for a while and considers that home? I have to look into that more! What kind of sealed the deal for me was that his profession was a chauffeur to the family he lived with. Now, how many Manuel Correa Riveras can be living in San Juan, Puerto Rico born abt 1920 of color with the profession of chauffeur? To me, there are too many coincidences for it NOT to be him!

Manuel Correa Rivera living with Luis Sanchez Vahamonde in San Juan, 1940.

I just really hope that this is the same person I’ve been trying to track down for about a little over a year now! Too many pieces fit together into this puzzle for it not to be him, even despite having the name “Manolo” which after I looked up is a nickname for Manuel so easily the family could have referred to him as Manolo. So far this is the only person that matches the search and so I hope that everything is correct!