Back in 2019, I had learned rather be chance that my Rivera family had spent some time in Guaynabo. Whether to only marry or not, José de Rivera and his wife Gertrudis Román married in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico the 2nd of March 1802. Discovering their marriage record allowed me to learn the name of their parents, two new sets of 5th great-grandparents. You can read more about this discover in this post.
This post will focus on trying to identify the Román Ayala branch of my family tree by using associated family members as potential leads.
RomÁn AYala bRanch in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Gertrudis Román, my 4th great-grandmother, was the daughter of Manuel Román and Margarita Ayala. The marriage lists her as parda libre (mixed race, free) and it seems that she would have been a native of Guaynabo. By identifying my 5th great-grandparents, I was able to learn some more about their children born in Guaynabo. These include:
- Gertrudis (b. abt: 1784)
- Francisco (b: 1786)
- Olaya (b: 1788)
- Mónica (b: 1793)
- María (b: 1800)
There are two babies that died in Guaynabo in 1790 and 1796 listed as the children of a Manuel Román. Though no mother is listed, it could be possible given the birth years which fit in between Olaya and Mónica and then between Mónica and María. However, there is another Manuel Román living in the town so it’s possible for them to be his son instead.
All of Manuel Román and Margarita Ayala’s children that I have discovered were baptized in the San Pedro Mártir Catholic church located in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Out of the four children for which I have found baptism records, three have “Ayala” godparents, these being:
- Francisco (Padrinos: José Calixto Meléndez + Isabel Ayala)
- Olaya (Padrinos: Ramón Ayala + Francisca Ayala)
- Mónica (Padrinos: Ramón Ayala + Francisca Ayala)
Given that many godparents were siblings to one of the parents, could Isabel, Ramón, and Francisca be brothers and sisters to Margarita Ayala? Since Isabel seems to be married, I checked the marriages in Guaynabo before 1786 (Francisco’s baptism) to see if I could learn more about Isabel Ayala.
From the marriage above, we can observe that Isabel Ayala married José Calixto Meléndez Gómez the 29th of December 1785 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. It lists Isabel as the legitimate daughter of Juan Fernández Allala [sic] and Constansa [sic] de Medina. One of the witnesses to the marriage was listed as “Juan Fernando Ayala”, who at first glance seems like a typo of the father’s name, but documents later show us that Juan Fernández’s father also had the same name (sometimes it was Fernando, other times Fernández), so potentially this is Isabel’s father or grandfather appearing as a witness.
Searching for more marriages in Guaynabo, we come across the marriage of María Josefa Allala [sic], legitimate daughter of Juan Fernández and Constansa [sic] Medina. She married Juan de Mata Avilés Acosta the 13th of May 1802 in Guaynabo as well.
Now we had two sisters, Isabel and María Josefa, daughters of Juan Fernández Ayala and Constanza (de) Medina. Could Margarita Ayala be a sister as well?
Román Ayala BRanch in
Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Francisco Román Ayala’s baptism record provides us another interesting piece of information, it says: “…de Manuel Román y de Margarita Allala del vecindario del Arecibo”. This shows us that Manuel Román and Margarita Ayala were previously from Arecibo before arriving in Guaynabo. Would Isabel also be from Arecibo as well?
I was able to get my hands on a few baptismal and marriage records from Arecibo, this allowed me to learn a bit more about this family, specifically the Ayala family.
Isabel Ayala was baptized in December 1767 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico – the daughter of Juan Fernando Ayala and Constanza de Medina.
I was also able to find Juan Fernando’s marriage record to Constanza in Arecibo as well, marrying the 3rd of December 1759, he was the son of Juan Fernández Ayala and Josefa de los Olivos while Constanza was the daughter of Juan de Medina and Rosa Ocasio.
So far I haven’t been able to find a marriage record for Manuel Román and Margarita Ayala since I didn’t have access to the marriages that took place between the 1760- early 1800s. Since Francisco was born in 1786 we know they would have been married in that timeframe and no marriage record appears for them in Guaynabo around that time as well.
Similarly, Gertrudis doesn’t appear baptized in Guaynabo between 1776-1803, this means that if her parents married in Arecibo, she could have been born and baptized there as well before her family moved to Guaynabo. Her baptism would likely be in “libro 5” which covers the timeframe she was born and I didn’t have access to that book as well.
The last important record discovered in Arecibo was the marriage record for Juan Fernández Ayala and Josefa de los Olivos. They married the 3rd of July 1738 in Arecibo, Juan Fernández was the illegitimate son of Margarita Ayala while Josefa was the daughter of Alonso de los Olivos and Clemencia Franquiz.
Interestingly (or maybe coincidentally), we see that my 5th great-grandmother shares names with my potential 7th great-grandmother – could she be her namesake?
Conclusion
Despite all of this research, I am not 100% that Margarita Ayala is the daughter of Juan Fernando Ayala and Constanza de Medina. It is possible of course, but without direct documents tying them together, I can’t be 100% certain. If my theory that Isabel Ayala, godmother of Francisco Román Ayala, is the sister of Margarita Ayala is correct, then I have unlocked various generations of my family tree. Below is a chart of generations 5-8, some of the branches go back to my 10th great-grandparents alive in the early 1600s-late 1500s. This type of research is usually referred to as “FAN” (Family, Associates, and Neighbors) and allows genealogists to use people living around them and associated to certain ancestors to discover more about their lives and origins. Hoping to confirm my research sometime in the near future!
