Some time ago last year I realized that the Familysearch collection for Puerto Rican church records included some indexed record entries for people in my family who were either still living or had recently passed away – basically from the recent generations which are harder to research. Except since they were indexed records only and I was not yet allowed to see them and confirm the information the records had listed. Some indexes had evident typos and I knew this because these were people I personally knew; also because the script can be difficult for either people or computer to analyze. However, it was helpful in providing some hints to recent generations of families who had moved to San Juan and the surrounding areas and I had saved some of the links to people in my tree.
Recently though, many of these records were added meaning that I am now able to see the actual records themselves. Which was great because it allowed me to confirm information I had but also provide new information about my family as well.
I want to focus this post on the new Santurce records that were added and what I was able to learn from them.
Where is Santurce?
If you have never heard of Santurce, here is some information about this barrio. Santurce’s founding dates back to the late 1700s when it was originally known as San Mateo de Cangrejos. The name was later changed to “Santurce”, the Hispanicized spelling of Pablo Ubarri’s town of origin “Santurtzi”, in the Basque region of Spain. According to the town’s Wikipedia page it seems that this change from San Mateo de Cangrejos to Santurce caused controversy as it had become gentrified due to the construction of a railway system and steam tramway between San Juan and Río Piedras in the 1800s. Currently, it is one of the top ten most-populated areas of Puerto Rico. To learn more about Santurce, check out the Wiki Page!
Santurce records
The Santurce church records are from a few different churches in the area, specifically I was able to find records from Parroquia San Vicente de Paúl, Parroquia San Jorge, Parroquia San Juan Bosco, and Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen – all churches in the Santurce area.
Today I will focus on three specific records from these church records and what I was able to discover.
Parroquia San Vicente de Paúl - Santurce
This first record came as a surprise to me when I found it, mainly because family lore is that my great-grandparents were not married. However, this record proves otherwise!
This record is the marriage between Félix Vélez and Rosalía Avilés, my great-grandparents. They were from Utuado and Lares respectfully, but ended up marrying in Santurce in 1950. By then according to the marriage they had been living 15 years in cohabitation or “concubinage” and had two children: José Antonio (age 13) and Carmen María (age 10) who were both legitimatized by this marriage. Carmen María Vélez is my paternal grandmother.
What is also interesting to note according to the marriage is that Félix Vélez was not baptized and therefore had to get baptized in the same church (San Vicente de Paúl) in order to get married. Rosalía on the other-hand was baptized in her hometown of Lares and her baptism can be found on “L. 49, Fol: 475”. This would mean that her baptism is in book (L = libro) 49 on page (Fol = Folio) 475.
This is super helpful because (1) I would have gone crazy looking for a baptism in Utuado for Félix and would ultimately have not find one and (2) if I ever decide to reach out to the Lares church I could give them specifically the book and page number for Rosalía’s baptism in order for them to pull it for me.
Parroquia San Jorge - Santurce
Finding this baptism record could have probably moved me to tears, because it culminates so much of the confusion and euphoria my research has brought me since I first started – specifically my maternal Correa family. It is the baptism for my grandaunt who unfortunately passed away as a child, Luz Lilliam Correa Miranda.
The reason finding and looking at this baptism is so important to me is because it helps to confirm something that I doubted for a long time in my research, and that is that my grandfather’s paternal family is from Salinas and that my 2nd great-grandfather was Julio Correa. Granted, here the paternal grandparents are listed as Julio Correa and Octavia Charles which is technically incorrect since Octavia Charles was Julio’s mother and not spouse, but it nonetheless shows that I was on the right track all those years ago when I first began my blog. Other documents that I have found over the years help to corroborate my Correa family’s origin in Salinas, Puerto Rico – a town I was able to visit for the first time in 2015.
My grandfather’s sister died the 29 March 1950 shortly before her fifth birthday due to meningitis. Manuel Correa’s sons say that he was distraught by the death of his daughter and he was never really the same man after it.
Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen - Santurce
This last record that I want to share today is not an important document for my genealogy but it just shows how families stick together. It is a document where my great-grandparents appear as godparents.
In this baptism in 1943 my great-grandparents Félix Vélez and Rosalía Avilés serve as the godparents of Ismael González Durán, and though at first it seems that they are not related given no overlap in first surnames, the father and grandmother combo for Ismael González Durán stood out to me – Juan Ramón González and Antonia González. This is because Juan Ramón González, born in Lares the 28 December 1900, was the younger brother of Dionisia González, mother of Rosalía Avilés González.
Rosalía’s mother Dionisia González passed away in 1918 succumbing to the Spanish Flu in Río Prieto, Lares, Puerto Rico. Yet it is heartwarming to see that Rosalía was still connected to her maternal family even staying in contact in the capital many years after her mother’s death and far from her native Lares. Rosalía lost her mother at only four years old so I can not imagine she remembered a lot about her, but still, she remained attached to her maternal roots all those years later.
This is important and helpful when tracing different family branches as it shows us that many times family members migrated in waves or in certain patterns that brought them together whether in new towns or new countries.
Final Thoughts
In the grand scheme of things, though I did not learn much about my family’s past I did learn more about some of the present generations. Seeing the names of people I know or knew and the ancestors I got to meet myself warms my heart; it helps to make me feel even closer to my family and my ancestors. At the same time it feels a bit surreal that after so many years of research, as I am getting older I am seeing the ancestors that once felt distant on paper but close in person combine into one sole category – ancestors of the past.
The picture below is a perfect example of that – it is a photo of my great-grandmother Rosalía Avilés González and myself as a baby. My family had gone to Lares, Puerto Rico up in the mountains so that she would get a chance to meet me. Rosalía Avilés would end up passing away in 1994 and I think we got to see her another time before she passed but I was too young to remember her. Nonetheless, this was an ancestor I was able to meet; though I have no tangible memories of her I cherish the photos I have with her.
So fascinated I also loves family search and other’s ones.
And in this search they ate many families members who are searching ,but not relate to me I guess needs to continue to build my family tree.
Your story is fascinating.
Take care
Iam from Aguadilla but living in Massachusetts