Last week I took a look at the Lares municipal census of 1878 where I was able to find my 4th great-grandfather and learn some new details about him. So I continued to explore the new records of FamilySearch and saw that Vega Baja had some records online as well. I totally forgot that my grandmother’s father’s family was from Vega Baja and they seem to have been there for a while so I decided to take a look at the Vega Baja municipal census of 1841 to see if I could find anymore from my family. In this post I wanted to share those results.
Ancestors from
Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
I have two branches that have origins/spent some time in Vega Baja – both on my maternal side. However, one of these branches quickly jumps back to Morovis and other nearby towns. The second branch that comes from Vega Baja are my 3rd great-grandparents Agustín (Calderón) Meléndez and Ana Moran Nazario. So when I saw there were some new records online for Vega Baja I decided I would try and find something new on them since the Vega Baja church records are not online and so I haven’t been able to learn much about these 3rd great-grandparents for various years now. One new record I came across was the 1841 municipal census for Vega Baja and so I decided I would check it out!
Side note: What’s interesting about this line is that there might be some level of consanguinity but I haven’t been able to full prove it yet because I lack documentation that can bring these lines together. I am hopeful that I will be able to access the Vega Baja church records in the near future to learn more about these lines.
1841 Municipal Census
These older census records are fairly different from the U.S. census records we know and love. Despite, their similar yet different structure, not a ton of information was included in the 1841 Vega Baja census compared to say the 1878 Lares census. Nonetheless, finding any mention of my family before 1885 could bring about new information regarding my ancestor’s ages, race identifications, and children I have not been able to find before. So while looking in the barrios of Pugnado and Algarrobo I was able to find my 5th great-grandparents!
Both Pugnado (Afuera and Adentro) and Algarrobo are located on the western side of Vega Baja.
I have transcribed the image below so that reading it would be easier, especially since the titles for each column was all the way at the top of the sheet.
From this census record, we are able to learn that Juan Calderón was born about 1795 while his wife Concepción Nazario was born about 1805. According to the census, they are also married; however, we don’t know if this means by the church or that they’ve just been living together for many years and thus considered married/together. The family is listed as pardo (mixed race) and their patria (homeland) is listed as “P” – likely for Puerto Rico. Juan Calderón and all the sons are listed as “L” for work/profession which I imagine means labrador (laborer).
From this census I learn the names of six children, all of whom I had no idea about. These include:
Juan Francisco, born about 1833
Félix [?] (the name is cut from the page), born about 1835
Andrés Antonio, born about 1840
María del Carmen, born about 1829
María de la Cruz, born about 1833
María del Rosario, born 1835
Only two children’s births overlap, Juan Francisco and María de la Cruz but it is possible that one of them was going to turn 9 and since it hadn’t passed they were record as 8 as well.
I had other children related to Juan Calderón and Concepción Nazario named Luis (born about 1842), Antonio (born about 1847), and Flora (born about 1863). All of these children would have been born after the 1841 municipal census. My own ancestor Juan Calderón was said to have been born about 1829, but again, without his actual birth it is hard to say when exactly he would have been born.
Where to next...?
Unfortunately, there are no religious records online for Vega Baja so I cannot continue my research on Juan Calderón and Concepción Nazario. However, having some information is better than nothing! For example, having a better idea of when Juan Calderón and Concepción Nazario were born and knowing their racial identification can be helpful when conducting more research on them in the future.
I am hopeful that in the future I can learn more about these ancestors through their baptisms and marriages to better unravel their identities and to continue to grow these ancestral lines into earlier Puerto Rican history.