When you research genealogy, you always have to be ready to change long-held beliefs; to learn that our ancestors came from somewhere else, after believing for so long their origins from a particular place (who does starts anywhere anyway?). Before I could remember (and I have the picture to prove it), our family has taken many trips to Guánica to visit our beloved family there. Those are some of the most cherished moments of my life. I have no connection to any other paternal origin, no matter how far back it goes, and it goes way back to another time and place. But that is another story...
Guánica is such an idillyc place; a "post-card" city in south Puerto Rico, with one of the most beautiful and scenic harbors on the Island, so beautiful, inviting and strategically important that even the US Army chose it as their venue of entry onto Puerto Rico in 1898. By that date, all of my paternal grandparents had moved to Guanica from other places. Due to its harbor, Guanica was a notable town by the time it seceded from San German and joined Yauco in 1876. The book: "Guanica: Notas Para Su Historia" tells us that by that time, there were about 290 families within its "geographical limits", but the town itself was very small. The town was a hot, humid, muddy place with less than 100 houses and huts in only one main street; today's Avenida Veinticinco de Julio.
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I estimate that the Santiagos and the Lozadas moved from Lajas to Guánica in several waves between 1890 and 1905. They all found work in the new, American-owned sugar industry, that had its first harvest in 1903. It was a tough life working in the fields. Their pay was meager, and their skin was darkened by the sun. Death by accidents and diseases such as small pox, malaria (paludism) and tuberculosis was common. Many died from the disease. So many that I should consider myself lucky!
Manuel Santiago (and Valentina Torres). Lajas
---Luis Santiago (and Antonia Melendez Pabon). Lajas
-----Monserrate Santiago Melendez (and Lorenza Delgado). Lajas-Guanica
-------Domingo Santiago Delgado (Ana M. García Lozada). Guanica-NYC
---------Domingo Delgado García (Jenny Quiñones Vázquez). Guanica-NYC-Canovanas
-----------Cesar Delgado (yours truly). Canóvanas
It is not the same when you are born in a city that has a long history before you, such as San German or Coamo, to when you are born in a new city where you are part of its formation and early growth. When you see development where before there was nothing. That is what made my family's love for Guánica so great; They built this city from nothing through hard work, sweat, and tears, at the turn of the 19th Century. They built the houses that still stand, and they passed them on to their children.
My grandparents presence in Guánica covers a period of about 50 years, from the moment my grandfather Domingo Santiago was born (1894), to the moment he took his family to New York City in 1947. Before that, at least 3 generations of the Santiagos and the Lozadas lived in Lajas. It all began at the time and place of one of the most important periods of our history; the Spanish American War and the US invasion of 1898. I can only imagine how my Great-Grandparents felt when they saw the American Army marching north on Veinticinco de Julio Street, to meet the Spanish Army on the battlefield near Yauco. It must have been an impressive sight. They have just moved here! Their young children were all here! Did they feel anguish or hope? It was not long until they realized a new social, economic and political order was about to unfold before them. Life would be in many ways better, in other ways, well it can't get worse than death itself...
While in Guánica, Grandfather Domingo did not stay put long enough. His name, residence, jobs and even wives changed many times. He was sort of a rolling stone. He stopped using the Santiago surname and adopted Delgado as his main surname. Why? No one knows. Back then every one with the Delgado surname may have been associated with the old Delgado patriarchs of Yauco. Maybe he felt it opened doors for him. I still don't know how or if, he is related to that old Delgado family that began with Cristobal Delgado in 1710, and who owned many slaves and was a pioneer founder of Yauco. But that is another story....
Domingo Sr. first married Hortensia Colon in 1919. We don't know how this marriage ended up, or if they had any children. Between 1912 and 1925 he endures the experiences of losing his grandmother, both parents, and three brothers, all to disease. On October 1934 he married Ana María García Lozada (see trees above and below). In 1935 he was working as a Payroll Clerk for PRRA in Juana Diaz. My aunt Wanda was only 4-months old. Three years later (1938) my father, Domingo Jr. was born. They were very poor, he remembers. For a time, they ate what little they could; the catch of the day with "funche". The kids gnawed on sugar cane as dessert. It is very likely that this poverty forced my grandfather to migrate to New York.
Pablo Garcia, of Cuba (with Maria de la Luz Sanchez, Cuba)
---Matias Garcia Sanchez, Cuba (with Juana Berenguer Alvarez*. Cadiz, Spain)
------Miguel Garcia Berenguer, Mayaguez* (with Gabriela Rosado Jusino, Guanica-?)
---------Juan Garcia Rosado, Mayaguez (with Graciana Lozada Hernandez, Lajas)
-----------Ana Maria Garcia Lozada, of Guanica (with Domingo Santiago Delgado, Guanica)
(*Thanks to Kevin Villamil for the data on my earliest Cuban ancestors)
Grandfather Domingo found work in a factory that made electrical components. They lived in the Barrio at 119th Street, Manhattan. They were now middle-class. They were putting good food on the table, had all modern commodities and some money to spare. Grandfather finally found the break from poverty and misery he had searched for so long. Eventually he and Ana divorced. Ana remarried and Aunt Maritza was born in New York, Dad joined the Air Force. Fate ruled that I was to be born in Canóvanas. Dad met mom in NY soon after he returned home after serving in the Air Force, during her summer vacations. Mom returned to PR and Dad followed her. Here we are.
Grandfather returned to Puerto Rico to live his last days after a battle with lung cancer. He died on April 21, 1962 in Ponce's Oncological Hospital and is now a resident of Guanica's largest Barrio. Many years after, Grandmother Ana passed away in New York and was buried there, in the city and among the people she grew to love.
In 2002 Dad took me and my brother Nelson to Upper Manhattan. He showed us around his old neighborhood; the Barrio. It changed incredibly, he told us. It wasn't the close-knit, West Side Story-like neighborhood of poor Italian, Jewish and Puerto Rican immigrants in which he grew up in. The old apartment building where he grew up had been renovated. Instead, it was a new neighborhood where the new well-to-do New Yorkers lived. We could never afford living there now! We walked around thinking we could find old friends of his, but of course, no one from that time was anywhere around. We left the area and drove to "El Barrio Chino", Times Square and the World Trade Center. The rubble was still being excavated. Then we returned to my brother's home in New Jersey with an experience that will last for a lifetime, and beyond. I cherish that trip with my dad and brother. In a way, my dad closed many circles of his life here. Not long after, I decided to begin researching our family history.
a.
b.
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A. The author as a 1-year old toddler with his uncle-grandfather Luis Antonio Garcia Lozada and his wife, Francisca Badillo. Dr. Veve Street, Guanica. 1966. B. 30 years later in 1997 (The author, behind the camera)
A view of Guanica at the turn of the 19th century
My Grandparents Domingo Santiago Delgado and Ana Maria Garcia Lozada were born in Guánica, but Domingo's father and mother hailed from Lajas (the Santiagos), Guayanilla (the Delgados). Ana Maria's parents came from Cuba via Mayaguez (the Garcias) and from Lajas (the Lozadas). They all eventually met in Guánica to start the family lines we know today and gave us the family identity we have. This is the story for many families from around the south-west; they formed in Guánica, made the town grow in numbers and in economy. Then, when the Central Guánica sugar boom ended or new opportunities arose elsewhere, they left to spread all over the island and beyond. In that sense Guánica became a gathering place, a train station where families formed, grew and then moved somewhere else. And no matter where they moved to, they always returned to Guánica, to gather with those who stayed behind and in the end, to find an eternal resting place.
"El barrio mas grande que tiene Guanica es el Cementerio Municipal..."
("The biggest ward in Guanica is its Municipal Cemetery...")
a local saying
I estimate that the Santiagos and the Lozadas moved from Lajas to Guánica in several waves between 1890 and 1905. They all found work in the new, American-owned sugar industry, that had its first harvest in 1903. It was a tough life working in the fields. Their pay was meager, and their skin was darkened by the sun. Death by accidents and diseases such as small pox, malaria (paludism) and tuberculosis was common. Many died from the disease. So many that I should consider myself lucky!
Manuel Santiago (and Valentina Torres). Lajas
---Luis Santiago (and Antonia Melendez Pabon). Lajas
-----Monserrate Santiago Melendez (and Lorenza Delgado). Lajas-Guanica
-------Domingo Santiago Delgado (Ana M. García Lozada). Guanica-NYC
---------Domingo Delgado García (Jenny Quiñones Vázquez). Guanica-NYC-Canovanas
-----------Cesar Delgado (yours truly). Canóvanas
It is not the same when you are born in a city that has a long history before you, such as San German or Coamo, to when you are born in a new city where you are part of its formation and early growth. When you see development where before there was nothing. That is what made my family's love for Guánica so great; They built this city from nothing through hard work, sweat, and tears, at the turn of the 19th Century. They built the houses that still stand, and they passed them on to their children.
My grandparents presence in Guánica covers a period of about 50 years, from the moment my grandfather Domingo Santiago was born (1894), to the moment he took his family to New York City in 1947. Before that, at least 3 generations of the Santiagos and the Lozadas lived in Lajas. It all began at the time and place of one of the most important periods of our history; the Spanish American War and the US invasion of 1898. I can only imagine how my Great-Grandparents felt when they saw the American Army marching north on Veinticinco de Julio Street, to meet the Spanish Army on the battlefield near Yauco. It must have been an impressive sight. They have just moved here! Their young children were all here! Did they feel anguish or hope? It was not long until they realized a new social, economic and political order was about to unfold before them. Life would be in many ways better, in other ways, well it can't get worse than death itself...
a.
a. Guánica Harbor and the monument commemorating the US Army Guánica Campaign (photo by CID)
Toribio Alameda (and Maria Asuncion Padilla). Lajas
---Maria Bernarda Alameda Padilla (and Juan Lozada). Lajas
-----Marcelino Lozada Alameda (and Ramona Camacho). Lajas
-------Jose Maria Lozada Camacho (and Geronima Hernandez). Lajas
---------Graciela Lozada Hernandez (and Juan Garcia Rosado). Lajas
-----------Ana M. Garcia Lozada (Domingo Santiago Delgado). Guanica
-------------Domingo Delgado Garcia (Jenny Quiñones Vazquez). Guanica
---------------Cesar Delgado Quiñones (and Diana Cruzado). Canovanas
Domingo and Ana María, ca. 1947
Central Guanica
Pablo Garcia, of Cuba (with Maria de la Luz Sanchez, Cuba)
---Matias Garcia Sanchez, Cuba (with Juana Berenguer Alvarez*. Cadiz, Spain)
------Miguel Garcia Berenguer, Mayaguez* (with Gabriela Rosado Jusino, Guanica-?)
---------Juan Garcia Rosado, Mayaguez (with Graciana Lozada Hernandez, Lajas)
-----------Ana Maria Garcia Lozada, of Guanica (with Domingo Santiago Delgado, Guanica)
(*Thanks to Kevin Villamil for the data on my earliest Cuban ancestors)
Dad, Aunt Wanda and Aunt Maritza in NY, late 1950's
Grandfather returned to Puerto Rico to live his last days after a battle with lung cancer. He died on April 21, 1962 in Ponce's Oncological Hospital and is now a resident of Guanica's largest Barrio. Many years after, Grandmother Ana passed away in New York and was buried there, in the city and among the people she grew to love.
Domingo Sr's Gravesite (Photo by CID)
In 2002 Dad took me and my brother Nelson to Upper Manhattan. He showed us around his old neighborhood; the Barrio. It changed incredibly, he told us. It wasn't the close-knit, West Side Story-like neighborhood of poor Italian, Jewish and Puerto Rican immigrants in which he grew up in. The old apartment building where he grew up had been renovated. Instead, it was a new neighborhood where the new well-to-do New Yorkers lived. We could never afford living there now! We walked around thinking we could find old friends of his, but of course, no one from that time was anywhere around. We left the area and drove to "El Barrio Chino", Times Square and the World Trade Center. The rubble was still being excavated. Then we returned to my brother's home in New Jersey with an experience that will last for a lifetime, and beyond. I cherish that trip with my dad and brother. In a way, my dad closed many circles of his life here. Not long after, I decided to begin researching our family history.
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