english version

19-03-2023

07-01-2011

wersja polska

CÁCERES IN PUERTO RICO - their origins?
https://www.wajszczuk.pl/english/drzewo/puerto.htm


Puerto Rico - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico - officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. (…) Originally populated for centuries by an aboriginal people known as Taíno, the island was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain during his second voyage to the Americas on November 19, 1493. (…) Spain held Puerto Rico for over 400 years, despite attempts at capture of the island by the French, Dutch, and British. In 1898, Spain ceded the archipelago, as well as the Philippines, to the United States as a result of its defeat in the Spanish–American War under the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1898. In 1917, the U.S. granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans; Below are listed (my wife) Carmen’s known ancestors in Puerto Rico:

Felipe Cáceres-?/Inocencia Vasquez-? (? - ?) - from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico 

     Wstecz/Back Juan de Dios Cáceres-Vasquez/Carmela Martinez-Colberg (? - ?)

            Wstecz/Back Juan Silvestre Cáceres-Martinez (1897-1972)/Carlina Ortiz-Ramirez-(Mercado) (1904-1968)


During the process of gathering material for reconstructing the Family Tree of the Wajszczuk Family, initially of its branch from Siedlce in Poland and subsequently reaching far into the past to its roots, we initiated gathering information about the Family of my wife Carmen, who was born in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Initially information was gathered from members of her immediate family, then from her more distant relatives living in Puerto Rico, during numerous visits there and trips around the island. All these were oral reminiscences and the information was often incomplete and lacking some of the details, in particular some dates. The memory encompassed only three earlier generations. No written documents were available; some members of the family left Cabo Rojo and spread to other locations on the island. So far we did not have an opportunity to conduct any searches in the parish or secular archives. A brief review of a recent monograph by Luis M. Diaz Soler:”PUERTO RICO DESDE SUS ORIGENES HASTA EL CESE DE LA DOMINACION ESPAÑOLA - (Puerto Rico - from the earliest times to the end of Spanish domination) 1994 Universidad de Puerto Rico. ISBN-0-8477-0177-8, revealed only a very few entries of the names of interest to us (see below).

Alonso de Cáceres 1521 was mentioned as a “mayordomo” of the San Juan Cathedral (this was the year of its construction).
Ortiz, Diego - 1565 – perished fighting the Indians at the river Guayama
Ortiz, José Maria - 1819 – in opposition to governor Meléndez
Ortiz Renta(s), José Luciano - 1820 – Provincial Deputy
  - 1822 – member of the “Administration … of Public Works"  
Ortiz Reata, José year? - elector for the Office of the Presecutor General

Initial Internet search, followed by a Google search, and based predominantly on information provided by Wikipedia, revealed several additional Cáceres names in the “New World”, appearing earliest and most commonly in Hispaniola (Dominican Republic) but also occasionally in other countries settled by the Spanish explorers. I also remembered that Carmen mentioned on several occasions her early recollections from childhood that her farther spoke with great pride of their ancestors that they were “noble”, proud, important and “people of substance”. No other details survived in the family concerning their origin and fates in the “New World”. Early findings from the review in Wikipedia (summarized below) revealed the existence in the 19th century of at least three Cáceres families in the neighboring Dominican Republic, some of their members holding high offices. Thus, it is possible that in the course of turbulent events there early in the 19th century, perhaps, some of them decided to move to Puerto Rico – our search will continue to prove it! The last name probably originates from the town or province of Cáceres.


Spain – 1757 map (including Portugal)

Extremadura - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremadura

Extremadura (English /ˌɛkstrɨməˈdʊrə/; Spanish: [e(k)stɾemaˈðuɾa]; Extremaduran: Estremaura [ehtɾemaˈuɾa]) is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west. To the north it borders Castile and León (provinces of Salamanca and Ávila); to the south, it borders Andalusia (provinces of Huelva, Seville, and Córdoba); and to the east, it borders Castile–La Mancha (provinces of Toledo and Ciudad Real). Its official language is Spanish.

Lusitania, an ancient Roman province approximately including current day Portugal (except for the northern area today known as Norte Region) and a central western portion of the current day Spain, covered in those times today's Autonomous Community of Extremadura. Mérida (now capital of Extremadura) became the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania, and one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire.

It was part of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, but after its definite collapse in 1031 the Caliphate fragmented into small regional kingdoms, and the lands of Extremadura were included in the Taifa of Badajoz on two taifa periods. (…) After the Almohad disaster in Navas de Tolosa (1212), Extremadura fell to the troops led by Alfonso IX of León in approx. 1230.

Extremadura was the source of many of the initial Spanish conquerors (conquistadores) and settlers in America. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Gonzalo Pizarro, Juan Pizarro, Hernando Pizarro, Hernando de Soto, Pedro de Alvarado, Pedro de Valdivia, Inés Suárez, Alonso de Sotomayor, Francisco de Orellana, Pedro Gómez Duran y Chaves, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa were all born in Extremadura, and many towns and cities in America carry a name from their homeland:

Autonomous community
of Extremadura

Province of Cáceres.
It’s capital is the city of Cáceres

Municipality of Brozas
in the province of Caceres


Spanish rule before appointment of Viceroy (1492-1536)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Viceroys_of_New_Spain#The_Indies

The (West) Indies

1492 – 1499 Christopher Columbus, as governor and viceroy of the Indies

1499 – 1502 Francisco de Bobadilla, as governor of the Indies

1502 – 1509 Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, as governor of the Indies – (see below)

1509 – 1518 Diego Columbus, as governor of the Indies until 1511, thereafter as viceroy

1518 – 1524 Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, as adelantado (governor-general) of Cuba

 

Cáceres – conquistador born (and died) in Spain

Nicolás Ovando y Cáceres was born in Brozas in 1460. Born into a noble and pious family, second son of Diego Fernández de Cáceres y Ovando, 1st Lord of the Manor House del Alcázar Viejo, and his first wife Isabel Flores de las Varillas (a distant relative of Hernán Cortés), Ovando entered the military Order of Alcántara, where he became a Master (Mestre or Maitre) or a Commander-Major (Comendador-Mayor). This Spanish military order, founded in 1156, resembled the Order of Templars, with whom it fought the Moors during the Reconquista. His elder brother was Diego de Cáceres y Ovando. His ancestor was Juan Blázquez de Cáceres, who was born in Ávila and was at the Conquest (from the Arabs) of Cáceres on April 23, 1229, from which he took his surname.

As Commander of Lares de Guahaba Ovando became a favorite of the Spanish Catholic Monarchs, particularly of the pious Queen Isabella I. Thus, in response to complaints from Christopher Columbus and others about Francisco de Bobadilla the Spanish monarchs on September 3, 1501, appointed Ovando to replace Bobadilla. Ovando become the third Governor and Captain-General of the Indies, Islands and Firm-Land of the Ocean Sea.

Thus, on February 13, 1502, he sailed from Spain with a fleet of thirty ships. It was the largest fleet that had ever sailed to the New World. The thirty ships carried 30,500 colonists. Unlike Columbus's earlier voyages, this group of colonists was deliberately selected to represent an organized cross-section of Spanish society. The Spanish Crown intended to develop the West Indies economically and thereby expand Spanish political, religious, and administrative influence in the region. Along with him also came Francisco Pizarro, who would later explore western South America and conquer the Inca Empire. Another ship carried Bartolomé de las Casas, who became known as the 'Protector of the Indians' for exposing atrocities committed by Ovando and his subordinates. Hernán Cortés, a family acquaintance and distant relative, was supposed to sail to the Americas in this expedition, but was prevented from making the journey by an injury he sustained while hurriedly escaping from the bedroom of a married woman of Medellín.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_de_Ovando_y_C%C3%A1ceres


The Order of Alcántara (Spanish: Orden de Alcántara), also called the Knights of St. Julian,[1] was originally a military order of León, founded in 1166[2] and confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1177.[3]

Alcántara, is a town on the Tagus (which is here crossed by a bridge - cantara in Arabic, hence the name). The town is situated on the plain of Extremadura, a great field of conflict for the Muslims and Christians of Iberian Peninsula in the 12th century. Alcántara was first taken in 1167 by the King of León, Ferdinand II. In 1174 it fell again into the hands of Abu Yaqub Yusuf,[4] the third of the African Almohades; and was not recovered until 1214, when it was taken by Alfonso IX of León.[5]

Diego de Cáceres y Ovando, first-born son of Diego Fernández de Cáceres y Ovando, 1st Señor of the Manor House del Alcázar Viejo, and first wife Isabel Flores de las Varillas, a distant relative of Hernán Cortés

Caceres, Torre Ciguenas

was the 2nd Señor of the House de las Cigüeñas, at the Plaza de San Mateus of Cáceres,  in which he succeeded in 1487, Corregedor of Valladolid, Comendador-Mayor of Alcántara, in which conventual church he was interred.

Ancestors of Diego de Cáceres y Ovando and Fray Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres were:

Juan Blázquez de Cáceres, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bl%C3%A1zquez_de_C%C3%A1ceres, the Conqueror of Cáceres, who was a Spanish soldier and nobleman. Juan Blázquez de Cáceres was born in Ávila and was at the Conquest of Cáceres (from the Arabs), on April 23, 1229, from which he took his surname. He was married to Teresa Alfón and

- had at least one son, Blazco Múñoz de Cáceres, who died at 90 years and lived in Cáceres in 1270,

                    married to Pascuala Pérez, daughter of Pascual Pérez and wife Menga Marín,

- parents of Blazco Múñoz de Cáceres, Founder and 1st Lord of the Majorat of the same name, and

                   García Blázquez de Cáceres, who by one Marina Pérez had

                                      Fernán Blázquez de Cáceres, 2nd Lord of the Majorat de Blazco Múñoz. They

                                          were the ancestors of the Marqueses de Alcántara (de Villavicencio del

                                          Cuervo, May 13, 1667).[1]

 


Spanish conquests and expansion in the Caribbean region

1492 - Colony of Santo Domingo - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Saint-Domingue

1513 - Balboa's travel route to the “South Sea” (Pacific Ocean). Vasco Núñez de Balboa (c. 1475 – around January 12–21, 1519[1]), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_de_Balboa - was a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. In September 1510, he founded the first permanent settlement on mainland American soil, and called it Santa María la Antigua del Darién. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World.

1513 - Tierra Firme - Castilla de Oro (Colombian-Panamanian border region)

Early map of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, c. 1639 Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo and de las Casas documented that the island was called Haití ("Mountainous Land") by the Taíno.

Taino Indians - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno_people

Many people identify as descendants of the Taíno, most notably among the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, both on the islands and on the United States mainland. The concept of "living Taíno" has proved controversial. The people and society were long declared extinct.[52]

The Taíno were seafaring indigenous peoples of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. They were one of the Arawak peoples of South America,[1] and the Taíno language was a member of the Arawakan language family of northern South America.

At the time of Columbus' arrival in 1492, there were five Taíno chiefdoms and territories on Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic), each led by a principal Cacique (chieftain), to whom tribute was paid.At the time of Columbus' arrival in 1492, there were five Taíno chiefdoms and territories on Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic), each led by a principal Cacique (chieftain), to whom tribute was paid.

The five caciquedoms of Hispaniola at the time of the arrival of Christopher Columbus. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Haiti

Taino Queen (”caciqua”), called Anacaona, “The Golden Flower”, at the time of Spanish arrival in Hispaniola

 

Reception from Anacaona on Hispaniola for Bartolomew Columbus and his party

 

Cuba, the largest island on the Antilles, was originally divided into 29 chiefdoms. Most of the native settlements later became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining the original Taíno names, for instance; Havana, Batabanó, Camagüey, Baracoa and Bayamo.[2]

Puerto Rico also was divided into chiefdoms. As the hereditary head chief of Taíno tribes, the cacique was paid significant tribute. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the largest Taíno population centers may have contained over 3,000 people each (…)

Dominican girls at carnival, in Taíno garments and makeup (2005)

The Taíno were historically enemies of the neighboring Carib tribes, another group with origins in South America, who lived principally in the Lesser Antilles.[3]

Frank Moya Pons, a Dominican historian, documented that Spanish colonists intermarried with Taíno women. Over time, some of their mestizo descendants intermarried with Africans, creating a tri-racial Creole culture. 1514 census records reveal that 40% of Spanish men in the Dominican Republic had Taíno wives.[52]

A 2002 study conducted in Puerto Rico suggests that over 61% of the population possess Amerindian mtDNA.[54]

On average Puerto Ricans possess approximately 10-15% Native American MtDNA, most of it Taíno in origin; it is mixed into the genome in short pieces, consistent with a single short period of unions between the races several hundred years ago.[56]

Caribbean 1700 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_Caribbean

At the time of the European discovery of most of the islands of the Caribbean, three major Amerindian indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Taíno in the Greater Antilles, The Bahamas and the Leeward Islands; the Island Caribs and Galibi in the Windward Islands; and the Ciboney in western Cuba. The Taínos are subdivided into Classic Taínos, who occupied Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, Western Taínos, who occupied Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamian archipelago, and the Eastern Taínos, who occupied the Leeward Islands.[1] Trinidad was inhabited by both Carib speaking and Arawak-speaking groups.

Hispaniola - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola (Spanish: La Española; Haitian Creole: Ispayola; Taíno: Ayiti[3]) is the 22nd-largest island in the world, located in the Caribbean island group, the Greater Antilles. It is the second largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba, the tenth-most-populous island in the world, and the most populous in the Americas.

The island contains two sovereign nations, with the Dominican Republic occupying the easternmost 64% of the island's area, and Haiti the remainder. It is the site of the first European colonies founded by Christopher Columbus on his voyages in 1492 and 1493. The colonial terms Saint-Domingue and Santo Domingo are sometimes still applied to the whole island, although these names refer, respectively, to the colonies that became Haiti and the Dominican Republic.


Saint-Domingue – Haiti

Santo Domingo
Map of Haiti

Christopher Columbus arrived at the island during his first voyage to the Americas in 1492, where his flagship, the Santa Maria, sank after running aground on Christmas Day. During his arrival, he founded the settlement of La Navidad on the north coast of present-day Haiti. On his return the subsequent year, following the disbandment of La Navidad, Columbus quickly founded a second settlement farther east in present-day Dominican Republic, La Isabela. (…) After being destroyed by a hurricane, it was rebuilt on the opposite side of the Ozama River and called Santo Domingo. It is the oldest permanent European settlement in the Americas.

In 1665, French colonization of the island was officially recognized by King Louis XIV. The French colony was given the name Saint-Domingue.

French Saint-Domingue - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Haiti - (1625–1789): Its brief history: The Foundation of a Colony (1625–1711) - Under the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, Spain officially ceded the western third of Hispaniola to France which renamed the colony Saint-Domingue. Saint-Domingue quickly came to overshadow the east in both wealth and population. The Pearl of the Antilles” (1711–1789) - one of the richest colonies in the 18th century French empire. An estimated 790,000 African slaves (accounting in 1783–91 for a third of the entire Atlantic slave trade) worked on the sugar and coffee plantations. They produced about 40 percent of all the sugar and 60 percent of all the coffee consumed in Europe; Revolutionary period (1789–1804) – the rising of slaves, extreme cruelty of war, Napoleon was defeated (1802-1804) - In a final act of retribution, the remaining French were slaughtered by Haitian military forces. One exception was a military force of Poles from the Polish Legions that had fought in Napoleon's army. Some of them refused to fight against blacks, supporting the principles of liberty; also, a few Poles (around 100) actually joined the rebels (W³adys³aw Franciszek Jab³onowski was one of the Polish generals). Therefore, Poles were allowed to stay and were spared the fate of other whites. About 400 of the 5 280 Poles chose this option. http://haitikiskeyabohio.blogspot.com/2012/12/polish-descendants-in-haiti.html

W³adys³aw Franciszek Jab³onowski (25 October 1769–29 September 1802) was a Black Polish and French general. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Franciszek_Jab%C5%82onowski. He was of mixed ancestry - the illegitimate child of Maria Dealire, an English aristocrat, and an unidentified African. He acquired the nickname "Murzynek"- (“Negrito”).[1] Maria Dealire's husband, the Polish nobleman Konstanty Jab³onowski, accepted him as his son. (…) In 1783 he was admitted to the French military academy at Brienne-le-Château. There he was a schoolmate of Napoleon and Davout. (…) In 1794 he fought in Tadeusz Koœciuszko's uprising against Tsarist Russia. He participated in battles of Szczekociny, Warsaw, Maciejowice, and at Praga. In 1799 he was made General of Brigade of the Polish legions.[2] (…) From 1801 he was the leader of Legia Naddunajska. He was sent on his own request to Haiti in May 1802 (before the decision to send the rest of the Polish legions). There he worked to put down the Haitian Revolution. Jab³onowski died from yellow fever on September 29, 1802 in Jérémie, Haiti.[2] He is mentioned in Adam Mickiewicz's famous epic poem Pan Tadeusz in the context of a veteran of the Polish legions (…)

Haiti - The name Haïti was adopted (in 1801) by Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as the official name of independent Saint-Domingue, as a tribute to the Amerindian predecessors. Quisqueya (from Quizqueia) although used on both sides of the island is mostly adopted in the Dominican Republic.

Spanish Hispaniola - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Haiti - (1492–1625) Christopher Columbus established a settlement, La Navidad, near the modern town of Cap Haitien. It was built from the timbers of his wrecked ship Santa María, during his first voyage in December 1492. When he returned in 1493 on his second voyage he found the settlement had been destroyed and all 39 settlers killed. Columbus continued east and founded a new settlement at La Isabela on the territory of the present day Dominican Republic in 1493. The capital of the colony was moved to Santo Domingo in 1496, on the south west coast of the island also in the territory of the present day Dominican Republic. The Spanish returned to western Hispaniola in 1502, establishing a settlement at Yaguana, near modern day Léogane. A second settlement was established on the north coast in 1504 called Puerto Real near modern Fort Liberte – which in 1578 was relocated to a nearby site and renamed Bayaha.

Dominican Republic - When the French Revolution abolished slavery in the colonies on February 4, 1794, it was a European first,[12] and when Napoleon reimposed slavery in 1802 it led to a major upheaval by the emancipated black slaves. (…) After the French removed the surviving 7,000 troops in late 1803, the leaders of the revolution declared the new nation of independent Haiti in early 1804. (…) France demanded a high payment for compensation to slaveholders who lost their property, and Haiti was saddled with unmanageable debt for decades.[14] It became one of the poorest countries in the Americas, while the Dominican Republic, whose independence was won via a very different route[14] gradually has developed into the largest economy of Central America and the Caribbean. In the second 1795 Treaty of Basel (July 22), Spain ceded the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, later to become the Dominican Republic. (…)

Haitian Revolution - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution

The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) was a slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Republic of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution was the only slave revolt which led to the founding of a state. (…) The rebellion began with a revolt of black African slaves in August 21, 1791. It ended in November 1803 with the French defeat at the battle of Vertières. Haiti became an independent country on January 1, 1804.

Within the next ten days, slaves had taken control of the entire Northern Province in an unprecedented slave revolt. Whites kept control of only a few isolated, fortified camps. The slaves sought revenge on their masters through "pillage, rape, torture, mutilation, and death".[23] Because the plantation owners had long feared such a revolt, they were well armed and prepared to defend themselves. Nonetheless, within weeks, the number of slaves who joined the revolt reached some 100,000. Within the next two months, as the violence escalated, the slaves killed 4,000 whites and burned or destroyed 180 sugar plantations and hundreds of coffee and indigo plantations.[23] By 1792, slave rebels controlled a third of the island.

Apart from granting rights to the free people of color, the Assembly dispatched 6,000 French soldiers to the island.[24] Meanwhile, in 1793, France declared war on Great Britain. The white planters in Saint Domingue made agreements with Great Britain to declare British sovereignty over the islands. Spain, who controlled the rest of the island of Hispaniola, would also join the conflict and fight with Great Britain against France. The Spanish forces invaded Saint Domingue and were joined by the slave forces. (…) the French commissioners Sonthonax and Poverel freed the slaves in St. Domingue. It has recently been estimated that the slave rebellion resulted in the death of 350,000 Haitians and 50,000 European troops.[26].

One of the most successful black commanders was Toussaint L'Ouverture, a self-educated former domestic slave. (…) After the British had invaded Saint-Domingue, L'Ouverture decided to fight for the French if they would agree to free all the slaves. He brought his forces over to the French side in May 1794 and began to fight for the French Republic. Under the military leadership of Toussaint, the forces made up mostly of former slaves succeeded in winning concessions from the British and expelling the Spanish forces. In the end, Toussaint essentially restored control of Saint-Domingue to France. Toussaint defeated a British expeditionary force in 1798. In addition, he led an invasion of neighboring Santo Domingo (December 1800), and freed the slaves there on January 3, 1801. (…) Napoleon Bonaparte dispatched a large expeditionary force of French soldiers and warships to the island, led by Bonaparte's brother-in-law Charles Leclerc, to restore French rule. (…) L'Ouverture was promised his freedom if he agreed to integrate his remaining troops into the French army. L'Ouverture agreed to this in May 1802. He was later deceived, seized by the French and shipped to France. He died months later in prison at Fort-de-Joux in the Jura region.[8]  (…)

On 1 January 1804, Dessalines, the new leader under the dictatorial 1801 constitution, declared Haiti a free republic in the name of the Haitian people,[32] which was followed by the massacre of the remaining whites.[33(…) Fearing a return of French forces, Dessalines first expanded and maintained a significant military force. (…)Under the presidency of Jean Pierre Boyer, Haiti made reparations to French slaveholders in 1825 in the amount of 150 million francs, reduced in 1838 to 60 million francs, in exchange for French recognition of its independence. (…) Haitian forces, led by Boyer, invaded neighboring Dominican Republic in February 1822. This was the beginning of a 22-year occupation by Haitian forces.[40]

(...) After three centuries of Spanish rule, with French and Haitian interludes, the country became independent in 1821. The ruler, José Núñez de Cáceres, intended that the Dominican Republic be part of the nation of Gran Colombia, but he was quickly removed by the Haitian government and "Dominican" slave revolts. Victorious in the Dominican War of Independence in 1844, Dominicans experienced mostly internal strife over the next 72 years, and also a brief return to Spanish rule. (…)

Unification of Hispaniola - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_of_Hispaniola  

European colonization - By the late 18th century, the island of Hispaniola had been divided into two European colonies: Saint-Domingue, in the west, governed by France; and Santo Domingo, governed by Spain, occupying the eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola.

In 1804, following black slave uprisings since 1791, the French colony declared its independence as Haïti. Independence did not come easily, given the fact that Haiti had been France's most profitable colony, and the richest in the hemisphere. The colony was dubbed the Pearl of the Antilles, as a result of the sugar plantations worked by slaves; sugar had become a very expensive commodity in Europe.[4]

Meanwhile, on the eastern side, what was once the headquarters of Spanish colonial power in the New World historically had fallen into decline. At the time, Spain had most of its own resources focused on the Peninsular War and the various hard-fought wars to maintain control of the American mainland.[5] The economy of Santo Domingo was stalled, the land largely unexploited and used for sustenance farming and cattle ranching, and the population was much lower than in Haiti. The accounts by the Dominican essayist and politician José Núñez de Cáceres cite the Spanish colony's population at around 80,000, mainly composed of European descendants, mulattos, freedmen, and a few black slaves. Haiti, on the other hand, was nearing a million former slaves.

Independence from Spain - On November 9, 1821 the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo was toppled by a group led by José Núñez de Cáceres, the colony's former administrator,[6][7] and the rebels proclaimed independence from the Spanish crown on November 30, 1821.[8] The new nation was known as Republic of Spanish Haiti (Spanish: República del Haití Español), as Haiti had been the indigenous name of the island.[7] On December 1, 1821 a constitutive act was ordered to petition the union of Spanish Haiti with Gran Colombia.

A group of Dominican politicians and military officers favored uniting the newly independent nation with Haiti, as they sought for political stability under Haitian president Jean Pierre Boyer, and were attracted to Haiti's perceived wealth and power at the time. A large faction based in the northern Cibao region were opposed to the union with Gran Colombia and also sided with Haiti. Boyer, on the other hand, had several objectives in the island that he proclaimed to be "one and indivisible": to maintain Haitian independence against potential French or Spanish attack or reconquest; to maintain the freedom of its former slaves; and to liberate the remaining slave minority on the Dominican side of the island.[8][9][10]

While appeasing the Dominicans, Jean Pierre Boyer was already in negotiations with France to prevent an attack by fourteen French warships stationed near Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital. They soon agreed that France would sell the territory to the Haitian rebels for 150 million Francs (more than twice what France had charged the United States for the much larger Louisiana territory in 1803).

The Dominican nationalists who were against the unification of the island were at a serious disadvantage if they were to prevent this from occurring. At the time, they had no trained military forces whatsoever. The population was eight to ten times less than Haiti's, and the economy was stalled. Haiti, on the other hand, had formidable armed forces, both in skill and sheer size, which had been hardened in nearly ten years of repelling French Napoleonic soldiers, and British soldiers, along with the local colonialists, and military insurgents within the country. The racial massacres perpetrated in the later days of the French–Haitian conflict only added to the determination of Haitians to never lose a battle.

Unification - After promising his full support to several Dominican frontier governors and securing their allegiance, Boyer entered the country with around 10,000 soldiers in February 1822, encountering little to no opposition. On February 9, 1822, Boyer formally entered the capital city, Santo Domingo after its ephemeral independence , where he was met with great enthusiasm and received from president Núñez de Cáceres the keys to the Palace.[9] The island was thus united from "Cape Tiburon to Cape Samana in possession of one government."[8]

The occupation is recalled by some as a period of strict military rule, though the reality was far more complex. It led to large-scale land expropriations and failed efforts to force production of export crops, impose military services, restrict the use of the Spanish language, and suppress traditional customs. The 22 year unification reinforced the Spanish Haitian people perception of themselves as different from the Haitians in race, language, religion and domestic customs.[1] This period also definitively ended slavery as an institution in what became the Dominican Republic, though ironically forms of slavery still remain an integral part of Haitian culture.[2][3]

In order to raise funds for the huge indemnity of 150 million francs that Haiti agreed to pay the former French colonists, and which was subsequently lowered to 60 million francs, Haiti imposed heavy taxes on the Dominicans. Since Haiti was unable to adequately provision its army, the occupying forces largely survived by commandeering or confiscating food and supplies at gunpoint. Attempts to redistribute land conflicted with the system of communal land tenure (terrenos comuneros), which had arisen with the ranching economy, and newly emancipated slaves resented being forced to grow cash crops under Boyer's Code Rural.[11] In rural areas, the Haitian administration was usually too inefficient to enforce its own laws. It was in the city of Santo Domingo that the effects of the occupation were most acutely felt, and it was there that the movement for independence originated.

Haiti's constitution also forbade white elites from owning land, and the major landowning families were forcibly deprived of their properties. Most emigrated to Cuba, Puerto Rico (these two being Spanish possessions at the time) or Gran Colombia, usually with the encouragement of Haitian officials, who acquired their lands. The Haitians, who associated the Roman Catholic Church with the French slave-masters who had exploited them before independence, confiscated all church property, deported all foreign clergy, and severed the ties of the remaining clergy to the Vatican. Santo Domingo's university, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, lacking both students and teachers had to close down, and thus the country suffered from a massive case of human capital flight.

Although the occupation effectively eliminated colonial slavery and instated a constitution modeled after the United States Constitution throughout the island, several resolutions and written dispositions were expressly aimed at converting average Dominicans into second-class citizens: restrictions of movement, prohibition to run for public office, night curfews, inability to travel in groups, banning of civilian organizations, and the indefinite closure of the state university (on the alleged grounds of its being a subversive organization) all led to the creation of movements advocating a forceful separation from Haiti with no compromises.

Resistance - In 1838 a group of educated nationalists, among them, Juan Pablo Duarte, Matías Ramón Mella, and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez founded a secret society called La Trinitaria to gain independence from Haiti. In 1843 they allied with a Haitian movement that overthrew Boyer in Haiti. After they revealed themselves as revolutionaries working for Dominican independence, the new Haitian president, Charles Rivière-Hérard, exiled or imprisoned the leading Trinitarios. At the same time, Buenaventura Báez, an Azua mahogany exporter and deputy in the Haitian National Assembly, was negotiating with the French Consul-General for the establishment of a French protectorate.

In an uprising timed to preempt Báez, on February 27, 1844, the Trinitarios declared independence from Haiti, backed by Pedro Santana, a wealthy cattle-rancher from El Seibo who commanded a private army of peons who worked on his estates. This marked the beginning of the Dominican War of Independence.

The Unification of Hispaniola by Haiti lasted twenty-two years, from February 9, 1822 to February 27, 1844. This unification ended the first brief period of independence in the nation's history, the Republic of Spanish Haiti, which had been known as the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo.

Dominican War of Independence - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_War_of_Independence The Dominican Independence War gave the Dominican Republic freedom from Haiti on February 27, 1844. Before the war, the island of Hispaniola had been unified under Haitian rule for a period of 22 years when Haiti occupied the independent state of Spanish Haiti in 1822. After the struggles that were made by Dominican nationalists to free the country from Haitian control, they had to withstand and fight against a series of Haitian incursions that served to consolidate their independence (1844-1856). After the war Haitian soldiers would make incessant attacks to try to gain back control of the nation, but these efforts were to no avail, as the Dominicans would go on to decisively win every battle.


Cáceres – Criollos born in Hispaniola/Dominican Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic

The Criollo (or "creole" people) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criollo_people) were a social class in the caste system of the overseas colonies established by Spain in the 16th century, especially in Latin America, comprising the locally born people of pure Spanish ancestry.[1] The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born (yet class of commoners) permanently resident colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes — people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans. According to the casta system, a Criollo could have up to 1/8 (one great-grandparent or equivalent) Amerindian, ancestry and not lose social place (see Limpieza de sangre).[2] In the 18th- and early 19th centuries, changes in the Spanish Empire's policies towards her colonies (and their polyglot of peoples) led to tensions between the Criollos and the Peninsulares.[citation needed] The growth of local Criollo political and economic strength in their separate colonies coupled with their global geographic distribution, and led them to each evolve a separate (both from each other and Spain) organic national personality and viewpoint. Criollos were the main supporters of the Spanish American wars of independence.

Map of the Dominican Republic – indicated are dates and places of births (b.) and deaths (d.) of the prominent Caceres personalities listed below

(...) After three centuries of Spanish rule, with French and Haitian interludes, the country became independent in 1821. The ruler, José Núñez de Cáceres, intended that the Dominican Republic be part of the nation of Gran Colombia, but he was quickly removed by the Haitian government and "Dominican" slave revolts. Victorious in the Dominican War of Independence in 1844, Dominicans experienced mostly internal strife over the next 72 years, and also a brief return to Spanish rule. (…)

President of Spanish Haiti, December 31, 1821 – February 9, 1821

1) José Núñez de Cáceres Albor born in [the city of] Santo Domingo in 1772/1779? President in 1821. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez_de_C%C3%A1ceres  (This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Núñez de Cáceres and the second or maternal family name is Albor). José Núñez de Cáceres - http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=50&offset=50&redirs=1&profile=default&search=Ramon+C%C3%A1ceres

José Núñez de Cáceres Albor (b. Santo Domingo, March 14, 1772/1779; † Ciudad Victoria (Mexico), September 11, 1846) was a Dominican politician and writer. He was the leader of Dominican independence when Spain ruled the country and he was also the first person in the country to use literature as weapon of social protest and politics. He was also the first Dominican fabulist and one of the first criollo storytellers in Spanish America. In addition, he founded the newspaper "El Duende", the second newspaper created in Santo Domingo.

José Núñez de Cáceres Albor was born on March 14, 1772 (or 1779), in Santo Domingo. He was the son of 2ndLt. Francisco Núñez de Cáceres and María Albor. His mother died a few days after his birth. He was raised by his aunt María Núñez de Cáceres. Since his childhood, Núñez de Cáceres showed great love for his education but his father was a farmer and wanted his son to dedicate himself to also working the field. Núñez de Cáceres was raised in a very poor family. He had to study using the books of his classmates because he did not have all the books he needed. He earned some money helping his aunt sell the doves that an acquaintance hunted. Despite early obstacles, at age 23, in 1795, Nuñez de Cáceres got the Civil Law degree, he formed a distinguished clientele, and he became a professor at the University of Santo Tomás de Aquino.[1]

At the end of the 18th century Núñez de Cáceres married Juana de Mata Madrigal Cordero and they had six(?) children:

1/ the first, Pedro, was born in Santo Domingo on April 2, 1800,
5/ and last, Maria de la Merced, in the same city, (Santo Domingo) in
1816
When Ñúñez de Cáceres lived in
Camagüey, Cuba, other three children were born:
2/ José, the September 9, 1804;
3/ Francisco de Asis, 15 September 1805, and
4/ Gregorio, on June 8, 1809.
[1]

2) Manuel Altagracia Cáceres  born in the Azua Province
  • President of the Dominican Republic, 3 January 1868 - 13 February 1868

  • Vice President of the Dominican Republic (President - Buenaventura Báez), 1868 - 1871

  • General-in-Chief, 22 January 1874 – 6 April 1874

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_Dominican_Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Vice_Presidents_of_the_Dominican_Republic

Manuel Altagracia Cáceres y Fernández, sometimes called Memé (born in Azua Province, 1838 - died 1878) was a Dominican politician. He served as president of the Dominican Republic from January 3, 1868 until February 13, 1868. He also served as General-In-Chief of the Dominican Republic from January 22, 1874 to April 6, 1874.

3) Ramón Arturo Cáceres Vasquez (15 December 1866, Moca, Dominican Republic – 19 November 1911, Santo Domingo)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search/Ramon_C%C3%A1ceres

- was the – Vice President under Carlos Felipe Morales, 24 November 1903 - 29 December 1905 31st President of the Dominican Republic - (1906 – 1911). Cáceres assumed the office in 1906 and was assassinated in 1911, ambushed by rebels and killed in his car.[1] Cáceres was the leader of the Los Coludos, also named Red Party.[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_C%C3%A1ceres. His death was followed by general disorder and, ultimately, by the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1916.[3][4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Dominican_Republic

In 1906, (Prez.) Morales resigned, and Horacista vice-president Ramon Cáceres became President. After suppressing a rebellion in the northwest by Jimenista General Desiderio Arias, his government brought political stability and renewed economic growth, aided by new American investment in sugar industry. However, his assassination in 1911, for which Morales and Arias were at least indirectly responsible, once again plunged the republic into chaos. For two months, executive power was held by a civilian junta dominated by the chief of the army, General Alfredo Victoria. The surplus of more than 4 million pesos left by Cáceres was quickly spent to suppress a series of insurrections.[20]New York Times article - http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9502EED61030E333A25754C2A9619C94689ED7CF


Special Internet search for the name Caceres

Caceres was (also) the name of a Jewish family, members of which lived in Portugal, the Netherlands, England, Mexico, Suriname, the West Indies, and the United States. They came from the city of Cáceres in Spain.

Descendants of Moseh de Caceres

G. A. Kohut, Simon de Caceres and His Plan for the Conquest of Chili, New York, 1899 (reprinted from the American Hebrew, June 16, 1899).


 Name Cáceres in other countries of Latin America (16th – 19th century)

1) Alonso de Cáceres y Retes – a conquistador, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_de_C%C3%A1ceres - (born in Alcántara, Cáceres, late fifteenth century - ?) was a ruthless Spanish conquistador and governor-captain of Santa Marta,[1] who despite his prolonged military nomadism throughout the American geography (from Mexico to Peru, including Central America), and his important conquering and peacekeeping ideas, can be considered one of the most active soldiers who served in the sixteenth-century Spanish process of conquest.[2]

He was born in the village of Alcántara (Cáceres), in the late fifteenth century. He was the son of Gregorio and Maria Cáceres Retes, had military training and took part in military interventions in other parts of the old continent, but his first performances in the American conquest was exercised after 1530, as a captain under the command of Governor Pedro de Heredia, in southern Panama and northern Colombia, participating in the foundation of the Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias and subsequent interventions as explorer and conqueror were performed on the Isthmus of Panama and on the border Colombia.

On 21 October 1534, Pedro de Heredia forces under Captain Alonso de Cáceres command, seized Acla and took prisoners for Julián Gutiérre and his wife, the native Isabel, who knew Spanish and whom Heredia needed to reach agreement with the Urabá people.

As a man of remarkable ability, whatever it had been in addition to his military occupations, he was required for the administration or the government of the cities where he lived temporarily. In Santa Marta (Colombia), he served as alderman, in Yucatan he served as lieutenant for Francisco de Montejo and replaced him in the office of head chief whenever Montejo was called away, in Arequipa (Peru) he was appointed mayor and presumably ended his days in Arequipa enjoying deserved parcels awarded to him.

He married in Lima with native creole María de Solier y Valenzuela, from whose union he had a son named Diego de Cáceres and Solier, who married María Mauricia de Ulloa y Angulo in 1581,[3] from whose union he became grandfather to José de Cáceres y Ulloa.[4] Petronila de Cáceres and Solier, who first married contrajo matrimonio con Sebastián de Casalla in 1568 and to Rodrigo de Esquivel y Zúñiga, whose offspring brought him the marquisate of San Lorenzo del Valleumbroso.

2) Francisco Antonio de Cáceres Molinedo – Spanish Governor of Nicaragua – 1745  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_in_the_Viceroyalty_of_New_Spain

3) Luís de Albuquerque de Melo Pereira e Cáceres,  Governador de Mato Grosso 1772 — 1789, (Ladário, 21 de outubro de 1739 7 de julho de 1797) foi um militar e administrador colonial português. Foi o quarto governador e capitão-general da capitania de Mato Grosso (Brasil). Tendo tomado posse em 13 de dezembro de 1772, exerceu o cargo até 1789, sendo sucedido por seu irmão, João de Albuquerque de Melo Pereira e Cáceres.

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Albuquerque_de_Melo_Pereira_e_C%C3%A1ceres - Durante     o seu governo foram erguidos o Forte de Coimbra e o Real Forte Príncipe da Beira, e fundadas Albuquerque (atual cidade de Corumbá), Ladário (em homenagem à sua terra natal em Viseu), Vila Maria (atual Cáceres), Casalvasco (atual Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade), Salinas e Corixa Grande, consolidando o domínio português na região diante dos domínios da Coroa espanhola na América.

4) María Luisa Cáceres Díaz de Arismendi – (born in Venezuela in 1799, heroine of the War of Independence) (September 25, 1799 – June 28, 1866) was a heroine of the Venezuelan War of Independence. Luisa was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to José Domingo Cáceres and Carmen Díaz, prosperous Criollos. On her father's side, she was of Canarian descent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_C%C3%A1ceres_de_Arismendi.

The 20 Venezuelan bolívar fuerte banknote featuring a portrait of Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi.
(introduced by
Hugo Chávez on January 1, 2008.)

5) José Bernardo Cáceres - Battle of Maipu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maipu_order_of_battle, “Patriots” - United Army Commander: General José de San Martín Commanding officer of the 2nd Infantry Battalion - Alvarado' Division (Colonel Alvarado), The Battle of Maipú (Spanish: Batalla de Maipú) was a battle fought near Santiago, Chile on April 5, 1818 between Patriots and Royalists, during the Spanish American Wars of Independence. The Patriots led by José de San Martín effectively destroyed the Spanish Royalist forces commanded by General Mariano Osorio, and won the independence of Chile.

6) Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray – President of Peru (x3) – 1883-1885, 1886-1890, 1894-1895 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Avelino_C%C3%A1ceres.  Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray (November 10, 1836 – October 10, 1923) was three times President of Peru during the 19th century, from 1884 to 1885, then from 1886 to 1890, and again from 1894 to 1895. In Peru, he is considered a national hero for leading the resistance to Chilean occupation during the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), where he fought as a General in the Peruvian Army. Andrés Avelino Cáceres was born on November 10, 1836, in the city of Ayacucho.[2] His father, Don Domingo Cáceres y Ore, was a landowner and his mother, Justa Dorregaray Cueva, daughter of the Spanish colonel Demetrio Dorregaray. He was mestizo; one of his maternal ancestors was Catalina Wanka, an Incaica-Wanka princess. He studied at the Colegio San Ramón (Spanish: San Ramón School) in his hometown.

7) Luis Caceres - The Governor of the Argentine province of Córdoba, which is the highest executive officer of the province- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_C%C3%B3rdoba

 

37

Luis Cáceres

Provisional Governor

1866–1866

 


Name Cáceres in Latin America – Contemporary, prominent politicians

1) Ramón Cáceres Troncoso 1964, Council of State (Triumvirate) of the Dominican Republic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_Tapia_Espinal

Ramón Tapia Espinal was a member of the Council of State (1961-1963) which succeeded the overthrow of the dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo in 1961.[1] He later served as a member of the triumvirate, a three-man civilian executive committee, established by the military after the overthrow of President Juan Bosch in 1963; originally with Emilio de los Santos and Manuel Enrique Tavares Espaillat, and later with Donald Reid Cabral and Manquel Enrique Tavares Espaillat.[2] He resigned from the triumvirate in 1964 and was succeeded by Ramón Cáceres Troncoso.[3]

2) Eduardo Cáceres – Vice President of Guatemala, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_C%C3%A1ceres -   Eduardo Rafael Cáceres Lehnhoff served as Vice President of Guatemala from 1 July 1970 to 1 July 1974 in the cabinet of Carlos Arana. Died 31 January 1980 in the Burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala-City[1]

3) Marina Isabel Caceres de Estevez2008, Dominican Republic, Ambassador to Denmark, Sweden and Finland - Non-resident Heads of Missions - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_missions_from_the_Dominican_Republic

4) Félipe Caceres – Bolivia, Vice Minister of Social Defense in the government of Juan Evo Morales (the presidential candidate of MAS-IPSP - Movement for Socialism - Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples - a Bolivian political movement led by Evo Morales), after he won the general election in 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_for_Socialism_%E2%80 93_Political_Instrument_for_the_Sovereignty_of_the_Peoples. Since taking office, the MAS-IPSP government has emphasized modernization of the country, promoting industrialization, increasing state intervention in the economy, promoting social and cultural inclusion, and redistribution of revenue from natural resources through various social service programs.[32]

MAS-IPSP evolved out of the movement to defend the interests of coca growers. Evo Morales has articulated the goals of his party and popular organizations as the need to achieve pluri-national unity, and to develop a new hydrocarbon law which guarantees 50% of revenue to Bolivia, although political leaders of MAS-IPSP recently interviewed showed interest in complete nationalization of the fossil fuel industries.


Puerto Rico
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico


Map of Puerto Rico in 1639

When Columbus arrived in Puerto Rico during his second voyage on November 19, 1493, the island was inhabited by the Taíno. They called it Borikén (Borinquen in Spanish transliteration).[h] Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of the Catholic saint, John the Baptist. Juan Ponce de León, a lieutenant under Columbus, founded the first Spanish settlement, Caparra, on August 8, 1508. (Caparra is an archaeological site in the municipality of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.) In the beginning of the 16th century, the Spaniards began to colonize the island. (…) During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Spain concentrated its colonial efforts on the more prosperous mainland North, Central, and South American colonies. The island of Puerto Rico was left virtually unexplored, undeveloped, and (excepting coastal outposts) largely unsettled before the 19th century. (…)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Puerto_Rico

In 1809, to secure its political bond with the island and in the midst of the European Peninsular War, the Supreme Central Junta based in Cádiz recognized Puerto Rico as an overseas province of Spain. It gave the island residents the right to elect representatives to the recently convened Spanish parliament (Cádiz Cortes), with equal representation to mainland Iberian, Mediterranean (Balearic Islands) and Atlantic maritime Spanish provinces (Canary Islands). Ramon Power y Giralt, the first Spanish parliamentary representative from the island of Puerto Rico, died after serving a three-year term in the Cortes. These parliamentary and constitutional reforms were in force from 1810 to 1814, and again from 1820 to 1823. They were twice reversed during the restoration of the traditional monarchy by Ferdinand VII. Nineteenth century immigration and commercial trade reforms increased the island's ethnic European population and economy, and expanded Spanish cultural and social imprint on the local character of the island. (…)

In the early 19th century, Puerto Rico had an independence movement which, due to the harsh persecution by the Spanish authorities, met in the island of St. Thomas. The movement was largely inspired by the ideals of Simón Bolívar in establishing a United Provinces of New Granada, which included Puerto Rico and Cuba. Among the influential members of this movement were Brigadier General Antonio Valero de Bernabe and María de las Mercedes Barbudo. The movement was discovered and Governor Miguel de la Torre had its members imprisoned or exiled.


Hurricanes in Puerto Rico

With the increasingly rapid growth of independent former Spanish colonies in the South and Central American states in the first part of the 19th century, the Spanish Crown considered Puerto Rico and Cuba of strategic importance. (…) Hundreds of families, mainly from Corsica, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Scotland, immigrated to the island.[38] Free land was offered as an incentive to those who wanted to populate the two islands on the condition that they swear their loyalty to the Spanish Crown and allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.[38] (…) In 1897, Luis Muñoz Rivera and others persuaded the liberal Spanish government to agree to Charters of Autonomy for Cuba and Puerto Rico. (…) On July 25, 1898, during the Spanish–American War, the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico with a landing at Guánica. As an outcome of the war, Spain ceded Puerto Rico, along with the Philippines and Guam, then under Spanish sovereignty, to the U.S. under the Treaty of Paris. Spain relinquished sovereignty over Cuba, but did not cede it to the U.S.[47]  (…) In 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Jones-Shafroth Act, popularly called the Jones Act, which granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship.[53]


Railroads in Puerto Rico (end of 19th and 1st half of the 20th century)

Detailed maps of the Cabo Rojo region

Cabo Rojo and Boqueron

Cabo Rojo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaβo ˈroxo]) is a municipality situated on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico and forms part of the San Germán–Cabo Rojo metropolitan area. (…) Despite the threat of pirates and Indians, the Spanish settled the area of Los Morrillos around 1511. By 1525, salt mining was an important industry in the area. (…) Cabo Rojo was founded on December 17, 1771 by Nicolás Ramírez de Arellano, a descendant of Spanish nobility. (…) Boquerón is a beach village located in the town of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.[1] The village is one of the main tourist attractions in the southwestern part of the island.[2]


Summary

1) Name Cáceres in old Spain

Ancestors (?) of Diego de Cáceres y Ovando and of the Conquistador Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres:

Juan Blázquez de Cáceres, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bl%C3%A1zquez_de_C%C3%A1ceres the Conqueror of Cáceres, who was a Spanish soldier and nobleman. Juan Blázquez de Cáceres was born in Ávila and was at the Conquest of Cáceres (from the Arabs), on April 23, 1229, from which he took his surname. He was married to Teresa Alfón and had at least one son 

                  Blazco Múñoz de Cáceres, who died at 90 years and lived in Cáceres in 1270,

                  married to Pascuala Pérez, daughter of Pascual Pérez and wife Menga Marín, parents of -

                       Blazco Múñoz de Cáceres, Founder and 1st Lord of the Majorat of the same name, and

                       García Blázquez de Cáceres, who by one Marina Pérez had -  

                                      Fernán Blázquez de Cáceres, 2nd Lord of the Majorat de Blazco Múñoz. They

                                      were the ancestors of the Marqueses de Alcántara (de Villavicencio del

                                      Cuervo, May 13, 1667).[1]

---- ??? ---

Immediate Family of the Conquistador of Hispaniola - Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres

Diego Fernández de Cáceres y Ovando, 1st Lord of the Manor House del Alcázar Viejo, and his first wife Isabel Flores de las Varillas – sons:

              Diego de Cáceres y Ovando, first-born son of Diego and his first wife Isabel Flores de las

            Varillas, a distant relative of Hernán Cortés.

              Fray Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, The Conquistador (born - Brozas, Extremadura, 1460

            Died in Madrid, May 29, 1511), second son of Diego Fernández de Cáceres y Ovando and his

            first wife Isabel Flores de las Varillas.

--- ??? ---

2) Cáceres names in Hispaniola/Santo Domingo

José Núñez de Cáceres Albor – (born in [the city of] Santo Domingo in 1772, died in 1846 in Mexico.     

President of Spanish Haiti, December 31, 1821 – February 9, 1821

Manuel Altagracia Cáceres y Fernandez(born Azua Province, 1838 - died 1878)

       President of the Dominican Republic, 3 January 1868 - 13 February 1868

         General-in-Chief, 22 January 1874 - 6 April 1874.

Ramón Arturo Cáceres Vasquez - (born 15 December 1866, Moca, Dominican Republicassassinated 19 November, 1911, [city of] Santo Domingo) –

President of the Dominican Republic - (1906–1911)

3) Cáceres names and Family in Puerto Rico (Cabo Rojo)

Alonso de Cáceres1521, a “mayordomo” of the San Juan Cathedral (the year of its construction)

--- ? ---

Felipe Cáceres-? /Inocencia Vasquez-? (? - ?) - from Cabo Rojo, P.R. 

       Wstecz/Back Juan de Dios Cáceres-Vasquez/Carmela Martinez-Colberg (? - ?) (Barrio de Pedernales)

            Wstecz/Back Juan Silvestre Cáceres-Martinez (1897-1972)/Carlina Ortiz-Ramirez-(Mercado) (1904-1968)


Conclusions

Name Cáceres in the “New World”

1) It can be assumed that the paternal last name Cáceres originates from the Province of Extremadura in Spain, but it cannot be now determined, whether people arriving here and bearing this last name were born in the region (province) of Cáceres or in the town itself. The name Cáceres dates back in Spain to the 13th century.

2) The ancestor of Nicolás Ovando y Cáceres, who came to this continent and became the first Spanish governor of the (West) Indies in 1502, was born in Brosaz, (Extremadura?) in 1460. His ancestor Juan Blázquez de Cáceres was born in Ávila. He was a Spanish soldier and nobleman and was at the Conquest of Cáceres, (province and/or town? - from the Arabs), on April 23, 1229, from which he took his surname and title “de Caceres” (and passed it on to his successors).

3) It can be assumed that all persons “of importance” – conquistadors/conquerors and administrators (Governors, Viceroys) belonged to the nobility. They were:

Nicolás Ovando y Cáceres (see above – came to the West Indies);  

Alonso de Cáceres y Retes, (born in Alcántara, Cáceres in late fifteenth century) was since around 1530, a conquistador of Central and South America;

Francisco Antonio de Cáceres Molinedo – born (?), was a Spanish Governor of Nicaragua – 1745;

Luís de Albuquerque de Melo Pereira e Cáceres, (and his brother João, both were - ) Governador de Mato Grosso, Brasil from 1772 to 1789 - they were born in contemporary Portugal (across from Extremadura).

4) Ancestry of others, (who were found in the Internet), and who were born later, already outside of Spain (“criollos”), could not be established. They could have been of a noble descent or professionals, tradesman or “commoners”, who accompanied the Conquistadors during settling and administration of the conquered lands. They could have been using the same last name to signify that they also came (from) “de Caceres”. We would need an expert opinion in this matter. To this group belong:

María Luisa Cáceres Díaz de Arismendi – born in Venezuela in 1799, (of Canarian descent)

José Bernardo Cáceres born in Chile (?), junior commander in the battle of Maipu, Chile in 1818

Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray – born in Peru in 1836, President of Chile x3, 1883-1895

Luis Caceres - Privisional Governor of the Argentine province of Córdoba 1866

Caceres in Hispaniola/Santo Domingo (SD)/Dominican Republic(DR)

José Núñez de Cáceres Albor – (born SD in 1772, died in 1846 – Mexico). President - 1821

Manuel Altagracia Cáceres y Fernandez(born SD in 1838, died in 1878). President - 1868

Ramón Arturo Cáceres Vasquez - (born DR in 1866, assasinated in 1911). President - 1906-1911

Caceres in Puerto Rico

So far, we have found only one early entry of this name during our search in Puerto Rico. This was:

Alonso de Cáceres – in 1521, a “mayordomo” of the San Juan Cathedral (the year of its construction).

We have no information about his descendants. Puerto Rico was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain during his second voyage to the Americas on November 19, 1493, (the Spanish settled the area of Los Morrillos [Cabo Rojo] around 1511). No other details are available to us.

Verbal Information obtained from the family describes three earlier generations of this family (exact birthdates are not known), which gets us back to around the middle of the 19th century, when they already lived in Cabo Rojo. There are no other known records about any other family branches. Perhaps, the ancestors of this family arrived from Santo Domingo at the beginning of the 19th century – escaping the political instability, oppression, danger to their lives, land expropriations, and collapse of the economy.

We were unable to make any direct connections with the Caceres families discovered in the Dominican Republic – but, also based on the initial location of the family in Cabo Rojo (a short distance from the shores of Santo Domingo), it should be considered that they may have come from there.

Destruction and loss of property and income resulting from several hurricanes and an earthquake, which devastated this part of the island during the early part of the 20th century, may have caused subsequent migration to the North Coast, to the San Juan area.

Or, are they descendants of earlier Spanish settlers, who arrived here in 1511?)


Christopher Columbus landing on the island of Hispaniola in 1492.


1)

2)

3)

1) Gen.  W³adys³aw Franciszek Jab³onowski;

2) Although he unofficially led the nation politically during the revolution, Toussaint L'Ouverture is considered the father of Haiti.

3) Jean Jacques Dessalines became Haiti's first emperor in 1804

 


Przygotowali: Waldemar J Wajszczuk & Pawe³ Stefaniuk 2015
e-mail: drzewo.rodziny.wajszczuk@gmail.com lub drzewo.rodziny.wajszczuk@gmail.com