Ambrosio Alicides Babilonia Talavera (1860-1951)

It's great to connect with family, and there are always surprises. Yesterday, my cousin Amindra sent me a photograph of our Great Grandfather, Ambrosio Alicides Babilonia Talavera (7 Dec 1860-12 Jul 1951).  His photograph lends a sense of what I learned of him, not the easiest person to deal with, despite the sweet first name, which he never used. A very proud man, always suited and wearing a tie.

Pedro Miguel Antonio Babilonia Talavera,  his brother and brother in law, visited him almost daily before he died in 1947. Miguel (18 Nov 1867-16 Feb 1947) served as Alcalde of Moca in the early years of the twentieth century, and had a large family of 15 children with Monserrate Ramos Rosado (b.1876). Alicides only had 11 children with Maria Concepcion 'Concha' Lopez Ramirez (1863-3 Jan 1925); although they divorced, they lived next door to each other, she taking care of the girls, he the boys, until she died suddenly of a stroke. It was so sudden, they arranged her on a chair, got a photographer to take her last picture. I don't know if the image exists still, but this was a large photo  in an oval frame, probably beneath a convex glass. She wore a long skirt and held a fan in one hand.

My grandfather, Felix Alicides or 'Alicidito' did not win any points for marrying my grandmother, Felicita Rodriguez Vale, a laundress of Taino descent. Both died before Alicides did.

Here he stands in his back yard, next to a young banana tree.