Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Branches: 5 April 1798 - The death of Cristobal Sotomayor Hernandez

One of the features that Reunion (my genealogy program) has upon opening is a small window that lists whatever events occurred on this day; this particular one happened 213 years ago.

One of the persons listed was Cristobal Sotomayor Hernandez, born in 1768 in the town of San Sebastian del Pepino and who died on 5 April 1798, in Quebrada Grande, Moca.  He married Manuela Lorenzo de Acevedo y Diaz on 8 Jan 1777 in Moca. She's my GGGG grandaunt, daughter of Capt. Juan Lorenzo de Acevedo & Martina Diaz de la Cruz, my 5th Greatgrandparents.

Cristobal was the son of Cristobal de Sotomayor and Rufina Hernandez, born sometime in the 1740s. His parents married in Arecibo, yet his father Cristobal was born in San Sebastian del Pepino (then a ward under the subdivision of Aguada), and his wife Rufina, in Aguada. This is a lot of ground to cover early in the 18th century, and probably involved sailing from one coastal point to another and riding inland. During this period, several Sotomayor clusters existed between Aguada and Arecibo/ Utuado area, possibly connected to those in San Juan.

Cristobal died young, "Fallecio en el sitio examinando Quebrada Grande" (Died at the site while inspecting Big Creek). Quebrada Grande is one of the branches of the Rio Culebrinas that snakes through a small valley near the present day Carretera 110. This snapshot from Google Maps gives an idea of the landscape.



Either he fell in, fell off his horse, or had a heart attack. He was only 30.
He and his wife had ten children.

Children of Cristobal de Sotomayor & Manuela Gonzalez:
Juan
Manuela
Jose Pablo
Manuel
Victorio
Cristobal
Andrea
Ypolita
Dionisio
Juana Maria

They may appear as Soto Acevedo in records for Moca or San Sebastian, rather than Sotomayor y Lorenzo de Acevedo. Cristobal appears as Sotomayor Hernandez in one record and Soto Hernandez in another.  However, I haven't located additional records on their children yet, and imagine some of them lived into the 1850s and perhaps beyond. 

Cristobal had a brother Mauricio Sotomayor, who was born in Arecibo. Mauricio married Maria Manuela Gonzalez Serrano. Their daughter, Maria de las Flores Sotomayor Gonzalez, wed Agustin Vera de la Rosa. For some reason, their identification changes from 'blancos' to 'pardos libres' to 'blancos' between the parish death records for their children. Previously, Maria de las Flores Sotomayor was incorrectly linked to another Mauricio Sotomayor Velez and his wife Maria Manuela Gonzalez y Ortiz de la Renta, which appears in Ramirez Brau's Origenes Portorriquenos.  By cross referencing the available information, I was able to determine that this was the wrong Maurico Soto and Manuela Gonzalez.  Still, they're probably cousins.


Sources:  
Herman Reichard Sapia, Sotomayor Notebooks, unpublished manuscript, courtesy Dr. Haydee Reichard
Mabel Ruiz Sotomayor & Juan Sotomayor, "Notas sobre Cristobal Sotomayor [1763]" Unpublished transcription of parish records, ca. 1980. 
Record transcriptions of San Sebastian marriages by Luis Moreno Perez & Francisco Corretjer MD
Andres Mendez Munoz MD, “Pobladores de San Francisco de la Aguada para comienzos del siglo XVIII.” Hereditas, 4:1 (Abril 2003), 55-71.
Generoso Eduardo Morales Munoz, Fundacion del Pueblo de Lares: anotaciones al expediente. San Juan: Imprentas Venezuela, 1946.
Enrique Ramirez Brau, Origenes Portorriquenos. San Juan: Impresas Baldrich, 1942.