Introduction
This task would not have been possible without the article “La
Isla de Cuba” (the Island of Cuba) by the author Juán Bruno
Zayas de la Portilla and the article by Dr.
Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza y Pola,
published in the magazine “Herencia” (Vol 10 No 3, Fall 2004), titled “Orígenes
de la élite cubana - Siglos XVI al XXI" (Origins of the Cuban
Elite - XVI to XXI Centuries), both great genealogists and friends.
The format that I proposed to use from the start was to put the most
important surnames of the first inhabitants of the Island in alphabetic
order, indicating the village or town where they settled, and the century,
XVI or XVII when they arrived, taking into account that only those that
arrived in the above mentioned centuries are considered founders. Families
that arrived later can also be very ancient and important, but were not
founders.
It's important to note that the seven villages founded by D. Diego
Velázquez
de Cuellar were, Baracoa, Bayamo, Sancti Spiritu, Trinidad, Puerto Principe,
La Habana, Santiago de Cuba and the town
of Remedios.
The surnames are spelled with the original orthography, and preceded
by "de" (of) when it was thus indicated, although this custom,
in the majority of cases, later disappeared.
Also the compound surnames, very popular in those times, with the passage of
time became simplified, although a few have remained unaltered, for the
analysis of which we have numerous examples: de Varona, which many still
use unchanged, while others use simply Varona. the de Cespedes who now
use only Cespedes; this to name simple well known surnames, but more
complex surnames such as Vázquez Valdés de Coronado, Calvo
de la Puerta and Serrano de Padilla, which now have evolved to
Vázquez,
Calvo and Serrano, are presented in the same manner. I could cite many
more cases such as Sánchez de Carmona of which now only
Sánchez
remains and Sánchez Griñan which are now Griñán,
but this would make the narration interminable.
This matter of surnames is a very complex subject, complicated and sometimes
even amusing. There are Torre, Torres
and de la Torre, each one a totally different surname, the same
happens with Cruz and de la Cruz which are also two different surnames.
I say that this matter of surnames is sometimes amusing, because nowadays
the "de" is again being used or two surnames are combined because
people believe this makes them more aristocratic. There are other more
pragmatic reasons or due to north american influence, and I will relate
some personal or family examples, which I do not like to do. My family
in Santiago was called “Pacheco” not
"Santa Cruz", however in the baptism records and in inscriptions,
we were always entered as “Santa Cruz
Pacheco”;
and now in the United States, two of my sons use Santa-Cruz and eliminate
Pacheco, because otherwise they would be referred to as
Mr. Pacheco.
Another interesting detail is that, according to
D. Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza, there are only three surnames which are
strictly cuban, that is to say they exist only in Cuba, and they are
Hidalgo-Gato, Pupo, derived from the Ponce de León surname,
and finally Santa Cruz Pacheco.
I don't want to skip over the column of remarks that accompanies each
family: in the case of families from the eastern villages,
Puerto Principe, Bayamo, Baracoa and Santiago de Cuba they are all there,
but in case of western families, with the exception
La Habana, are mostly blank due to my lack of knowledge on these families,
and I solicit the collaboration of those who do know of these families
to provide their knowledge, which will of course be publicly recognized.
Leaving aside these explanations, which I believe are necessary, let
us return to our subject of interest, which is the listing of the founders
of the Island. I have compiled 567 families, of which the main ones we
have been able to confirm in Jaruco, and from the start became interrelated
by marriages in both directions, and when we study the originators of
the revolutionary movements in the eastern zone
(Camaguey and Oriente), we find that members of these families were the
heads of said movements, which confirms the thesis that the feeling
of nationality, "criollismo" or "cubanidad", which took form in those
first two centuries
(XVI and XVII), and took root in the next
XVIII century and beginnings of the XIX century, was labor of these founding
families.
I cannot with certainty affirm, of course, that these were all the founding
families, there were others, not less distinguished, less important in
the socio-economic formation of the Island, although there are many city
mayors who I have not included in the listing, now we need to take into
account that when the confusion of states was imposed, in the second
half of the XIX century, we lost the custom or obligation to maintain,
at least, the memory of three generations, for any official act (or document)
that had to be performed. Thus, today the members of many families, even
among the most important, do not know their origins. Fortunately, this
involuntary exile that we are living has generated, among the Cubans,
a resurgence of genealogical studies.
Thus, when in the references I state “muy
relacionadas” (very related) , “relativamente
relacionadas” (relatively related) or “extinguidas” (extingushed) ,
I mean that there are many, very little or almost no written relationship
records.
I believe these details amply justify this study which must be seen
not as a simple genealogical study, or maybe as a vain exposition with
aristocratic pretentions, but rather as one of the driving forces which
created the independence movements of the Island of Cuba.
José Santa Cruz Pacheco y Rivery
Document
Families
that Founded and Populated the Island of Cuba
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Family Trees
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