Guayama, Puerto Rico Church Records

Name of Church

Guayama, “Parroquia San Antonio de Padua”

Early History

During the early years of the Spanish colonization, Guayama was inhabited by the native people known as Tainos. Sadly, the indigenous population in the region gradually decreased due to the harsh realities of slavery and migration. This led to most of them leaving for the Lesser Antilles in search of a better life. It’s heartbreaking to think about colonization’s impact on these communities and the lasting effects that are still felt today.

The town of Guayama was officially founded on January 29, 1736, under the name San Antonio de Padua de Guayama, by the authority of the Spanish Governor Matías de Abadía. Interestingly, there is evidence of Native People living in the area as early as 1567. Governor Don Tomás de Abadía declared Guayama a “pueblo” (town), and that same year, the Catholic church in town declared it a Parish.

In 1776, Guayama had 200 houses, a church, and a central plaza. The total population was approximately 5,000 villagers. Construction on Guayama’s Parroquial church of San Antonio de Padua began in 1827. It took forty years to complete. Finally, in 1828, the King’s House (Casa del Rey) was completed shortly after the church was rebuilt.

Earlier that year, Guayama was hit by a terrible fire. It destroyed 57 houses and nine huts. Guayama territorial order was altered at different times through the years. Some of the most populated neighborhoods were segregated to form new towns. Patillas was established in 1811 as an independent municipality. In 1831, the territory comprised the districts Algarrobos, Ancones, Arroyo, Carreras, Guayama Pueblo, Guamaní, Jobos, Machete, and Yaurel. Later, Arroyo was divided into Arroyo Este and Arroyo Oeste, and neighborhoods emerged: Pozo Hondo, Palmas de Aguamanil, Caimital, Pitajayas, Cuatro Calles, Sabana Eneas, Palmas, and Salinas. The latter had been segregated from Coamo.

Additional content on the towns was initially part of the original Coamo.

In 1855, Arroyo became an independent municipality. The acquired neighborhoods are Ancones, Arroyo, Yaurel, Pitajaya, and Cuatro Calles. By 1878, Guayama was a department head, including Comerío ( formerly Sabana del Palmar). In addition, Cidra, Cayey, Salinas, Arroyo, San Lorenzo (then called Hato Grande), Aguas Buenas, Caguas, Gurabo, and Juncos. The development continued with the construction of the town cemetery in 1844—the slaughterhouse and meat market in 1851, and a wooden theater of two levels in 1878. In addition, Guayama had fourteen sugar plantations operating with steam engines and three with ox mills. Also practiced in this municipality was the exploitation of lead mines by the company “La Estrella,” owned by Miguel Planellas, and the mineral galena, by the company “La Rosita,” owned by Antonio Aponte. Finally, in 1881, Guayama was declared a Villa (First Order Municipality).

Archives Observations

“On my visit in 1960, I could only see the remains of his parish archive, which one day was copious, as evidenced by the numbering of the few existing books. The oldest is the Book tenth. The Baptisms continue to be made in this Parish of San Antonio de Padua de Guayama and begin on September 2, 1813. It contains baptisms of whites, free browns, and blacks. It is very moth-eaten, but it would be possible to restore it successfully. The records of baptisms of whites continue in another book that covers from 1819 to 1840. At the same time, the pardos have a separate book from the same date. Have all the documentation before 1813 been lost, or is it still lost in some unknown location?”

“Relatively important and copious is the File of Protocols of Guayama, which was well attended when I visited it. It contains the protocols of various towns in the district, Aibonito, whose funds start in 1826; 1861 creek; Cayey in 1826; Citron from 1810; Guayama of 1801; Maunabo from 1826, Patillas from 1812 and Salinas from 1832.”

1960 by don Lino Gomez

Personal Observations

I can’t even begin to stress how important these books are for anyone searching for relatives. This town is crucial as it is the first to annex Coamo. I have found many family members here. Consequently, I was looking for them in the Coamo records. While researching Guayama, is when I realized the importance of doing so. Therefore, when researching your ancestors, you must look at the surrounding towns.

Fragments of records that consist of Births, Marriages, and Burials

Year	Image
1757-1797: (1757 to 1760-Marriages) (1827-1833-Marriages) (1795-1797-Baptisms)	903 (903-929) (929-958) (958-1044)
1797-1808	1047
1818-1847	1979
1821-1830	1362
1823-1825	1723
1825-1849	1516
1848-1849	2172
1894-1895	754

Baptisms from 1760 through 1818

Unfortunately, there are no indexes for these books. Therefore you will need to go through the whole book, page by page, as I did.

Year	Image
1760 to 1764	116
1782 to 1844	4
1797	969
1797 to 1808	1047
1803 to 1806	299
1807	1500
1808	1436
1813 to 1818	1511

Books Categorized as Whites and Pardos

Book	Year	Image
	1819 to 1841	4
	1819 to 1841	1050-A Duplicate book.
12	1841 to 1850	4
13	1851 to 1854	930
14	1854 to 1855	1133

Books Categorized as Pardos, Blacks, and Enslaved People

Book	Year	Image
	1819-1823	203
	1827-1833	2000
15	1839-1840	575
16	1844-1847	1706

Baptism Books with no Race Identification

Book	Year	Image	Notes
	1835 – 1839	756
	1844 – 1847	407
	1840 – 1864	1310	Fragments of records.
18	1850 – 1853	1056
15	1859 – 1864	435
16	1864 – 1868	738
17	1868 – 1872	1021
18	1872 – 1875	1309
19	1875 – 1878	1604
20	1878 – 1880	1900
21	1880 – 1882	4
22	1882 – 1884	315
23	1884 – 1887	2043
24	1887 – 1889	4
25	1889 – 1892	518
26	1892 – 1895	1385
27	1895 – 1896	1857
28	1896 – 1898	2164
29	1898- 1901	5
30	1901 – 1903	312
31	1903 – 1906	620
32	1906 – 1907	929
33	1907 – 1909	1159
34	1909 – 1911	1365
35	1911 – 1912	1539
36	1913 – 1916	1689
37	1916 – 1919	313
38	1919 – 1923	679

Confirmations

Year	Image
1890-1920	533

Books of Marriages from 1757-1931

Year	Race	Image
1757-1797		903
1800-1809		160
1825-1846		825
1819-1852	Whites, Pardos	259
1843		1362
1842-1872		1234
1872-1890		1491
1891-1908		1780
1908-1931		2081

Early Book of Marriages Transcribed (1748-1780)

A huge thank you to Fernando Alexander Alvarez Mercado for providing this transcription and allowing me to share it. It’s important to review these records, even if you think you don’t have family in Guayama. You might be surprised at how often families moved to different parts of the island.

Books of inscribed Burials from 1746 to 1916

Book two, which appears to cover 1782 through 1796, seems missing, although referring to the “Mixed Records” above also covers deaths. The book is a mix of Baptisms, Marriages, and deaths, ranging from 1757 through 1797.

• 2257
  • Note: The book ended in 1868.

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
1	1746-1781	4
3	1797-1806	116
4	1806-1819	392
5	1819-1825	622
6	1825-1831	441
7	1831-1836	816
8	1836-1845	1019
9	1845-1848	1390
10	1848-1852	1532
11	1852-1856	1773
12	1856-1865	2015	Index	The index only covers 1856 and ends in Feb 1857. It is a mixed-race book, and it’s indexed in alpha. order by surname.
13	1865-1870(1868)	5		The book begins in Feb. of 1865 and ends in Feb. 1868.
13	1865(1868)-1870	5		The book begins in Feb 1868 to Dec. 1870.
14	1870-1874	146	430
15	1874-1878	455	748
16	1878-1881	772	1056
	25 Apr 1881 to 10 Sep 1881	2472	2527	This is an additional book. I did not identify it before. It also has an index.
17	29 Sep 1881 to 23 Sep 1886	1079	1392
18	23 Oct 1886 to 26 Oct 1886	1427
19	1891-1894	1827	2132
20	1895-1897	2164
20	1895-1897	5	27	Continued in 1897.
21	1897-1899	203	504
22	1899-1916	52	178