Ponce, Puerto Rico Church Indexes, 1835-1948

History of Ponce, Puerto Rico

Ponce, Puerto Rico’s most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on August 12, 1692. In honor of Juan Ponce de León y Loayza. He is the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon. Ponce is La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South), La Ciudad Señorial (The Manorial City), and La Ciudad de las Quenepas.

The Municipality of Ponce, officially the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, is located in the southern coastal plain region of the Island. Its location is south of Adjuntas, Utuado, and Jayuya. East of Peñuelas, west of Juana Díaz, and bordered on the south by the Caribbean Sea. The municipality has 31 barrios, including 19 outside the city’s urban area and 12 in the town’s metropolitan area. The historic Ponce Pueblo district, located in the city’s downtown area, consists of several of the downtown barrios and is located approximately three miles (4.8 km) inland from the shores of the Caribbean. The municipality of Ponce is the second largest in Puerto Rico by land area, and it was the first in Puerto Rico to obtain its autonomy, becoming the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce in 1992.

Early Residents of Ponce

Taino Guaynia reigned in the area of what is now Ponce. It stretched along the southern coast of Puerto Rico. Agüeybaná, a cacique who led the area, was among those who greeted Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León when he came to the Island in 1508. Archaeological findings have identified four sites within the municipality of Ponce with archaeological significance: Canas, Tibes, Caracoles, and El Bronce.

During the first years of the colonization, Spanish families settled around the Jacaguas River in the south of the Island. Then, for security reasons, these families moved to the banks of the Rio Portugués, called Baramaya. Around 1646, the whole area from the Rio Portugués to the Bay of Guayanilla encompassed Ponce. In 1670, a small chapel was raised in the middle of the small settlement and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Its earliest settlers were Juan Ponce de León y Loayza and the Portuguese Don Pedro Rodríguez de Guzmán from nearby San German.

On September 17, 1692, the King of Spain, Carlos II, issued a Cédula Real (Royal Permit), converting the chapel into a parish and officially recognizing the small settlement as a hamlet. Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, Juan Ponce de León’s great-grandson, is instrumental in obtaining the royal permit. This will allow it to formalize the founding of the hamlet. Captains Enrique Salazar and Miguel del Toro were also instrumental.

Early 18th century

In the early 18th century, Don Antonio Abad Rodriguez Berrios built a small chapel named San Antonio Abad. The area would later receive the title of San Antón, a historically significant part of modern Ponce. In 1712 the village was known as The Village of Our Lady of Guadalupe of Ponce.

19th-century immigrants

During the early 19th century, Ponce was just one of many small villages scattered throughout the Island. The residents then relied on subsistence farming, cattle breeding, and illegal trading with foreign ships. Mayor José Benítez divided the area into different categories, including cotos, hatos, criaderos, monterías, and terrenos realengos. Cotos were granted to residents as a reward for their services to the king, later developed into estancias for agricultural purposes. Hatos, on the other hand, were communal lands where cattle roamed freely. Monterías were hilly areas next to hatos where trained dogs helped gather cattle. Criaderos were lands designated for milk production and herding of animals such as goats, sheep, pigs, mules, and mares. Finally, Terrenos realengos were lands that belonged to the state, specifically the king.

However, in the 1820s, three events dramatically changed the town’s size. The first of these events was the arrival of many white Francophones fleeing the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804. The effect of this mass migration was not felt significantly until the 1820s. These French Creole entrepreneurs were attracted to the area because of its extensive flatlands and came with enough capital and enslaved people. Commercial connections would stimulate Ponce’s sugarcane production and sales.

Secondly, landlords and merchants migrated from various Latin American countries. They had migrated for better conditions, leaving economic decline following the revolutions and disruption of societies as nations gained independence from Spain in the 1810s-1820s.

Royal Decree of Graces of 1815

Third, the Spanish Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 attracted numerous European immigrants to Puerto Rico. It encouraged any citizen of a country politically friendly to Spain to settle in Puerto Rico as long as they converted to the Catholic faith and agreed to work in the agricultural business. With such mass migrations, the town’s size changed, but the character of its population also changed. Europeans, including many Protestants, immigrated from a variety of nations. On July 29, 1848, and as a result of this explosive growth, the Ponce hamlet was declared a villa (village) by Queen Isabella II, and in 1877 the town obtained its city charter.

Fortunes Made

Many mid-18th-century immigrants made fortunes in Ponce, like the owner of this restored coffee plantation (Hacienda Buena Vista) founded in 1833; today, it is a point of interest in the municipality. Some immigrants made considerable fortunes in coffee, corn, sugarcane harvesting, rum production, banking, finance, importing industrial machinery, iron foundries, and other enterprises. At the time of the American invasion of the Island in 1898, Ponce was a thriving city, boosting the Island’s leading financial center. The Island’s first communications link to another country, the best capitalized financial institutions, and its currency. In addition, it had consular offices for England, Germany, the Netherlands, and other nations.

Personal Notes/Observations

Unfortunately, about two hundred years’ worth of records is missing due to a fire in 1850. Fortunately, there is a census record for Ponce that exists before 1850. This could help fill in those gaps. In addition, some records had recorded births, marriages, and deaths before 1850 that survived.

Getting back to the index records, I suggest that you research them first. It will save you a great deal of time. The indexes list people by first name and some indexes by surname. This is frustrating, especially if your ancestor’s name started with Maria or Jose! If you are looking for Antonio, and can’t locate him by that name, look for Jose Antonio. Many of our ancestors had two names. Keep that in mind when researching. It is how I found the people I was looking for. It is helpful if you are researching someone with an unusual name. But regardless, we have a substantial amount to review. So these indexes are a time saver for us!

Miscategorized Baptism Records

• 1850, Book 1. Misplaced baptism records from 1836 to 1882. Image 80.
• 1858, 1859-Book 8. Lost baptism records from 1858 to 1872. Image 2219.
• 1869, Book 16. Misplaced baptism records ranged from 1869 to 1921—image 236.
• 1886-1887-Book 30. Misplaced baptism records ranged from 1885 to 1921—image 2112.

Indexes Baptisms from 1850 through 1883 (Books 1 to 26)

Book	Year	Image	Index
1	1850	7	4
2	1850-1851	91	384/10
3	1852	425	405/30
4	1852-1853	727	718 (Listed by first name, no surname included in the indexes.)/55
5	1854-1855	1083	1057/77
6	1855-1856	1399	106
7	1856-1858	1599	123
8	1858-1859	1913	155
9	1860-1861	4	191
10	1861-1862	317	229
11	1862-1863	640	262
12	1863-1865	926	293
13	1865-1866	1239	322
14	1866-1867	1560	356
15	1868-1869	1848	390
16	1869-1870	5	418
17	1870-1871	247	439“
18	1871-1872	563	473
19	1872-1874	883	508/547**
20	1874-1875	1156	576
21	1875-1877	1482	615
22	1877-1879	1810	657
23	1879-1880	2124	697
24	1880-1881	4	723
25	1881-1882	294	755
26	1882-1883	609	792

Puerto Rico Church Indexes 1877 through 1899 Books 26 through 39

• See the Tables above for the indexes for books 27 to 33.

Book	Year	Image	Index/Notes
27	1883-1884	825
28	1884-1885	1140
29	1885-1886	1461
30	1886-1887	1804
31	1887-1888	5
32	1888-1889	227
33	1889-1890	532

1899 through 1921 Books 40 to 58

Book	Year	Image
34	1890-1893	792
35	1893-1894	1314
36	1894-1895	1620
37	1895-1896	2002
37	1896-1897	6 Continuation of Book 37.
38	1897-1898	161
39	1898-1899	426
40	1899-1900	737
41	1900-1901	1052
42	1901-1902	1367
43	1902-1903	1706
44	1903-1905	2026
45	1905-1906	4
46	1906	364
47	1906-1907	691
48	1907-1908	1037
49	1908-1910	1378
50	1910	1658
51	1910-1912	1915
52	1912-1914	6
53	1914-1915	366
54	1915-1916	729
55	1916-1918	1099
56	1918-1919	1459
57	1919-1920	1821
57	1920	57-Continuation of Book 57.
58	1920-1921	81

Recognition and Justifications of Books

These books consist of over 1,800 records. Therefore, do not dismiss researching this section. If you cannot find an individual’s record in the books of baptisms above, look here.

So, many children were later recognized, sometimes ten years later. In addition, parents may have married years after their children were born, thus having their records updated with the new information. I wish more of the other municipalities had these books for us to research.

Additional Books to Research

• Recognition & Justifications

Transcription on the first page:

• Libro de Reconocimientos y Justificaciones.
• Bautismales de Matrimonio y defuncion. July de 1881.
• Nota: Se han encuadernado y refundido en este presente y solo tomo las Justificaciones de tres libretas sebaladas cin número 2. Seguiendo en este, los folios, numeracion corralativa.
• Empiezan: 1a. la libreta de Justificaciones bautismales al folio 304, de este tomo.
• 2do. la de matrimoniales. al folio 349, y la de la Justificaciones de defunciones al 358 la ha hecho asi para mayor economico y comodidad. Año 1899

English Translation:

• Book of Acknowledgments and Justifications.
• Baptismal marriage and death. July 1881.
• Note: They have been bound and consolidated in this present, and I only take the Justifications of three notebooks labeled with the number 2. Following this, the folios, correlative numbering.
• They start 1a—the notebook of Baptismal Justifications on folio 304 of this volume.
• 2nd. that of matrimonial to folio 349, and that of the Justifications of deaths to 358 has done so for greater economy and comfort, the Year 1899.

Transcribed from Image 381

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
1	1881-1892	381
2	1892-1898	733
	1892-1893	752	Index	The parents’ names in the index are not in alphabetical order.

Confirmation Books

Book	Year	Image
1	1881-1914	457
2	1914-1938	767

Ponce Marriage Books

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
1	1850-1860	1041	Index	Indexed by the first name. Index
2	1860-1880	1340	Index	Indexed by the first name
3	1880-1884	1631		No index is available.
3	1884-1888	4		Continuation of Book 3.
4	1888-1894	206	Index
5	1894-1906	503	Index
6	1906-1910	918	Index
7	1910-1917	1253	Index
8	1917-1921	1596	Index

Ponce Burials-1854 through 1874

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
5	1854-1856	1925
6	1857	4		Continuation of Book 5.
7	1857-1859	44
8	1859-1860	329	Index	Indexed by the first name.
9	1860-1862	73	Index
10	1862-1863	643	Index
11	1863-1864	985	Index
12	1864-1865	1319	Index
13	1865-1866	1651	Index
14	1866-1868	2269	Index
14	1868	4		Continuation of Book 14.
16	1870-1871	1955	Index
17	1871-1872	57	Index
18	1872-1873	372	Index
19	1873-1874	686	Index

Ponce Burials 1874 to 1899

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
20	1874	1052	Index
21	1875-1876	1389	Index
22	1876-1877	2040	Index
23	1877 to 1880	2335	Index
24	1881	2468	Index	The index is upside down and starts with the last page. You will need to go to the end to locate the first page and work your way back.
25	1882-1883	4		Continuation of Book 25.
26	1883-1884	234	Index
27	1884-1885	470	Index
28	1885-1887	810	Index
29	1887-1888	1184	Index
30	1888-1889	1531	Index
31	1889-1890	1873	Index
32	1890-1892	2224	Index
32	1892-1893	4	Index	Continuation of Book 32.
33	1893-1894	240	Index
34	1894-1896	575	Index
35	1896-1897	885	Index
36	1897-1898	1082	Index
37	1898-1899	1253	Index

Burials 1899 to 1940

Book	Year	Image	Index/Notes	Notes
38	1899-1900	1593	Index
39	1900-1909	1934	Index
40	1909-1920	2279	Index
41	1920-1923	4		Book 41 is separated with no index.
41	1937-1940	39

Playa de Ponce Church Records

• Film # 008124781
  • This film has been duplicated four times.

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
Baptisms
1	1883 to 1889	247	Index
2	1889 to 1894	22	Index
3	1894 to 1904	Image	Index
4	1904 to 1914	728	701/1336
5	1914 to 1922	1013	994/1364
Marriages
1	1883 to 1914	1417	1392
2	1914 to 1941	1627	1617

Sources:

• Wikipedia
• FamilySearch
• Digitized online Church Indexes