Digitized Parish Records for Cataño and Palo Seco, Puerto Rico; During the tenure of Puerto Rico’s Governor Francisco Bahamonde de Lugo (1564-1568), Hernando de Cataño began his medical services there. He was one of the first physicians to arrive in Puerto Rico during colonization. Upon accepting his position, he received land across the San Juan islet as payment. From that time, the region honored the name of its original owner. Despite Cataño being scene as a barrio of Bayamón, the town didn’t see much success in its development. This was due to its swamp-like terrain during those years. However, with the construction of a hermitage around 1690, residents did not have to travel to Bayamón to receive religious services. This allowed further contribution to the area’s growth.
In the mid-19th century, a ferry company was established to facilitate the transportation of goods and people through San Juan Bay. This led to an increase in the population of Cataño, which became one of the most prosperous barrios in Bayamón. However, their attempts to separate from Bayamón in 1839 were unsuccessful. It wasn’t until June 26, 1893, when Bishop Antonio Puig y Montserrat established an independent parish for Cataño, Palo Seco, and Palmas, separating them from Bayamón’s parish. (219 Historical Information about the church.)
Eventually, in 1927, Cataño was officially declared a municipality and was given the name Hato de Palmas de Cataño. The name was later shortened to Cataño over time.
Baptism Records for digitized Parish Records for Cataño and Palo Seco, Puerto Rico (1779 to 1862)
Palo Seco was always a neighborhood of Toa Baja. Between 1839 and 1845 it was a municipality but it returned to Toa Baja due to non-compliance with the conditions. The church of the ‘municipio’ of Palo Seco, Ntra. Sra. del Carmen, begun in 1840, was never completed. In the 21st century the ruins were rescued, the structure was completed and for the first time it was a church around the year 2017.
The Ntra. Sra. de la Candelaria Hermitage was founded in 1779. It was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Toa Baja as auxiliary of the San Pedro Apóstol parish. The hermitage was in the Hacienda el Plantaje of some 2,000 acres that is said to have been the property of the privateer Miguel Enríquez who died in 1745. It then passed on to Doña Dolores González and then to the Géigel Jiménez family. In May 1859, due to the quality of the paper, the bishop ordered that the books be copied, divided and reorganized. A separate slave book was made. All acts between 1779 and 1859 are copies. Henceforth, in the same books, they are original. What remains of the original books up to 1859 is filed under Toa Baja. The original decree of the 1859 order is in image #142.
In 1870 the sanctuary passed under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Bayamón, but they continued to use the same books. In 1893 the Bishop of San Juan (Diocese of Puerto Rico) ordered that the chapel of the town of Cataño be a new parish church that would have jurisdiction over the parishioners of Palo Seco. Since then the sanctuary has ceased to be used and the records of Palo Seco were archived in the church of Ntra. Sra. del Carmen de Cataño. The Caño Aguas Frías separates Palo Seco, Toa Baja from Cataño, which in turn was a town in Bayamón until it became a municipality in 1927. All the minute books of the Ntra. Sra. del Carmen de Cataño parish up to May of 1893, were composed in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Candelaria in Palo Seco, Toa Baja.
Source: Autor: Ivonne Santana Ríos
- Film # 4553837 (1779 to 1862 Vol. 1)
- Film # 4553838 (1899 to 1908)
- Film # 4553839 (Marriages (1781 to 1931) includes some baptism records.
- “Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria del Plantage, hoy Palo Seco, jurisficion de Toabaja”
| Book | Year | Race | Image | Index | Notes | Transcription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1779 to 1862 | Freed People | 5 | 341 | Palo Seco, the jurisdiction of Toa Baja. | |
| 1 | 1779 to 1869 | Enslaved | 27 | 2 | 99 Images. | |
| 1 | 1861 to 1865 | Enslaved | 514 | 483 | Includes Toa Baja | |
| 2 | 1863 to 1889 | 611 | 583 | |||
| 3 | 1889 to 1893 | 827 | 805 | |||
| 4 | 1893 to 1899 | 900 | 864 | |||
| 4a | 1899 to 1908 | 7 | A continuation of the book above. | |||
| 2a | 1908 to 1919 | 122 | 375 | |||
| 2b | 1917 to 1919 | 403 | 406 | |||
| 3 | 1919 to 1925 | 489 | 406 | |||
| 4 | 1925 to 1928 | 891 | 439 | |||
| 4 | 1928 | 8 | 439 | A continuation of the book above. | ||
| 5 | 1928 to 1933 | 122 | 461 |
Confirmations
- This is the book of confirmations. The priest stated that there are no books of confirmation from the prior years; therefore, he is starting this as Book 1.
| Book | Year | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1910 to 1942 | 276 |
Marriage Records for Digitized Parish Records for Cataño and Palo Seco, Puerto Rico
ERMITA NTRA. SRA. DE LA CANDELARIA
Nuestra. Sra. de la Candelaria Hermitage was founded in 1779 in the Palo Seco neighborhood of Toa Baja. The hermitage was in the Hacienda el Plantaje. It was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Toa Baja as an auxiliary of the San Pedro Apóstol parish. In 1870 the sanctuary passed to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Bayamón. It was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Bayamón until the hermitage was closed in 1893. The books of the hermitage were archived in the parish church of Cataño. The hermitage book does not say so. The decree that creates the Nuestra Señora del Carmen Parish and orders that the hermitage books be filed there is in the marriage book of Cataño 1893-1931; Image #1. In July 1931 they stopped including Palo Seco in the headings of the Marriage certificates from the parish of Cataño.
Source: Ivonne Santana Ríos
| Book | Year | Race | Image | Index | Notes | Transcriptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1779 to 1891 | Freed people and Enslaved. | 373 | 503 | Palo Seco. There is a note that “esclavos” start on folio 200, but the book ends with folio 115. | |
| 1 | 1893 to 1931 | 595 | 544 | Cataño y Palo Seco. |
Burial Records
- Film # 4553839
- Film # 4553840
| Book | Year | Race | Image | Index | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1779 to 1841 | 959 | Palo Seco | |||
| 1845 to 1876 | 6 | ||||
| 1 | 1893 to 1902 | 221 | 193 | 219 Historical Information about the church. |
Sources
- FamilySearch
- Church Records for Bayamón
- Wikipedia
- Thank you to Carol Dunkleberger for sharing her indexes with me to provide to all of you.
- Transcriptions are available from Sra. Yvonne Santana Rios. (She is an incredible person who made many transcriptions of various towns available to all of us.) Please thank her in the comment section.
- Follow me on Facebook.
- I would research Toa Baja as well.