Genealogy of Josefa Diaz Cruz, de los Betancourt

The Spanish Mona Lisa

Researching her Lineage

Josefa Diaz Cruz: When I saw her picture, I was in awe of her look. She reminded me of a “Spanish Mona Lisa.” The photograph appears in the 1924 issue of Puerto Rico Ilustrado. Da. Josefa is a direct descendant of Don Juan Diego Betancourt, from Gran Canarias, and D^a Antonia Falcon. Or is she? That is what I set out to prove or disprove. Let’s see what I discovered.

1. D^a. Josefa Diaz Cruz (Generation-1)

Upon my initial research, I discovered many erroneous public trees on several websites. The first error I would like to point out is her date of birth. There is a death statement that one can locate on Ancestry. It is a notice of death from “American Citizens from Madrid.” It records her birth date as March 19, 1886. This is incorrect. Finding her baptism record was easy, as it appeared in a hint on FamilySearch. She was born on April 18, 1884, in Loiza, Puerto Rico. I am unsure why no one verified it, as it is available online. (See image below.)

Another minor error is that her legal birth name was Josefa, but she was commonly referred to as Josefina. Although she appears as both, Josefina was the name widely used. I believe this is why her baptism record was not located quickly, as it does not appear on Ancestry.

By typing “Josefa” instead of “Josefina”, I could locate the necessary documents. This includes her marriage record, as well as the baptism records of her children. It is incredible how a simple name variation can throw you off. The primary reason for this is a combination of human and computer errors. Many of the records are now being scanned by computers. Therefore, it is crucial to play around with the names.

Baptism and for D^a. Josefa Diaz Cruz

D^a. Josefa Diaz Cruz was born on April 18, 1884, in Loiza, Puerto Rico 1. Her baptism took place on September 31, 1884. The Godparents were Don Vicente Diaz and Doña Belen Rivera, her Paternal Grandparents.

• Her father is Don Jose Laureano Diaz Rivera. He is the son of Don Vicente Diaz Ramirez and Doña^. Maria Belen Rivera Vazquez.
• Her mother is D^a. Maria Jesus de la Cruz Betancourt. She is the daughter of Don Ramon de la Cruz Borges and D^a. Juana Nepomucena Betancourt Montanez.^{(Generation-3)}

Image of their Marriage Record

• She married Don Jose Fidalgo Garcia on May 15, 1908, in Loiza, Puerto Rico ².
• Don Jose was a Merchant/Businessman from Cereceda, Asturias, Spain. According to the 1910 census, he immigrated to Puerto Rico in 1897.
• His parents are Don Nicolas Fidalgo and D^a. Constancia Garcia.

Jose Fidalgo Garcia

Death Record

• D^a. Josefa died on August 18, 1962, in Madrid, Spain ³. (See documentation below.) Unfortunately, I could not locate a death record for Don Jose. But I know he was still alive at the time of his wife’s death. So perhaps he died in Spain. I will update this article with the documentation if I find the record.

Children’s Records

This couple had a total of four children. They were all born in Carolina, Puerto Rico.

1. Don Jose Manuel ⁴, (26 Jan 1910-26 Nov 1957)
   1. He married Belen Maria Colom Marin.* (Family from Ponce. Her genealogy will appear in a separate blog I am currently working on.)
2. Don Manuel Heriberto ⁵, (16 Apr 1911-02 Oct 1958)
   1. He was married to Maria del Carmen Santiago Lavandero. (Family from Comerio.)
3. Don Juan Angel 6, (30 Mar 1913-2000 (per granddaughter)
   1. He married Julia Amparo Anglero Calderón on January 8, 1933, in Carolina, Puerto Rico. (Family from Mariaco.)
4. D^a. Maria Socorro Antonietta ⁷, (10 Dec 1916-?)
   1. She married Jaime Cañellas Bibiloni. (He appears to have been born in West Virginia along with his brother Balthazar, but may have origins in Spain. I am still locating records, but it has been a challenge.)

Ancestors of D^a. Josefa Diaz Cruz de Fidalgo

I will focus on D^a. Josefa’s direct line to Don Juan Diego Betancourt. The Betancourt family originates in several towns: the Canary Islands, San Juan, Bayamon, Carolina, and Loiza, but primarily settled in Trujillo Alto.

This line begins with Don Juan Diego Betancourt from Gran Canarias, Canary Islands, and D^a. Antonia Falcon, (San Juan.) Next, I laid out the direct generations, starting with her mother.

2. D^a. María Jesus de la Cruz Betancourt (Generation-2,) (Mother)

She was born around 1862 in Loiza, Puerto Rico. She married Don José Díaz Rivera, son of Don Juan Vicente Díaz Ramírez and Doña^. Maria Belen Rivera Vazquez. They married in Loiza, Puerto Rico, on October 15, 1882.^8. She died on January 16, 1923, in Loiza, Puerto Rico.⁹ They had eight children: Josefa, Maria D., Maximina del Carmen, Ana, Jose Ramon, Simon, Castulo, and Isabelo.

3. D^a. Juana Nepomucena Betancourt Montanez (Generation-3) (Grandmother)

She was born around 1830 in Loiza, Puerto Rico. She married Don Jose Ramon de la Cruz Borges on December 1, 1849, in Loiza, Puerto Rico.¹⁰ He is the son of Don Fernando de la Cruz Forte and D^a. Maria Candelaria Borges Sosa. She died in Rio Grande on October 10, 1902, in Loiza, Puerto Rico.¹¹

D^a. Juana and Don Jose Ramon had a total of twelve children that I could identify. They are as follows: Juan Dolores, José Ramón, José Benigno, Manuel Dolores, Manuel de Jesús, María Dolores, Ramón del Carmen, José Ramón, María Jesús, Carmelo, Julián Evangelista, and María Genara.

4. Manuel Betancourt Mangual (Generation-4) (Maternal Great Grandfather)

He was born around 1800 in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.  His parents are Don Rafael Betancourt Falcon and D^a. Maria del Rosario Mangual Falcon. He married D^a. Laura Montanez (de la Cruz*.) I was unable to locate their marriage record. This couple had twelve children, according to a joint will filed in June of 1836. I could only identify eleven of them. ¹²

Don Manuel died in Canovanas, Loiza, on December 26, 1868.¹³ (Note: the parents listed on this document are Don Jose Maria and D^a. Juana Antonia. It does state his wife is D^a. Laura Montanez. Unfortunately, the children are not listed. As we know, death records are not always reliable. However, I did verify that a daughter of this couple, named Ulpiana, whose baptism states that her Godmother is María del Carmen Salomé, Manuel’s sister.)

This could connect Don Manuel to Don Rafael, based on the Godparent selection of the time—his wife, D^a. Laura Montanez (de la Cruz*) was born around 1812 and is the daughter of Jose Montanez and Elena de la Cruz.*

Observations of Marriages

I wanted to demonstrate why locating records for all siblings is so important. They can provide essential information when it is lacking for your direct ancestor. It may also yield some surprises. Take the case with the children below—four children belonging to D. Manuel Felipe Santiago Muxica (Mojica, Mujica) Caraballo & D^a. Lorenza de Jesus de la Cruz Borges married four Betancourt siblings: #4, 6, 8, and 10. (See below, Table 1)

D. Enrique was interested because his marriage indicated a family relationship with his wife, Da. Maria del Carmen Ruiz Mangual. (tecero grado) This means they share a mutual great-grandparent. Charting this relationship enabled me to verify a previously unknown relationship. (I will write a future article on the relationship. I am referring to D^a. Maria del Rosario Manguel Falcon and D. Pedro Juan Mangual Falcon.

Don Manuel and D^a. Laura’s children

#	Name	Baptism	Marriage	Spouse	Notes
1	D. Enrique	Abt. 1828*	May 22, 1852 Loiza	Da. Maria del Carmen Ruiz Mangual	I could not locate his baptism record. (Tecero grado de consq.)
2	Da. Juana Nepomucena	Abt. 1830*	Dec. 1, 1849 Loiza	D. José Ramón de la Cruz Borges	I could not locate her baptism record.
3	Da. Maria del Rosario	Sep. 15, 1832	?	D. Juan de Los Santos Reyes y Reyes
4	D. Rafael	Mar. 30, 1834	2 May 1859 Loiza	Da. Felipa Mojica Mangual	(Tecero grado de consq.)
5	Da. Juana Evangelista (#1)	Dec. 27, 1836	?	Unknown	I found two baptism records for a child with this name. Refer to #8. I believe this child may have died, and they renamed another child after her, which was a common practice.
6	D. Juan Raymundo	Jan. 23, 1837	28 Aug. 1858 Loiza	Da. Fabiana Mojica Cruz
7	D. Fernando	March 3, 1839	?	Da. Celestina Caraballo de la Cruz
8	Da. Juana Evangelista (#2)	Feb. 8, 1842	1st. May 7, 1859 Loiza 2nd. ?	D. Jose Cayetano Ruiz Mangua D. Manuel Mojixa Cruz	She married twice. This Is based on locating children’s baptism records.
9	Da. Ulpiana	April 3, 1844	?	D. Francísco Fernández López	They were not married and had six children together.
10	D. Antonio	Abt. 1846*	?	1st. Gertrudis Berrios 2nd. Da. Pilar Mojica Cruz	I could not locate a baptism record. Birth year is based on the age mentioned in his death record.
11	Da. Venancia	Abt. 1847*		Single
12	Unknown Child

Personal Observation of the ancestors of Josefa Diaz Cruz’s Grandparents

First, D. Manuel’s death record states his parents are D. Jose Maria and D^a. Juana Antonia Ventancur. However, it does record his wife as D^a. Laura Montanez. This is why you should not just rely on a death record. They are second-hand accounts and are not always reliable.

There is no record that I found that states D^a. Laura Montanez’s second surname is “de la Cruz.” Nor can I prove that her parents are Don Jose and D^a. Elena. I have reviewed all their children’s documents and found no records indicating this. Therefore, I’ve hit a brick wall until I can see the supporting documentation.

Because Don Manuel’s death record gives a different set of parents, nor can I locate a baptism/marriage record for Don Manuel, it is difficult to state definitively that his parents are Don Rafael and D^a. Maria del Rosario Mangual Falcon. However, there are wills for Don Manuel and Don Rafael (his father), filed in Trujillo Alto, that may support identifying the parents. Let’s review the table below.

Wills filed in Trujillo Alto.

#	Name	Date of will	Status	Chldn.	Land (cuerdas)	Location	Town	Heirs	Executor
1	Diego Betancourt Emangual cc Flora Garcia Ruiz	Dec. 3, 1855	Married	10	83	Pueblo	1	Children	Juan Romero & Francisco Betancourt
2	Francisco Betancourt Emangual cc (2) Isabel Gutierrez y Josefa Torres Satiago(1)	Dec. 27, 1855 Dec. 10,1850	Married to both	Dec. 27, 1855 Dec. 10, 1850	67	Pueblo	1	Children	Francisco Nemesio Diaz and Diego Betancourt
3	Jose Betancourt Emangual cc Juan Santaella	Mar. 3, 1843 & May 7, 1835	Married	8	70	Sabana Jauntial	1	Children	Pablo Santaella & Miguel Ruiz
4	Juan Betancourt Emangual cc 1) Matea Asensio Alvarez 2) Calisto Perez	Oct. 3, 1856	Married	9	72	Quebrada Grande	1	Children	Their Children: Juan & Vicente
5	Manuel Betancourt Emangual cc Laura Montanez	Jun. (?) 1836	Married	12	130+28	Loiza	1	Children	Son Enrique and brother Diego Betancourt
6	Rafael Betancourt cc Ma. del Rosario Emangual Falcon	Aug. 13, 1833 May 28, 1839	Married Widowed	11	145	Quebrada Grande	1/1	Children Children	Wife and son; Juan Sons; Fermin, Diego, Manuel

As you can see from the various wills filed in Trujillo Alto, Don Manuel (5) listed his brother, Diego, as the Executor. In addition, if you look at Don Rafael(6), he recorded his sons, including Don Manuel. The rest are sons of Don Rafael. That is one way to support his parents. Here is another way: the marriage records of his children.

Marriage Records

• Marriage record for D. Enrique Bentancourt and D^a. Maria del Carmen Ruiz Mangual

As I mentioned earlier, when the documents are incomplete, there may be additional records to review. Here is another way I could prove the parents of D. Manuel. His son, D. Enrique, married his cousin. The best way I can explain it is in a chart:

As you can see, I laid out the parents of the couple. They have a “Third Degree of Consanguinity.” So they share a mutual set of great-grandparents via a group of siblings from that couple. Based on this diagram, you will see that D. Pedro and D^a. Maria del Rosario Mangual Falcon are siblings are the children of Don Juan Baltazar Emangual and Doña. Casimira Flacon Lin. I am confident that Don Rafael and Da. Maria del Rosario is Miguel’s mother. However, a copy of his last will and testament can clear this up.

5. Rafael Betancourt Falcon (Generation-5) (2^nd Great Grandfather)

^{Don Rafael was born in Bayamon on March 1, 1773, and baptized on March 16, 1773.14. He is the son of Don Juan Diego Betancourt and Doña.} Antonia Falcon. He died between 1833 and 1839 in Quebrada Grande, Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. He married D^a. Maria del Rosario Mangual Falcon. (Just a quick note that Mangual is a variation of Emangual that was changed with some of the children.)

D^a. Maria del Rosario Mangual Falcon is the daughter of Don Juan Emangual Borras and D^a. Casimira Falcon Lin was born around 1775 in Loiza, Puerto Rico. This family settled in Loiza based on the wedding of D^a. Maria del Rosario’s sister, D^a. Mariela, on March 17, 1815.¹⁵

D^a. Maria del Rosario died around 1839 at the age of 64 in Trujillo Bajo, Puerto Rico. At the same time, the belief is that Don Rafael and Da. Maria’s mothers were sisters; (Da. Antonia and Da. Casimira, no documentation was found to cement this connection. (I am researching this.) Although it sounds plausible that they are sisters, there is a lack of proper documentation.

The Children of Don Rafael Betancourt & D^a. Maria del Rosario Mangual Falcon

Don Rafael and D^a. Maria del Rosario had eleven children, as stated in the will filed on August 13, 1833. A second will was filed on May 28, 1839, by Da. Maria del Rosario.16 She listed herself as a widow. Therefore, one is to believe that Don Rafael died between 1833 and 1839. While both wills indicated eleven children, only ten were found through online church records. As I do not have the testaments filed on hand, it could potentially identify the unknown child.

Names of children documented: Juan, Fernando, Juan Francisco (Santos), José Francisco, Manuel, Fermín, María Venancia, Diego, Vicente, and María del Carmen Salome.

6. Don Juan Diego Betancourt (Generation-6) (3^rd Great-grandfather)

There is a great deal of misinformation about Don Juan Diego Betancourt. This results in many trees containing erroneous information. For example, many states that his maternal surname is Mendez. In addition, he is related to the Betancourt family in Venezuela. This information is unsupported. It is crucial to conduct your research and locate the supporting documentation. If you don’t, it is considered mythical genealogy. Additionally, two other researchers and I thoroughly investigated this family years ago, and the information presented here is based on our findings.

Little is known about Don Rafael’s mother, D^a. Antonia Falcon. Records do not exist confirming that her parents are Don Nicolas Falcon Canuben and D^a. Maria del Rosario Lin de Mathos. Nevertheless, you will find that information circulating quite a bit. These are the erroneous trees I was referring to. Until the proof is found, this cannot be stated.

D^a. Antonia, widowed at the time, lived in Loiza until sometime before 1788. This information is extracted from their daughter, D^a. Barbara’s first marriage. This wedding occurred on September 18, 1788, in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.¹⁷ D^a. Barbara indicates that she is originally from Loiza, and her mother appears to be still living.

While researching for this article, I contacted a fellow investigator friend. She has studied this line, and we have suspicions about D^a. Antonia Falcon and her ancestry. We are reviewing the documents and have a theory about her parents. We will feature our findings in a future article once we have completed our investigation.

Final Thoughts

This is my attempt to research the ancestors of D^{a. Josefa, who is from six generations of the Betancourt line. I hope that a living descendant of Da. Josefa is found, and this picture will surprise them. It is one of my greatest joys when researching these pictures that} I come across.

I have had the pleasure of meeting many descendants of the Betancourt family, so I hope you found this article interesting and enjoyed reading it. Please let me know if you connect to Da. Josefa. Additionally, if I have any incorrect information or you have something I don’t, please let me know, and I will update this article accordingly. I may not have found all the names, but I did my best to find this family.

Finally, I plan to write a future article that will extend the genealogy of the Betancourt line. I see a lot of erroneous information circulating, and I hope to clear up much of it with the documentation. Remember, you cannot make assumptions without proper documentation. So, yes, we have that hunch, that gut feeling, and connections may seem probable, but until it is verified, it is all “mythical genealogy.” You need to prove it.

Therefore, conduct thorough research, locate the supporting documents, take a DNA test, and determine your father’s haplogroup (Y-DNA testing is recommended for males). These are just examples of how you can verify your ancestors.

A Special thank you to D^a. J. Jimenez for her assistance and time. She confirmed the information that made this research possible for me.

Sources:

1. Loiza, Puerto Rico, San Patricio, Baptisms 1803-1887, f. 33v, Image 39
2. Civil Registration Records, Marriages, Loiza 1905-1911, f. 204
3. The U.S. Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974
4. Puerto Rico, Civil Registration Records, Carolina, Births 1908-1918, F. 30
5. Puerto Rico, Civil Registration Records, Carolina, Births 1908-1918, F. 12
6. Puerto Rico, Civil Registration Records, Carolina, Births 1908-1918, F. 63
7. Puerto Rico, Civil Registration Records, Carolina, Births 1908-1918, F. 442
8. Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969 Loíza San Patricio Matrimonios 1880-1919, f.11v
9. Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001, Deaths, Canovanas, Puerto Rico 1911-1931, f. 255
10. Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969 Loíza San Patricio Matrimonios 1808-1856, f. 133
11. Puerto Rico, Civil Registration, 1805-2001 Palmer (Río Grande) Defunciones, 1898-1910, f. 192
12. Feliciano Barragan Landa and Teresa Gracia Ruiz, List of wills of people in Trujillo from 1802 to 1860, Boletín de la SPG, Abril 1999, page 65
13. Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969 Loíza San Patricio Defunciones 1868-1880, f. 5
14. Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969, Bayamón, Santa Cruz, Bautismos, 1752-1785. f. 48 (This appears to be a transcription of the original baptism.
15. Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969 San Juan Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Matrimonios 1813-1822, f. 14/14v
16. Feliciano Barragan Landa and Teresa Gracia Ruiz, List of wills of people in Trujillo from 1802 to 1860, Boletín de la SPG, Abril 1999, page 65
17. Marriage of Barbara Betancourt Falcon to Manuel Gonzalez, Puerto Rico, Catholic Church Records, 1645-1969 Río Piedras Nuestra Señora del Pilar Matrimonios 1771-1800, f.82

Books Available:

• Trujillo Alto, Books 1, 2, and 3 of burials. It’s a transcription that covers the years between 1816 and 1855.