Identificando a una dama y su hijo en una foto madrileña del siglo XIX

(Pulsar para ampliar)

Una de mis aficiones es comprar en rastrillos y librerías de lance fotografías antiguas, cuanto más antiguas mejor, pero que lleven escritas suficiente información como para identificar a las personas retratadas. Es una tarea harto desagradecida, pues muy pocas veces alguien se molestaba en apuntar al dorso de la foto suficiente información como para facilitar esta labor. Qué falta hace, pensarían. ¡Cualquiera ve que esta foto es del tío Potenciano! Y pasan 100 años y, como mucho, se sabe eso: que el retratado se llamaba "Tío Potenciano", y entonces sólo si se molestó en dedicar la foto: "A mi querida sobrina Cunegunda, de tu tío Potenciano." La inmensa mayoría de fotos que ahora yacen abandonadas en comercios como los citados carecen de más información que la ciudad en que se hicieron. En un perfil de Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/spanishancestors/] he ido colocando algunos de ellos, aunque faltan muchos por la escasez del tiempo libre que debo repartir entre aficiones varias, algunas más amenas que otras.

Muy de vez en cuando aparece una pieza excepcional, que permite no sólo establecer la identidad de los retratados, sino hasta la fecha en que se retrataron. Veamos.

Ésta foto que adquirí hace algún tiempo un domingo en el madrileño Rastro lleva no sólo los nombres de los retratados, sino que en la parte de atrás se lee: "Se retrató el niño cuando tenía Isidorito tres meses y catorce días" y, más abajo, "dedicado a su abuela".

Suponiendo que la retratada y el bebé eran madre e hijo, una rápida búsqueda de Isidoro Castillejo Sanz efectuada (antes del confinamiento actual) en los fondos del Archivo de Villa en - aleatoriamente - el padrón de 1905, lleva a la hoja padronal número 93156, correspondiente a la Calle de San Dámaso Nº 8, cuarto segundo, con la cual podemos averiguar exactamente quienes eran los sujetos que nos ocupan:

NOMBRE	APELLIDO PATERNO	APELLIDO MATERNO	PARENTESCO con el cabeza de familia	FECHA Y LUGAR DE NACIMIENTO					ESTADO	PROFESIÓN, oficio u ocupación	OFICINA, fábrica, comercio, taller, etc,
				Día	Mes	Año	Pueblo	Provincia
Crispulo	Castillejo	Felipe	Cabª Familia	25	octubre	1849	Aldeanueva de Barbarroya	Toledo	C 2	Secretario judicial	Juzgado Municipal Dist.º de la Universidad
Marcelina	Sanz	de la Villa	esposa	26	april	1857	Madrid	Madrid	C	Sus labores
Félix	Castillejo	Velasco	hijo	20	noviembre	1873	Idem.	Idem.	S	Procurador	Tribunales, Madrid
Isidoro	Castillejo	Sanz	idem	24	febrero	1888	Idem.	Idem.	S	Estudiante	Universidad
Julián	Castillejo	Sanz	idem	2	septiembre	1889	Idem.	Idem.	S	Id.	Instituto del Cardenal Cisneros
Marcelina	Castillejo	Sanz	idem	2	julio	1897	Idem.	Idem.	S	Colegio
Higinia	del Pino	Tenorio	sobrina 2ª	11	enero	1887	Calera	Toledo	S	Sirvienta	La casa

Con estos datos, sabiendo la fecha de nacimiento del niño retratado, podemos decir que la foto se hizo, exactamente, el 7 de junio de 1888.

Dejo la tarea seguramente interesante de averiguar más peripecias vitales de la retratada, Marcelina Sanz de la Villa, natural de Madrid, y su hijo Isidoro, a quien pueda interesar. Y paso la foto a mi colección.

Genealogical Oddities (LIX): John Peters of Bristol in C19th La Coruña

On 16 July 1825 at La Coruña's parish of San Jorge took place the baptism of Juan Carlos Peters, born on the 3rd of that month, a son of Don Juan Peters native of Bristol in England, and Doña María Tellet (or Fellet) of London. The paternal grandparents were named as Juan and Juana Peters; maternal, José Tellet (or Fellet) and María Stillman.

I cannot find any reference to him in Galician records after this, so assume that John Charles Peters, if he grew to adulthood, did so at home, whether that was Bristol, London or somewhere else across the Bay of Biscay. The English forms of these names are fairly simple - John Peters, Joan or Jane Peters, and Mary Stillman, but I am still puzzled by what the priest intended when he wrote Tellet or Fellet.

SOURCE: Archivo Histórico Diocesano de Santiago de Compostela, parish of San Jorge (La Coruña), Baptisms 1823-1832, P. 129 verso.

Genealogical Oddities (LVIII): Thomas Fowler Did Not Expect The Spanish Inquisition

Who was Thomas Fowler, an English merchant active in Spain during the reign of King Carlos II? A 'Don Thomas Fauler', stated to be an Englishman residing in the city of Seville, granted a power of attorney in Madrid on 21 May 1680 before notary Felipe Antonio González de Montalvo (which instrument was witnessed by one Alejandro Tromorton, or Alexander Throgmorton). Fowler/Fauler was caught up in the Inquisition's prosecution of Antonio Lemos or Lemús, whose assets were confiscated as part of the Inquisition's prosecution of him. Our English friend owed Lemos 17,000 reales, which debt the Inquisition now wished to call in, sooner rather than later. Suddenly Fauler found himself not in the placid enjoyment of a debt to a Spanish merchant, but rather on the receiving end of legal actions from the Inquisition. How unexpected!

He may or may not have been the same man as a Thomas Fauler whose assets in the Canary Islands were confiscated in 1657, as part of Spanish reprisals against Oliver Cromwell for Commonwealth attacks on Spain. In any case, the Fauler of interest to is is indicated by the Inquisition proceedings to have been a resident of Antequera by 1683. Perhaps some record in the National Archives at Kew would reveal his origin? Is anyone across the Channel missing a Thomas from their extended Fowler family tree?

SOURCES: Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid: Inquisición,4680,9 · For the list of English merchants with assets confiscated in 1657, "Guerra Económica Y Comercio Europeo en España, 1624-1674. Las Grandes Represalias Y La Lucha Contra El Contrabando", Ángel Alloza Aparicio [In: Hispania, LXV/1, num. 219 (2005)]

Curiosidades Genealógicas (LVII): Matrimonios de Africanos en La Coruña, 1621

En el libro de bautizados que abarca 1607 a 1724 de Santa María de Oza (La Coruña) en el folio 43 hallamos el siguiente asiento: "Bauticé un hijo de Pedro de Austria africano Cristiano nuevo convertido que es entretenido y tiene plaça de su magestad en La Coruña y lo hubo de una moça que díjose que va a casar con ella que se llama Teresa Bartolomé [Tª Bme] gallega natural de Santa María de Loureda y lo bauticé a veinte y tres de febrero de mil y seiscientos y veinte y uno púsele nombre Pedro fueron padrinos Santiago Mínguez africano ansimesmo entretenido María de Nabarro biscayna mujer de Cristóbal de Austria africano.

Lope de Coiro, rector."

¿Qué harían estos africanos entretenidos en La Coruña? ¿Y con qué motivo se les conocía con el apellido de Austria?

FUENTE: Archivo Histórico Diocesano de Santiago de Compostela, Libro P009586.

Genealogical Oddities (LVI): A Swede in (17)70s Málaga

On the on the 26th of July 1779 at Málaga's parish of San Juan, Lorenzo Nicolás Wassberg, a native of Stockholm, legitimate son of "Don Nicolas Wassberg y Doña María Kansenstierna", married Doña Josefa Ferrari, native of Gibraltar, legitimate daughter of Don Francisco Ferrari and Doña Maria Facila. This entry was added to the marriage register in use three years later, for reasons not explained.

This entry amused me because as anyone who spent time on the Costa del Sol in the 1970s or early '80s will know, the groom was perhaps the earliest forerunner of a huge wave of Scandinavians who would settle there two centuries later. The priest who married him had probably never seen a Swedish name before. The groom's name at home was likely Lars Niklas Wassberg, or perhaps Lars Niklas Wessberg. His mother's surname could have been Lansenstierna, Glansenstierna, Kyulenstierna, Insenstierna, von Krusenstierna...? Perhaps a descendant of this match will emerge through Google to claim his or her Spanish connection! My thanks to Martin Sunnqvist for enlightening me as to the correct Swedish spelling of these names and possibilities.

SOURCE: Málaga Diocesan Archive, Records of Málaga city's parish of San Juan, Box 462, Marriages 1780-1785, P. 58

My Work on Mark Wright's Mendoza Ancestor for 'Who Do You Think You Are?' UK

I'm thrilled that I can finally share some details of an intense few weeks this past Spring squirrelling away in the shadows on the family history of Don Antonio de Mendoza. The resulting research was part of the story presented last night on the British edition of Who Do You Think You Are? 

In his ancestor's footsteps: Mark Wright (l.)

David Mendoza, who appears on screen in the programme, had uncovered much valuable information about his and Mark Wright's shared ancestor; my contribution was essentially to locate more records and to document minute, hitherto unknown details of Antonio's life. Antonio de Mendoza was a tough customer: his career as a fencing master and his later tenacity in getting around an inquisition-imposed travel ban to seek safety in Amsterdam already provided ample evidence of this, but I was thrilled to discover that earlier he had been a 'Guardia de Millones', a sort of armed revenue officer who protected tax money collected for the King. Most of his swashbuckling exploits are lost to us, but it surely speaks volumes how he stated that if forced upon release to remain in Seville unarmed, he would face retribution from a thug whose face he had once slashed in the course of fighting off a robbery, and who had sworn revenge! Also to Antonio's credit, he wasn't a snitch. During two years in an Inquisition dungeon, imprisoned and tortured, he never gave evidence against any of the associates and family members the Inquisitors pulled in after his arrest - as the Inquistion's civil servants noted in his case file, to their increasing frustration.
 

Mark Wright and his family were clearly touched by Antonio's story. As a genealogist their reaction delighted me, it's the most encouraging response to hours spent squinting at faded pages in poorly heated archives!

Antonio's tribulations will stay

A record bundle I used in this research

with me, among the more memorable cases on which I'veworked; as will the agony of certain other poor souls, contemporaries of his who suffered at the hands of the same loathsome Inquisitors. Two such items I came across among the many pages turned in search of Antonio were the sad tale of the Santander sisters, five young women imprisoned in Seville at the same time as Antonio, for practicing Judaism covertly, and whose only brother cracked during imprisonment and testified against them; and a memo, found among papers of the Madrid inquisition from 1680, noting that someone needed to be engaged to clean out the cage in which the condemned were being burned alive, as unburnt bones were accumulating among the ashed at the bottom. Once again, routine paperwork illustrating the banality of evil.

A C17th Crypto-Jewish Marriage in the Family of Isaac Orobio de Castro

On 11th November 1648 at the parish of San Lorenzo in the city of Jaén, a blessing (velación) was administered upon the marriage of Antonio de Castro, a merchant, the widowed husband of Leonor Enríquez, and his new wife Doña Ana de Orobio, a native of Madrid, the daughter of Manuel Álvarez Orobio and Doña Mencía Núñez, then residents of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The priest who recorded the entry specified that Antonio and Ana had been married at Sanlúcar before travelling to Jaén, and that he had seen a notarised copy of their marriage record from that town's church. 

From the names of the parents of the bride it is evident that she was a sister of the physician, philosopher and writer Isaac Orobio de Castro, later persecuted by the Inquisition and eventually exiled in Amsterdam.

SOURCE: Diocesan Archive of Jaén, Parish of San Lorenzo (city of Jaén), Marriages 1632-1676, P. 35.