Migration & Names, Genealogy Quick Start, November 2025
This was a busy month! On Tuesday evening, I was a special guest on Shamele Jordon’s Genealogy Quick Start on the Migration and Names episode, talking about my third great grandfather in The Many Names of Telesforo Carrillo, based on a previous blog post. She is an amazing host, and I love her energy. Michael John Neill did the first part of the show, “Benjamin Butler Serves Research Suggestions” making suggestions for locating and verifying a very mobile ancestor who lived in several states over the course of his life.
While I spoke for just a half hour, i’m amazed at how a very long time researching ultimately distilled a story out of documents finally brought together. Thanks to the help of cousins, I pulled together documents to understand more about the struggles that each generation faced. Self identification and self determination weave through the lives of my ancestors. As a child in the South Bronx, I did get to meet Telesforo’s daughter Catalina, my great grandmother, who lived to be 104 years old. I ended with my grandfather’s 1925 passport, a folded page with the only photo of his first wife, Carolina Dorrios Picon and their three children, Bobby, Gloria and Sylvia Fernandez, in a photograph that is now a century old.
There are 213 episodes of Genealogy Quick Start, full of resources and recommendations for your browsing pleasure!
Rediscovering Latinidad, Season 7 Ep.8
Rediscovering Latinidad released their Kissing Cousin episode– Season 7 Ep. 8 – Cuando los primos se exprimen: La endogamia y el matrimonio entre primos, and I enjoyed talking with hosts Eduardo Rueda and Jellisa. Check it out as we go full cringe with endogamy and cousin marriage! This premier podcast about Latino genealogy, culture, heritage and rich layers of intersectionality also has a Patreon. With seven seasons of podcasts, Rediscovering Latinidad is a great resource for learning more about family history, with links for additional information on each episode page.
Rediscovering Latinidad Season 7 Episode 10
Rediscovering Latinidad also rereleased their most popular episode from Season 7 Episode 10, La Caida de 23andMe/ The Fall of 23andMe, with guests my cousin Teresa Vega and I. Teresa’s extensive knowledge of DNA and complex family histories adds to the discussion. Check out her blog, Radiant Roots Boricua Branches for fascinating research on Revolutionary War ancestors, ancestors from Madagascar, and deep dives into family history.
Moses Williams, cutter of profiles
On November 19, I participated in the Library Company of Philadelphia’s virtual symposium Finding Moses Williams, along with four amazing scholars, who shared new insights on his art, life and family. He left a considerable body of work, and perhaps, descendants. So much to learn from these talks!
Here’s a list of the presentations:
Carol Soltis, Finding Moses in the Peale-Sellers family album.
Nancy Proctor, Presenting Moses at The Peale Baltimore.
Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, Not Yet Completely Free, The Context of Gradual Emancipation & the Family of Moses Williams 1776-1830.
Dean Krimmel, Locating Moses Williams in Philadelphia, new information about Moses Williams’s life and death based on a re-examination of Philadelphia’s primary sources.
A few weeks ago, I saw a hint on my Ancestry family tree for Estevan Vale Caban. To my great surprise, it included a photograph! Could it be my great uncle?
After finally locating the origin of a foto for Estevan Vale in Ancestry’s Passports database, I was struck by how much of a desire there is for an image of an ancestor. For some apparently, this desire was so strong, it overrode taking a closer look at the pages for the record the photograph came from. Yet I learned more about another branch of my family by searching for more on him.
Estevan Vale: dapper & traveling
Estevan Vale was born on Christmas Day, 1867, in Barrio Membrillo, Camuy, the son of Joaquina Vale. She is alive around 1892, when his brother’s grandchildren were born. Her death record remains unlocated,. It seems as though she evaded the pages of the Registro Civil, yet by chance, she is mentioned in her children’s records.
The photograph shows a seated dark skinned man with tight hair in a white shirt, light striped double breasted jacket and contrasting satin tie. The fact of his style and the tie dates the photograph to the early decades of the 1900s. His eyes are unusual. He appears to be staring because of the flash bulb used to take the photo, as his eye color is listed as black. His gaze takes in every detail as he moves between nations. He planned to go under an agricultural permit to Cuba, sailing on the Santiago de Cuba out of Ponce sometime in October 1919. He signed the document with his mark on 27 September 1919.
In order to find out more, my search broadened timewise, and I began by looking for him and his mother, Joaquina Vale, who is mentioned in the document.
Joaquina’s children: Camuy, 1872
JOAQUINA’S CHILDREN: Antonio, Aniceto, Dionisio, Estevan 1872 Registro de Esclavos, Camuy. FamilySearch
There, across two pages of the 1872 Registro Central de Esclavos for Camuy appear the seven children of Joaquina, all of them enslaved by Vincente Vale Caban (b. 1806, Moca-d. 1889 Camuy ) : Antonio 18, Aniceto 13, Dionicio 14, Ysabel 8, Ynocencia 6, Maria Antonia 11, and the last child on the first page– 10 year old Estevan. Aside from Joaquina’s children, there’s only 16 year old Nicomedes, the son of Martina who is also recorded as held by Vicente Vale in Barrio Membrillo, Camuy.
JOAQUINA’S CHILDREN: Ysabel, Ynoncencia, Maria Antonia, 1872 Registro de Esclavos, Camuy. FamilySearch
Vicente Vale Cordero, Barrio Membrillo
Vicente Vale Cordero (1806-1889) is my second great grand uncle, and I was unaware of enslavers on the Vale line until now. In part, that was because he lived not where most Vale lived, in Moca or Aguadilla, but in Camuy’s Barrio Membrillo, a different district. How he wound up there doesn’t have a concrete answer at the moment, however, there was an exodus out of many municipalities during the 1820s and again by 1849, due to drought and other conditions. These Vale may appear on municipal documents or notarial documents that lend more details about their lives. Vicente Vale was an enslaver, and after the Moret Law and the administrative development of the Registro Central de Esclavos, Vale became a local official.
In the recent cluster of 865 sets of documents under the Gobierno de Puerto Rico that were uploaded to FamilySearch are four slips from 1868 signed and stamped by Vicente Vale as sindicosuplente (substitute officer) of Camuy, verifying the identity and ownership of enslaved persons belonging to other enslavers. These documents supplemented the creation of cedulas (registration papers) for each person. Vale then, was employed by the Mayor’s office that sent documents to the Registro Central de Esclavos. I’m currently looking for more information about that post.
Vicente Vale Sindico suplente de este pueblo. Certifico que Ysabel, esclava de D. Miguel del Rio y de su propiedad y de oficio cocinera, y de estado soltera, y para que consta libro el presente en Camuy a los doce días de Abril de mil ochocientos sesenta y ocho. [Firma] Vicente Vales, Alcaldía Ordinaria, Camuy. FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-WQ1C-43PY-B?view=explore
What’s odd is that while Vale family appears in the 1872 Registro Central de Esclavos volume that includes Anasco, they are not among the individual 1868 cedulas for Anasco- apparently the set of cedulas are incomplete.
We know that Joaquina is criolla, born into enslavement on Puerto Rico. So far, Joaquina’s children decided to take on the Vale surname after emancipation. Where exactly they labored in Vale’s farm or home, isn’t specified beyond a barrio, and will need more research to locate.
Barrio Membrillo, Camuy. From Jose Sierra Martinez, Camuy: Notas para su historia. p.6
The Vale Family in Census Records
Family Tree of Joaquina Vale pt. 1 by author, May 2025
By 1930, Esteban’s sister Tomasa Vale lived next door to her sister Maria Antonia Vale Rico; both women left Barrio Membrillo and moved to the San Juan area to increase their chances for work. Tomasa Vale supported her household by working as a lavandera on calle Martin Pena Chanel in Santurce. Cristina lives with her second husband, Felix Ortiz Ortiz. Also with the couple are her three children. She worked as a planchadora, an ironer, so it’s possible the sisters shared a business, or worked independently in the service industry.
In the 1940 US Federal Census for Camuy, Estevan, now 80 years old and his sister Ysabel Vale are in the household of Pedro Maldonado y Camacho and Emilia Gonzalez. They are listed as ‘tio‘ and ‘tia‘ respectively. The siblings appear with the maternal surname of Ahorrio, which may be a strategy to acknowledge their paternal lineage, safely used decades after their birth. Often this use comes up long after a father made his transition, so there is no familial repercussion.
The detail that tells us something about Joaquina is in the relationship to the head of household listed– Estevan and Ysabel are aunt and uncle to Pedro Maldonado Camacho. This suggests that Joaquina used Camacho, or perhaps had a partner with the surname. when looking at Pedro’s half sister, Ynocencia Vale Camacho, her death record has her father as Ramon Vales (bca 1827) and mother as Joaquina Camacho. Yet no records for Ramon beyond this entry turns up- or was he actually Ramon Camacho? This Ynocencia is may or may not be the same Ynocencia that appears on the pages of the 1872 Registro, with listed as the daughter of Joaquina. Another death record for Leon Camacho (1853-1923) of Camuy lists only his mother, Joaquina Camacho.
At the very least, Joaquina had seven children between 1857 and 1867; she herself appears on no cedulas, suggesting that she may have already obtained her freedom. In her grandson’s birth certificate she is referenced as ‘Joaquina Vale Liberta’, as is her son, ‘Antonio Vale liberto sin segundo apellido’. Yet by appending liberto, the municipal government calls out a status that supposedly ended in 1876, when the emancipated also became full citizens. Maria Cristina Vale Rico’s Acta de Nacimiento was filed in October 1888.
May we learn more about the struggle & resilience of these ancestors.
Here’s the initial 865 list followed by the municipalities that are in the Cajas recently uploaded to FamilySearch!
Listed below are: Isabela, Camuy, Vega Baja, San Juan, Utuado, Guayama, Juncos, Lares, Hormigueros, Manati, Rio Grande, Comerio, Carolina & last, that big cluster of School Personnel files. What can you find about your ancestors & their communities?
Caja 74, Padron de Esclavos, Arecibo, im 17. FamilySearch
Did you know that 865 sets of documents under Gobierno de Puerto Rico were recently uploaded to FamilySearch last December?
These aren’t indexed yet, but the Caja information and municipality are mentioned. While it’s not every municipality, it’s definitely worth a look!
Some of those included are Isabela, Camuy, Vega Baja, San Juan, Utuado, Guyama, Juncos, Lares, Hormigueros, Manati, Rio Grande, Comerio, Carolina & a big cluster of School Personnel files.
Here are some links to the results to help you get started:
This post, based on transcriptions of a notary document from Aguadilla, speaks the names of several enslaved ancestors held in Aguadilla by Pedro Pellot. Pellot, one of four Peugeot siblings from Fuenterrabia (Hondarribia in Basque), Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of the Atlantic Pyrenees in Spain. The siblings arrived in Puerto Rico in 1804.[1]
By 1810, Pellot became a partner in the company of d. Pedro Abadia (Pedro Manuel Abadia Valencia ca 1727-1828) and d. Martin Lorenzo de Acevedo y Hernandez (1749-1828; also my 4th GGF). Pellot first administered, then purchased Abadia’s hacienda in Barrio Aceituna and expanded it, acquiring some 105 souls to work the coffee plantation by 1847.
While Hacienda Yruena, was among the three largest haciendas in Aceitunas, Pellot held the largest number of enslaved people in the municipality. He sold the property to its administrator, Juan Labadie Larre. The big house was rebuilt in 1903, and today is known as Hacienda Labadie. [2]
Hacienda Labadie, Moca, PR. E. Fernandez-Sacco, 2007. This version of the house was built in 1903.
Margarita
At the end of December 1822, d. Pedro Pellot purchased Margarita (bca. 1806), a young 16 year old woman, born in Guinea from Da. Maria Lucia Domenech Arze (1792-1832). [3] Maria Lucia also came from a family of enslavers, as at least one enslaved person held by her father d. Jose Domenech, appears in the first Libro de Defunciones for Aguadilla.[4]
Maria Lucia Domenech was the wife of d. Francisco Rabasa Dalmaso, a Catalan who settled in Aguadilla and whom she married three years earlier. Rabasa was also involved in buying and selling humans in the 1820s. Domenech made the sale on the basis of her rights under marriage to conduct business, and eventually, Margarita became the property of Pedro Pellot.
We come to know of Margarita’s life in Puerto Rico as part of a series of transactions. How accurate was the recording of her age? How many Margaritas were there on the Pellot plantation? This is an issue one faces when researching enslaved ancestors, as the focus on familial details is reserved for the enslaver, while personal details are used to maintain the status of the enslaved as property, and later in the century, after 1868, they became citizens incrementally.
Searching for Margarita
Acta entierro, “Margarita esclava de Dn. Fran.co Rabasa de diez y nueve anos de edad” 15 December 1837, APSCB Libro 6 F115 No, 2589
In Libro 6, F115 #2589 of entierros for San Carlos de la Aguadilla is a record for another Margarita, born about 1818. On 19 December 1837, she was buried at the age of 19 years. According to the entry she was also enslaved by d. Francisco Rabasa. As Margarita (b.ca 1806) from the 1822 sale does not appear among the cedulas of 1868-70 in Caja 4 of the Registro de Esclavos, she either managed to buy her freedom, was sold away, or died. The difference in age, together with the children born after 1837 suggests that Margarita survived, unless the children belonged to a different Margarita.
Other persons enslaved by Rabasa were born in Africa, such as Maria who died in 1828 (without noting her age or any other details), and Juana Rita 28, who died in 1843. The 1826 Relacion de Esclavos de Aguadilla has a list of enslaved people held by d. Francisco Rabasa. At the top of the second column appears yet another Margarita, age 11 bca. 1815.
Caja 62, Relacion de Esclavos, d. Francisco Rabasa, 1826. AGPR
Another Set of Sales: Four Boys, Aguadilla, 1822
Four boys trade hands in Aguadilla in March 1822. While we have the record for Pellot’s purchase, there are another set of entries that offer the outlines of trafficking in small numbers of those enslaved.
In March 1822, Pellot purchased four enslaved children born in Coro, Venezuela from D. Jose Antonio Vidal and D. Carlos Espinet. The boys were between the ages of 10 and 14, and worked as house servants. A host of questions come up– where were their mother or parents? Were they separated earlier? When did they gain their freedom? Did they ever and when? What surname did they take on? Over how many continents did their origin reach? They are:
José Eduviges de 14 años, b, 1808
José Perfecto de 10 años, b.1812
Francisco de la Yuga de 11 años b.1811
José Manuel de 10 años b. 1812 [4]
As the century wore on, there was a growing preference for purchasing children, with the expectation of a longer term of labor. [5] According to the entry, they were first sold as a group for 725 pesos by Nicolas Franson (b. Genoa, Italy) to Jose Antonio Vidal and Carlos Espinet. The price that Pellot paid is not recorded in their resale on the 23 March 1822. [6] Franson was a captain, specifically of the ship Monserrate, ‘goleta espanola’, a two masted schooner, that suggests he was also capable of transporting the enslaved. I am left with questions and the hope of finding something more.
Capitania del Puerto, – “25 Abril 1837, De la Aguadilla goleta española Monserrate, su capitán d. Nicolas Franson” Gazette de Puerto Rico, Apr 29, 1837. Library of Congress.
The witnesses to the sale were D.Francisco Rabasa, D.Juan Bautista Doumeng and D.Jose Joaquín Miranda, all local plantation owners and enslavers. These documents show the small scale of human trafficking among married couples, emigres who shared French or Basque origins and local partnerships. By 1850, more formal businesses were involved.
Trafficking from Coro to Aguadilla, 1822
Here are all of the enslaved persons from Coro who were trafficked in Aguadilla for the year of 1822
Chart listing enslaved from Coro, Venezulela to NWPR, Caja 1291, Aguadilla.
References
[1] Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, “Reconstructing District 3’s Missing 1872 Registro Central de Esclavos for Northwest Puerto Rico.” [Part 1 of 4] Hereditas 2019, 73. Antonio Nieves Méndez, Historia de un pueblo: Moca 1772-2000. Ediciones Aymaco, lulu.com 2008, 247.
[2] Nieves Mendez, Historia de un pueblo: Moca 1772-2000., 247.
[3] Caja 1291 En Aguadilla 3-22-1822 fol 128 ante mi,el escribano Real y público y testigos que se nominaran compareció D.Nicolás Franson de este vecindario y dijo que da en venta Real a D.José Antonio Vidal y a Carlos Espinet de la propia vecindad 4 esclavos de su propiedad nombrados José Eduviges de 14 años, José Perfecto de 10 años, Francisco de la Yuga 11 años y José Manuel de 10 años naturales del Coro y se los vende por la suma de 725 pesos. Testigos y vecinos lo fueron D.Francisco Rabasa, D.Juan Bautista Doumeng y D.José Joaquín Miranda. Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, AGPR, Fondo de Protocolo Notariales, Caja 1291, Serie- Aguadilla, Pueblo- Aguadilla, Escribano Jesualdo Gaya 1821-1822. Transcrito por Carlos Encarnacion Navarro.
[4] Caja 1291 f370v-372, 31 Dec 1822; f131v – 132v, 23 March 1822
[6] Caja 1291, En Aguadilla 3-23-1822 fol.131-v a 132-v ante mi, escribano Real y público y testigos que se nominaran comparecieron D. José Antonio Vidal y D. Carlos Espinet de este vecindario y dijeron que daban en venta Real a D.Pedro Pellot del mismo vecindario 4 siervos esclavos nombrados José Eduviges de 14 años, José Perfecto de 10 años, Francisco de la Yuga de 11 años y José Manuel de 10 años todos naturales del coro. Testigos y vecinos lo fueron D.Francisco Rabasa, D.Juan Bautista Doumeng y D.Jose Joaquín Miranda.
Citation: Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, “Remembering enslaved ancestors purchased by Pedro Pellot, Aguadilla, 1822.” Latino Genealogy and Beyond, 9 Nov 2024.
For over twenty years in Moca, the Museo is an important focal point, interconnecting tejedoras, artisans, materials and cultural memory, under the directorship of Don Mokay Hernandez Vale.
Don Benito ‘Mokay’ Hernandez Vale founded the museum with the support of a group of tejedoras (master lacemakers), some no longer with us. Today, El Museo del Mundillo sits near the town’s plaza in the former 1935 health building on Calle Barbosa in the heart of Barrio Pueblo in Moca.
The museum serves the community by connecting artisans, hosting trainings, coordinating festivals and events. Featured are many examples of local lacemaking, and the institution preserves aspects of mundillo’s history all too often lost when an artisan passes.
Also on display are works that tie mundillo to deeper histories of the island. This is seen in the framed work of Carmen Quinones Marcial & Frances Mendez Colon’s (QEPD) Tejidos de Maguey. Featured is lace made from the fibers of the maguey plant, processed and transformed into a decorative arrangement of fan and flowers.
This talk covered an overview of the museum, the community’s century’s long involvement with mundillo and the importance of supporting this institution today.
Here’s a recent tour of the Museo del Mundillo by the Museo de las Americas PR’s #DaleClickaLaCultura initiative:
I’m delighted to learn of one artist’s amazing use of mundillo in their work- artist Glorimar Garcia reached out after my talk and shared her site! – Be sure to check out her installations & projects.
The talk is archived for IOLI members. IOLI VP Prabha Ramakrishand sent a lovely letter of acknowledgement and a year subscription to the IOLI digital journal. So appreciate the gift!
Mira lo que los Tres Reyes Magos brought to my house!
A new book by Lic Lorenzo Oscar Caban Arocho, Bienvenidos a Moca. As you can see, this is a big book that is another contribution to a growing list of books on the experience of being Mocano. In it, Caban Arocho brings together his memories with a wide range of photos and publications on Moca.
This book, as with other generational local histories, take a highly personal perspective and are insightful as they lend a sense of the changes in barrio Pueblo over time. There’s even his reflections on my article on Leoncia Lasalle and her family, that awakened his recollection that she was his partera, the midwife who brought him into the world over eight decades before.
I’m looking forward to delving into the book— and will post where you can buy a copy. In the meantime, here’s the ISBN number: ISBN 979-8-3507-2470-7
Lcdo. Lorenzo Oscar Caban Arocho, from Bookdatabase online. Note the sleeve decoration made of mundillo. His wife is an accomplished tejedora (lacemaker).
Cover, Lorenzo Oscar Caban Arocho, Bienvenidos a Moca (2023)
This has turned out to be a busy month! I finished my last article for the series on “Reconstructing Missing Volume of the Registro Central de Esclavos, pt 4” for the forthcoming volume 24 of Hereditas: Revista de la Sociedad Puertorriquena de Genealogia. I hope to submit “Looking for Lorenzo Ubiles, Alcalde de barrio Humacao 1873.” for the AAHGS Journal shortly.
I’m happy to announce that on Thursday October 19, 1:30 PM-2:30 EST, I’ll be presenting “El Registro de Esclavos: An archive you need to know”, at “Hidden in Plain Sight: Recovering the erased stories of our ancestors in the United States and the Caribbean”, the 44th Annual 2023 AAHGS Virtual Conference. Excited to be among so many great presentations & presenters that includes friends & family from Black ProGen Live! Sessions will be available until Dec 31.
Here’s the description: The process of emancipation in Puerto Rico formally began in 1868, with the registration of over 30,000 enslaved persons using cedulas, small registration forms 6 x 8” in size. The information on these forms were copied to create the volumes of the Registro de Esclavos, issued in 1872. FamilySearch microfilmed two series of these documents from the enormous collection of Gobiernos Españoles collection. These are now searchable on the FamilySearch site as “Puerto Rico Slave Registers, 1863-1879”. These entries shed light on the identities of people as they transitioned to freedom just fifteen years before the establishment of the Registro Civil (Civil Registration) in 1885 and the formal end of slavery in 1886. The information covers name, origin, parents, partner, children, enslaver, physical details and issues around the purchase of freedom, manumission, or even the death of the person listed. The ages range from days old to persons in their 80s. These documents are useful for identifying family members and confirming their identities and locations pre-1885, and who may not appear in the 1910 census. Recently digitized archives on the Archivo Digital Nacional de Puerto Rico (ADNPR.net) that overlap with the information in the Registro de Esclavos will be covered. This work is a contribution to the ancestors, to help bridge them with their descendants.
I was blessed to meet an elder generation of lacemakers—tejedoras or mundillistas–, before they passed on. I met many amazing people when I was involved with field research for my project, thanks to happening upon Ada Hernandez Vale in Jaime Babilonia’s Farmacia in the Plaza, the heart of Barrio Pueblo, Moca.
Ada was carrying her chihuahua, Trompito, and in Spanish asked me if I was looking for mundillo, which is handmade Puerto Rican bobbin lace. Actually, I was there following a burning genealogical mystery about some of the Babilonias in Barrio Pueblo, but her question stunned me. No, I answered, and added, I didn’t know what it was. She shot back, “how can you not know about mundillo if you’re from here? Come to my house, I’ll show you.”
My husband Tom and I walked a couple of blocks to her home just off the plaza. Over the next three hours, Ada proceeded to haul out work that i’ve never seen before. “This is mundillo, and my brother Mokay is opening a museum. I want you to meet him.” As with other families in Moca, members of the Hernandez Vale family were long involved in mundillo thanks to their mother, Julia Vale Mendez (1906-1991), as makers of telars, as lacemakers and brokers of encaje puertorriqueno. This led to Mokay (Benito) Hernandez Vale’s establishing el Museo del Mundillo on Calle Barbosa thanks to the support and efforts of a group of lacemakers who shared this vision.
Researching in Moca
This is how my research began, a series of projects that tie together origins, trade networks, slavery and family histories. While this research culminated in a book chapter, “Mundillo and Identity” in Women and the Material Culture of Needlework and Textiles (2009), there’s more left to do.
Mundillo is important, as the women who worked in the pueblo had a network of production and community that maintained relationships within and without the island. They produced lace that connected the sacred to the secular, that marked rites of passage through delicate edging and decoration that spanned generations.
Ser tejedora – to be a lacemaker was a skill set that held so many social and historical connections. The activity is visible in the 1910 Federal census and then spreads by subsequent census as young women learn the skill in school and from each other as the Industria de la Aguja begins to swell. Puerto Rico was the first maquiladora, and the history of mundillo falls on the edge of that history.
Literature on mundillo
The first book on the history of mundillo is by Augusto Hernandez Mendez (QEPD), Historia y desarrollo del mundillo mocano. (Moca, 1993). He was an educator and administrator involved with literacy, and cultural celebrations, amplifying the efforts of many. What’s great about his book are Capitulo VI and VII, which covers the artisans who serve as ambassadors of the craft, and the artisans involved with producing the tools, patterns and lace in Moca. The mini-biography of each person is accompanied by a photograph.
The second book is Antonio Nieves Mendez, ed. La industria del mundillo en la zona urbana de Moca: Reconocimiento general de las propiedades de la zona urbana de Moca asociada con el produccion del mundillo. (2011, Lulu.com) The study maps out the dissemination of mundillo within the town from 1885-1930. These books are incredible genealogical resources if you happen to have family from Moca, because of the focus on women artisans and teachers.
My contribution to this literature is “Mundillo and Identity: The Revival and Transformation of Handmade Lace in Puerto Rico” in Maureen Daly Goggin and Beth Fowkes Tobin’s Women and the Material Culture of Needlework. (Ashgate 2009) This chapter on the development of mundillo provides a larger historical perspective. By tracing the practice as global one, it shows mundillo’s spread on the island was tied to school training in the 1930s. This left mundillo as an adjunct to the activity of the Industria de la aguja, the Garment Industry, which provided piecework to thousands of women across the island.
Las Tejedoras: Algunas artesanas de Moca
Olga Hernandez Rivera, Tejedora, Festival del Mundillo, November 2005, Moca, P.R.
Olga Hernandez Rivera stands among the expert tejedoras of Moca. Her husband is a artisan in wood, who makes a range of elegant telars, the base for working lace with bollillos. With roots in barrios Cerro Gordo and Centro, Olga has lived in Barrio Cuchillas for decades with her family. When I visited Moca some years ago, Olga introduced me to other mundillistas and showed examples of her work. She told me about one of her teachers, Andrea Lopez Rivera (1928-2003), who did much to teach mundillo to women in Moca through the Servicio Extension Agricola.
Master tejedoras Nelly Vera Sanchez & Yolanda Romero Aviles, lacemaking in honor of Virginia Arocho Rodriguez, Moca, 2007. Photo: Ellen Fernandez-Sacco.
The death of Virginia Rodriguez Arocho brought the tejedoras in the community connected to el Museo de Mundillo out in remembrance of her at her wake. Nelly Vera Sanchez is among the lacemakers recognized by major cultural organizations and was named a National Heritage Fellow by the Endowment for the Humanities in 2021. Yolanda Romero Aviles is an accomplished tejedora, Among the items that she creates are lace covers that edge the lower sleeves of judicial robes. These areas of mundillo add contrast and do not detract from the robe as a symbol of the court. By wearing mundillo, one communicates knowledge of local tradition and cultural pride. Romero Aviles’ sleeve covers are extensive– about 6″ in width. Her works feature advanced techniques in bobbin lace to create a ground interspersed with floral and abstract motifs.
Magda Rivera kindly showed me her shop, which features a memorial to her mother, the tejedora Julia Bosques Torres (1911-1992), who learned to make lace at age 8. In 1940, she established a shop in her home for buying and selling lace and other items that she ran until her death. (Hernandez Mendez, p108)
Memory wall to Julia Bosques, Magda Rivera’s Mundillo shop, Moca, 2007. Photo: Ellen Fernandez-SaccoMagda Rivera shows a baby doll with dress of mundillo in basket w tejidos. Moca, Puerto Rico, 2007. Photo: Ellen Fernandez-Sacco
Maria C. Guadalupe made lengths of lace along with a range of amazing small gifts to children and adult’s clothing. These works are embellished with edgings and panels of mundillo and delicate embroidery, as in this dress below:
Maria C. Guadalupe, dress with mundillo panels and embroidery. Moca, Puerto Rico, 2007. Photo: Ellen Fernandez-SaccoDona Maria Lasalle newspaper feature, Mundillo collection, UPR-Mayaguez.
Although there were a number of women who practiced mundillo in Moca, a smaller number achieved fame for their work and their shops, as did Dona Maria Lasalle (1914-1913). The mundillo she is working on is an old model that predates foam– that narrowing of the center of the upper armature happens with the banana leaf stuffing of earlier years. Still it holds its complex pattern using dozens of bollilos (bobbins).
Rito Vargas & Maria Lasalle, Revista Moca, Nov-Dic 1979.
She was married to Rito Vargas Gonzalez, a carpenter, furniture maker and friend to my grandfather, Alcides Babilonia Lopez, together they kept the tradition of el Velorio de los Reyes celebrated in Barrio Pueblo still held today. Their son Rito Vargas Lasalle continues to promote their memory.
There’s much to the history of mundillo, and I am fascinated by how it interconnects its practitioners, its exhibitors and its wearers. Looking forward to sharing more about people connected to mundillo.
