Marriage, Protestantism, and religious conflict in nineteenth-century Puerto Rico

Journal of Religious History

Volumn 24, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 263-278

  Martínez Fernández, Luis ^a  

^a RUTGERS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33745760853     PISSN: 00224227     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9809.00112     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. Verena Martínez-Alier, Marriage, Class and Colour in Nineteenth-Century Cuba, 2nd ed. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 1989);
2. Patricia Seed, To Love, Honor, and Obey in Colonial Mexico: Conflicts over Marriage Choice, 1574-1821 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988);
3. Asunción Lavrin, "Sexuality in Colonial Mexico: A Church Dilemma," in A. Lavrin, ed., Sexuality and Marriage in Colonial Latin America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989), 47-95;
4. Susan M. Socolow, "Acceptable Partners: Marriage Choice in Colonial Argentina, 1778-1810," in Lavrin, ed., Sexuality, 209-51;
5. Ward Stavig, "'Living in Offense of Our Lord': Indigenous Sexual Values and Marital Life in the Colonial Crucible," Hispanic American Historical Review 75 (1995): 597-622;
6. and Ramon A. Gutiérrez, When Jesus Came the Corn Mothers Went Away: Marriage, Sexuality, and Power in New Mexico, 1500-1846 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991).
7. Also see: Silvia M. Arróm, La mujer mexicana ante el divorcio eclesiástico (1800-1857) (Mexico City: SepSetentas, 1976);
8. and Ann Twinam, "Honor, Sexuality, and Illegitimacy in Colonial Spanish America," in Lavrin, ed.. Sexuality, 118-55.
9. Martínez-Alier. Marriage, 42-5:
10. Socolow, "Acceptable Partners," 211;
11. Seed, To Love, 161, 195.
12. The Juntas de Vagos y Amancebados were established by Governor Miguel López de Baños. Each municipal junta had as one of its permanent members the local parish priest. José M. García Leduc, "La iglesia y el clero católico de Puerto Rico (1800-1873): su proyecciôn social, económica y política" (Ph.D. diss., Catholic University of America, 1990), 16;
13. see also circulars by Puerto Rico's governors dated 23 January 1845, 2 April 1855, and 24 July 1855 on the subject of amancebados in Francisco Ramos. Prontuario de disposiciones oficiales (San Juan, 1866), 18-19.
14. In Toa Alta in 1821, for example, marriage fees constituted the principal source of income for the local curate. García Leduc, "Iglesia," 338.
15. On age requirements, see law of 20 June 1862, Archivo General de Puerto Rico (hereafter cited as AGPR), Real Audiencia, Tribunal en Pleno, box 3, exp. 15;
16. and Ramón de Armas y Sáenz, Ley de disenso paterno aplicada a las islas de Cuba y Puerto-Rico por real decreto de 3 de febrero de 1582 (Madrid, 1882), 20.
17. On general impediments to marriage, see Lavrin, "Sexuality," 56.
18. Ten reales equaled one peso; one peso was roughly the equivalent of one US dollar. Damián López de Haro, ConstUuciones sinodales (San Juan, 1818), 187-8;
19. James William Steele, Cuban Sketches (New York, 1881), 178;
20. see records of amonestaciones in Archivo Histórico Diocesano de la Ârchidiósesis de San Juan (hereafter cited as AHDASJ), Justicia, box 140;
21. also see Ramos, Prontuario, 140-1.
22. On velaciones, see Félix Manuel Ortiz Medina, "Aná lisis de los registros de matrimonios de la Parroquia de Yabucoa," Anales de Investigatión Histórica 1 (1974: reprint), 87.
23. Reduced dispensations costs established in 1857 for Puerto Rico were 150 pesos for second degree (between first cousins). On costs of consanguinity dispensations, see AGPR, Audiencia Territorial, Real Acuerdo, box 20B, exp. 20:
24. and Garcia Leduc, "Iglesia," 384.
25. Ortiz Medina documents the fact that between 1813 and 1850, 199 out of 590 marriages among Yabucoa's whites involved some degree of consanguinity, Ortiz Medina, "Análisis," 83.
26. Also see Mario A. Rodríguez León, Los registros parroquiales y la microhistoria demográfica en Puerto Rico (San Juan: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, 1990), 122;
27. and Fernando Picó, Libertad y servidumbre en el Puerto Rico del siglo xix, 2nd ed. (Río Piedras. PR: Ediciones Huracán, 1987), 128-9.
28. López de Haro, ConstUuciones, 187-8;
29. and bishop of Puerto Rico, 1 November 1865 in Francisco Ramos, Ápendice al prontuario de disposiciones oficiales (San Juan, 1867), 189-90.
30. On marriage restrictions for government employees, see AGPR, Audiencia Territorial, Real Acuerdo, box 20A, exp. 10; also see id., box 20B, leg. 20.
31. Soltería proceedings of Jorge Y. Finlay and Emilia Francisca Van Rhyn in 1866 cost 53 pesos and 38 cents. AHDASJ, Justicia. Procesos Legales, Soltería. Ponce, leg. .1-182;
32. Circular by Bishop Gil Esteve dated 23 December 1852, AHDASJ, Gobierno, Circulares, 1813-1899.
33. See file of Marciala Saleces of Bayamón seeking legitimation of her two children on the claim that she had pursued a dispensation for her marriage with her brother-in-law, now deceased. AGPR, Audiencia Territorial, Real Acuerdo, box 18, exp. 10.
34. Antonio Cuesta Mendoza, Historia eclesiástica del Puerto Rico colonial (1508-1700) (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic, 1948), 239.
35. AGPR, Audiencia Territorial, Real Acuerdo, box 18, exp. 10.
36. Statistics for Bayamón in 1879, Mario A. Rodriǵuez León, Bayamón: notas para su historia, 2 vols. (San Juan: Comité Historia de los Pueblos, 1985), 2: 10-13;
37. statistics for Ponce in 1883 were 1,252 births, 113 marriages, and 1,406 deaths; AHDASJ, Disciplina, Padrones, Estadística, 1872-1883, leg. P-61.
38. Pedro Tomás de Córdova, Memorias geográficas, históricas, económicas y estadísticas de la Isla de Puerto Rico, 6 vols (San Juan: Institute de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1968; original ed. 1832), 2: 32, 33, 95, 209, 255, 274, 406;
39. Henry K. Carroll, Report on the Island of Porto Rico (New York: Arno Press, 1975), 218.
40. On Loíza (1835-1844), see Rodriguez León, Registros, 82;
41. in Ponce (1883) there were 595 legitimate births and 657 natural births, AHDASJ, Disciplina, Padrones, Estadistica, 1872-1883, leg. P-61.
42. Also see Carroll, Report, 35.
43. Statistics for Vieques in 1844 are: 40 natural births and 22 legitimate births; for 1865, 14 natural births and 20 legitimate ones; Libros de Bautismos de Vieques (microfilm in Centra de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico [hereafter cited as CIH]). Declaration by Presbyter Francisco Torres dated 1851 and undated letter by the captain-general of Puerto Rico (c. 1851), in CIH, Papeles de Vieques, 820-1, 213.
44. In Puerto Rico in 1867, there were 41,737 slaves, of whom only 1,099 were married; that year the rate of marriage among Puerto Rico's whites was 70 percent and among blacks was 25 percent. Centro de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, El proceso abolicionista en Puerto Rico: documentas para su estudio, 2 vols (San Juan: Centro de Investigaciones Históricas-Instítuto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1974-78), 2: 168-70;
45. Rafael María de Labra, La brutalidad de los negros (reprint; Havana: Universidad de La Habana, 1961), 29;
46. Benjamín Nistal Moret, "Problems in the Social Structure of Slavery in Puerto Rico during the Process of Abolition, 1872," in Manuel Moreno Fraginals, Frank Moya Pons, and Stanley Engerman, eds., Between Slavery and Free Labor: The Spanish-Speaking Caribbean in the Nineteenth Century (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), 146;
47. Fernando Ortiz Fernández, Hampa afro-cubana: Los negros brujos (apuntes para un estudio de etnologia criminal) (Miami; Ediciones Universal, 1973), 120.
48. See Puerto Rico's Real Cédula de Gracias in Cayetano Coll y Toste, ed., Boletín Histórico de Puerto Rico, 14 vols (San Juan: Tipografía Cantero Fernández y Cía., 1914-1927), 1: 297-304.
49. According to an 1838 census, a total of 277 immigrants resided in Ponce, 39 percent of them were non-slave immigrants of colour. Four decades later the number of foreigners had reached 811. "Padrón de extranjeros, Ponce, 1838," AGPR, Gobernadores Españoles, Ponce, box 14;
50. and "Padrón de extranjeros, Ponce, 1868," Archivo Histórico Municipal de Ponce (hereinafter cited as AHMP), leg. 53, box 51, exp. 24.
51. See Luis Martínez-Fernańdez, "Crypto-Protestants and Pseudo-Catholics in the Nineteenth-Century Hispanic Caribbean," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 51 (April 2000).
52. Process to verify soltería y catolicidad of Augusto Lion and Elena Catalina Salomons (1862);
53. witnesses were Bernardo Eckelman, Emilio Overman, and someone surnamed Degetau ( probably Federico Degetau y González, who was related by marriage to the Basantas). Roberto Graham and Ysabel Spense married with Catholic rites using as witnesses Tomas A. Dodd, Guillermo Lee, and Jorge Finlay; all three declared that they were Catholics. On 18 August 1868 Juan Herman Van Rhyn and Juana Francisca Mirailh were married Catholic. Jorge Ysidoro Finlay and Emilia Francisca Van Rhyn were married Catholic (1866): during the proceedings to establish soltería and cristiandad his witnesses were Ramón Berartain, Juan Sullivan, and Francisco Antonsanti; hers were Pedro Minvielle and James Gallagher; the process ended on 8 June 1866 and the marriage was solemnized on 5 July. Guillermo Oppenheimer and Ana María Salomons established their soltería in 1864. Carlos Juan Oppenheimer and Ana María Salomons established their soltería in June 1865. AHDASJ, Justicia, Procesos Legales, Certificados de Soltería. Ponce, legs. J-181 and J-182; and Ponce Catholic Parish, Marriage Books (microfilms in CIH).
54. For example, Thomas A. Dodd, William Lee, and Jorge Finlay all declared that they were Catholic and testified that Ysabel Spense and Roberto Graham were too; Peter Minvielle and James Gallagher testified that Emilia Francisca Van Rhyn was Catholic. AHDASJ, Justicia, Procesos Legales, Certificados de Soltería, Ponce, leg. J-182.
55. Bernardo Eckelman as witnesses of soltería and catolicidad for Jorge Federico Weichers (1862), AHDASJ, Justicia, Procesos Legales, Certificaciones de Soltería, Ponce, leg. J-181.
56. Gutiérrez, Evángelicos, 31-3;
57. Vieques Catholic Baptisms (microfilms in CIH).
58. Marriage Records of All Saints Church of St Thomas (microfilms at the Williams Library of St Croix);
59. Albert E. Lee, An Island Grows: Memoirs of Albert E. Lee, 1873-1942 (San Juan: Privately Published, 1963), 3, 9.
60. AGPR, Audiencia Territorial, Real Acuerdo, box 34, exp. 19.
61. Curate of Vieques to the bishop of Puerto Rico, 12 March 1857, AHDASJ, Gobierno, Correspondencia Parroquia-Obispo, Vieques, 1847-1927, leg. G-29;
62. Books of Marriages of the Dutch Reformed Church of Christiansted, St Croix (microfilms in the Williams Library of St Croix): Ramos, Prontuario, 313.
63. Raymond Carr, España, 1808-1975 (Barcelona: Ariel, 1985), 304, 334;
64. Coll y Toste, ed., Boletín histórico, 12:123.
65. Minvielle to Edward Conroy, 2 November 1869, National Archives, Washington, DC, Records of Foreign Service Posts, RG 84, Ponce, Vol. 7191;
66. Sanz to the regent of the Real Audiencia of Puerto Rico, AGPR, Real Audiencia, Tribunal en Pleno, box 11, leg. 2.
67. Letter describing activities of the organizational meeting written by F. J. Finlay reproduced in Victor Burset, "The First Fifty Years of Protestant Episcopal Church in Puerto Rico" (Thesis, General Theological Seminary, New York City, 1957), 17-19.
68. Emma Aurora Dávila Cox, Este inmenso comercio: las relaciones mercantíles entre Puerto Rico y Gran Bretaña, 1844-1898 (San Juan: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. 1996). 343-4.
69. Juan Jorge Rivera Torres, Documentos históricos de la Iglesia Episcopal Puertorriqueña (Santo Domingo: Editora Lozano, 1983), 13
70. "Parish of the Holy Trinity, Ponce, Porto Rico," Spirit of Missions 38 (February 1873): 126-7.
71. Rivera Torres, Documentes, 6-7;
72. Archive Parroquial de la Iglesis Santísima Trinidad (hereafter cited as APIST), vols 1 and 5.
73. AHDASJ, Justicia, Procedimientos Legales, Certificaciones de Soltería, leg. J-182;
74. Ponce's Catholic parish books of marriage and baptism (microfilms in CIH).
75. APIST. vols 1 and 5.
76. APIST, vols 1 and 6.
77. APIST, vol. 4.
78. Burset, "First Fifty Years," 22;
79. Mariano Vidal Armstrong, Ponce: notas para su historia (San Juan: Comité Historia de los Pueblos, 1983), 44.
80. Charles L. Colmore, "Beginnings of the Church in Puerto Rico," Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 11 (1942): 398-406;
81. church ad in El Avisador, 15 October 1874;
82. Lee, Island, 14-15;
83. Case documents in AHDASJ, Justicia, Procesos Legales, Validación de Matrimonios, Ponce, leg. J-218.
84. APIST, book 1.
85. Sugar production in Ponce fell after the abolition of slavery in 1873;
86. the 1876 harvest was less than half the size of the one for 1871. Ramón Marín, Las fiestas populares de Ponce (Río Piedras, PR: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1994), 264;