Branch D: Cespedes Romagosa/Ramirez Romagosa

Manzanillo

I. Cespedes Romagosa

Rosario Romagosa Rosabal, daughter of Diego Romagosa Arteaga and Mercedes Rosabal, both from Manzanillo, married Enrique Céspedes del Castillo at 15 years of age in an arranged marriage. He was much older than her. Enrique was a cousin of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo, a patriot of the Cuban independence movement. They had two children: A. Mercedes and B. Enrique Céspedes Romagosa. Their family property, el Aguacate, was used as landing site for Fidel on July 26. After Enrique, Sr.'s death, the property was divided and Mercedes inherited el Aguacate.

A. Mercedes Céspedes Romagosa married Luis Sotto. They had three children:

Francisca, Luis and Enrique Sotto Céspedes. Francisca married Manuel Ramírez León, son of Juan Evangelista Ramirez Romagosa and Maria Josefa Leon Bello. Francisca and Manuel had four children: Juan, Manuel, Ramiro and Mercedes Ramirez Sotto (see Ramirez Romagosa below).

B. Enrique Céspedes Romagosa was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Cuban revolutionary army. He was wounded in 1895 during one of the first battles of the war of independence. He was able to escape to New York where he was operated on by Dr. Raimundo Menocal, and was able to save his leg. After convalescing, he returned in another expedition and was named Colonel and chief of the brigade operating in Jucaro-Morón, Camagüey Province. Enrique married Gloria Masó, niece of Bartolome Maso. When "don Enrique" died, the city of Manzanillo remembered him, with all schools closing that day, in mourning. Enrique and Gloria had seven children: Mercedes, Eligia, Jose, Bartolome, Maria de los Dolores, Alfredo and Gloria Cespedes Maso. Bartolome Cespedes Maso married Consuelo Oro.

II. Ramírez Romagosa

Maria de Jesus (Chuchina) Romagosa Arteaga married José Ramírez Fornaris, the son of a Spaniard who had settled in Bayamo. His sister, Dolores Ramírez Fornaris married Rafael Buelta (see Branch B, Romagosa Buelta). Chuchina and Jose had four children: Pedro, Juan Evangelista, Manuel, and Leonor Ramirez Romagosa. Jose Ramirez Fornaris sent his sons to study in Germany.

A. Pedro Ramirez Romagosa married Juana Batlle. They had 8 children:

-Maria Ramirez Batlle, who married Francisco Rodriguez Mojena.

-Dolores (Lola) Ramirez Batlle, who married Manuel Romagosa Buelta, her father's first cousin, after his first wife, Maria de Jesus ("Chuchinita") Romagosa Venecia died. They had no children.

-Juana Ramirez Batlle, who married Felix Fernandez Caymaris.

-Maria de Jesus Ramirez Batlle, who married Pedro Manuel Miyares, and had Miguel Angel Miyares Ramirez who provided information for this report.

-Pedro (Peruchin) and Jose Manuel Ramirez Batlle, who died young.

-Emilio Ramirez Batlle who never married.

-Augusto Ramirez Batlle who married Manuela Luisa Mariño.

B. Juan Evangelista Ramírez Romagosa became a Colonel during the 10-Year War. He married the sister of Perucho Figueredo, Carmen, during the war, but the marriage was annuled because she was under age. Juan (or Papa Juan, as the grandchildren called him), then married Maria Josefa (Mapepilla) León Bello, daughter of Isaguirre Leon and Genoveva Bello and sister of Eleucipo Leon Bello, the first Mayor of Manzanillo after independence from Spain. They had 16 children, although only 12 survived. Leonor (1879), Genoveva (1881), Juan (1883), (1) Manuel (1886), María Josefa (1887), (2) Eladio (1888), José Vicente (1889), María de Jesús (1890), Cristina (1892), Alberto (1893), Raimundo (1895), and, after the end of the war of independence, Zoila Estrella de la Paz (1899) [a play on the words "Soy la estrella de la paz": I am the star of peace].

1) Manuel Ramírez León (1886-1968) was Mayor of Manzanillo in 1922. He married Francisca Sotto Cespedes, the daughter of his father's (Juan Evangelista Ramirez Romagosa) second cousin, Mercedes Cespedes Romagosa de Sotto. Manuel and Francisca had four children:

  a. Juan Ramirez Sotto married Patricia Delgado. Children: Juan, Patricia, Maria Luisa and Eduardo Ramirez Delgado.

  b. Manuel Ramirez Sotto married Angelita Longa. Children: Ana Maria, Manuel and Mariana Ramirez Longa.

  c. Mercedes Ramirez Sotto married Antolin de Cardenas. Children: Mercedes, Rosario and Teresita de Cardenas Ramirez.

  d. Ramiro Ramirez Sotto married Lourdes Marquez Crusellas. Children: Lourdes, Ramiro and Alberto Ramirez Marquez.

2) Eladio Ramírez León, a well-kown lawyer, was a representative in 1924, 1926 and 1932. He was the lawyer of Charco Piedra, the sugar cane/cattle plantation of Alfredo Romagosa Sánchez in Camaguey province. (see Branch A)

C. Manuel (Lico) Ramirez Romagosa

Manuel died during the 10-Year War. He was in conversation with his brothers, Juan and Pedro, when a Spanish soldier overcame them and shot him.

D. Leonor Ramirez Romagosa died young.