Branch E: Romagosa/Cienfuegos
Manzanillo/Cienfuegos
Origins of the
Cienfuegos Branch
Cienfuegos was
founded in 1819, after Captain General Jose Cienfuegos accepted a proposal from
Juan Luis Lorenzo D'Clouet, a rich French colonel who emigrated from Louisiana
to Havana, to create a colony of 40 families at the bay of Jagua, with the
government paying for the families’ travel and a subsidy to maintain them for a
few months, as well as the donation of one caballeria (about 33 acres) to each white person 18 years of age
who was willing to work. The
project was approved by the Court and a Royal Order on October 21, 1817
authorized the foundation of the colony.
On March 3, 1819 D’Clouet designated 130 caballerías around the bay,
which had been donated by don
Agustín de Santa Cruz, in exchange for the titles of Count of Cumanayagua and Colonel of Militias which he
received. On April 8, 1819 D'Clouet arrived with 46 colonos from Burdeos,
France, a doctor and an agricultural expert, with the colonization beginning on
the 22 of that month. In 1820
another 282 colonos arrived from various places of origin, including 229 from
other areas in Cuba.
According to the
Cienfuegos Romagosa descendants, a Juan Evangelista Romagosa Leon, born in
Manzanillo moved to Cienfuegos and married Eulogia Martin. His parents had been a Juan Evangelista
Romagosa married to a Maria Petronila Leon. There are two known possibilities as to the ancestor of this
Juan Evangelista. These include:
- Juan Evangelista
Romagosa Arteaga, born in 1825, who married Andrea Avelina Venecia, sister of
Emilia Venecia, but died young at 23.
No descendants are known, but this may be because they moved to
Cienfuegos. Any descendant would
have been born around 1846-48, which would be appropriate.
- Sebastian
Romagosa Venecia, born in 1848, who married Juana Pereda Ramirez and moved to
Cienfuegos around 1870. Juan
Evangelista Romagosa Arteaga was Sebastian’s godfather. The only children of the Romagosa Pereda family whose
names are known are those listed in the Ellis Island ship manifest records in
1895, which do not identify a child named Juan Evangelista, although there may
have been older children who did not travel with the parents. If so, this descendant would probably
have been born between 1868 and 1874.
The Cienfuegos branch
remember Ramirez as the possible second last name of the Juan E. who
first went to Cienfuegos. Juana
Pereda’s second last name was Ramirez.
However, the time line does not seem feasible since this son would have
had to be born around 1865 (when his father was about 18) in order to have a
son, Juan Evangelista Romagosa Leon, by 1883 (also at 18), who would then have
to have had a son (Francisco Romagosa Martin) by 1901, also at 18.
Romagosa
León
Juan Evangelista
Romagosa, born in Manzanillo,
married Maria Petronila Leon, also from Manzanillo, where the Leon name
is prominent. Travel between
Manzanillo and Cienfuegos was facilitated by the start of steamship
transportation between these cities in 1865. They had at least one son: Juan Evangelista Romagosa León, also born in
Manzanillo, who married Eulogia Martín and died in 1945.
Romagosa
Martin
Juan Evangelista
Romagosa Leon and Eulogia Martin Gonzalez had four children: Alberto, Francisco
(1901-1944), (1) Francisco Guillermo (Cuco), who died in
1952, and (2) Angel (1907-1975).
1. Francisco Guillermo Romagosa Martin married Armanda
García, who died in 2002 in New Orleans.
They had three children: Francisco
Rogelio, Juana, and María Teresa Romagosa Garcia.
a) Francisco Rogelio (called Cuco)
Romagosa Garcia married Elder Vilma Villatoro, from Honduras, born in 1936,
and had three children:
Edgardo Roberto
Romagosa Villatoro, who married Nancy Gaudet, and has two children: Ashley Beryl Romagosa Gaudet and
Jessica Amber Romagosa Gaudet
Frank Anthony
Romagosa Villatoro, married to Anne-Maria
B. Makhulu (born in London; British and South African citizen)
Claudia María
Romagosa Villatoro, who married Jack Aguirre of Honduras, and has three children:
Arabella Lealani
Aguirre Romagosa
Nasya Gabriella Aguirre Romagosa
Jack Andrew Aguirre Romagosa
b) Juana
Romagosa Garcia, called Tita,
married Lorenzo and had one child.
She died in 1990.
c) Maria Teresa
Romagosa Garcia married Miguel Hernandez.
2. Angel Alfonso Romagosa Martin, born in Cienfuegos, married Delia Bengochea Tres Palacios. His godparents were Juan Inchausti and Candida Garcia. Angel Romagosa Martin appears in the Ellis Island records on October 2, 1923, at 16 years of age. His closest relative in Cuba is identified as his father, Juan E. Romagosa, residing at Santa Clara #116, Havana, Cuba, although the ship is traveling from the Port of Cienfuegos. He is described as a student, traveling with a friend, Felipe Lay Hernandez, 19, also a student, and his brother, Alfonso Lay Hernandez, 29, occupation surgeon. Angel is described as 5" 7", with brown hair and eyes. They were shown as visiting a friend, F. O. Lay, at 29 Broadway, New York City. Angel is shown as planning to stay in New York for a year. Angel died in June 1975, after coming with Delia to the United States. They had two children:
a) Angel (Angelito) Romagosa Bengochea
born in Cienfuegos.
Angel died Nov. 9, 1988 in the United States.
b) Juan Francisco
Romagosa Bengochea, born around 1944, lived in Orlando for many years and now resides
in Cape Coral, Fla. Juan’s parents
sent him to study in the US when he was 14 years old at Howey Academy in Lake
County, Fla. In 1960, after Castro’s
takeover, he stayed and a year later became part of Pedro Pan, the Archdiocese
of Miami program that oversaw the care of Cuban children sent to the United
States alone by their parents after the communist takeover in Cuba. Juan was sent to Michigan where he
lived with the Vogt family. He
went to Michigan State University and, after a stint in the army, completed his
hospitality management degree. He
worked for 30 years with Walt Disney Co. in Orlando. After the death of his parents, Juan became interested in
Cuba, particularly the preservation of Cuba’s historic architecture.
He started a nonprofit agency, the Bridge for Historic
Preservation.