Agusti arrives in Puerto Rico

Written by Don Joaquin Agusty Ramirez de Arellano, c 1940's

Don Joaquin Agusti (my grandfather) brought with him on his voyage to Puerto Rico, his baptism cerfiticate.

On Mar 22, 1873 he obtained a certified copy of said document, sealed with the number 0392726, issued by Don Jose Maria Guerra, possibly judge of the "Juzgado de Paz de las Marias", which, in the absence of the judge, was certified by Francisco Ramos and Rafael Cordero, possible officials of the court.

The original certificate was issued in Sant Feliu de Guixols (spelled Guizols in castillian, it is located in the province of Girona, in Catalonia, Spain) on August 22, 1828 and states that in May of 1808 at the "Monacal y Parroquial Iglesia de Sant Feliu de Guixols", of the Diocese of Gerona, Joaquin Domingo Benito, legitimate son of Antonio Agusti and Ana Bas, grandson on his father's side of Joaquin Agusti and Maria Carreras y Arxen (actual spelling is Arxer) and on his mother's side of Nicolas Bas and Teresa Carreras, was baptized. That his godparents were Domingo Carreras and Ana Agusti and everyone was from Sant Feliu de Guixols in Gerona. It was signed by Friar Mauro Gras Monge, Vicar of the illustrious Abad (monastery).

He obtained copy of the original and it was translated to Castillian spanish by Friar Idelfonzo Amuetllar, Vicar of the Abad in 1828 (the original was written in the Catalan language which resembles a combination of Spanish and French).

From all of this one might take away that Joaquin Agusti, my grandfather, was the second Joaquin Agusti, who was born in April of 1808 and was being baptized in May of the same year. The year of the French invasion of Spain and the reign of King Ferdinand VII. It is possible that they suffered the hardships of the war, since close by, the reknowned siege of Gerona took place. It is also possible that the saber which I posses and that my grandfather brought to Puerto Rico and my father conserved may be a relic of that memorable journey to independence.

We can take away that Joaquin Domingo Benito Agusti or Agusty (the name spelling changed in Puerto Rico), whose oil portrait made in Spain I conserve, was son of one Antonio Agusti and one Doña Ana Bas. In the township of Rosario Peñon live a family named Bas who were relatives of my father. It is quite likely that this last name ended up in El Rosario from Sant Feliu de Guixols.

I posses a portrait of Don Antonio Agusti, father of my grandfather and my great-grandfather, that even though it is painted in watercolor, it is well-preserved.

We take away that my grandfather's grandfather, Joaquin Agusti, was also named Joaquin Agusti and had a sister named Ana Agusti who was the godmother of my grandfather's baptism. (this was an incorrect assumption - Anna was actually Joaquin's daughter). That his paternal grandmother was named Maria Carreras y Arxen (Arxer) who possibly had a sister named Teresa (Maria and Teresa were actually sisters-in-law).

I have a document from the notary firm of Don Cayetano .... (the rest is inelligible) of Barcelona in which Don Francisco Font y Borras paid 83 "reales de vellon" (copper and silver alloy coin; one peso = roughly 20 reales de vellón) for a sealed document to obtain a passport for Ultramar (overseas travel) for Don Joaquin Agusti. It is dated October 31, 1845. There is no doubt, then, that my grandfather came to Puerto Rico at the beginning of 1846 at the age of 38.

Further on, I come across a document which is a marriage certificate from 1836 contradicting the dates tied to the passport request above since, as we will see, the marriage license tells us that "Joaquin Agusty (my grandfather) was married in the town of Mayaguez on December 11, 1836 to Doña Vicenta Avellanet of Barcelona, widow of Don Jose Fouanet, with the ceremony being conducted by the Presbítero (priest's assistant) and interim auxiliary priest Don Antonio Sancho of the "Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria" Parish in Mayaguez. Vicenta Avenallet was the daughter of spouses Lorenzo and Teresa Avellanet of the same congregation. Witnesses to the wedding were Don Juan Font and Don Ramon Duran.

If in 1836 my grandfather was already in Puerto Rico getting married to a widow in Mayaguez, for whom was the passport in 1845? Could it have been for his grandfather Joaquin Agusti? This gentleman must have been rather old to come to America, and, why him and not his father, Antonio Agusti? I was always told that they never came to Puerto Rico.

This marriage certificate was requested by my grandfather and certified by three people whose signatures are accompanied by their corresponding seals as was the custom at the time and is dated February 10, 1840, which proves, once again, that in 1836, he was already in Puerto Rico.

According to a document I possess from Don Joaquin Agusti I, in other words, my great-great-grandfather, he was from the city of Mataro, in principality of Catalonia.

By 1863 my grandfather, Joaquin Agusti, neighbored the municipality of Las Marias and paid Guadalupe Pena de Gonzalez 15.25 pesetas for tutoring of his daughter (it doesn't mention which one) and for expenses in Mayaguez.

Since the Las Marias Parish records burned down, it is not possible to know when my grandfather widowed from Vicenta Avellanet and when he married my grandmother Teresa Sabater y Oliver.

In 1868 he lived in his plantation, since in October 1868, Gabino Gamis, Lieutenant Colonel of the "Columna Volante" of Arecibo, gave Don Joaquin Agusti, landowner and neighbor of Las Marias, a permit to use a rifle in defense of his home and his person. Keep in mind that this is the year of the "Grito de Lares" uprising.

On the 9th of October, quite likely in 1868, Don Jose Carbonell sent authorization to Don Joaquin Agusti for the use of his rifle in defense of his home and his person. Issued at Las Marias, and it must be the same rifle authorized by the Colonel of the "Columna Volante" of Arecibo.

By 1866 Don Joaquin Agusti was sending coffee to Spain from his plantation, for in a document I have dated November 12, 1866 and signed by Salvador Roca in Sant Feliu de Guixols, this gentleman was in receipt of 1,086 "reales" paid by Rita Agusti de Pages to clear 200 pounds of coffee that her brother Joaquin Agusti had sent from Puerto Rico, on credit, to the "Reverenda Comunidad de Presbiteros de la Iglesia de San Juan" (Presbyterian community of the San Juan church) of San Feliu de Guixols.

In 1874 he lived in Buena Vista or La Maravilla. This is a Barrio in Las Marias where the plantation called La Rosita was located.

During the fiscal year 1874-1875 there is a tax receipt for 89.56 pesetas, payable to Juan Sabater for the plantation called Bella Vista. We don't know if the plantation first belonged to Juan Sabater and he later sold it to his sister Teresa or my grandfather, her husband.

During 1874-1875 Don Joaquin Agusti appears paying 248.50 pesetas for the plantation of which 56.50 were allocated to the Agricultural Treasury and 192.00 to Public Expenditures. In 1876-1877 he paid 115.24.

On September 1, 1875, a man called Manuel Joaquin Medina writes a letter asking him for his daughter Asuncion's hand in marriage and the 7th of that same month he answered the man stating "no way."

Joaquin Agusty