The Rivas Families of Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic

While researching my grandmother’s Rivas line, I went with what I did know about her.  She was born in La Vega, Dominican Republic in 1911.  Her mother’s name is Mercedes and she came to the US with my uncles in 1948 and she passed away in San Francisco, California while caring for a sick friend in 1956.  My grandmother always spoke of her and her grandmother, Petronila Cabreja fondly. Petronila died when my grandmother was just 11 years old. So this post is going to be on the Rivas families of Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic.

Dorila Rivas Cabreja

While my grandmother advised that her mother was from Monte Cristi. Although, I’ve come across a Mercedes Rivas in the records, I cannot say that it is definitely her as there were quite a few in the Registration books. I know that Mercedes had siblings by the names of Adela, Dorila (Nena), Maria, and Federico (Monono).  Therefore, I know that my grandmother had an aunt, which I met as a child during my summer visit to the island in 1979.  She was very old and her name was Dorila Rivas Cabreja.  I found her death record and according to the record she was 105 years old. 

Dorila was definitely way up there as she was much older than my grandmother who was 68 years old at the time. Dorila eventually died in 1981 in La Vega and the death was reported by Enrique Bolivar Capellan. I recall feeling sad that she had past when my grandmother told me; Tia Dorila was a very sweet old woman who was blind and lost her limb due to her diabetes. I remember hugging her immediately after being introduced and didn’t hold back from doing so and it was something she had remarked upon. Like I said, very sweet woman and easy to gravitate towards.

Since I had an idea when Tia Dorila died, I was able to locate Dorila’s death record in La Vega but like Mercedes Rivas’ record, parents’ name were left blank. Therefore, I had decided that the best approach was to go through the church books first, document all the Rivas children being born and baptized in Monte Cristi’s San Fernando Parrish and look at the list to see if any of her siblings appear.  I will then take the same approach with the Civil Registration records as I’m determined to solve and confirm this family line.  It just may be that they are from the Monte Cristi province and not necessarily the town since there are Rivas in the entire area. Or possibly they were from La Vega but Mercedes’ mother came from Monte Cristi. Below is the image to Dorila’s death record; record to the left.

Rivas Families in Monte Cristi

So far I have Books 2 and 3 completed with 4 halfway done.  However I have all of the children’s names up until Book 5 and none of them look familiar. You can easily click on the child’s first name and it will lead you to the record it references in the table.

So Book 2 covers from 1889 to 1894, they are as follows:

First Name	Last Name	Father 1st	Father Last	Mother 1st	Mother Last	Page	DOB	Baptism Date
Ana Rosa	Rivas	Martin	Rivas	Antonia	Castro	10	Aug 30, 1889	Jan 1, 1890
Jose Guadalupe	Rivas			Lorenza	Rivas	25	Dec 12, 1889	Apr 15, 1890
Maximo	Rivas			Vicenta	Rivas	38	May 16, 1890	Jun 16, 1890
Gregorio	Rivas	Manuel	Rivas	Maria Mercedes	Rivas	47	Feb 19, 1890	Jul 26, 1890
Tomasina Maria	Rivas	Modesto	Rivas	Tomasina	Rodriguez	47	Jul 19, 1890	Jul 27, 1890
Manuel de Jesus	Rivas	Manuel Maria	Rivas	Fidelia	Rivas	47	Jun 11, 1890	Jul 27, 1890
Ana Gregoria	Rivas	Antonio	Rivas	Bartolina	Munoz	54	Jul 30, 1890	Aug 12, 1890
Rita Modesto	Rivas	Gregorio	Rivas	Guadalupe	Rivas	89	Jul 15, 1890	Mar 21, 1891
Talenciano	Rivas	Marcos	Rivas	Silveria	de la Cruz	110	May 24, 1891	Jun 21, 1891
Mercedes	Rivas			Lorenza	Rivas	113	Dec 1, 1890	Jun 21, 1891
Celestino	Rivas			Emilia	Rivas	140	Aug 16, 1891	Oct 3, 1891
Daniel	Rivas	Manuel	Rivas	Mercedes	Belliard	171	Dec 31, 1891	Feb 14, 1892
Ana Rita	Rivas	Antonio	Rivas	Bartolina	Munoz	175	Aug 10, 1891	Feb 27, 1892

And here is Book 3 baptisms that cover years 1894 to 1899:

First Name	Last Name	Father 1st	Father Last	Mother 1st	Mother Last	Page	DOB	Baptism Date
Natividad	Rivas			Gabina	Rivas	12	25 Dec 1893	20 Aug 1894
Julio	Rivas	Manuel de Jesus	Rivas	Mercedes	Biliard	23	12 Apr 1894	21 Nov 1894
Francisca	Rivas			Maria	Rivas	51	9 Oct 1894	20 Mar 1895
Maria Elena	Rivas	Antonio	Rivas	Bartolina	Munoz	58	5 Jan 1895	7 Apr 1895
Modesta	Rivas	Gregorio	Rivas	Guadalupe	Rivas	69	21 Dec 1894	21 May 1895
Calista	Rivas			Lorenza	Rivas	80	4 Nov 1894	14 Jul 1895
Angusto Cesar	Rivas			Eudosia	Rivas	88	4 Jan 1895	9 Sept 1895
Felicia Maria	Rivas	Manuel Maria	Rivas	Fidelia	Gonzales	96	20 Nov 1894	6 Oct 1895
Julio Enrique	Rivas			Daniela	Rivas	100	7 Jul 1895	1 Nov 1895
Isabel	Rivas			Eusebia	Rivas	148	18 Nov 1895	30 May 1896
Rosalia	Rivas			Juana Francisca	Rivas	186	20 Jul 1896	24 Dec 1896

Although I found a Mercedes on this list with Lorenza, I’m convinced that that isn’t my great grandmother (bisabuela) and great great grandmother (tatarabuela).  I share these lists with others in search of their Rivas ancestors in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. My search continues…