Miguel Bayala Flores – Marriage Contract in Trujillo Alto

On a trip to Puerto Rico in September of 2010, Hijos de Coamo, his pen name, paid a visit to the Archivo Histórico Arquidiócedano in Old San Juan and brought back a really nice surprise. I cannot thank him enough for the selfless act he did for me without me asking. He brought back with him a copy of a marriage contract of an ancestor, Miguel Bayala Flores.  Although I do not directly descend from Miguel Bayala Flores, I do descend from his father, Miguel Bayala Gero.

Miguel Bayala Flores is my 4 great grand uncle and the marriage contract involved his first wife, Maria Encarnacion Colon Diaz. Miguel Bayala Flores is the fourth child between his parents, Miguel Bayala Gero and Gregoria Flores Fontanes. He was born sometime around 1826 in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.

How do I know this? The only thing I have to go by is the 1860, 1870, and 1872 Censuses for Trujillo Alto, which you can obtain via microfilm from familysearch.org.

The contract was drawn up on the 21^st of September in 1849. Based on what I’m reading, it states that Encarnacion is an adult of 14 years of age. She is the daughter of Francisco Colon and Leonarda Diaz. The contract states that they are to be married by the 17^th of March 1851. Their marriage actually occurred in August 1850 and their wedding record is found in Book 1 of Marriages for Trujillo Alto. This book was also not filmed by familysearch.org. This makes her only 15 years of age.

Maria Encarnacion does have a child named Pedro around 1851, who was conceived sometime immediately after her marriage to Miguel. Pedro Bayala Colon can be found at ten years of age on the 1860 Census living with his paternal grandmother, Gregoria. Unfortunately, Encarnacion must have passed after giving birth as there are no records of her beyond this period and Pedro was her only son. The contract goes into further details which I will leave for you to review. Pedro Bayala Colon does marry three times during his life. His wives being Sotera Diaz Rivera, Maria Monica Figueroa Rodriguez, and Josefa Cruz Sosa.

Miguel Bayala Flores remarries on the 13^th of November in 1862 to Juana Rodriguez Figueroa. He was obviously in a relationship with Juana prior to their marriage as they have a daughter, Juana Regina, who was born on the 4^th of May in 1857 in Trujillo Alto based on her baptism on 24^th of July of 1857.

Miguel Bayala Flores’ and Juana Rodriguez Figueroa’s Wedding Record

Miguel and Juana had an additional 5 children named Trinidad (female), Nemecio, Jose Pio, Luisa, and Juan. Miguel’s son Pedro can be found on many of the municipal records in Trujillo Alto as he was witness to many of the registered records up until his death in 1915. His signature can be seen on many of these documents. Miguel’s and Juana’s marriage record comes from familysearuch.org.

I’ve met so many cousins that descend from Miguel Bayala Flores and hope this assists them in their research.