Enslaved and from St. Thomas – Lucia Carrasquillo in 1773

In going through the Santurce book of baptisms in Puerto Rico, I came across a record that potentially can explain how many of us have DNA cousins from all over the Caribbean, Central and South America as well as the United States and Mexico.

I am a first generation born on the mainland of the USA.  While my mother is Dominican, my father’s line has been American since 1917 to service in WWI, when my great grandfather served in the military.  My father’s line didn’t come to the mainland until the 1950’s.

This being said, I had my first cousin match to a person who is from Gabon and both their parents are from Gabon in Africa. I was surprised but not shocked as I already knew that my “de la Cruz” line comes from Gabon. What I wasn’t expecting was to find an African cousin that had their DNA tested. 

What has shocked me is discovering African American DNA cousins who are from the southern States and have enslaved ancestors in their family trees; I just never thought that far.  We potentially share relatives that were transported as enslaved people from the Caribbean or potentially from Africa. While many African Americans do struggle with tracing their families back, it may not be as impossible as many may think if they have access to the resources.  Unfortunately many records are not digitized for them.  This is why I make it a point to provide records here to help those from the Caribbean.

So in my search, I came across a record for an enslaved woman, Lucia.  I believe she would have taken the last name of Carraquillo which was the name of her owner during her baptism.  These baptism records provide more insight into where these enslaved ancestors come from.

I believe she was completely separated from her family as she is the only one in the book that is enslaved and is documented coming from the island of St. Thomas with Pedro Carrasquillo as her owner.  The record states that she is an adult small black enslaved woman; the word “morenita” is used. Unfortunately no estimated age is provided in the record.  I’m hoping that by me posting this record, it will help someone who is researching her.  She is baptized on June 6, 1773 and I’ve provided the image below.  She is the 12th entry in book 1 on Folio (page) 2 in San Matheo Apostle Church; a Roman Catholic Church.

Lucia from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

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