Researching My African Diaz and Nunez Ancestors in Trujillo Alto Puerto Rico

So this is the record of my 3rd great grandfather, Angel Diaz Nunez on my father’s paternal side.  He is Manuela’s Diaz’s grandfather.  This line is known to inter-exchange the Nunez with Diaz line. This is because this line is of African descent and Angel Nunez and all of his children and grandchildren were black and parents were not legally married. I suspect that his father’s name was actually Rafael Diaz and not Nunez because he used Diaz on all other records including his son Nieves who is reporting his father’s death. His mother’s name is not Ana but actually Maria Balcanesa Nunez as all records of his children indicate. This happens more often than people realize because these things were not important to them at the time, surviving and feeding their families were. 

It was not until my grandfather, Facundo that they were listed as either pardo or mulatto and kept using Diaz.  He was listed as mulatto because Facundo’s father was white via his father Juan but Juan’s mother was also of mixed race. Juan passed as being white because he had blue eyes based on his WWII registration record. The record reads for Angel reads as follows…

In Trujillo Alto, PR on the 23rd of November in 1912, at 8 in the morning before me, Jose Gonzalez Diaz, in charge of the Civil Registry, appears before me Nieves Nunez, of age, and widowed, of profession of laborer, from Trujillo Alto, and resident of the town of Quebrada Negrito in Trujillo Alto.

That Angel Nunez of 90 years of age, widowed, from Trujillo Alto and resident of the town of Quebrada Negrito in Trujillo Alto, died at 6pm on the 22nd of November in 1912 due to mythic tightness (heart attack), per certification presented.

That the deceased was the legitimate child of Rafael Nunez and Ana Nunez, both adults, married, of profession of laborers, and naturally from San Juan and deceased.  That the cemetery that his cadaver is buried is in Trujillo Alto.

The rest of the document reads off witnesses and then the signature of Nieves Nunez (Diaz).  Nieves dies in 1916. I have many records on this line that supports this document which include civil and church records.

I have a lot of Cape Verde island matches via DNA testing on Ancestry and I am now wondering if potentially it is coming from this line since I do not have many matches to this line via DNA.

Death Record of Angel Diaz Nunez, Libro 1, Folio 144, Number 99, Trujillo Alto Civil Registration in Puerto Rico (www.FamilySearch.org)

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