Caban Origins and more

Behind the scenes of this blog several people and I have been doing extensive research into the origins of the Caban family BEFORE they came to Puerto Rico. This has been a question I've seen on most every genealogy site where the Caban name can be found. People are either looking for current family OR they are asking the question, "Where did the family come from?" It's kind of funny, because you never see it asked about surnames like Rodriguez, or Jimenez, or Jones, or MacDonald...

So that is the big question: Where did the Cabans come from?

And here is the answer, as much as we researchers have been able to piece together:

The Cabans originated in Languedoc-Roussillon, in what was once the kingdom of Occitania, but is now the Pyrenees area of Southern France and Northern Spain. (In fact it is only about 50 miles between Carcassonne and Barcelona!) The Occitan language is still alive, as are customs and the culture, if you are interested to know further. The name Caban is a French word for "overcoat" but it was believed to have been Cabanne or Cabannis originally.

The Caban name was not found in Puerto Rico prior to the 1800s. In fact, as you see from my mini-family tree, the earliest one listed is Juan Caban, who was born circa 1790. There is nothing any further back than that. And here is why...

The Cabans came to Puerto Rico as part of the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. Wikipedia explains that Spain had lost all of its territory in the Americas and was in danger of losing Cuba and Puerto Rico. "Free land was offered to those who wanted to populate the islands with the condition that they swear their loyalty to the Spanish Crown and allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church".

Because Europe was experiencing a series of Revolutions and life was so unstable, "Hundreds of Corsicans, Italians, French , Irish and Germans, attracted by the offers of free land by the Spanish Crown, moved to the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico and accepted the conditions stated. As soon as these settlers swore their loyalty to the Spanish Crown and their allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church, they were given a "Letter of Domicile".

After five years, the settlers were granted a "Letter of Naturalization" that made them Spanish subjects. In an effort to attract non-Catholic Europeans, the Spanish Courts passed a law in 1870, granting the right of religious freedom to all those who wished to worship another religion other than the Catholic. "

There have been tracings of the Cabans to Ireland as well (Cavan county!) but again there was a lot of migration between the European countries over the centuries, so this does not necessarily make us Irish.

In any case, the Cabans came as part of the Royal Decree of Graces and it's not hard to think that a man named "Jean Cabanne" could easily change the "E" in his first name to a "u" and drop the "ne" at the end of Cabanne. So Jean Cabanne becomes Juan Caban. It's done by immigrants all the time.

The Cabans did have huge plantations in PR. Here is what happened to it, according to Carl Diaz, son of Gloria Caban Diaz (the oldest of our family alive):

"As the Spanish American War came to a close, the brothers (Roque, Bonifacio, Florentino & Rafael) along with their parents who were “Loyalists” (being Spaniards by heritage & nationality) were in jeopardy.

The local freedom “guerilla” fighters called “La Banda Pendiciosa” targeted their father’s plantation and were coming to burn it along with those of other loyalists.

The story goes that my mother’s grandfather Roque had escaped into the caves since he was being hunted in reprisal for his efforts to fight against the guerillas and the “American Liberators”. His fate was pretty much assured. He was to face execution if captured.

The remaining three brothers stayed with their families at the plantation.

On the “Night of the Burnings” – as it came to be called – all the family members, wives, children and their servants and loyal peasants etc. gathered together and began a prayer vigil.

The next morning they found all nearby plantations destroyed and the fields burned. They miraculously escaped the fires and their plantation was spared!

Roque eventually re-appeared 3 months later after the fighting was over and the search for him had been abandoned.

The Americans had taken over the island, the Spaniards had left, the peasants had been reorganized and eventually the lands and property were “socialized”…"

My father, Edwin Caban, always said that the family had been wealthy but lost their lands and wealth because they backed the Spanish in the Spanish-American war. So now we see how they got and lost the land, but thankfully they were talented artisans and were able to make their way into the world.

Here is a very simple Caban family tree based on the work done by John, before he died. John did some pretty extensive research into the Caban family tree, even going around some of the parish churches looking near Barceloneta and La Florida, in Puerto Rico. He was looking for what ever family records he could find. From his work he compiled this information:

I. Lineage of Eduviges CABAN:

PATERNAL:

P1. Juan CABAN - born abt 1790. Married to Juana HERNANDEZ - born abt 1790. They are listed as "Strangers to Puerto Rico" in the records, apparently.

P2. Eduviges CABAN - born abt. 1818 Married to Maria Altagracia RODRIGUEZ - born 1820. The parents of Maria were: Antonio RODRIGUEZ and Leoncia RAMOS, both born circa 1790 in Puerto Rico.

P3. Rafael CABAN - birth date unknown, died before 1910. Married to Maria de los Santos RODRIGUEZ - born 1849, died after 1925. Maria's parents were Juan Antonio RODRIGUEZ & Maria Josefa JIMENEZ.

MATERNAL:
M1. Francisco RODRIGUEZ - born abt. 1800 in Puerto Rico. Married to Rosa SANTIAGO.

M2. Juan Antonio RODRIGUEZ - born about 1820. Married to Maria Josefa JIMENEZ - born abt. 1830
Maria's parents were: Isidro JIMENEZ and Luisa CANCEL, both born circa 1800 in Puerto Rico.

M3. Maria de los Santos RODRIGUEZ as listed above, who married Rafael CABAN.

CHILD: Well, one of 14, actually:

4. Eduviges CABAN - born 16 Sep 1892, Manati Puerto Rico - died 1965. Married to Margarita RODRIGUEZ, born 14 Jun 1894, Camuy Puerto Rico, died 1960.


II. Lineage of Margarita RODRIGUEZ

1. Francisco RODRIGUEZ - born abt. 1800 in Puerto Rico. Married to Rosa SANTIAGO.

2. Juan Antonio RODRIGUEZ - born about 1820. Married to Maria Josefa JIMENEZ - born abt. 1830
Maria's parents were: Isidro JIMENEZ and Luisa CANCEL, both born circa 1800 in Puerto Rico.

3. Valentin RODRIGUEZ - born abt. 1860 Married to Leoncia SOTO - born abt. 1870. Leoncia's parents were Juan Manuel SOTO and Monserratte PARRA, both born abt. 1850 in Puerto Rico.

Child: Margarita RODRIGUEZ

So, in actual fact, Grandpa & Grandma Caban were first cousins. Their children are -

a. Louis Caban
b. Germen de Luz, Jaime Caban
c. Eduviges Caban Jr.
d. Daisy Ann Caban

My research on the Caban lines is slowly making progress. I joined Ancestry.com and am coming across assorted census material, but other people who are descendants of Grandpa Caban's siblings have also gotten in touch with me. They've sent pictures and you can really see family features carried down through time, though we are all flung far and wide!

Eduvijus Caban Senior, (the old man sitting in the chair) came to New York from Puerto Rico, aboard the "S.S. San Juan" which sailed on October 20th 1920 and arrived on October 26th 1920. He wasn't an old man then, of course. The records at Ellis Island say that he was 28 years old, born in Manati, PR... heading for Lexington Avenue in New York City... and single. Well that last part was a lie. He was married, with two sons!
You can actually see the ship's passenger manifest at the Ellis Island website.

My dad, Edwin Jr. (a name change obviously took place somewhere) said that Grandpa Caban was a Communist. That he had been put in prison for his Bolshevik ideas in 1917. It was also said that he'd killed a man. I did read a well written letter that he wrote to someone in his early years... he was very angry and said that the government viewed the less fortunate as beggers who must approach with hat-in-hand seeking favours. He was very eloquent in his indictment against the system.

When he got here, Eduvijus went back to work as a cigar maker. It was a family trade as far I as can see from the old census records for the early 1900s. When my father was a teenager he would work in the family business after school, sitting in the shop window rolling cigars so the suave business men would come in and buy the best. But he used to make my grandfather angry, for as he sat rolling the cigars he, himself, puffed away on his cigarettes. "You're ruining my business!" his father would shout.

Grandpa Caban's later years were not so great. He was not really the nicest man in the world - had some very serious character flaws that drove people away. In his later years he lived in a three room apartment in Newark, New Jersey. We would go to visit and my sister and I found it sooo boring.

Well, for one thing, I had not yet learned Spanish and could hardly understand him when he spoke in English. But of course, the conversations would be in Spanish if my dad was there, and the rest of us would be shut out. But Bev and I thought of games to play, even going into Grandpa's closet and stamping around trying to convince everyone that we'd found a secret passage way down into a hidden basement. Well, we were never bored...we always brought our imaginations with us everywhere we went!

At the end of his life Grandpa Caban came to live at our house. He had cut his wrists and called my father, who went to get help for him and then brought him back to Lincoln Park. He lived down in our spare front room and was mostly bed-ridden. Which was really unfortunate as one day he fell out of bed. And he proved to be too heavy for my mother, my sister, and me to lift back into position! (Well we girls were only 8 and 9 years old at the time) So my dad came home from work and got him back into bed, but then called an ambulance to have him taken to the hospital. He ended up in Greystone Park Hospital, in morris County new Jersey along with Woody Guthrie. That's where he died and he's lies buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, in East Hanover, New Jersey, next to the wife he claimed he didn't have in 1920.

Hola!

Hola! Ok, I'll write this in English...

I've been doing family history research for about 30 years. And there are stories to tell, pictures to look at, things to share...both from our family before us and even our family now.

So if you have something to add...old or new...please do!