Jose Francisco Lacret y Morlot

                General Jose Francisco Lacret y Morlot married Maria Concepcion Figueredo y Calas on August 18, 1883, in Monroe County, FL  José Francisco was born on the coffee plantation, Buena Vista, in El Cobre, Oriente, Cuba, on October 25, 1848, the son of Pedro Alejandro Lacret and Micaela Morlot.  He was of French ancestry and was educated at the colegio Agüero and later in France.  Maria Concepcion, who was born in Bayamo, was the first cousin, once removed, of Perucho Figueredo, that is, her grandfather and Perucho's father were brothers.

                Jose Francisco Lacret fought in the Ten Years’ War and received a serious leg wound resulting in his being captured by the Spanish.  He was rescued, however, and was able to escape to Jamaica, returning to Cuba when his wound had sufficiently healed.  His injury prevented him from seeing more action and he became prefecto [civil administrator] de Guaninao with residence in San Lorenzo.  There, in January 1874, he was host to Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who remained in hiding in San Lorenzo, following his ouster from the office of president, until his death in February 1874.

                In 1878, following La Protesta de Baraguá, José Francisco joined forces with Antonio Maceo and fought in La Guerra Chiquita [the tiny war] but was again captured and, this time, was sent to a prison in Spain.  By 1883, he was in Florida, USA where he married María Concepción Figueredo.

On July 15, 1895, José Francisco Lacret volunteered to fight once again and became commander of the troops in the territory of Matanzas at the start of the Cuban War of Independence.  He is described in the Indice Alfabetico y Defunciones del Ejercito Libertador de Cuba,[1]a list of soldiers who served in the Cuban War of Independance from 1895 to 1898, as general de división [major general] in the regiment Jefes y Oficiales Excedentes y sus Expediciones [???].

On October 30, 1897, he was one of the signers of the constitution of the Republic of Cuba and was chairman of the executive council of the “Assembly of Representatives of the Cuban Revolution” from April 4, 1899, to June 30, 1899.

María and José Francisco had three children, Carmen, Ana, and José Antonio.  José Francisco later married Adelira [2] Ramos y del Portal and died in Havana on December 24, 1904.  He is buried in the cemetery in Havana where, on his vault, are carved the words Todo por Cuba [Everything for Cuba].

[1] Also called the Roloff Military Index for its compiler, Carlos Roloff.

[2] David de Gil has Adelmira; I suspect it’s really Adelina.