Silvestre de Balboa Troya y Quesada

                Silvestre de Balboa Troya y Quesada married Catalina de la Cova y Consuegra in Puerto Príncipe.  He was born in Gran Canarias, in the Canary Islands, and died in 1620.  He is described as the author of  the ‘first major literary work in seventeenth century Cuba, a poem entitled El espejo de paciencia [Mirror of Patience].  Another source says: “Cuba is an island that has never ceased to yield poets. The first known poem, Mirror of Patience, was written in 1608, by the Canarian Silvestre de Balboa at the Villa de Puerto Principe.”

Mirror of Patience describes the kidnapping of Bishop Fray Juán de las Cabezas Altamirano by the French pirate Gilberto Girón, and says that a ‘bold and brave black man’, Salvador Galomón, kills the kidnapper and saves the eastern town of Holguín from danger.

Another version of the story says that Jacome Milanes, at the head of a small party of brave citizens, “attacked the pirates led by Gilberto Girón, being able to rescue the Bishop Cabezas and the Canon Puebla”.

There are two known connections between Silvestre de Balboa Troya and the Figueredo family.  First, his wife, Catalina was the 4th great grandaunt of Perucho Figueredo, and second, Jacome Milanes, who is credited with rescuing the Bishop Cabezas in one source, was the 5th great grandfather of Perucho.