Maria de la Luz Figueredo y Vazquez and Basilio Angueyra

[her parents]                                                          [his parents]

Maria de la Luz with her husband, Basilio Angueyra and their children

Maria de la Luz (Lucita or Luz) Figueredo y Vazquez was born in 1857,¹ in Bayamo, Cuba,¹ and married Basilio Angueyra y Perdomo ^? on April 19, 1873,^? in Key West, FL ^? when she was 16 years old.  Basilio was born in Guanabacoa,^? near Havana, Cuba, in 1848,^? the fifth Marqués de Morales,^? and son of Francisco María de Angueyra and Josefa Perdomo.^?

In 1864, Basilio began to study civil engineering and, in his first year, received a grade of sobresaliente [outstanding].  The following year he graduated as ingeniero auxiliar in the field of construction, Premio de Primera Clase.  He became a professor of mathematics in the college El Progreso de Sagua la Grande and worked for the city and for the railway of the port of Sagua la Grande.

In 1870, two years after the start of the Ten Years’ War, when the Cubans resolved to become independent of Spain, the Angueyra family joined the movement.  Basilio, now 22, was asked to inform the revolutionaries of what was happening in Havana and was arrested and imprisoned by the Spanish on no less than twelve occasions.  Each time, his father, arranged for the sentence to be commuted by paying large sums of money which he obtained from the sale of land.  Some time passed and Basilio was again arrested and this time he was sentenced to death.  By now, Francisco María de Angueyra had no land left to sell and his family, instead, plotted to arrange his escape from the prison, in which they were helped by what Josefa Aurora Angueyra, Basilio’s daughter, described as a milagro [miracle].  She wrote:

“Los soldados que hacían la guardia, viéron en la pared, arriba de la cama, a la Virgen de la Caridad, que era la que tenían los cubanos como patrona y protectora. Todos tenían el escapulario o la medalla con la Vírgen. Todos la veían y se convencieron de que la Vírgen lo protegía, y empezaron a tratarlo con algo de benevolencia, le permitieron salir al patio; así pudieron organizarse para la salida.”

The soldiers who guarded him, saw on the wall, above the bed, the Virgin of the Charity who, to the Cubans, was patron saint and protector.  They all had the scapular or the medal with the Virgin.  They all saw it and they were convinced that the Virgin protected him and they began to treat him with something of benevolence, allowing him to go out to the courtyard, which is how they were able to organized his escape.

How this was achieved was that Basilio’s younger brother, Francisco entered the prison with a group of government officials wearing a frock coat and high hat, similar to what the officials always wore.  He carried with him a similar costume for Basilio to put on and when the officials left they joined them and walked out of the prison into the street unnoticed.  Francisco had a carriage waiting outside the prison and drove Basilio to a place of safety where he waited until a ship bound for New York was ready to leave.  The Spanish soldiers at the harbor were looking for Basilio, and showed all the passengers his picture, offering a reward for his discovery.  They showed Basilio the picture and offered him the reward too, but he wasn’t discovered and went safely on board.

He reached New York and waited there for his family, his parents and siblings, to join him.  He organized, with other exiled Cubans, el servicito de bomberos [the fire service] of Queens, and taught mathematics in his home, meeting for the first time, María de la Luz and Candelaria Figueredo, daughters of Perucho, who were among his students.

Following the burning of Bayamo, in December 1868, (or January 1869) the family of Perucho Figueredo took to the Sierra Maéstra where they hid from the Spanish in one place or another for nearly two years.  In August 1870, they were at the country property, Santa Rosa, when it were attacked by Spanish troops and Luz’ mother and some of her sisters were arrested.  Luz and her 11 year old brother, Angel María, managed to escape and they somehow found their way to the home of their uncle, Miguel Figueredo.  A day or two later their sister Candelaria also arrived at Miguel’s home.  They stayed there until April 1871, when more Spanish troops arrived and, once again, Candelaria, Luz and Angel María managed to escape.  They roamed the countryside for a few days before they found the camp of Francisco Javier de Céspedes who took them in.  On July 15, 1871, the Spanish once again arrived and this time they were captured.

They were taken to Guayabal and then to Manzanillo, where Luz and Angelo were released into the care of a relative, but upon learning that Candello was imprisoned in the Fortress of Zaragoza, Luz went to the prison to find out what would happen to her sister.  She had heard that Candello would be shot or deported to the island of Fernando Poo, and begged to be allowed to meet with the comandante.  Comandante Almoguera listened to the 14 year old girl and it was decided that Candello, Luz and Angelo would be deported.  Almoguera, personally, took them from the prison, at night, under a torrential cloudburst, and drove them to the schooner Annie, which was preparing to leave for New York loaded with wood.  On October 13, 1871, they sailed from Manzanillo and, although the Annie was seriously damaged by a hurricane they arrived safely in New York.

There they learned that their mother and the rest of their family were in Key West and, with the help of some old family friends, they embarked for Key West where they rejoined their mother and family after 14 months of separation.²

Basilio also traveled from New York to Key West where he opened, at one time or another, a restaurant, a store and a box factory.  He continued to give lessons in mathematics at his home on Duval Street, and again, María de la Luz and Candelaria were among his pupils.  Basilio and María de la Luz had grown very fond of each other in New York and in Key West, they fell in love.  On April 19, 1873, Basilio, 25, and María de la Luz, 16, were married in Key West with the blessing of Isabel Vázquez, the widow of Perucho, and mother of María de la Luz.

Within three weeks of their marriage, on May 2, 1873, Isabel died and Basilio received a letter from his father, Francisco María Angueyra, who had left New York in 1873, to work on the building of a railroad in Colombia.  Francisco María told him of the great possibilities in that country and Basilio and María de la Luz decided to leave Key West once their second child, Blanca was born.  Towards the end of 1875,  they embarked for Colombia with their two daughters, Aurora, one and a half, Blanca, newly born, Basilios’s mother, Josefa, his brothers, Rafael and Francisco (Pacho), his sister, Mercedes, and María de Luz’ brother Angel María Figueredo, now aged 17.

Francisco María sent 400 pesos to finance the trip as far as Barranquilla, where, Basilio was assured, he would receive funds from the government of Columbia to allow him to continue his journey.  They sailed in an English schooner to Nassau in the Bahamas and then in a French steamer to the port of Colón in Panama.  After two days in Colón they continued to Barranquilla, arriving on October 22, 1875.  The trip had taken 49 days, and had cost, so far, all but 14 pesos of Basilio’s money.  He went ashore to enquire about the funds he had been told would be waiting for him, but found no one in a position to help.  He was eventually directed to the town of Puerto Nacional, now Gamarra, 200 miles south, on the river Magdalena, where there was a telegraph office.  He took passage on a ship from Barranquilla to Puerto Nacional, a trip that took four days, and in Puerto Nacional telegraphed Bogotá and learned that the funds would be issued, not in Barranquilla, but in Bogotá.

Basilio decided to continue to la villa de San Bartolomé de Honda, another 250 miles on the Magdelana, and then overland to Bogotá, a further 50 miles.  This journey, of some 500 miles, must have taken many days, and Basilio’s family remained in Barranquilla the whole time, not knowing what was happening.  One afternoon when Basilio was between Puerto Nacional and Honda he had what is described as una fatídica visión [???].  He recalled later that, in his vision, his daughter, Aurora, who was by then less than two years old, died sobre sus piernas [on his lap], and, dressed in white with a crown of orange blossoms on her head, was tirarla [thrown] into the waters of the Magdalena.

When Basilio reached Bogotá, he was met by his father, Francisco María Angueyra, and they received the money they had been promised, which they sent by way of el giro [a bank draft] to Barranquila.  There María de la Luz was able to pay off their debts and the family set out to follow Basilio to Bogotá.  The journey was long and hard, especially for the children of Basilio and María de la Luz, who suffered greatly from the heat and las fiebres del trópico [tropical fevers].  After a few days, Aurora died and, as Basilio had seen in his vision, her body was lowered into the cloudy waters of the river Magdalena.

Finally, the party arrived at Honda where Basilio, unaware that Aurora had died, was waiting for them.  María de la Luz was unable to speak and Basilio’s mother, Josefa had to tell her son the news.  Quietly they mounted horses for the trip to Bogotá.  The journey was quiet as a funeral procession, and when they arrived in Bogotá, and were reunited with Basilio’s father, Francisco María, the happiness of the reunion was spoiled by the tragedy of the death of Aurora.

They stayed in Bogotá for a while and Rafael and Pacho, Basilio’s younger brothers decided to remain there when the rest of the family set out for Tunja, the capital of Boyacá Province, about 75 miles north of Bogotá, where Francisco María was then working.  They arrived in Tunja at the beginning of 1876, and leased a house on the main square, known as the Casa de la Torre de Tunja, which is, today, the headquarters of the Government of Boyacá.

On July 26, 1876, Basilio was commissioned by the state of Boyacá to make a study of the Lago de Tota [Lake of Tota], and to design plans and provide cost estimates for diverting its waters.  On July 23, 1877, he was named Ingeniero Director de Obras Públicas [public works] del Estado de Boyacá, and he was soon involved in many projects on behalf of the state including the design of a meteorological observatory on the tower of the Colegio Boyacá [college of Boyacá], planning the building of two iron bridges over the river Chicamocha at Soatá, designing the extension of the Ferrocarril Central [Central Railway] to Capitanejo, and in May 1878, the design and construction of a monument at the Puente de Boyacá [bridge of Boyacá].³

On September 4, 1878, Basilio signed a contract with the state of Boyacá to continue the construction of the Carretera del Sur [Southern Highway] for which the state agreed to pay Basilio 1,500 pesos for each kilometer completed.  This work continued until September 10, 1880, when the contract was canceled by the state.  Basilio continued to work on such projects as the provision of water to several public buildings in Tunja and the search for the Pozo de Donato, a small lake in the vicinity of Tunja, into which, legend has it, the local Chibcha indians had thrown many treasures of gold and emeralds to prevent their being stolen by the conquistadors.  He drew plans for the restoration of de edificio de [the building of] La Concepción and the building of la Plazuela de la Penitenciaría [the small public square at the prison].

On May 19, 1882, a contract was signed to build the Camino de Occidente, a new road between Chiquinquirá and Puerto Niño on the east side of the river Magdalena, in which Basilio contracted to do the work for the sum of 150,000 pesos.  When the work began in December 1882, Basilio, María de la Luz and their, now, four children moved to a place called Canipa, today Pauna.  The climate was unhealthy, and the camp so overrun by insects, that they had to place bowls of petroleum under the legs of their beds to prevent the ticks, cockroaches, nuches, and bedbugs from climbing them.

In 1883, maybe 1884, the project was two thirds finished when Basilio woke one morning and discovered that he had suffered a detached retina and had become blind.  Oswaldo Duperly in his book wrote: “… perdido la vista a consecuencia de una caída que causó el desprendimiento de la retina” [lost his vision as a result of a fall that caused the detachment of the retina].  Basilio, himself, wrote much later: “… por el constante uso de los instrumentos ópticos, por las privaciones y por influencia del clima, perdí uno de los más importantes sentidos del hombre …”[… because of the constant use of the optical instruments, the privations and influence of the climate, I lost one of man’s most important senses…].  For whatever reason, Basilio was totally blind and work on the road had to be suspended.  The government of Bogotá stopped payment to the workers, diciendo que Basilio Angueyra se estaba haciendo el ciego [saying that Basilio was faking his blindness].

Basilio had to sell all that he owned to pay the workers and vivió pobremente [lived poorly] until the end of his days.  On April 1, 1884, soon after Basilio became blind, the term of office of  the president of the Department of Boyaca, José Otálora, who had become a close friend of the Angueyra family, to the extent that he was the godfather of Basilio’s daughter, Graciela, came to an end.  Immediately his enemies in the Cámara de Representantes [house of representatives] accused him, Otálora, of misappropriating funds intended for the construction of the Camino de Occidente.  They made repeated visits to Basilio in an attempt to have Basilio turn against Otálora, but he would have none of it and el visitante fue despedido de su presencia [the visitor was dismissed from his presence].

Otálora was put on trial and Basilio, who stood by Otálora throughout, found himself out of favor with the government and it was not until 1887, that he was named Director de Obras Públicas [director of public works] de la capital del Departamento de Boyacá, and for three years worked for the city of Tunja.  On September 23, 1890, he drew up plans and signed a contract for the repair and ornamentation of the main square of Tunja.  Basilio agreed to repair the streets surrounding the square, to pave the square itself, to build sidewalks, retaining walls, and steps, to design and install a system of drains and to build a water trough and ornamental fountain.  For this work, which was to take six months, Basilio was paid 19,372 pesos, plus 800 pesos for each street he repaired.

Basilio built modelos [models] of two rifles, much improved on those being used at the time, and experimented with an improved steam engine.  At the end of 1891, he tried to interest the government of Colombia in financing the development of his inventions but, apparently, they showed no interest.  Later Basilio and a señor Juan Gonzáles wrote a draft contract in which Gonzáles agreed to put up 8,000 pesos, in exchange for which, Basilio would patent his inventions and give to Gonzáles one half of any income resulting from the sale of these patents.  This too came to nothing.

As the economic situation of the family worsened, María de la Luz, despite Basilio’s disapproval, decided to work as a seamstress in order to support the family.  In this she got great help from her older daughters.  One of them, Josefa Aurora later recounted that their first job was to cut and sew ten skirts for some girls who assisted at a local chicheria [a place that sells chica, an alcoholic drink made from maize].  Josefa Aurora added that to avoid discovery by their father, when the girls came to be fitted for their skirts, they had to throw open all the windows and doors of the house because the women smelled so much of chica.

The Angueyra family moved to Bogotá in 1892, and on June 3, 1895, Basilio and Ernest Duperly, husband of Basilio’s oldest daughter Blanca, formed a partnership with three others “con el fin de buscar, extraer y conducir a algún lugar seguro los tesoros, guacas o sepulturas de indios” [in order to seek, to extract, and to conduct to some secure place the treasures, buried treasures, or graves of Indians].

On August 12, 1896, the minister of foreign affairs for the government of Colombia asked Basilio to travel to Panama to visit the works of the Panama Canal.⁴  Basilio was to discover and report to the minister any and all information as to the state of the works, the number of workers involved, whether locks would be built, and the likelihood that the work could continue with any hope of success.  There was a second part to his mission which had to do with el actual conflicto de Cuba [the current conflict in Cuba].  I haven’t been able to translate this very well, but for those who read Spanish, it said:

Confidencial: Otro asunto importante sobre el cual hago a Usted muy particular recomendación, es el relativo al cumplimiento de los deberes de la neutralidad en el actual conflicto de Cuba.  Se espera que Usted procure imponerse de los medios que allí se cumplen o puedan emplearse para el paso de auxilio a los revolucionarios cubanos, particularmente en la forma de enganches y pertrechos de guerra; y también de las medidas que conviene adoptar para evitar las violaciones de la neutralidad.

In 1899, Basilio sent the government of Boyacá a proposal to build an aqueduct to Tunja using the waters of a place called El Origen.  The secretary of the government answered him by saying that if the government ever opened the bidding on this work, they would tendrían en cuenta [keep him in mind].  It would appear that this, too, came to nothing.

Basilio and María died, one month apart, in 1910, and were buried in the Cementerio Central de Bogotá.  They had nine children, Aurora, Blanca, Josefa Aurora, Alfredo, Graciela, Luz Clara, Basilio, Francisco, and Gustavo.

#  Children of María de la Luz Figueredo and Basilio Angueyra:

i               Aurora Angueyra was born in Key West, in 1874.  When she was a year and a half old her parents left the US for Colombia.  Between Barranquilla and Honda, aboard a steamer on the River Magdalena, Aurora became ill and died of a fever.  “Beautifully adorned, and amid an impressive silence, her small, still body was thrown to the cloudy waters of the River Magdalena”.

ii              Blanca Angueyra

iii             Josefa Aurora Angueyra

iv             Alfredo Angueyra

v              Graciela Angueyra y Figueredo

vi             Luz Clara (Tata) Angueyra

vii            Basilio Angueyra y Figueredo

viii           Francisco Angueyra y Figueredo was born in 1884, in Tunja, the twin of Basilio Angueyra, above, and died at the age of 14, in 1898.

Francisco Angueyra at the age of eight

ix             Gustavo Angueyra was born in Tunja in 1886, and married Corina Salazar Blanco Messura, a native of Barranquilla.  Corina was born in 1882, and  died in 1990, at the age of 108!  Gustavo died in 1951.  They had no children.  Gustavo and Corina cared for Leonor and Graciela Silva in 1928, when their mother, Luz Clara Angueyra, left Colombia for the US and also looked after Carmen Beatriz Gómez  in 1937, when Bea became sick and the doctors recommended that she move from Bogotá to a hotter climate.

____________________

¹   Source: De Cuba a Boyaca por la Libertad, page 3

²   Footnote This scenario comes from ???.  Antonio Cacua Prada in his De Cuba a Boyaca por la Libertad says that Candelaria, Luz, and Angel María arrived in New York in October 1870, not October 1871, and that they lived with their mother and sisters in New York for a little over a year before they all moved to Key West on December 11, 1871.

³   Footnote: To commemorate the battle on August 7, 1819, in which Bolivar defeated the Spanish army, leading to the independence of Colombia from Spain two years later.

⁴   Footnote: In 1896, Panama was still part of Colombia.  The canal was being built by a French company who had obtained the rights to build the canal from the government of Colombia.