Full-text searches at FamilySearch: in Colombia, Barranquilla

FamilySearch have recently made full-text searches available on their site. One of my first ports of call was to see what new information there might be about the Hunter brothers, who had left England for Colombia in the 1820s/30s, 40s and 60s. The famous engineers Richard Trevithick and Robert Stephenson were there. And DNA had showed that the eldest brother William had settled in, of all places, Barranquilla, at the mouth of the Magdalena River. (Other brothers followed this great river 400 miles inland to Honda, the 'city of peace'.)

At RootsTech 2024, FamilySearch announced a FullText Search product that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help users find historical records. As it happens Spanish is one of the languages covered.

The full-text searches have helped me piece together the family of my long distant uncle William Hunter (1805). He married in Cornwall, England to Ann Trevithick and had children William (1828), Eliza Jane (1829). William jr was listed in his grandfather Trevithick's will of 1840 so we know he was alive then, and Eliza Jane (and any younger ones) thus probably weren't.

In 1839 his younger brother Hugh Hunter (1808) is living in a house in Barranquilla, Colombia. The entry might relate to their father Hugh (1783), but as this Hugh is still there 1869 I don't think so.

In 1845, the full-text searches show me that William himself was a carpenter in Barranquilla, taking on an apprentice carpenter, Antonio Ferreira. He signs his name Guillermo Hunter. (One possibility is that he died shortly after this: that would account for there being no more kids, though wouldn't explain the family's continued wealth.)

It's not awfully easy to read but this is an abstract of a translation of a transcription of a digital image of a microfilmed image of a (photograph of a) bound original volume of notarial records from Barranquilla, Colombia, dated 1839-1840.

William had remarried to a woman who rejoiced in the name of Maria de Los Santos Palacio, perhaps born 1819. He must have died by 1863 and their only surviving children together were listed in a document of 1863: Isabel [Hunter], Eloisa Hunter, Ana Hunter. Isabel is not listed in a crucial land document of 1883 suggesting that she had died, perhaps without issue. From the 1863 document Isabel appears to be a Hunter, and as we shall see there is really no time for her to be William's stepdaughter.

Before we get to the final list of children, there are a couple of twists in the tale.

1) Who is Maria Hunter born about 1890, who married 23 Jan 1916 at the Lady of the Rosary, Barranquilla, to Eladio Ariza. Firstly I cannot see a marriage record at this church (January marriages are rather rare). Maria is a sponsor at the baptism of Ana Hunter's granddaughter (1914). Her death record gives her parents as Pedro Osio and Ana Hunter, seemingly not a married couple. Pedro was actually a neighbour of the Hunter women and sold his house to them in 1888.

2) In about 1866, William's widow Santos Palacio gives birth to a son, Generoso A Mendoza Borja, who lives to nearly 100 and whose death record states his father was Manuel Borja. In 1888 the young man is now over 21 and of his own free will declares that he has no right whatsoever to the property that his mother gave to his half-sisters Eloisa and Ana Hunter! Pedro Osio features in that document too.

So the combined children of William Hunter (1805) and Maria de Los Santos Palacio (~1819) appear to be:

1. William Hunter (1828), alive 1840. No further mention.
2. Eliza Jane Hunter (1829), seemingly died by 1840.
3. perhaps more Hunter children by first wife, born in Barranquilla? If so it's likely all had died by 1840.
4. Isabel Hunter, perhaps born 1840-1842. Died by 1883, likely with no children.
5. Ana Hunter, perhaps born 1845. She married in 1863 to Mr Mendoza of Caracas, Venezuela but if I'm reading the 1893 document correctly had separated with concerns for her safety by 1875, and returned to Barranquilla. Her daughter Modesta Maria was born in 1876 and the puzzling Maria Hunter in about 1890. She seems to have died the exact day that her property interests pass to Modesta, in 1913, though (if it's her) her age is given as '42'.
6. Eloisa Hunter, perhaps born 1856 though I suspect 1842. Her son and seemingly only child Fernando Silva is born in 1876 and dies a few months before her in 1930. Both their years of birth are reconstructed from the ages at death. I think Eloisa was actually quite a bit older than this, almost certainly older than Ana. This is somewhat of a relief as originally we had no idea if Eloisa was actually a child of William (1828)! Eloisa likely married a cousin (Fernando Silva Palacio) and his age is essentially unknown too, so we cannot use that as a guide.
7. perhaps other Hunter children who die - note that we seem to be saying the last kid was 1845 and then there was a 20 year gap (and new husband) until the next one....! 
8. Generoso A Mendoza Borja, born about 1866 and survives until 1965! Based on these sort of dates, a child born in his sixties could still be alive.

Incidentally one or two of Eloisa Hunter's descendants are DNA matches to myself, and to a few known of the wider Hunter family (in Australia), which is what cottoned me on to the Barranquilla story in the first place.

Maria De Los Santos was a widow in 1863 and 'de Mendoza' (i.e. married to Mendoza) in later records. She was alive in 1883 and likely died by 1886, when her property is described as owned by 'her successors'. Although on reflection that is open to interpretation... say if she transferred the property in anticipation of death, but didn't actually die!

It is still a bit odd that Maria (grandma) sat and watched her daughter marrying a Mendoza in 1863, then promptly (maybe) did the same thing and had a son in her late 40s. While her daughter's marriage foundered and was childless during this epoch.

And it is equally odd that Eloisa went ahead with a transfer of land on 20 Aug 1913, apparently the same day that her sister died. 

But the remaining question though is WHO is Maria Hunter's mother! I see three options. (We know she is stated as 'Ana Hunter'):

• Ana Hunter born about 1845. Given that her mother's son Generoso was born so late in life, it is certainly not impossible that Ana had a child 27 years after her marriage, and didn't bother giving Maria the name Mendoza. Ana had separated long ago from Mendoza and Osio had finished having children (1886). It seems the most likely explanation. She does stop signing herself 'de Mendoza' at some point: likely couldn't be bothered. The age '42' for her death in 1913 would be a ridiculous yet simple clerical error, perhaps from copying up rough notes.

• Ana Hunter born about 1871. This is assuming such a person existed - who died age '42' in 1913. Who is SHE then? Could be the child of Isabel Hunter (then late 20s if living), or of the ghostly William Hunter (1828)? Surely she could not be an older child of Ana Hunter (1845) as that person would have the name Mendoza as Ana's other daughter did. This apocryphal character would be the right kind of age, I suppose, to have a child with Pedro Osio or his son of the same name if living with her aunties. The main problem with this is 'where is the date of death then for Ana (1845)' if not 1913?

• Modesta Maria Mendoza Hunter! born about 1876. This would be a big plot twist, and would imply that the 14 year-old had a child with the neighbour (or his son) AND that the child listed her father correctly (on death certificate) but NOT the mother (putting grandmother Ana instead). I don't see this as very likely. Apart from being contradicted by the evidence (i.e. mother is 'Ana Hunter' not 'Modesta Mendoza') the family seem quite prim and proper, and also not afraid of recording hard facts in writing rather than covering them up. 

The family keep on trading houses into the next generation. The houses were of cane, wood and mud and on calle de Bolivar street, and calle de San Juan. I think they may have all now gone but here is an old photo of calle de San Juan from pepecomenta.com.

Signature of William Hunter (1805) - for many decades we thought we'd lost him, until he turned up as the husband of Maria De Los Santos in Barranquilla in a tree of a DNA match. I think we can safely say that all four Hunter brothers came out to Colombia... and left their bones there.

Note that you would need a FamilySearch login to access these links, and recall that Spanish names do not confirm to American style of naming, e.g. Jackie Kennedy Onassis (aka Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy) would in Spanish naming style be Jacqueline Bouvier Lee, with her mother's surname Lee appearing at the end...