MORE RE REMEDIOS DIOSOMITO LOPEZ CUENCO

I was delighted to receive the following email. I've been interested in my family genealogy and have done a fairly good job going back 4-5 generations on my mother's side. But the farther back you go, the more it sounds like the bible, "So-and-so begot so-and-so." I knew that Juana Lopez from Naic, Cavite begot Remedios Lopez who married Mariano Albao Cuenco. They begot Mariano Jesus Cuenco, my maternal grandfather who married Filomena Alesna; they begot Concepcion Cuenco who married Mariano Flores Manguerra; they begot me.

Remedios Lopez fascinated me because she was the first woman publisher in the Philippines. This happened by default when her husband died, leaving her his publishing business. With the help of her sons: Jose Maria, Mariano, and Miguel, this young widow of 38 years successfully ran Imprenta Rosario. (I think by this time, her oldest son Jose Maria had become a priest, so he wouldn't have been around a lot, although he published his religious periodicals).

I heard she had a sister, Blanca. And there's documentation that suggests Juana Lopez had been a resident of then-fashionable Tondo, although I always heard she was from Naic, Cavite. Juana bought properties in Cebu - I have some documentation of that. She married a Veloso from Baybay, Leyte.

So when I got this email from Percival Cruz today, I learned that Juana Lopez had another daughter, Concepcion, and that they were indeed from Naic, Cavite.

To answer Percival's questions below: Archbishop Jose Maria Cuenco was my grand-uncle; he was the brother of my maternal grandfather. Senator Mariano Cuenco was my grandfather, my mother's father.
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From: Percival Cruz

I just ran across your name and your blog as I was googling Arch. Jose Cuenco and Sen Mariano Cuenco. They were my uncles.

My grandmother was Concepcion Lopez of Naic, Cavite. Her sister, Remedios Lopez was the mother of the two illustrious Cuencos.

So, our family tree developed a branch in Cavite and another branch in Cebu. I belong to the branch that got rooted in Luzon.

Do I understand it that the archbishop was your uncle? Then we may be related somehow.

The good archbishop sponsored my brother, Feodor, in the priesthood - first in Jaro, then in U.S.T. and then in Rome. He was to be ordained in Rome.

I've been in the Los Angeles area since 1984. I now live in Burbank.

It's good to know you.
Percival Cruz

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The picture above shows Remedios Lopez, Mariano Albao Cuenco with their children, Jose Maria (boy, left), Mariano Jesus (boy, right), Jaime (boy, foreground) and Dolores;
The bottom picture shows Remedios Lopez with her husband, standing left, and one of her sons, Jose Maria (left) and Mariano Jesus Cuenco, and perhaps one of the little girls is Dolores.