Hacienda La Romana

Referring to Hacienda La Romana , the 1902 book Biografia de las Riquezas de Puerto Rico  by José Ferreras Pagán states; "...it has been the property of diverse at different times, being the McAllister brothers until this year."  The McAllister brothers were Pablo McAllister Fagundo (1866-1909) who was married to Maria Aperteguia, Carlos McAllister Fagundo (1872-1903) who never married and Claudio McAllister Fagundo (1873 - ) who married Hipólita Irizarry López.  According to Ferreras Pagán, in 1902 Hacienda La Romana was owned by Francisco E. Martinez and consisted of three hundred ninety seven cuerdas of which approximately twenty were used to grow sugarcane producing approximately sixty hogsheads of sugar.

The Cabo Rojo Historical Society has a different history for this hacienda.  Its facebook page contains a summary which translated states:

"It is located in the Guaniquilla Sector, Barrio Pedernales within the Punta Guaniquilla Nature Reserve.  It was owned by Gumersindo Cofresí y Rios, uncle of the pirate Roberto Cofresí.  Luis Pumarada in his inventory, calls it Hacienda Cofresí.  In 1882, it had two hundred ninety two cuerdas of land destined for cane and cattle, fruit trees and coconut palms.  In its center was a sugar factory that contained a residence and establishments for the elaboration of sugar, a wooden mill with galvanized iron mallets and two large wooden structures to dry bagasse.  It produced seventy hogsheads of sugar when it was owned by Francisco E. Martinez. In 1884 Daniel Pabón Irizarry bought the farm from Antonio Cofresí.  The widow of Pabón Irizarry sold it to Francisco E. Martinez for $9,000 in installments in 1903."

Based on information available on the history of the Cofresí family of Cabo Rojo by Dr. Ursula Acosta, the first Kupferschein[1] that arrived in Puerto Rico from Trieste was Francesco (Franz) Giuseppe Fortunato von Kupferschein (1751-1814) who settled in Cabo Rojo in 1782 and in 1874 married Maria Germana Ramirez de Arellano Segarra (1765- ).  They had four children; Juana Cofresí Ramirez de Arellano (1785- ), Juan Cofresí Ramirez de Arellano (1787- ), Ignacio Cofresí Ramirez de Arellano (1789-1858) and Roberto Cofresí Ramirez de Arellano (1791-1825). Ignacio married Maria Monserrate del Rio Carbonell and had sixteen children, one of them named Ramón Gumersindo Cofresí del Rio[2] (1837-1896). That being the case, Gumersindo Cofresí y Ríos referred to by the Cabo Rojo Historical Society was the nephew, not the uncle of the pirate Roberto Cofresí. 

Ownership of Hacienda La Romana by Ignacio Cofresi Ramirez de Arellano’s wife Monserrate Rios is evidenced by an edict published in La Gaceta de Puerto Rico edition of February 26,1870 of a judgment in a court case filed by freed slave Josefa Monsanto against Monserrate Rios de Cofresí for an incident that took place in January 1870. The case establishes that service to Monserrate was done at her Hacienda Romana and accepted by her son Antonio as she did not know how to write. It is evident then that Monserrate inherited the hacienda upon her husband Ignacio's death in 1858 and that upon her death ownership of the hacienda passed to her son Antonio Cofresí Rios (1834- ) who according to the above information sold it to Daniel Pabón Irizarry (1830-1890) in 1884.  Pabón Irizarry's widow Maria Dolores Alves del Toro (1830-1904) then sold it to its last known owner Francisco E. Martinez.

It is worthwhile noting that Franz von Kupferschein must have arrived in Cabo Rojo with considerable funds because shortly after his arrival he bought land.  This land was then inherited by his son Ignacio as Roberto as we know was not in the agricultural business and Juan was a businessman and co-owner of the ship Monserrate with Luis del Rio, the father of Maria Monserrate del Rio Carbonell, Ignacio's wife. Doubt remains then about ownership by the McAllister brothers as stated by Ferreras Pagán.

Its ruins are in Barrio Pedernales near Punta Guaniquilla close to the coast on the north side of Boquerón Bay and very close if not adjacent to the north to Hacienda Carbonell according to the map on page forty five of the study titled Plan Territorial de Cabo Rojo Revision Integral 2006 prepared by the Municipality of Cabo Rojo.

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[1] The last name Kupferschein was adapted in Puerto Rico to Cofresí.

[2] It was typical to abridge last names like for example del Toro to Toro, de Santiago to Santiago and in this case del Rio to Rios.