Hacienda Santa Bárbara - Arecibo
Hacienda Santa Bárbara was located in Barrio Cambalache about one mile traveling north on PR-2 from the remains of Central Cambalache and consisted of three hundred forty five cuerdas. In 1841 Bárbara María Balseiro de la Plaza (1794-1876), then the widow of who Ramón Gandia Silva (1789- ), owned Hacienda Santa Barbara as well as Hacienda Islote in the barrio of the same name near the mouth of the Arecibo River which she had received as inheritance. Bárbara and Ramón had at least twelve children, Felicita, Pedro, Teresa, Ramón, Isabel, Ricardo, Miguel, Carmen, Emilio, Zenón, Amalia and Maria de la Concepción Gandia Balseiro (1835-1879). Upon Barbara's death, her daughters Amalia and Maria de la Concepción inherited Hacienda Santa Bárbara as well as Hacienda Islote.
The Balsiero, Correa and Zeno families were interrelated by marriage. Capt. Manuel Antonio Zeno Carrión (1789-1842), the son of Capt. Bernardo Zeno, Teniente a Guerra in Arecibo towards the end of the 17th Century, married to Micaela Correa. Maria del Carmen Zeno Carrión, the sister of Manuel Antonio’s first marriage was to a brother of Barbara Balseiro de la Plaza, upon the death of her first husband married a second time her brother-in-law. Maria de la Concepción Gandia Balseiro, the daughter of Barbara Balseiro de la Plaza, married her cousin Manuel de Jesús Zeno Correa (1818-1902) the son of Manuel Antonio Zeno Carrión. Manuel de Jesús and Maria de la Concepción were the parents of well known doctor, politician and author Manuel Zeno Gandia (1855-1930) who in 1883 married Ana Antongiorgi Franceschi, daughter of Francisco Maria Antongiorgi, who inherited Hacienda Maria in Yauco from his father Juan Maria Antongiorgi.
Since approximately 1812, Manuel Antonio owned Hacienda Puente Bagazo, in 1817 he figures as one of the principal taxpayers in the municipality of Arecibo and in 1826 as one of the principal slave owners. Until the time of his death in 1842, the administrator of Hacienda Puente Bagazo was Juan Watlington during which time it was the largest sugar plantation in the area consisting of some three thousand seven hundred cuerdas. Upon his death, Hacienda Puente Bagazo was inherited by his sons Lino Zeno Correa who was a physician, Manuel de Jesús Zeno Correa (1818-1902) and Fernando Zeno Correa (1825-1889) who continued to operate and expand the operation under the name Zeno Hnos. In 1878, the Zeno family lost Hacienda Puente Bagazo to G. Ledesma & Cia. and Torres & Cia. due to excessive debts and was acquired by Petra Berrios who leased it to Sebastián Figueroa Colón.
Shortly before losing Hacienda Puente Bagazo, Manuel de Jesús and Maria de la Concepción decided to sell their part of Hacienda Santa Barbara to avoid losing it the same way they eventually lost Puente Bagazo. It is unknown how Maria de la Concepción disposed of her part but Amalia sold her part to Rafael Balseiro Maceira (1833-1902), father in law and partner of Eduardo Giorgetti in the mercantile firm Balseiro & Giorgetti. The Gaceta de Puerto Rico in its edition of April 18, 1889 states that in March 1889, as the result of a court case brought by Amalia Gandia de Ibañez against Rafael Balseiro Maceira, the district judge ordered to be sold at public auction three tracts of land consisting of one hundred seventy four cuerdas and a sugarcane factory known as Hacienda Santa Bárbara, located in Barrio Cambalache. The succesful bidders at public auction were brothers Antonio Roses Bisbal and Miguel Roses Bisbal who paid 22,000 in the current currency. In 1895 a right was granted Antonio Roses Bisbal to use ninety liters of water per second from the Rio Grande de Arecibo for irrigating one hundred eighteen hectares of Hacienda Santa Bárbara.
Brothers Ramón Roses Bisbal (1824- ), Miguel Roses Bisbal (1838-1890) and Antonio Roses Bisbal (1842-1898) emigrated to Puerto Rico from Sóller, Mallorca in the 1850s and '60s. The first to arrive was Ramón who was a sailor in a frigate that made regular voyages between Spain and Puerto Rico. Miguel followed and had his first job at La Mallorquina Restaurant in San Juan. He married Spanish immigrant from Gerona, Catalonia Elvira Artau Costa (1849- ), a resident of Utuado whose family were coffee growers and exporters and owned the coffee plantation Hacienda Raimunda. Miguel and Elvira relocated to Arecibo and in 1862 Miguel established Roses & Garcia together with Sebastian Garcia Puigserver. In 1868, Antonio Roses Bisbal and Juan Rubert Catalá joined the business which from then on was known as Roses, Garcia & Cia. In 1873 when Sebastian Garcia Puigserver retired, the business was renamed Roses, Rubert & Co. and in 1876 when Juan Rubert Catalá was no longer part of the firm, it was renamed Roses & Cia.
On or around 1868 Roses, Garcia & Cia. started distilling and marketing Ron de la Casa Roses from aguardiente they produced at Hacienda Anones which they had leased from José Maria Figueroa. Further incursion in the rum business was made in 1882 when Pedro Antonio Pizá Bisbal (1853-1911) established the firm Pizá & Cia. with Roses y Cía. as a limited partner and started making Ron Pizá. Every year Roses & Cia. continued to improve their product until 1891 when Ron Llave was brought to market and was an instant hit.
When Miguel Roses Bisbal died in 1890, his share in Roses & Cia. was split between his brothers Antonio and Ramón. Antonio received 100% of the agricultural/industrial side which included the then three hundred sixty acre Hacienda Santa Bárbara. Ramón received the commercial side of the business which was reorganized into a new corporation named Roses & Co., Inc. owned and managed by his nephews Andrés Oliver Roses (1876- ) and Lorenzo Oliver Roses (1871- ) who had arrived in Arecibo in 1885 and 1891 respectively. Andrés and Lorenzo were sons of Catalina Roses Bisbal and Andrés Oliver Mir. In 1892 Antonio Roses Bisbal retired and returned to live in Barcelona, Roses & Cia. was then reorganized and renamed Sucrs. de Roses & Cia. In that reorganization, Antonio Figueras Cerdá (1866-1933) and Lorenzo Roses Borrás, the son of Bartolomé Roses Bisbal became partners.
Sucrs. de Roses & Cia. leased Hacienda Santa Barbara from Antonio Roses Bisbal and installed a new still that allowed increased production of Ron Llave. Sales were far better than expected to the extent that by 1893 Sucrs. de Roses & Cia. began exporting the product to Spain. Ron Llave was distilled at Hacienda Santa Bárbara until 1901, that year a larger capacity still was acquired and installed at Central Plazuela where Ron Llave was distilled until 1906. By that year Sucrs. de Roses & Cia. acquired their own facilities in Barrio Miramar of Arecibo where they distilled Ron Llave from 1906 to 1911 using molasses from the recently established Central Cambalache.
After distilling operations ceased at Hacienda Santa Barbara in 1901, the following year, while under the administration of Andrés Oliver Roses, Hacienda Santa Bárbara ceased its processing operations and sugarcane grown on its land was processed at Central Monte Grande. In 1905, then owned by Sucrs. Roses & Cia., the land of Hacienda Santa Barbara formed part of the new Central Cambalache, Inc. of which Sucrs. Roses & Cia. were important shareholders. After Hacienda Santa Bárbara was incorporated into the newly organized Central Cambalache, Sucrs. Roses & Cia. continued their wholesale distribution and liquor business. In 1911 Sucrs. de Roses & Cia. became part of the newly organized Puerto Rico Distilling Co., Inc. Today, Ron Llave is still being distilled, now by Destileria Serrallés in Ponce.