Second Generation

2. José Pelayo Pelegrin RIERA was born on 30 April 1857 in Ponce, PR.³ He was baptized on June 1, 1857. Godparents were Julio Dubocq and Mathilde Martinez. Grandparents were listed as José Riera and Ana Maria Arenas; and Julio Dubocq and Modesta Roux on this and the subsequent baptisms of siblings. He died on 8 February 1903 at the age of 45 in Ponce, PR. He was also known as Pelayo J. He was a founder and for a time the head of the Ponce volunteer fire department. Seven heroic Ponce firemen are credited with saving the city when a major 1899 fire threatened an American ammunition dump. Pelayo's photo shows him in his dress fireman's uniform.

Pelayo died at an early age, and his widow and children were cared for by a wealthy brother-in-law, Mario Mercado, until the family was able to emigrate to New York. Maria Guadalupe del Carmen de Jesus PEREZ and José Pelayo Pelegrin RIERA were married on 28 August 1881 in Ponce, PR.⁴ The groom is listed as 25 years old, the bride as 21.

3. Maria Guadalupe del Carmen de Jesus PEREZ⁵ was born on 8 November 1861 in Ponce, PR.⁶ She was baptized on 5 Jan 1862. The name of her maternal grandmother (who was also her godmother) was mistakenly written as Alvarado instead of Echevarria. At the time of her 1919 immigration to US, she gave her birthdate as 12 Dec 1868. She died on 12 April 1925 at the age of 63 in New York, NY. Cause of death was meningitis. She is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, NY. She came to New York in 1904, and by 1906 all her children were there. According to the 1910 census, she lived on Claremont Avenue in Manhattan with her five children. Pelayo was a divorced salesman for a paper company; Adriana was at home; Jaume was a salesman for a hardware company; Felix was a "commission merchant" who employed others; and Ramon was a clerk. According to the 1920 census, she and two of her sons (Jaume and Ramon) lived with the family of her son-in-law Manual Ayala on 94th Street in Manhattan. After the death of her daughter-in-law, Dulce Maria Gonzalez in 1921, Guadalupe lived for a year in Cuba with her son Felix, caring for her six grandchildren. She then returned to New York for the remainder of her life.

Children were:

	i.	Pelayo José Jaume Nicomedes RIERA was born on 15 September 1882 in Ponce, PR.7 He was baptized on December 24, 1882. Godparents were Don José Gallart and his maternal grandmother. He died in 1938 at the age of 56 in Havana, Cuba. He became ill and died of food poisoning, apparently from a tainted fish he caught on a fishing trip off the coast of Cuba. Pelayo came to the U.S. in March of 1900 according to the census of that year, and was in school in Saratoga County, NY. He apparently finished high school there, briefly returned to Puerto Rico, and came back to New York in 1902. According to a 1913 New York immigration record, he became a naturalized US citizen in 1905. He and Felix, with partners, founded a successful import-export business that operated in New York and Havana.
	ii.	Adriana Guadalupe Cruz RIERA5 was born on 26 May 1884 in Ponce, PR.8,9 She was baptized on May 29. Godparents were her Jeronimo Tous (soon to be her uncle) and her paternal grandmother. The civil registration filed later gives her birthdate as May 3. She died in July 1943 at the age of 59 in Cuba. Cause of death was Addison's Disease. She joined her mother in the U.S. in 1905. At the time of the 1920 census, she gave her age as only 26 -- cutting 10 years off her correct age.
	iii.	Benito Jaume RIERA was born on 3 April 1886 in Ponce, PR.8,10 He was baptized on April 30. His godparents were Acisclo Perez and Rosario Leon. In the margin of his baptismal record, his name is given as Jaume Benito, but in the text of the record itself it is given as Benito Jaume. In any case, he was usually called Jaume -- except in the 1920 US Census of New York where he is listed as James. He died after 1964 at the age of 78 in Cuba. He was also known as Jamie or James. He first came to the US in 1903 at age 16 to visit his brother Pelayo. Jaime is remembered as the unconventional member of the family. For some years before his marriage, he lived in New York and traveled extensively in South America as a tire salesman. Later, he joined the family firm in Cuba, in charge of their distribution of General Tires.
1	iv.	Felix Jorge RIERA.
	v.	Ramon RIERA was born on 23 November 1890 in Ponce, PR.11 He was baptized on 25 December; godparents were Miguel Morrell and his aunt Ana Riera de Valls. He died on 12 October 1967 at the age of 76 in Guayanilla, PR. He died in the home of Mario Mercado, on the road from Ponce to Guayanella. He first came to the U.S. in 1906. While still living in New York, he joined the Navy during World War I, and served as a bugler. He is remembered as the jokester and tease of the family. He moved to Cuba, where he married and worked in the family business. Following the Castro takeover of Cuba, he returned to Puerto Rico.