First Generation

1. Don Tomas Manuel DE ROCO^1,2 was born on 29 December 1791 in Cavite City , Philippines. He was baptized on 1 January 1792 in Cavite. Tomas was baptized by the parish priest of the Port of Cavite at that time -- Don Gregorio de la Pena, with Don Antonio Canelose as his godfather.

He was confirmed in 1800 in Probably Manila. He was confirmed by the Archbishop of Manila -- Don Basilio Sancho de Sta. Justa with Don Francisco Cresini as his godfather.
Tomas died on 11 October 1857 at the age of 65 in Legaspi, Albay. He was a Fiscal Supernumerario de la Contaduria Mayor in Royal Tribunal and Audiencia for Accounting. According to The Philippine Chronicles of Fray San Antonio, printed in 1738, the Jurisdiction of Cavite under the Justicia Mayor who was simultaneously Keeper of the Royal Fort of San Phelipe (which stands to this day) included the towns of San Roque, Bacoor, Cavite El Viejo and Binacayan. The harbor of Cavite then consisted of a bent point of land which juts into the sea, this being the reason why the Indians called it Cavit, which means hook or fishook. The Spaniards called the harbor Cavite, but the proper term -- according to Fray San Antonio -- is Tanguay, which means a point of land which juts into the sea.

On 30 December 1799, Don Ignacio Maria de Alava, Rear Admiral of the Spanish Navy, led an expedition around the the entire islands of the Philippines which was recorded by Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga in his book, Estadismo de las Philipinas. By this time, Zuniga describes Cavite as follows:
"Cavite is a small, ugly and dirty city. It has a governor who is appointed by the King with a salary of P1,000 a year, a sergeant major, an aide and a company of Malabar soldiers. In addition to this, the government continually sends to it a detachment of Manila regular soldiers for its security. It has a Dominican and Recollect convent, but they have such limited funds that only one priest is assigned to each of them. The Jesuits also run a college which now serves only as a warehouse. Aside from these, the city has a parish, a hermitage in honor of Nuestra Senora de la Puerta Baga and a hospital, the San Juan De Dios. The houses are all tile roofed but the majority of them are small, badly constructed, old and dilapidated. It has three long streets but these are very narrow and very filthy. On the land side, there is a walled portion with a moat that surrounds the city. In the center is a land bridge with a gate which they call Puerta Baga, meaning a new entrance because bago in Tagalog means new. On the other side lies the fortified town which is surrounded by walls that are sufficiently high, but is so weak that it cannot stand many days of siege. From this fort tp the walls of Puerta Baga the whole space on both sides is open and without any defense and on that side which faces the little bay, they provisionally erected an earthen wall during the war with England.
..."Between the fort and the sea is a small land passage leading to the arsenal which is located at the very tip of the point. It has a house which serves as the residence and office of the Arsenal commander, and there are several buildings for the iron works and a storehouse for the rigging and for the sails of ships. To guard these buildings, a bastion has been built for its defense. The whole of the arsenal is built with little forethought of its utility which was at first to manufacture two galleons for the Acapulco trade, one to go to this port and the other to get ready to sail when the first returns. The arsenal also makes small vessels for use against the Moros.
"The arsenal commander is a royal appointee, but now they have erected by royal order a naval station and assigned to it 12 naval officers. As commander of the Spanish navy in the Philippines, the King has appointed D. Ventura Barcaiztegui, a navy captain and a member of our expeditionary force from whose inspiration, conduct and impartiality we expected much.
"The inhabitants of this whole district reach fifty thousand, the majority of them being natives and mestizos. Thirty thousand of these are registered taxpayers and the rest are idlers. There are few Spaniards in Cavite, and as I have said, there is a preponderance of natives and mestizos mixed with Chinese, people of Malabar, and negroes and the children of the admixture of these races. All of these people should pay tribute to the King, but no one does."
A photo of the old Church of Porta Vaga in which Don Tomas Manuel De Roco was most probably baptized (there was no other church at that time in the area) is in the Photo album. All records prior to the Second World War in Cavite were destroyed during the war. There is therefore no record of Tomas Manuel's parents who were the original Rocos in the Philippines.

UPDATE: Our esteemed and eminent historian, Facundo (aka Ding) Roco found Don Tomas Manuel's parents! Click <a href="http://rocofamily.info/docs/parentsofdontomas.htm" class="lnk">here</a> to find out more.

Tomas was baptized by the parish priest of the Port of Cavite at thattime -- Don Gregorio de la Pena, with Don Antonio Canelose as hisgodfather.
He was confirmed by the Archbishop of Manila -- Don Basilio Sancho deSta. Justa with Don Francisco Cresini as his godfather.

Don Tomas Manuel was probably a civil servant or an accountant as thestories in the family describe him. His movements, as described inJuan De Dios Emeterio's writings, showed that he moved to Sta. Cruz, Laguna, where some of his children were born, and then later to Pila, Laguna, and then later he returned to Manila. After this, heeventually moved to Albay where he eventually died.

Don Tomas Manuel DE ROCO and Doña Maria Guadalupe DE LOS REYES were married on 21 September 1812 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. The wedding of Tomas Manuel and Maria Guadalupe was held very early in the morning and was witnessed by their godparents -- Don Pablo Jose De la Fuente and Dona Vicenta del Real. Tomas was twenty and Maria was fifteen. The wedding of Tomas Manuel and Maria Guadalupe was held very early inthe morning and was witnessed by their godparents -- Don Pablo Jose Dela Fuente and Dona Vicenta del Real. Tomas was twenty and Maria wasfifteen. Doña Maria Guadalupe DE LOS REYES^2,3,4, daughter of Nicolas DE LOS REYES and Candida LUCIA, was born on 12 December 1796 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. She was baptized on 19 December 1796 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Maria Guadalupe was baptized a week after birth in the parish church of Santa Cruz with Dona Seberina Flores as her godmother. She died on 2 December 1880 at the age of 83 in Legaspi, Albay?. In his Nacimiento, Juan De Dios wrote that his mother ..."Fallecio el 2 de Dice. de 1880 no blanca (bianca?)". He did not specify what blanca he was referring to. At the time Maria Guadalupe was born, Sta. Cruz de Manila was probably the main parish church for the province of Tongdo, which The Philippine Chronicles of Fray San Antonio (p. 77) described as follows:
Tongdo..."has a perimeter of some 25 leagues, this province beginning at the bar of Manila and veering north northeast after a short distance to sail up the estero of Binondo up to Tongdo, its capital. From there you go on to Tambobong, the last town in this province on this side and bordering Polo in the province of Bulacan, leaving the bar of Bacusay to the left, this being one of the entrances to the bar of Manila. It is here that the lime kils of Almeja are located, the source of supply of lime for local construction. Returning to the bar of Manila, this province runs south along the bay, the towns of Santiago, la Hermita, Malate, and Paranaque being found along the coast, with Pasay, San Lazaro and Dilao behind them. The province ends here by the town of Bacoor which belongs to the jurisdiction of Cavite...This province borders that of Laguna de Bai and includes some of the towns on the banks of this river (Pasig) and the hills of Palayan, San Isidro, San Mateo, and others...It has a large population, but few of these are natives because there are only 6,361 whole tributes in it, 5,670 belonging to the Crown and 691 belonging to private parties. There are innumerablbe mestizos classified under the Ramo de Boletas and Sangleys from the Alcaceria, as well as a great variety of foreign nationals, so much so that the province contains the confusion of Babylon."

It was in this general environment that both Tomas Manuel and Maria Guadalupe grew up in.

In his Nacimiento, Juan De Dios wrote that his mother ..."Fallecio el2 de Dice. de 1880 no blanca (bianca?)". He did not specify what blanca he was referring to.
Maria Guadalupe was baptized a week after birth in the parish church of Santa Cruz with Dona Seberina Flores as her godmother. She was most probably a mestiza since her family obviously residedextra-muros, meaning outside the walls of Manila. In 1800, Fr.Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga noted in his book The Status of thePhilippines, Estadismo de las Philipinas, that the population of Tongdo were mostly Tagalogs, and Chinese or Chinese mestizos.

Don Tomas Manuel DE ROCO and Doña Maria Guadalupe DE LOS REYES had the following children:

Marikita PAGIBIGAN² was born (date unknown). The mother of Jose Norvento De Roco, eldest son of Tomas Manuel, was not recorded by Juan De Dios Emeterio in his unpublished "Nacimiento De Mis Hermanos". We have therefore given her a fictitious name -- Marikita Pagibigan -- which is Malay. Considering the circumstances of Jose Norvento's birth, it is probable that his mother was not a European national nor even a mestiza.

Don Tomas Manuel DE ROCO and Marikita PAGIBIGAN had the following children: