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FIRST GENERATION

1. Don Tomas Manuel DE ROCO (1) was born on Dec 29 1791 in Port of Cavite. He was baptized on Jan 1 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.
He was a Fiscal Supernumerario de la Contaduria Mayor in Royal Tribunal and Audiencia for Accounting. His movements, as described in Juan 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, he eventually moved to Albay where he died on Oct 11 1857 in Legaspi, Albay.

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.

He was married to Dona Maria Guadalupe DE LOS REYES on Sep 21 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. Dona Maria Guadalupe DE LOS REYES(2) (3) was born on Dec 12 1796 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. She was baptized on Dec 19 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 was most probably a mestiza since her family obviously resided extra-muros, meaning outside the walls of Manila. In 1800, Fr. Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga noted in his book The Status of the Philippines, Estadismo de las Philipinas, that the population of Tongdo were mostly Tagalogs, and Chinese or Chinese mestizos. She died on Dec 2 1880 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. Don Tomas Manuel DE ROCO and Dona Maria Guadalupe DE LOS REYES had the following children:

child+2 i. Don Jose Simon DE ROCO.
child3 ii. Don Manuel Claudio DE ROCO was born on Oct 30 1813 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. He was baptized on Nov 4 1813 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Parish priest -- Fr. Jose Barcelona Monte Geronimo;
Godmother -- Dona Vicenta Del Real. He died on Oct 19 1852 in Cagayan Province. Born on a Saturday, at around 3:30 pm.
child4 iii. Joaquin Sotero DE ROCO was born on Apr 22 1815 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. He was baptized on Apr 27 1815 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Parish priest -- Don Jose Valerio de Alcadia;
Godfather -- Don Joaquin Del Castillo. He died on Apr 19 1834 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Died of cholera. Born on a Saturday, between 9-10 pm.
child+5 iv. Mariano Clementino DE ROCO.
child6 v. Dona Concepcion Espeririona DE ROCO was born on Dec 14 1818 in Pila, Laguna. Born on a Monday, between 11-12 pm. She was baptized on Dec 20 1818 in Pila, Laguna. Parish priest -- Fr. Miguel Persina;
Godfather -- Don Pablo Biron.
child+7 vi. Don Juan De Dios Emeterio DE ROCO.
child8 vii. Senorita Andrea Cantaricio DE ROCO was born in Feb 1822 in Pila, Laguna. Born on a Monday, between 10-11 pm. She was baptized on Feb 5 1822 in Pila, Laguna. Parish priest -- Don Pedro Alcantara;
Godfather -- Don Vicente Versosa. She died on Jun 25 1827 in Pila, Laguna.
child9 viii. Dona Dolores Casimira DE ROCO was born on Mar 6 1823 in Sta. Cruz de la Laguna. Born on a Tuesday, between 10-11 am. She was baptized on Mar 8 1823 in Sta. Cruz de la Laguna. Parish priest -- Fr. Miguel Persiva;
Godparents -- Don Mariano Aguirre and Dona Manuela De Aguirre. She died on Oct 25 1854 in Sampaloc, Manila.
child10 ix. Second Pilot Antonio Sesinando DE ROCO was born on Jul 16 1824 in Sta. Cruz de la Laguna. Born on a Friday, between 10-11 pm. He was baptized on Jul 19 1824 in Sta. Cruz de la Laguna. Parish priest -- Don Jose Manuel Moreno;
Godfather -- Don Juan M. Lopez. He died in Nov 1844 in China Sea. Antonio Sesinando drowned in the China Sea on the month of November 1844. He was Second Pilot of the ship -- Magallanes.
child+11 x. Dona Modesta Vicenta DE ROCO.
child+12 xi. Don Vicente Ladislao DE ROCO.
child13 xii. Dona Dominga ROCO was born on Sep 15 1834 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Born on a Monday, between 6-7 am. She was baptized on Sep 22 1834 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Batized by the parish priest -- Don Arcadio Aquino -- with Dona Francisca Antonia Fernandez as godmother.
child+14 xiii. Don Joaquin Emigdio DE ROCO.
child15 xiv. Don Arcenio Maria DE ROCO was born on Dec 14 1839 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Born on a Saturday, between 10-11 am. He was baptized on Dec 18 1839 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Officiating priest -- Fr, Senon Arcinas;
Godparents -- Don Lorenzo Maroati and his wife, Dona DOLORES ROCO.
child+16 xv. Mateo Eleno DE ROCO.

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

child17 i. Don Jose Norvento DE ROCO was born on Jun 6 1811 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Born on a Tuesday, between 2-3 pm. He was baptized on Jun 8 1811 in Sta. Cruz de Manila. Jose Norvento was baptized by the parish priest -- Don Reymundo Rojas with Don Manuel Varela as godfather..