Marcelino Cortés was a master craftsman, painter, sculptor and artist from Angeles in Utuado,
Although there is quite a bit of information about my grandfather, Marcelino Cortés, there is very little information about our other ancestors. I remember asking my father, Cristobal Cortés, on several occasions about our ancestors and he could barely remember their names. The problem being that his grandparents passed away when he was very young and so he had very little recollection of them. He did tell me that he remembered his grandfather, Sebastian Cortés as being very tall. However upon reflection I would think that any adult would look tall to a child. I do remember him saying that Sebastian Cortés may have been a law magistrate or constable in those days, but he didn’t have much information about that. He did not remember any information at all about his grandmother. And speaking of grandmothers, currently I don’t have much information about my grandmother, Rumalda Custodio, either.
The problem for me is the same as the one my father had. Both of my grandparents passed away either before I was born or shortly
thereafter. The picture on the right is of my grandmother Rumalda Custodio that she sent my father after he had immigrated to
New York City in the late forty’s or early fifty’s. Although I can tell you that she must have had the patience of a saint to
put with the antics of the Cortés brothers,
As for other family members, other than Tia Dalila and Tia Lucy I have don’t have much recollection because I never saw
my Tio Salvador and Tio Laureano I saw when I was a very young child. All three brothers had immigrated to