Sixth Generation

54. Ricardo Julián BESTEIRO FERNÁNDEZ was born on 7 Feb 1854 in Madrid, Spain.^72,166 Full name: Ricardo Julián José María He was baptized on 8 Feb 1854 in Madrid, Spain.^166,167 Baptized at San Ginés.

He was a businessman in Madrid, Spain. It appears that he inherited his father's food business (víveres). This is based on oral tradition and there is no documentation. He died on 25 Jun 1899 in Madrid, Spain.¹⁶⁸ He died at 8:15 AM of a stroke (apoplejía). (Note that although I reference his death certificate, I don't seem to have it. I assume I did, or do, somewhere.) Ricardo Julián BESTEIRO FERNÁNDEZ and Victorina GRACIANI LORENZO were married in 1881/82 in Madrid, Spain. Según la historia oral, Ricardo fué rechazado por su familia por casarse con una actriz.

55. Victorina GRACIANI LORENZO⁷⁷ was born on 23 Mar 1862 in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. She was baptized after 23 Mar 1862 in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. She was educated at the Escuela Nacional de Música y Declamación and graduated on 1 Jul 1880 in Madrid, Spain.¹⁶⁹ "Primer premio en la enseñanza de declamación." She was an actress in Madrid, Spain before 1883.⁷⁷ «Mamá ganó como sabías el 1er premio por oposición después de graduada pero se casó enseguida, abandonando la carrera.»

She immigrated on 2 Apr 1907 to Havana, Cuba.^77,78 It is almost certain she first came to Cuba on this date, nearly 2 years after her husband Manuel (who may, however, have returned to Spain in the meantime). According to Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI, she came with her children Pepita, Jorge and Isabel, and this is verified by an entry in the 2 April 1907 edition of El Diario de la Marina, which lists "Victoria Gración y tres hijos."

She lived Consulado 104-106 in Havana, Cuba in 1908.¹⁴⁹ This is where her son Francisco LAGOS GRACIANI was born in October 1908.

She visited Spain about 1914.¹⁵¹ She travelled with her husband Manuel and youngest daughter Isabel, as indicated on their arrival together in New York. She visited on 12 Nov 1914 in New York, NY, USA. They were going to visit Antonio LAGOS and Josefa BESTEIRO and their family in New York City. She visited on 18 Aug 1915 in New York, NY, USA.¹⁷⁰ She was visiting her daughter and her family, then living at 344 E. 85th Street. She visited on 24 Apr 1920 in New York, NY, USA.¹⁷¹ Together with her husband Manuel, her daughter-in-law Mercedes LORET DE MOLA BETANCOURT, and her grandchildren Ricardo and Miguel Ángel BESTEIRO LORET DE MOLA, visited her daughter Pepita and her family, then living at 526 E. 83rd Street. She visited on 21 Nov 1922 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA. She went to visit her daughter Pepita and her family, living on 307 Park Avenue. Curiously, although she was living in Havana (at San Lázaro 143), her husband Manuel was living in Santiago, and she was listed on the passenger manifest as "single." (It is known that they had a turbulent marriage.)

She was living in 1924 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA.¹⁵³ On the 1924 passenger manifest of their trip from Cuba (arrived 7 April 1924), Victorina and her husband Manuel were listed as US residents.

She was living about 1927/28 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA. Manuel and Victorina lived first at Oak Street, then Madison Street. (This was while the Lagos family was living at 922 22nd Street.) She left Paterson - possibly for the last time - to help her daughter Isabel when Isabel's son Pepe was born in October 1928.

She died on 14 Jul 1931 in Havana, Cuba.¹⁵⁷ From cemetery documentation at home of Arturo VÁLDES DENIS: Cuartel Noroeste Cuadro 10 Campo Com. Bóved 21 . . . Milicia Josefina 8163. / 10 julio 1931 Joaquín / 15 julio 1931 Victorina She was exhumed and placed in an ossuary on 31 May 1944 in Havana, Cuba¹⁵⁷ She was also known as GRAZZIANI and GRACCIANI. Her funeral card says "GRACCIANI LORENZO", and her children used the second apellido "GRACCIANI". She the original Maina. This was a mispronunciation of "Mama Victorina" by her granddaughter Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO.

Children were:

	i.	Domingo (Uncle Dominic) BESTEIRO GRACCIANI was born on 9 Jan 1883 in Madrid, Spain.167,172 Full name: Domingo José Julián. He was baptized on 31 Jan 1883 in Madrid, Spain.167 Baptized at San Ginés. He immigrated in 1905 to Havana, Cuba.173 He was a Profesor en el Colegio-Academia Melitón in Havana, Cuba between 1905 and 1908.173 He was an educator for about 50 years beginning in Havana, Cuba in 1905. He was educated at the Escuela de Comercio de Cuba (Anexa al Instituto de la Habana) in 1905 in Havana, Cuba. Licenciado en Ciencias Exactas (.....), Título Profesor Merfcantil, Parto Taquigrafo y Mecanógrafo . . . He founded the Colegio Franco-Hispano America in 1908 in Havana, Cuba.174 A 1908 advertisement in Diario de la Marina reads "Colegio 'Franco-Hispano-Americano'De Primera y Segunda Enseñanza / Directores Propietarios: Besteiro y Piquer. San Lázaro 250. Este Plantel de educación ofrece á la distinguidas familias de esta capital la garantía en el éxito de la enseñanza por contar con excelente profesorado perteneciente a la Universidades de Paris, Washington y Madrid. . . " He was naturalized on 12 Jun 1913 in Havana, Cuba.173 He was a Director del Colegio "Cervantes", sito en San Lázaro 198 in Havana, Cuba in 1921.58 He was named Redactor del Fígaro in 1922 in Havana, Cuba. He founded what would be named the Colegio Académico Besteiro in 1926 in Havana, Cuba.173 Fue nombrado Profesor de la Escuela de Arte y . . . de la Habana y ocupó el cargo de Profesor y Director de la Escuela Cervantes del Centro Castellano de la Habana. He «doctor en Filosofía y Letras». He was president of the Club Madrileño in Havana, Cuba. He died on 24 Oct 1958 in Havana, Cuba. He was also known as GRACIANI. Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI escribe que cambió oficialmente su apellido segundo a GRACIANI. Sin embargo en la noticia de su muerte en el periódico en la Habana, ponen BESTEIRO GRACCIANI. (Although his sister Isabel wrote that he officially changed his name to GRACIANI, on his death notice in the newspaper, it was spelled "BESTEIRO GRACCIANI.") I suspect that, legally, it was always GRACIANI.
27	ii.	Josefa (Pepita) [Maina] BESTEIRO GRACIANI.
	iii.	Emilio BESTEIRO GRACCIANI was born on 29 Jun 1886 in Madrid, Spain. He died on 10 Aug 1936 in Madrid, Spain.175,176 He was executed during the first month of the Spanish Civil War; he was taken from his house at night and killed. Per a mass card printed to commemorate his death, he was "killed by "the red horde" on km 10 on the road from Madrid to Andalucia." It reads "Don Emilio Besteiro Gracciani, Jefe de los Archivos de la Compañía de F.F.C.C. de M.Z.A. que murió vilmente asesinado por la horda roja, el día 10 de Agosto de 1936, en el K. 10 de la carretera de Andalucía . . . ") Según la acta de defunción, "falleció a consecuencia de lesiones por disparo de arma de fuego, según resulta del informe facultativo y reconocimiento practicado y su cadaver habrá de recibir sepultura en el cementerio de esta Villa[verde]." His death certificate states that he died of gunfire. He was also known as BESTEIRO GRACIANI (one "c"). Según José Manuel LANCHA MARTÍ, "Mi padre [Teodoro LANCHA, hijo adoptado de Emilio] adoraba a su padre. El abuelo Emilio fue en casa un mito. Un hombre querido, admirado y venerado por su bondad, no sólo por mi padre sino por todo el mundo. Era una bellísima persona y mi padre nos hizo apreciarle y conservar su memoria a pesar de haber muerto . . . seis años antes de que naciera el mayor de mis hermanos." (My father [Teodoro Lancha, Emilio's adopted son] adored his father. Grandfather Emilio was a legend in our house. A man beloved, admired and venerated for his goodness, not just by my father but by everyone. He was a beautiful person and my father made us regard him highly and keep his memory despite his having died six years before my oldest brother was born.)
	iv.	Jorge BESTEIRO GRACCIANI154 was born on 18 Jun 1889 in Madrid, Spain.21,73 Full name: Jorge Amando. His is the only birth, marriage or death certficate that I've found (as of 4/2003) in which the spelling Gracciani ("cc") was used. His mother and grandfather are also referred to as "Gracciani," which was not the spelling on their birth certificates. Es el único caso (abril 2003) que sepa yo en que se usa la ortografía Gracciani (es decir "cc") en un acto de nacimiento, casamiento, o defunción. He immigrated in Mar 1907 to Havana, Cuba.78 It is believed he came over with his mother and sisters on 2 April 1907, the arrival date of "Victoria Gración [sic] y 3 hijos"). He later returned to Spain. Family oral tradition has it that he did so to marry his childhood sweetheart, Elisa ASENSIO LÓPEZ. (Emigró a Cuba c. 1905, y volvió antes de 1912 para casar su novia Elisa.) He lived in both Cuba and the USA between 1907 and 1912.77,78 Dates approximate. In addition, his stay in the US, passed down in the family oral history, has not been documented. Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI claimed he returned to Spain "al cumplr 23 años." He was living before 1932 in Castielfabib, Valencia, Spain.177 He was living between 1932 and 1934 in Quismondo, Toledo, Spain.177 He was a secretario del ayumtamiento in Santa Olalla, Toledo, Spain between 1934 and 1936.177 He was living between 1934 and 1936 in Santa Olalla, Toledo, Spain.177 He died on 1 Sep 1936 in Santa Olalla, Toledo, Spain.154,177,178,179 Died of colon cancer. Ernestina ÁGUILAR BESTEIRO writes "Pocos minutos después de enterrarlo (la tumba en tierra no pudieron acabar de revestirla interiormente) salieron evacuados porque entraban en el pueblo las fuerzas del Gra. Franco y ellos estaban comprometidos políticamente." (Before the burial ceremony was complete the family had to be evacuated, as Franco's troops were entering the town and they were politically "compromised.") Violeta BESTEIRO MARTÍNEZ añade que la familia estaba dando tiros al aire en honor de Jorge. Las tropas franquistas, pensando que eran los repúblicanos, respondieron (the Besteiro family was shooting in the air to honor Jorge. Franco's troops returned the fire, making their presence known). Según su hermano Domingo, "Jorge era un comilón. Comía 30 'fritas' (pequeña hamburguesa + cebolla + papita) a la vez."
	v.	Isabel (Aunt Betty) BESTEIRO GRACCIANI was born on 4 Jun 1896 in Madrid, Spain.180,181 Born in Plaza de la Cebada, 10. Full name: Isabel Cecilia Alejandra. She was baptized on 18 Jun 1896 in Madrid, Spain.181,182 Baptized at San Andrés. Padrinos: mis tios D. Ramón Fernández Ménguez y Dª Cecila Caballero y Fernández. She immigrated on 2 Apr 1907 to Havana, Cuba.76,78 She received first communion on 5 Jun 1910 in Havana, Cuba.183 She died on 6 Oct 1980 in Havana, Cuba.184 She was exhumed and placed in an ossuary on 20 Feb 1989 in Havana, Cuba157 She was also known as BESTEIRO GRACIANI.