Fifth Generation

50. Josefa (Pepita) [Maina] BESTEIRO GRACIANI^182,183 was born on 6 August 1884 in Madrid, Spain.¹⁰⁷ Full name: Josefa Justa. She was born at Príncipe de Anglona uno, piso 1º. (Principe de Anglona: desde la Costanilla de San Andrés á la de San Andrés. . . En el (plano) de Espinosa lleva el nombre . . . de calle Sin Puertas . . . ) She lived at Plaza de la Cebada 10 in Madrid, Spain between 1889 and 1906.^60,184,185 The family was living at this address when her siblings Jorge and Isabel were born in 1889 and 1896 and still living here during the 1905 census.

When Richard SIGNES was in Madrid looking for family information in August 1997, he wrote "When I was in Madrid, strolling through the neighborhood in which Maina and family grew up, I realized that Plaza de la Cebada, diez, was just about fifty yards from the well known 'Teatro de La Latina.' All sorts of images of the Gracciani actors/actresses came to mind. " She appeared in the census in 1895 in Madrid, Spain.⁵ Josefa lived at Plaza de la Cebada, 10, entresuelo derecha in Madrid, Spain on 1 December 1895. She received first communion on 4 June 1897 in Madrid, Spain.¹⁸⁶ Carmen SIGNES (Beaton) has a prayerbook of Pepita's, with the inscription "Libro con el que hice mi Primera Comunion en la Iglesia de Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena de Madrid el dia 4 de junio 1897. Pepita Besteiro Grazziani" (note the "zz" spelling, which is now known to be historically incorrect). She was educated at a conservatory about 1900 in Madrid, Spain.¹³¹

Josefa lived at c/Madera Alta, 28-3° dcha in Madrid, Spain between 14 November 1906 and March 1907.¹⁸⁵ She immigrated on 2 April 1907 to Havana, Cuba.^1,109,187 There is a document dated 9 March 1907 that gives Josefa permission to leave Spain. Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI notes that the travelers consisted of Victorina GRACIANI and three of her children (who we know were Josefa, Jorge and Isabel: Domingo had gone earlier and Emilio never went). (April 2 was the actual arrival date; Emil SIGNES and Heide RUPPEL (Signes) found an announcement in the Diario de la Marina newspaper after two days of searching microfilm at the Library of Congress.) She arrived on the steamship Reina María Cristina.

She lived in various places between 1907 and 1921 . Here is an attempt at a summary of the residences in her life: 1884-1907: Madrid / 1907-1908: Havana / 1908-1909: Madrid / 1909-1911: Havana / 1911: Spain (Valdemoro in August; Santiago?) / 1912: Havana / 1912-1916: New York / 1916-1917: Havana / 1917-1921: New York / 1921-1953: Paterson, NJ / 1953-1968 Totowa Borough, NJ.

Josefa was living on 28 August 1908 in Madrid, Spain.^1,131 Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI notes that Josefa returned to Spain with her grandmother Joaquina (who had visited Cuba, according to this story, in an unsuccesful effort to get her pregnant 45-year old daughter Victorina to return to Spain with her). There is a photo of Josefa, inscribed by herself, that reads as follows: "Mamá, para que vea estoy más gruesa y mande por mí. La dedico este postal con mucho cariño. Su hija Pepita 28-8-1908 Madrid" (Mother, so you see I'm getting heavier [her mother had thought she was sickly]; send for me. . . ") (Note -- card was addressed to "Dª Victorina Gracciani / Consulado - 104 y 106 / "Isla de Cuba" / Habana.)

She returned to Havana on 1 June 1909 .¹⁸⁸ Arrived in Havana on the Reina María Cristina. She returned to Spain in 1911 .¹³¹ After the birth of their daughter Carmen, Josefa and her husband and daughter returned to Spain where Antonio briefly resumed his medical studies in Santiago de Compostela. Because of Pepita's ill health, however, the doctors recommended warmer climate, and they returned to Cuba. While in Spain, the couple's second child, Manuel, was born, and Victoria was born after their return to Cuba. Josefa immigrated on 18 September 1912 to New York, NY, USA.^131,189,190 She sailed on the S.S. Saratoga with children Carmen, Manuel and Victorina. She was preceded in the immigration to the US by her husband, who continued to urge her to wait to join him until he had found a job. Her mother, however, offered her two pieces of advice: "don't leave a man alone that long" and "as long as you don't show up with the kids he won't find a job." (Victorina was 5 weeks old when they left.)

She lived in New York, NY, USA between 18 September 1912 and 1921. See Antonio LAGOS TOLEDO entry for details. She travelled to Cuba just prior to the birth of her fourth daughter, the second Lolita, about November 1916 .¹³¹ With her infant children Dolores and Antonio having died within three weeks of each other in New York City, she was afraid to bear yet another child there. Leaving her husband Antonio in NY, she traveled to Cuba with her children Carmen, Manuel and Victoria. Josefa returned to New York on 2 April 1917 .^128,131 Her daughter Dolores had been born on New Year's Day. In March, her husband had written her in Cuba advising her and the children to return home: according to his information, the US was about to declare war on Germany, which would likely make it impossible for them to return during its duration. When she and her children (Carmen, Manuel, Victoria and the baby Lolita) prepared to depart from Havana, it was discovered that Manuel had pink eye and he was forbidden to accompany them. Fearful because of her husband's admonition, she boarded the boat and left Manuel in the care of his grandmother and Aunt Betty (Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI) for approximately 2 years. The boat, the S.S. Mexico, left Havana at 29 March 1917 and arrived in New York on 2 April. The US declared war on Germany on 6 April.

She lived in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA between 1921 and 1953. See Antonio LAGOS TOLEDO entry for details. She was naturalized on 18 November 1943. Josefa lived 299 East 31st Street in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA in 1952/3. When her husband Antonio died in November 1952 her daughter Carmen won the right for her to move to their house. After the sudden 1953 death of Joe BARON, however, she moved to Totowa Borough where she helped care for her granddaughter Mercedes BARON while Mercedes' mother Josephine worked. She lived 100 Greene Avenue in Totowa, Passaic, NJ, USA between 1953 and 1968.

She visited Madrid for the first time in 56 years in August 1965 . She first traveled to Germany for the wedding of her grandson Emil SIGNES. (There are two interesting stories about this trip: 1. In Gata de Gorgos, the home town of her son-in-law Emilio SIGNES MONFORT, which followed the Spanish tradition of widows wearing black for the remainder of their lives, Pepita astounded everyone by wearing a pink dress. 2. When in a Madrid hotel, she demanded to know why the desk clerk spoke to her in English. "But you spoke to me in English" he stammered. "Oh", said Maina, who despite speaking very little English, probably had.

Josefa died on 4 February 1968 in Totowa, Passaic, NJ, USA. Cause of death was cancer.

Played the piano and the castanets. Per her daughter Carmen, her special interests were family, sewing, embroidering, reciting poetry, cooking, reading, theatre, playing the piano.

Dolores BALL (Carr) in 1992, honored "Maina, who was pure love, who always gave completely of herself and never expected anything in return, who would do anything to avoid hurting anyone's feelings. While Papa was always aware of everything that went on in their home, Maina always understood everything."

Josefa (Pepita) [Maina] BESTEIRO GRACIANI and Antonio [Papa] LAGOS TOLEDO were married on 20 December 1909 in Havana, Cuba.¹⁹¹ They were married at 2 PM at the Iglesia de Monserrate de la Habana. Family story: Josefa's mother Victorina did not attend the wedding, because she was forbidden by her husband Manuel, who was Antonio's brother, and angry at the fact that his brother was marrying his stepdaughter. Victorina's cousin Alejandrina CARO GRACIANI, however, who had been brought up as Victorina's sister, did so surreptitiously. When Manuel - so the story goes - asked where she'd been that evening, she responded "Where your wife should have been -- if she'd had the courage." (Alejandrina was touring Latin America with an acting troupe.)

Antonio [Papa] LAGOS TOLEDO^182,183 was born on 25 September 1880 in Periana, Málaga, Spain.^122,192,193 His full name was Antonio José María de la Santísima Trinidad. He was born in his parents' house on Calle de la Fuente.

He lived in Madrid, Spain between 1885 and 1905.^124,194 In a 1950 letter to Antonio DÍAZ TOLEDO he notes that he left Periana when he was 5. His brother Francisco was born in Periana in November 1884, but no more family members births or deaths are recorded there except for the deaths of his father and mother, who apparently went home to die, in 1900 and 1903, respectively. There was a huge earthquake in Periana on Christmas Day 1884 (so significant King Alfonso XII visited the town); whether or not this had anything to do with their 1885 move to Madrid is unknown.

He appeared in the census in 1890 in Madrid, Spain.¹²⁴ Antonio lived at Calle del Toro núm. 5 - principal in Madrid, Spain on 1 December 1890.¹²⁴ He was educated at a seminary and later at a medical school between 1898 and 1903 in Madrid, Spain.^131,195 (Dates approximate.) According to the oral family lore, he attended seminary with the intention of becoming a priest; he later attended medical school. It is believed he had a patron, perhaps an uncle (José Ignacio MORENO NÚÑEZ, a cousin of Antonio's grandchildren, notes that is likely that Antonio's father Francisco was the beneficiary of the support of his granduncle Manuel LAGOS ZAPATA, the archpriest of Ronda). I (Emil Signes) as of 2008 have found no documentation of his studies while in Spain. There is, however, a picture of him smoking a cigarette while attending a cadaver. He had to leave medical school for financial reasons; details are unknown. His mother died in 1903 (his father had died in 1900 and his uncles Manuel and Antonio LAGOS MUÑOZ IN 1901); all of his siblings with the exception of Manuel were either dead or would be before the decade was out. (All died of tuberculosis.)

Between 11 June 1900 and 30 April 1901 he was a scribe in the argicultural service (escribiente del servicio agronómico) in Zamora province, Spain.¹⁹⁶ Between 17 November 1903 and 1904 Antonio was a scribe for the census (amanuense del Censo de la población) in Madrid, Spain.¹⁹⁷

He lived at C/Atocha 15, entresuelo in Madrid, Spain in June 1905.¹⁹⁸

He immigrated about 1905 to Havana, Cuba.^{180,199,200,201} He received a clearance for travel purposes from the "Registro Central de penados y rebeldes" on 19 June 1905. We know from a letter by his sister Mercedes that he was in Havana in February 1906. (When he arrived in New York in 1912, it was indicated on the passenger manifest that he had been in New York City before, in 1905, and from this it seems he visited NYC on the way to Havana, as has been documented for his brother Manuel. There is, however, no equivalent documentation for an Antonio visit in 1905.)

Between 1905 and 1912 Antonio was a professor of Spanish and French languages and literature in Havana, Cuba.¹⁸⁰ He lived at Inquisidor, 14 in Havana, Cuba in 1907.¹⁹⁹ He was registered with the Spanish Consulate in Havana as a resident of Havana at this address on 11 January 1907. He lived at Galiano 125 in Havana, Cuba in 1910/1.^202,203,204 Apartado 1292. This was the address at which the family lived when his daughter Carmen was born in October 1910 and baptized in March 1911. [Apt. # from letter written to Adolfo LAGOS MUÑOZ.]

Antonio was educated at an unknown medical school in 1911 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.¹³¹ After the birth of their daughter Carmen, Antonio and his wife and daughter returned to Spain so that Antonio could resume the medical studies he had left earlier in the decade (per family oral history; no documentation has been found. Because of his wife's ill health (she was suffering from phlebitis), doctors recommended a return to warmer climate. (It is not clear if financial reasons also played a part.) While in Spain, the couple's second child, Manuel, was born, and Victorina was born after their return to Cuba.

He immigrated on 13 February 1912 to New York, NY, USA.^189,205 Left Havana on the SS Havana on 10 February 1912, arrived in New York on 13 February 1912. He lived in New York, NY, USA between 13 February 1912 and 1921.^{128,190,206,207,208} Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO (Signes) writes "Our first home, I heard, was on 14th Street near Jane and Union Square. . . Our last home in that city was at 526 East 83rd Street. This was near the East River where there was a park where we went roller skating. . . Uncle Mannie said the house had been torn down to build a highway . . . " [It was not; the house was still there in 2005.] On 28 April 1916, their address was recorded as 344 E. 85th Street. Carmen Lagos remembers this to be the house where the two babies died.

From passenger lists, the following addresses were recorded. On 18 September 1912, when Josefa arrived with Carmen, Manuel and Victorina: 290 W. 12th Street. On 2 April 1917, when Josefa arrived with Carmen, Victorina and Lola, they were headed to 12 E. 46th Street; this, however, was Antonio's work address. On August 15, 1917, when Joaquina LORENZO GÓMEZ arrived, and on 24 April 1920 when Victorina and children visited, the address was 526 E. 83rd Street. Antonio registered for the draft on 12 September 1918 in New York, NY, USA.²⁰⁹ Before 1919 he was a chief instructor and manager of the Cortina Academy of Languages in New York, NY, USA.²⁰³ Between September 1919 and 1947 he was a high school teacher of Spanish and Italian in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA.²¹⁰ Llegó a ser catedrático. Antonio was educated at Columbia University and received a Master of Arts on 23 February 1921 in New York, NY, USA.²¹¹

He lived in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA between 1921 and 1952.^131,206,212 Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO de Signes writes "Our first home was at 321 Market Street, on the second floor, over a store. From there we moved to 307 Park Avenue, also over a store, then to a house I like best of all the houses in which I've ever lived: 315 Park Avenue. . . Our next two homes were on 22nd Street, across from School 24 [per Jo and Dee LAGOS BESTEIRO the 22nd St. house nos. were 922, then 924; 922 E. 22nd Street was the residence shown on the 1930 census, where he paid $55 per month rent.] . . . Then we finally were able to purchase a house at 129 Lenox Avenue."

He was naturalized on 18 June 1925 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA.²¹³ He was living at 307 Park Avenue at the time. Antonio got his first car and his driver's license about 1933 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA.²¹⁴ Family story: Shortly after getting his driver's license, he bought a brand new 1933 Chevy (for about $600). Not long thereafter, he was in an accident. "A little bit of damage", he said. His son Manny commented, however, that the only thing left working was the horn.

He visited Cuba after his brother Manuel shot himself in a failed suicide attempt between August 1934 and September 1934 in Havana, Cuba.¹³¹ When he left on this particular voyage, his children remember that the band was playing "For all you know, we may never meet again." Scheduled to arrive September 8 on the Morro Castle, he moved his trip up a few days. The Morro Castle -- on his origiinally scheduled voyage -- caught fire off the shore of Asbury Park, and 134 people were killed. (Antonio's report on the reason for Manuel's misfortune: "She looked like Betty Boop.")

He registered for the draft in 1942 in Passaic County, NJ, USA.²¹⁵ (This apparently was required for all men regardless of age.)

Antonio retired in 1947 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA.¹⁹⁴ He spent several weeks being treated for lung cancer between 8 July 1952 and 20 September 1952 in London, Ontario, Canada.^216,217 He was treated with cobalt therapy, which was a cutting edge technology at the time. When he returned home, the cancer seemed to have been cured, but it returned weeks later. He died on 15 November 1952 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA. He was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer. I (Emil SIGNES) remember him, in the Fall of 1952, after his hospital visit, smoking using a cigarette holder for the first time (as if this were going to be helpful).

Antonio was buried on 18 November 1952 in Paterson, Passaic, NJ, USA. Holy Sepulcher Cemetery.

Dolores BALL (Carr) in 1992: "[His] character kept him in a position of esteem with everyone who knew him and whose caring keeps him warmly in the hearts of those of us fortunate enough to remember him."

Josefa (Pepita) [Maina] BESTEIRO GRACIANI-89 and Antonio [Papa] LAGOS TOLEDO-88 had the following children:

+129	i.	Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO-8.
+130	ii.	Manuel (Manny) LAGOS BESTEIRO-90.
+131	iii.	Victorina (Vicky) LAGOS BESTEIRO-91.
132	iv.	Dolores LAGOS ** was born on 31 July 1913 in New York, NY, USA. She died on 18 January 1915 in New York, NY, USA.182,206 Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO (Signes): "Lolita died of whooping cough. Fortunately Aunt Betty (Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI) was staying with us at the time, which made it possible for Maina to stay with us children while she accompanied Papa to each of the funerals [of Dolores and her brother Antonio, less than 3 weeks apart]." Nicknamed Lolita.
133	v.	Antonio LAGOS ** was born on 31 October 1914 in New York, NY, USA. He died on 30 December 1914 in New York, NY, USA.182,206 Per Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO de Signes, died of an infection in his navel which may have been caused by a coin the midwife put over it to flatten it. "Fortunately Aunt Betty (Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI) was staying with us at the time, which made it possible for Maina to stay with us children while she accompanied Papa to each of the funerals [of Antonio and his sister Dolores, less than 3 weeks apart]."
+134	vi.	Dolores (Lolita, D, DD, Gee) LAGOS BESTEIRO-94.
+135	vii.	Carlos Antonio (Charlie) LAGOS-95.
+136	viii.	Josephine (Jo, Jo Jo, Piti) LAGOS-96.