The Marchese Family, New Year 1939, Lares, Puerto Rico
Left to right : Fifa , Pablo , Sara , Laura , Grandma Maria, Celia , Grandpa Enrique (son of Paolo Marchese Schettini), Carmen Ana , Pedro.
Sitting left to right. : Lydia , Rosa , Pedro Enrique , Pirula , Marita.

BARNES
Juan Barnés Illas (1800-1851), born in Mataró, Cantalunya, businessman, arrived in Ponce, PR from Venezuela in 1825, with his Venezuelan wife Ana María Vallenilla. This couple had three children: Juan, Ana Inés, and Francisco; Francisco was the only one in having male children. Francisco marriedAntonia Plaja Acosta and had eleven children: Ysabel, Francisco, Inés, Antonia, Sebastián, Ventura, Carmen, Juan, Ana María, Rafael and María Mercedes. Practically all those who carry the Barnés surname in Puerto Rico are descended from the 11 children of Francisco and Antonia. Also, some slaves took the surname as their own.
MARCHESE
Paolo Marchese Schettini (1840-1917) arrived in San Juan, PR, from Rivello, (Naples), Southern Italy. A graduate from the medical school at the University of Naples, he received his revalidation in PR in 1870. He married Ramona Quiñones Lajara, and settled in the town of Vega Baja, were he practiced his profession He was also able to acquire free land from the Spaniards, in order to grow sugar cane.This couple had five children: Herminio, Enrique, Adolfo, Carmelina, and Enriqueta. The three boys became pharmacists, and had male children, preserving the surname. In 1875 Paolo brought in from Naples his siblings Giovanni, 19 years old, to help him with the sugarcane harvesting, and Angelina, 8 years old, to help out with the household. It's very likely that Giovanni, or Juanito, as he became known, left descendents in Puerto Rico. Apparently sick, Paolo returned to Italy in 1878, where he died in 1917.

Curiously there's another Marchese branch in Lares that, as far as we can tell from our investigation, is not related to the Marchese in our family. The patriarch of this branch was Dimas Marchese, from Northern Italy. He married in Arecibo with Felícita Correa. They had a son, Francisco Marchese Correa (1856-1941). Francisco married Bartola Gandía and had a son, Rogelio Marchese Gandía (born 1876). Rogelio emigrated from Arecibo to Lares around 1894. He married Úrsula González Pérez, a Lares native. They had eight children: Carmen, Margarita, Rafael, Catalina, Francisco, Luis, Juan and Mariana.

There's no doubt in our minds that all Marcheses in Puerto Rico are descendents of Paolo Marchese Schettini or Dimas Marchese.
MAYORAL
This surname arrived in Puerto Rico through Venezuela and Colombia.
1. Juan Mayoral Garay (1769-1829). He arrived in Ponce with his children from Venezuela in 1821, during the South American revolution. He was a captain with the Spanish army. Born in Segovia, Spain, he was a widower. Him and his Venezuelan wife Rafaela Pérez had had three children: Petra, Carmen, and Juan. They didn't leave aany male descendents.. Nevertheless, Juan Mayoral Garay remarried another Venezuelan, Antonia J. Vetancourt, who joined him in Puerto Rico shortly after.. This couple had two children, José Joaquín and Juan José. Juan José didn't have children. José Joaquín married Ana Inés Barnés Vallenilla and had nine children: Carmen, Ana Inés, Manuel, Antonio, Mateo, Ramón, Juan, Rafael, and Joaquín. Most of those who carry the Mayoral surname in Puerto Rico are descendents of these.
2. José Antonio Mayoral Benítez (1798-1877) He arrived in Puerto Rico with his maternal Grandmother in 1818(?), settling in Mayagüez with an uncle at the service of the Spanish military. José Antonio was from Riohacha, Colombia, the son of a Spaniard in the Spanish army and a Colombian woman. As a lawyer, he settled in Aguadilla, PR, where he he served as regidor and mayor. He married Catalina del Valle, and had nine children: Ana Josefa, Rosario, Belén, José Concepción, Francisco, Josefa, Ricarda Felipa, Rosalía y José Antonio. Regretably the oldest two males died during an epidemic, and the youngest male had only a daugther. He had no male descendants, and this Mayoral surname was lost.
3. Slaves who took on the surname and their descendents still carry it. The most important branch was started with Juana Mayoral, one of José Antonio Mayoral's slaves. She had a daugther, Ambrosia (1839-1909). Ambrosia has a son, Arturo Mayoral (1857-1927). Arturo married Olivia Reinat (1868-1950) and had eleven children, three of them male. The names are: Arturo, Eladia, Rafael, Adolfo (a reknowned agronomer), Victoria, Julia, Eduarda, Tomasita, Lucila, Amparo, and María.