BARBARA (enslaved in Alejandro Lerena's household, San Jose 1846)

SHE WAS NOT A WIFE AND SHE WAS NOT A LERENA. SHE WAS AN ENSLAVED WOMAN, and this archive published her as somebody's spouse for a few hours on 12 October 2026. The index of her son's burial lists 'Alejandro Lerena' as father and 'Barbara Lerena' as mother, and on that reading this register entered a Lerena-married-a-Lerena couple. THE PLATE SAYS OTHERWISE: 'En esta Parroquia de S.n Jose a VEINTE Y OCHO DE ABRIL de mil ochocientos CUARENTA Y SEIS, yo D.n FRAN.CO CASTELLO cura vic.o int.o di sepultura en el ANGELORIO al cadaver de CARMELO ANSELMO, HIJO NATURAL DE BARBARA, ESCLAVA DE D.N ALEJANDRO LERENA, murio ayer de enfermedad, de edad de SIETE DIAS, y se le hizo oficio rezado, de que certifico.' 'ESCLAVA DE D.N ALEJANDRO LERENA' - THE INDEXER TURNED THAT INTO A MARRIAGE, giving her the surname of the man who held her. She is named here as the act names her: BARBARA, with no surname, because the act gives her none and this archive will not lend her one. HER SON WAS CALLED CARMELO ANSELMO AND HE LIVED SEVEN DAYS. He is entered as 'hijo natural', which is what the act says; no father is named on it. THE FIFTH PERSON THIS FAMILY IS KNOWN TO HAVE HELD IN SLAVERY. The others are JUANA, ANTONIO, JOSE and TERESA, in Sancho Llerena's household at Canelones in 1812, with Juana's daughter MARIA MERCEDES born into it. THIS ONE IS THIRTY-FOUR YEARS LATER AND IN A DIFFERENT HOUSEHOLD. ON THE DATE, THIS ARCHIVE STATES ONLY WHAT IT KNOWS: the act says 'esclava' in April 1846. Uruguay's abolition came in stages during the Guerra Grande, and WHICH DECREE APPLIED AT SAN JOSE IN APRIL 1846 IS NOT ESTABLISHED HERE. That is a question for the next session and it is not answered by this act. AND HER OWN BAPTISMAL ACT WAS FOUND THREE DAYS EARLIER IN THE BOOK, 12 October 2026 - the SON'S baptism of 25 April 1846, which says two things the burial does not. 'bautice solemnemente a Car[melo] Anselmo, que nacio el VEINTIUNO del mismo, hijo natural de BARBARA LERENA, NATURAL DE ESTA VILLA, ESCLAVA DE DON ALEJANDRO LERENA : fueron Padrinos Jose Carreras y Petronila Escobar.' SO THE ACT ITSELF WRITES HER AS BARBARA LERENA. This row says she was not a Lerena, and as to family that stands - but the priest gave her the surname of the man who held her, in writing, and that is the fact to record rather than tidy away. And she was born at San Jose de Mayo - 'natural de esta Villa' - which this row had blank.