CARMELO ANSELMO (son of Barbara, enslaved; d. 27 April 1846)

BORN 20 APRIL 1846, DIED ON THE 27TH, BURIED ON THE 28TH AT SAN JOSE DE MAYO - SEVEN DAYS. '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.' HE IS NOT A LERENA AND THIS ROW CALLED HIM ONE UNTIL THE PLATE WAS READ. The act makes him 'HIJO NATURAL DE BARBARA, ESCLAVA DE D.N ALEJANDRO LERENA' - his mother's child, with no father named and no surname given. He is entered under the names the priest wrote, as MARIA MERCEDES, daughter of Juana, was entered for the household of 1812. 'ANGELORIO' IS THE CHILDREN'S BURIAL GROUND, and the priest used the same word for the three other infants on the same opening. HIS IS THE SHORTEST LIFE IN THIS REGISTER and it is recorded for the reason every other is: he existed, and a parish book that holds his birth, his death and his burial holds more of him than this archive holds of men it has chased for weeks. HIS BAPTISM WAS FOUND ON 12 OCTOBER 2026 AND MOVES HIS BIRTH BY A DAY. The act of 25 April 1846 reads 'que nacio el VEINTIUNO del mismo' - born 21 April, not 20 - which also squares with the burial's 'de edad de siete dias' on the 28th. His godparents were JOSE CARRERAS and PETRONILA ESCOBAR, who stood for the son of an enslaved woman four days before he died. So the whole of his life is now on two facing acts: baptised on the 25th, dead on the 27th, buried on the 28th.