My Father- Omar Cuan- His Family Lineage

Members of my Father’s Family Tree from His Father’s Side:

Antonio Cuan-  My father’s dad.

Santiago Cuan– My father’s uncle.

Rosa Cuan– My father’s uncle’s wife.

Tony & Johnny Cuan– My father’s half-brothers.

Rolando Lam– Cousin of my father

Facts About My Father:

• Born in July 3, 1929
• Raised in the city of Carlos Roja in Cuba as a young boy. This is a country town located in the province of Matanzas.  Note: Carlos Rojas at one point in history used to be called “Cimarrones” because the black peasants in Cuba used to flee to the mountains to escape slave labor from the Spanish.
• Growing up, my father rode horse (though not a lot), he liked to climb trees, and capture birds with cage traps.
• His mother died of tuberculosis when he was 10 years old. From then on he was raised by his mother’s sister Teresa (also known as “Titi”)
• When he was 14, he went with Santiago and another uncle named Ernesto to go live in Havana.
• Santiago put my father in a society for him to learn to speak and write the Chinese language. My father, however, did not follow through so he lost the opportunity. Chinese societies are formed by their last names and sometimes more than one name may be combined.
• He met my mother- then named Adelaida Falcon- in Havana by the time he was 23-24.

My Chinese Lineage:

• My father’s ancestors came to Cuba from the province of Canton in China either in the late 1800s or at the turn of the 20^th century. They were merchants who opened up convenience stores. They came from a town called “Qaolan” (not sure of the spelling.)
• Cuban history notes that Chinese came to the island as indentured servants. My father, however, says that his ancestors came either in the late 1800s or early 1900s to make a living. For more info on Cuban Chinese please see http://web.gc.cuny.edu/bildnercenter/publications/documents/Dabney13.pdf
• My father’s Chinese name is Cuan-Ben.
• My father cousin Rolando Lam is somehow related to famous Chinese Cuban painter Wilfredo Lam.
• Chinese words that my father taught me. The spelling may be incorrect but I write it down just as close to as I heard it pronounced:

ü  Father= “acheeuo”

ü  Rice= “fan”

ü  To go eat= “shifan”

ü  Sleep= “fankao”

• Chinese count their uncles by number and give higher rank to the elders. For example, “Uncle #1”, “Uncle #2”, etc. The way to say 1 to 5 in Cantonese is: 1= ja, 2=ji, 3=sam, 4=sei,5=mmm
• Cuans that came to America spell the name with a K, those that went to Central America with a Q, those that went to Cuba with a C. Check out what my last name looks like: Cuan In Chinese Characters

Members of my Father’s Family Tree from His Mother’s Side:

Marcela Velazquez- My father’s mother

Jesus Velazquez– Nephew of my father

Jose Velazquez-  Brother of Marcela

Juliana Garcia– ? (Need to verify exact information.)She was a daughter of black and Chinese parents. I think she is from my father’s mother’s side but not sure.

Don Pedro Velazquez– ancestor

Interesting fact about Pedro Velazquez:

• This ancestor from my mother’s side came from Asturias, Spain to Cuba in the 1800s.
• He was sent by the War Dept. of Spain as part of the occupation force. He settled in Carlos Rojas in the province of Matanzas.
• Left behind several artifacts including weapons, letters, etc. Unfortunately, all these items have either been lost, confiscated, etc. (From my understanding it was due to Castro’s take-over in 1959 but I cannot verify this for sure.)
• My brother and historian Omar Cuan and my father’s nephew Jesus Velazquez can verify more information on this gentleman.