Standing from left to right: Miguel, Pepita Montalvo (de Miguel), Ramón, Felicia (de Arostegui), Pablo, Mariana de la Torre (de Ramón), Claudio, Jose Maria Arellanos. Seated: Julia (de Batista) Victor, D. Antonio, Paulette (de Pablo) Ma. Antonia (de Arellano) Gonzalo Arostegui, Maria Teresa Freyre (de Claudio) Melchor Batista. 1902. According to family lore, the oval, 1876 portrait of Micaela Montalvo (see below) hangs on the wall.Micaela Montalvo, 1876reproduced from Vertigo del Tiempo
Antonio de Mendoza died in 1906 and was buried in the family pantheon, Colon Cemetery, Havana, with his wife, Maria Mercedes Pedroso y Montalvo.
Mendoza, Batista, and Arostegui family members discussed In Place following the written sources of Julia Batista G. de Mendoza and Matilde Batista as well as Maria Teresa (Nena) Arostegui.Painting by Melchor’s brother, Carlos Batista y Varona, commemorating Julia and Melchor’s honeymoon in Vento, 1883.Julia Mendoza de Batista’s fan with portrait of one of her children possibly also painted by Carlos Batista. Chea commissioned him to paint a mural in her favored neighborhood church, San Felipe Nero.Batista Mendoza family: unidentified woman stands in background, closest to the door. Julio (1884), Matilde (1886), Adolfina (1887), Jorge (1889), Clemencia (1890), Manuel (1891), Maria Antonia (1892), Ernesto (1893), Melchor (1895), Victor (1897), Agustin (1899), Eugenio (1900), Consuelo (1902). This photo taken before the birth of the last child Enriqueta (1903).Batista G. de Mendoza family.Some adult and adolescent Batista’s ca. 1917: Eugenio, Consuelo, Enriqueta, Victor, Melchor, Agustin, Jorge and mother, Julia. The head of the family ,Melchor, suffered from mielitis and depression, a fact that made the children dependent on wealthier G. de Mendoza uncles for their higher education. The household moved from one rented house to another in El Vedado according to the number of family members at home. Melchor spent long periods in Camaguey where he had inherited property.Jorge Batista, perhaps at Cornell University from which he graduated in 1914 as a Civil Engineer.Matilde Batista in the years before taking the veil in 1912 . A teacher, she was posted throughout Latin America when not in Havana.Melchor and Julia in center flanked by Maria Antonia and Ernesto’s family. Victor and Julio stand behind . Enriqueta and Consuelo in rocking chairs extreme left and right. The Batista – G. de Mendoza family was reduced by the 1905 death of Manuel from appendicitis. The eldest, Julio, joined the Mendoza law firm in 1907, then run by his uncles Claudio and Ramon. The two eldest girls, Matilde and Adolfina, were among the first to leave home for the Sagrado Corazon convent. Adolfina rose to become director of the Tejadillo branch of the school while Matilde taught in various Latin American countries. The boys in the middle of the birth order, Victor and “Melchorito”, after graduating from Lawrenceville were sent by their uncles to to Fordham University and Amherst Agricultural College respectively as preparation for joining the web of family enterprises. Maria Antonia and Clemencia married and became mothers. Ernesto and Eugenio became architects in the midst of a grand re-visioning of Havana’s built environment. Agustin practiced law in the Mendoza firm until he turned to managing his wealthy in-law’s assets. Consuelo, the youngest, graduated from Sagrado Corazon in 1921. She and Enriqueta remained at home until Julia’s death in 1934. Later, Consuelo became private secretary to her brother Agustin and then to Washington-based Cuban diplomats eventually becoming the first woman to be registered as a diplomat in the American capital.First generation Batista -G. de Mendoza’s as listed in an early version of the family book.Matilde Batista was told by Don Antonio, “…When we saw how steadily he managed the plantation despite the fact that he did not like the countryside, we promised him that above his salary as a manager he would also receive one third of the profits from each sugar harvest.” (See Matilde Batista, Recuerdos)Miguel and his son Antonio (right) spearheaded the transformation of the family’s sugar mills. Photo: G. de Mendoza family bookRamon and Pablo G. de Mendoza ca. 1925. Along with Miguel and Antonio they understood the importance of American partnerships to secure markets and invest in the latest technology for their mills. They and their American-educated sons founded their own bank and diversified their investments from the sugar industry into copper, real estate and banking. Photo: G. de Mendoza family book. See Chapter 12.Jorge Batista, like his brothers, chose a career that would make him employable in the family enterprises: sugar, law and real estate. Along with Melchor and Victor he served in the 1920’s as an administrator and engineer at Jaronu, a plantation that served Cunagua.The move to homes in El Vedado during the Republican era reflects the family’s investments in real estate, banking and hotels as Havana spread past its borders and became an international recreational capital. Nena Arostegui recounts how her generation bonded over their love of sports at the Vedado Tennis Club and the Havana Yacht Club and enjoyed the new horizons as the western suburbs of Marianao and Miramar were opened up by such developers as her uncle Ramon.
Newsletter of the Havana Yacht Club reproduced in Fechas de Mi Vida, featuring Julio, Agustin and Eugenio as competitive rowers.
In 1933 Fulgencio Batista took control of the army and carried out a coup d’etat. His troops laid siege to the Hotel Nacional where officers loyal to the deposed President Machado had taken refuge. Nena’s husband, Arturo Bolivar, was among the officers. Victor G. de Mendoza, treasurer of the Red Cross was brought in to negotiate the transfer of the officers to prison. See Chapter 15Arostegui Mendoza family from Vertigo del TiempoFelicia and Gonzalo center, Nena seated at Gonzalo’s right with Arturo Bolivar standing behind to her right. To support her young family after Arturo was imprisoned Nena joined the labor force. The political and economic upheavals of the twenties and early thirties hit hard a class accustomed to security. With few marketable skills wives struggled to maintain their family’s place in society. Through the life experiences and thoughts of Nena Arostegui and Celia Rodriguez, In Place exposes how the 1933 revolution and the years of depression penetrated deep into the emotional lives of middle class Cuban families. See Chapter s 14, 15, 16
Newsletter of the Havana Yacht Club reproduced in Fechas de Mi Vida, featuring Julio, Agustin and Eugenio as competitive rowers.
