Juan Cortada y Quintana

Juan Cortada y Quintana (c. 1820 – 22 August 1889La Estancia Descalabrado y los Cortada. Melvin Rivera Velázquez. SantaIsabelPR. Retrieved 22 January 2012.) was a Puerto Rican politician, businessman, and landowner. He served as Mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, from 27 September 1872 to 4 February 1874.Eduardo Neumann Gandia. Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913. p.278.

Early years Cortada y Quintana was the son of Juan Cortada (c.1794-1865), born in Catalunya, Spain, and Monserrate Quintana. He had two brothers, Ramon and Manuel.D. Oquendo-Rodriguez. Pablo L. Crespo-Vargas, editor. A Orillas del Mar Caribe: Boceto historico de la Playa de Ponce - Desde sus primeros habitantes hasta principios del siglo XX. First edition. June, 2017. Editorial Akelarre. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones del Sur Oeste de Puerto Rico (CEISCO). Lajas, Puerto Rico. Page 51.

Hacendado Cortada and his brother Ramón were hacendados, landowners who owned several sugarcane haciendas like Hacienda Descalabrado (then known as Central Cortada), Las Mercedes, La Palmarito, and La Mallorquina, among others. They were located in the region between Ponce and Santa Isabel.Central Cortada: El fin de la producción azucarera. Melvin Rivera Velázquez. SantaIsabelPR. 20 February 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2012.

The workers in such estates were almost always slaves. Thus it is likely that Cortada owned slaves in working his sugarcane farm.Terratenientes Extranjeros. Melvin Rivera Velazaquez. SantaIsabelPR. 27 January 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2012. Some sources confirm that Cortada in fact owned 28 slaves in 1872, one year before the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico.Propietarios de esclavos en los barrios rurales de Ponce. Retrieved 28 November 2009.

Since 1868, Cortada's estate had irrigation problems, which led Cortada to ask for permits to use the waters of the Río Descalabrado river to irrigate his land. After some financial troubles, and with the death of his first wife, Cortada ceded the ownership of the Hacienda Descalabrado to his two young sons, Juan and Eduardo. However, this change wasn't registered. Cortada also had debts for the mortgage of the land where Hacienda Palmarito was established. In 1874, he had to sell Hacienda Descalabrado, but he recovered it in 1884.La Estancia Descalabrado y los Cortada. Melvin Rivera Velázquez. SantaIsabelPR. 31 March 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2012.

Lender Cortada, together with his brother Ramón, was also in the money-lending business, lending capital to 11 other hacendados in the area. By 1870, Cortada owned five haciendas in the municipality of Ponce.Terratenientes Extranjeros. Melvin Rivera Velázquez. SantaIsabelPR. Retrieved 22 January 2012.

Mayoral term Cortada served as Mayor of Ponce from 27 September 1872 to 4 February 1874.Eduardo Neumann Gandia. Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. 1913. p.278. This was the time when the Republica Española (Spanish Republic) was declared (11 February 1873) and also the time when slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico (22 March 1873). Cortada's municipal assembly consisted of: Rafael Pujals, Federico Capo, Jose Antonio Renta, Celedonio Besosa, Olimpio Otero, Lazaro Martinez, Marcos Fugurull (padre/father), Juan Jose Mayoral, Guillermo Oppenheimer, and Gustavo Cabrera.El libro de Puerto Rico: Capitulo XIX: Ciudades Principales: Ponce: Breve Sipnosis Historica, by Juan Braschi. E. Fernandez Garcia, editor. Francis W. Hoadley & Eugenio Astol, co-editors. San Juan, Puerto Rico: El Libro Azul Publishing Company. 1923. Page 1063. Retrieved 20 July 2012.

Personal life Juan Cortada y Quintana married three times. His first marriage was to Mercedes Tirado, with whom he procreated two sons: Juan (born 1864) and Eduardo. Mercedes died in 1871. Cortada's second marriage was to Vicenta Albizu, with whom he had two more children: Vicente and José Antonio. His third marriage was with Providencia Martorell. They had a son and a daughter: Joaquín and Dora Providencia.La Estancia Descalabrado y los Cortada. Melvin Rivera Velázquez. SantaIsabelPR. 31 March 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2012. Cortada y Quintana died on 22 August 1889.La Estancia Descalabrado y los Cortada. Melvin Rivera Velázquez. SantaIsabelPR. Retrieved 22 January 2012.

Legacy There is a street in a Ponce neighborhood, Urbanización Las Delicias, of Barrio Magueyes named after him.

Juan Cortada y Quintana

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