Chapter Minutes Collection

CHAPTER MINUTES COLLECTION This collection is the oldest of our institution and is made up of the Chapter Books that contain the minutes of the sessions of the Cabildo or City Council, being able to assure that they are a reliable mirror of all the events that occurred in the town. Bound in leather, they add up to a total of 295 books. Even the smallest details of the questions dealt with by the Municipal Chapter were recorded by the scribes of the time. These scribes came to occupy a very important place in the city; through their actions they guaranteed the recognition and legality of the contents of official documents. In the first volume of this collection it is possible to specify everything related to the ceremonies and royal dispositions for the foundation of the city, highlighting a unique document, due to its special value, such as the Plan of the City, with the layout of streets, the exact place where the Plaza de Armas, the Church and the 132 plots of land would be built to be given to the first Canarian settlers. At the end of each volume of this unique collection and after the last session of the year, there are a series of annexed documents, which contain valuable information related to the matters that were dealt with in the Cabildo. These documents are made up of applications for land grants and jobs by neighbors; claims for high municipal taxes; requests for authorisation for commercial establishments, etc. A unique book, known as the Calf Book, contains a detailed summary of the most important sessions of the Town Hall. In this book there are data related to the colonial coat of arms of the city, including a color drawing of it, very striking. The Cabildo or City Council of Yumurino was founded on December 8, 1694. The Governor and Captain General of the Island of Cuba and the City of Havana, Mr. Master of the Field Don Severino de Manzaneda y Salinas, was present, and the election of Ministers was determined, to constitute the City Council. All the neighbors were ordered to appear and Captain Diego de León y Yada was elected as Ordinary Mayors, of First Vote; of Second Vote, Miguel Alfonso de Armas. Domingo Alfonso Ruíz, Diego García Oramas and Salvador Pérez Ramellón were elected as Aldermen, and Pedro Fernández Guerrero as Attorney General. The first chapter volume contains the minutes of the session of constitution of this colonial governmental institution. In addition, the 88 ordinances of Dr. Alonso de Cáseres y Ovando, Judge of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, Visitor and Judge of Residence, appear in this volume. These ordinances dictated the Laws of the Indies, by which the sessions of the cabildo were to be governed. First, it was ordered that the meetings be held on Fridays of each week, at eight o'clock on the day to be discussed, without the need for its members to be summoned in advance. The Governor or any of the Mayors of the Town and at least three Aldermen had to be present. For the determination of serious cases, the Aldermen, Mayors and the Governor had to be called. With these initial arguments, we wanted to emphasize the importance of these original documents, which describe in detail in their first volume the activities developed in the initial days of the emergence of our city. In 1690, Charles II, King of Spain, ordered by Royal Decree of September 25, the establishment of a town in the old Bay of Guanima. But it was not until October 12, 1693, that the City of San Carlos and San Severino de Matanzas was founded, a date that was specified by the Historian, Professor Raúl Ruíz, thanks to the consultation of this collection (Annex 1). For this purpose, Canarian families were embarked to constitute the initial nucleus of the population. The nominal list of these families and the decision to grant them arable land for settlement are set out in detail in the original document. (Annex 2). In the documents that we have compiled and that appear in the appendices, the exact location of the plots that were raffled among the first neighbors and the ceremonies carried out by the mayors for the land possessions are described, taking the hand of the person to whom this favor was granted and making him cut a piece of grass with a machete as a sign of possession and in the presence of witnesses. This draw was held on October 22 of the same year 1693, when the heads of the family gathered at the touch of a war box and in the presence of the notary, Juan de Uribe. Thus, the local land was distributed in 10 plots for each settler. These plots were taxed in the census, which yielded five pesos a year, for each urban farm. The Canarian families, the first settlers of Matanzas, dedicated themselves to their own activities for subsistence and the harvest of tobacco, a product that was highly valued in Europe at the time and whose cultivation was also carried out with great vigour, in areas of the western part of the island. Each head of family who arrived in Matanzas, in search of better living conditions, received the grace of being exempt from paying public taxes for taxes, charges or other duties that were levied on their crops, breeding and manufactures. It was also ordered that those who preferred to work as day laborers in the construction of Castillo San Severino, should be employed with a daily wage equal to that received by the others who worked on the work. The Canarians began the construction of their houses, made of low props, guano and mud, on the beach next to the mouth of the San Juan River, which offered facilities for landings of supplies and provisions. These founding families gladly carried the commitment to settle in our lands and as their men and women were strong in body and spirit, they were pleased to be linked to the region between rivers, where their crops could prosper. They transmitted to their descendants that love for the land, creating a legitimate feeling and sensitivity for the small homeland. As the Chapter Acts have been affected by the inexorable passage of time, and with the aim of preserving information material of such high historical value, we have been indexing them, a very meticulous and delicate task. These indexes are a quick way to access the information of this special collection and constitute a direct reference guide for users who do not have to manipulate the originals in the search for their data. Each index (onomastic, thematic and geographical) has the purpose of saving considerable time and intellectual effort and will be a starting point for the improvement of the services provided in our provincial archive, referring the researcher, in each case, to the volume, date of the minutes and exact folio number, where he can find the required information. For all of the above, we can affirm that the Chapter Acts Fund is a source of inexhaustible knowledge for the study of the social activity of the colonial period in Matanzas. In its originals, the concept of human dignity was evident, bequeathed by the first settlers of the Canary Islands, who arrived on our shores at the end of the seventeenth century, and was maintained from generation to generation. These island families gave prestige to our land with their work and honesty and their descendants have remained with fixed residence in Matanzas, being worthy heirs of their parents.