En la falda sur de la cordillera central yace el pueblo de Villalba. Rodeado de las montañas que lo forman, este pueblo esta lleno de historia. Existen varias teorías sobre su nombre, una de ellas dice que para aquellos tiempos una manera de designar terrenos en la región agrícola en el siglo XVII era la de identificarlas con nombre o apellidos de sus dueños y el apellido Villalba existió en el sur de Puerto Rico. Cuentan tan bien que en el siglo XIX la gente de Juana Díaz veía al amanecer en la región de Villalba y decían Villa del Alba por que siempre estaba rodeada de niebla y con el tiempo se fueron uniendo la dos palabras. Puede ser tambien que sea porque en España existen varios poblados llamados Villalba y es posible que para recordar dichos poblados, el Gobierno Español en Puerto Rico haya nombrado nuestra región con el nombre Villalba.
http://www.villalba.gobierno.pr/
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Fermin Dominguez Merlo married Juana Dominguez Amaral (born in 1886) and had 5 children: Angel (born in 1886), Juan Antonio, Herminio (born 1895), Rosa
Elvira (born December 1890), and a baby girl (name unknown, born June 1899) who died at around 40 days old.
On August 8, 1899 Puerto Rico was hit by the San Ciriaco Hurricane. This hurricane is considered one of the longest lasting hurricanes in history.
It began on August 3rd in the North Atlantic, hit Puerto Rico as a category 4 hurricane on August 8th, hit North Carolina as a category 3 on August 18th, and became an extratropical system on August 21st which continued through September 4th before dissipating. The hurricane killed 3,000 people in Puerto Rico, including
Fermin, Juana and their baby daughter.
Fermin, Juana and their 5 children were in a wooden shack with about 40 other people during the hurricane. Fermin decided to move the family to sturdier
shelter. He left Angel, Juan, and Rosa Elvira in the shack (telling them he’d be back for them) and took Juana, Hermino and the baby with him to what they
think was a cinder-block school not too far away. It is said that during their trek, what was possibly a mudslide buried Juana and the baby (who was in her
arms). Fermin is believed to have tried to rescue them but was also buried by the mudslide.
Rosa Elvira was raised by her aunt and uncle. Juan (who was 11 years old when his parents died) and his brother Angel grew up in the “streets”. Herminio is
believed to have been raised by either a teacher or his godparents.
The story continues that Herminio was swept away into the river. A black man was in the river, hanging onto a tree and pushing debris away so he won’t be
swept any further. At one point, he picked up what he first thought was debris but turned out to be a small boy. After the hurricane, Herminio is thought
to have been raised by either his godparents or a teacher.
It turns out that the Salto de Dona Juana (or Chorro de Dona Juana), a waterfall in Jayuya, was named after Juana Dominguez Amaral
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