Busuá

Las Charcas

Marriage of Román (Busuá) Germán Tavarez using both surnames Busuá and Germán. In his baptism, Román did not have a middle name implying this was showing the transition of the surname.

List of voters with the surname Germán in Las Charcas in 1938. Note that Baltazar died that year which is why he was crossed out of the list.

Origins

The Busuá are one of the families connected to enslaved people in Las Charcas frequently associating with the Rodríguez. The word Busua is mentioned by Carlos Larrazabal Blanco.

"BUSUA/BUSUÁ. Bola grande en el <juego de bolas> (canicas). BUSUM, <talisman> en lenguas asanti y abron."

"Big ball in the game of canicas (marbles). It comes from the Ashanti and Abron language in which Busum is a talisman."

The comparison between Busua and Busum is made connecting the Ashanti and Abron ethnicities of Ghana/Eastern Côte d'Ivoire. The use of Busua as a geographical location only exist in in the southwest of Ghana as a small costal village of primarily Akan people. This points to a connection between the modern nation of Ghana and this family descended from enslaved people in Las Charcas, Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Branches in Santiago

The surname of Busuá may have survived as a surname of African origin due to its similarity to a French stylized name. The addition of the accent at the end of the name may indicate a French/Haitian influence allowing it to survive.

In Las Charcas there are two main branches of descendants with the surname Busuá. The branch that I descend from comes from Francisca Busuá who married Manuel Rodríguez having two sons, Serafín and Zenón Rodríguez Busuá. Zenón married Felipa Busuá connecting this branch again to the family. The paternal lineage of the Rodríguez family is African with the haplogroup E-M4451 (E-CTS9106 > E-FT274363).

The primary branch of the family descends from Florimon Busuá, a native of Santiago and son of Juan and Rosalía. He was married to María Eugenia Hernán (also used López) and Isabel Mata. Having three children with Eugenia, Baltazar de los Reyes, Teresa de Jesús, and Miguel Busuá Germán.

Miguel Busuá Germán would marry a relative of the Busuá family, María Felicita Rodríguez Fabián. Her father Florencio Rodríguez Busuá was the son of Zenón Rodríguez and Felipa Busuá. Zenón was the son of Manuel Rodríguez, likely the same Manuel Rodríguez was was married to Francisca Busuá. Unfortunately, the couple did not receive a marital dispensation so we do not know for sure how the unconnected branches of the family are related.

The following is complete speculation: Miguel was likely from the same generation of Felicita's father, Florencio Rodríguez. The father of Miguel, Florimon Busuá, was in his sixties when Miguel was born. Florencio's father was in his fifties when Felicita was born. Felipa and Florimon Busuá were likley from the same generation and may have been siblings. Francisca Busuá, the wife of Manuel Rodríguez and paternal grandmother of Florencio, may have been the aunt of Felipa and Florimon.

A clue to a possible Haitian connection is in the name Florimon. A Haitian general who resided in San Francisco de Macorís had the same name.

The family would eventually change their surname from Busuá to Germán through the lineage of Baltazar de los Reyes Busuá Eman. As the only individual who's lineage carried the surname, after this change the surname became extinct in the Dominican Republic.

Death of Serafín Rodríguez Busuá, son of Manuel Rodríguez and Francisca Busuá. (October 7, 1904)

José Dolores Rodríguez Tineo (center) was the son of Fruto Rodríguez Pacheco and grandson of Serafín Rodríguez Busuá. According to descendants of his family, José Dolores claimed to be the grandson of a Haitian man who taught him voodoo. He was able to cast an incantation that allowed him to disarm two people dueling with pistols. He passed this tradition on to his son Monsito, but it is most likely that the tradition is dead. The family claims he spoke in a Haitian accent as he cut his words short. As his mother, Cecilia Tineo, was described as white in her death, it is unlikely that his maternal side was the side where his African roots originated from. A paternal Y-DNA haplogroup test of a grandson of José Dolores gave the African haplogroup E-M4451 pointing even more credence in the direction of his paternal line.

Death of Florimon Busuá, son of Juan and Rosalía. (September 10, 1877)

Marriage of Baltazar Busuá Eman, son of Florimon Busuá and María Eugenia Eman, with Catalina  (Rodríguez) Tavares. (November 20, 1874)

Descendants of Francisca Busuá

Descendants of Florimon Busuá

Sources

Larrazabal Blanco, Carlos - Antologia, pg. 22

Blog of Gerald Lopez Castellano

1938 Voter List

Civil and Catholic records of Santiago