Castedo family per Emilito

His full name was Antonio José María de la Santísima Trinidad. He was born in his parents' house on Calle de la Fuente.

In a 1950 letter to Antonio DÍAZ TOLEDO he notes that he left Periana when he was 5. His brother Francisco was born in Periana in November 1884, but no more family members births or deaths are recorded there except for the deaths of his father and mother, who apparently went home to die, in 1900 and 1903, respectively. There was a huge earthquake in Periana on Christmas Day 1884 (so significant King Alfonso XII visited the town); whether or not this had anything to do with their 1885 move to Madrid is unknown.

(Dates approximate.) According to the oral family lore, he attended seminary with the intention of becoming a priest; he later attended medical school. It is believed he had a patron, perhaps an uncle (José Ignacio MORENO NÚÑEZ, a cousin of Antonio's grandchildren, notes that is likely that Antonio's father Francisco was the beneficiary of the support of his granduncle Manuel LAGOS ZAPATA, the archpriest of Ronda). I (Emil Signes) as of 2008 have found no documentation of his studies while in Spain. There is, however, a picture of him smoking a cigarette while attending a cadaver. He had to leave medical school for financial reasons; details are unknown. His mother died in 1903 (his father had died in 1900 and his uncles Manuel and Antonio LAGOS MUÑOZ IN 1901); all of his siblings with the exception of Manuel were either dead or would be before the decade was out. (All died of tuberculosis.)

He received a clearance for travel purposes from the "Registro Central de penados y rebeldes" on 19 June 1905. We know from a letter by his sister Mercedes that he was in Havana in February 1906. (When he arrived in New York in 1912, it was indicated on the passenger manifest that he had been in New York City before, in 1905, and from this it seems he visited NYC on the way to Havana, as has been documented for his brother Manuel. There is, however, no equivalent documentation for an Antonio visit in 1905.)

Apartado 1292. This was the address at which the family lived when his daughter Carmen was born in October 1910 and baptized in March 1911. [Apt. # from letter written to Adolfo LAGOS MUÑOZ.]

After the birth of their daughter Carmen, Antonio and his wife and daughter returned to Spain so that Antonio could resume the medical studies he had left earlier in the decade (per family oral history; no documentation has been found. Because of his wife's ill health (she was suffering from phlebitis), doctors recommended a return to warmer climate. (It is not clear if financial reasons also played a part.) While in Spain, the couple's second child, Manuel, was born, and Victorina was born after their return to Cuba.

Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO (Signes) writes "Our first home, I heard, was on 14th Street near Jane and Union Square. . . Our last home in that city was at 526 East 83rd Street. This was near the East River where there was a park where we went roller skating. . . Uncle Mannie said the house had been torn down to build a highway . . . " [It was not; the house was still there in 2005.] On 28 April 1916, their address was recorded as 344 E. 85th Street. Carmen Lagos remembers this to be the house where the two babies died. From passenger lists, the following addresses were recorded. On 18 September 1912, when Josefa arrived with Carmen, Manuel and Victorina: 290 W. 12th Street. On 2 April 1917, when Josefa arrived with Carmen, Victorina and Lola, they were headed to 12 E. 46th Street; this, however, was Antonio's work address. On August 15, 1917, when Joaquina LORENZO GÓMEZ arrived, and on 24 April 1920 when Victorina and children visited, the address was 526 E. 83rd Street.

Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO de Signes writes "Our first home was at 321 Market Street, on the second floor, over a store. From there we moved to 307 Park Avenue, also over a store, then to a house I like best of all the houses in which I've ever lived: 315 Park Avenue. . . Our next two homes were on 22nd Street, across from School 24 [per Jo and Dee LAGOS BESTEIRO the 22nd St. house nos. were 922, then 924; 922 E. 22nd Street was the residence shown on the 1930 census, where he paid $55 per month rent.] . . . Then we finally were able to purchase a house at 129 Lenox Avenue."

Family story: Shortly after getting his driver's license, he bought a brand new 1933 Chevy (for about $600). Not long thereafter, he was in an accident. "A little bit of damage", he said. His son Manny commented, however, that the only thing left working was the horn.

When he left on this particular voyage, his children remember that the band was playing "For all you know, we may never meet again." Scheduled to arrive September 8 on the Morro Castle, he moved his trip up a few days. The Morro Castle -- on his origiinally scheduled voyage -- caught fire off the shore of Asbury Park, and 134 people were killed. (Antonio's report on the reason for Manuel's misfortune: "She looked like Betty Boop.")

(This apparently was required for all men regardless of age.)

He was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer. I (Emil SIGNES) remember him, in the Fall of 1952, after his hospital visit, smoking using a cigarette holder for the first time (as if this were going to be helpful).