The Brother-in-law of Rafael Martinez Serrano was Julio Aguirre.  Rafael was the 8th child of Dr. Martinez and he was married to Julio’s sister Ernestina Aguirre (more details on Rafael in the section below).

Julio Caesar Aguirre was born in Guayaquil Ecuador on July 12, 1907.  His father was Jacinto Aguirre and his mother was Zoila Calderón De La Cuadra.   He was the youngest of six children. He came to the US for the first time ten years after the death of Dr. Martinez’ second wife Maria Teresa.   When he arrived in New York on the SS Santa Teresa  on October 10, 1930, he told the immigration official that he was coming “To Study”, that he planned to stay “Indefinitely” and that “Yes” he did plan to become a citizen of the US and that this was his first visit to the US.  He said that he had a cousin Luis Freile residing on 95 West 119th St. New York.

There is evidence that Julio worked on ships as crew in the period from 1930-1934.  He first shows up this way just five months after his initial arrival.  We know that this is the same Julio Aguirre because his cousin Louis Freile was on the ship as crew with him on that occasion.  It was a Grace Line ship …in fact it was the same ship he had been on when he had entered the country (“Santa Teresa”) …but this time he was now part of the crew rather than being a passenger.

Eight years later, on 10/27/38, there is a naturalization document (“Declaration of Intention”) for him showing him to be residing at 549 W 113th st NYC and that his occupation was “Clerical Worker”. At that time he was still single.

There is an entry for Julio in the 1940 census showing him to be 36yrs of age at that time and Single; living at 206 W 113th st, NYC; Born in Ecuador, with an occupation of “Interpreter” with an income of $1500; employed full time, approx 38hrs per week. Highest grade completed was 4th yr college.

The next public document uncovered for him is a draft card in the 1941-1942 time frame. For that card he gave his “cousin” Boni Philip Martinez as a person who would always know his address. He said he was residing at 308 E. 52nd street NY, NY. and that his Employer was “Butlers Brothers”, 860 Broadway NYC.

On September 28 1946 he married Edna Feier of Teaneck NJ, who was the daughter of Emil W. Feier and Johanna Betzler Feier. She was three years younger than he was, having been born in 1910.  At the time of their wedding Edna was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Bogota, NJ and their wedding took place in that church officiated by an Episcopal Priest.  Significantly, however, an earlier entry in the church’s registry for the couple has a footnote flagging Julio as “Not Episcopalian” (See hyperlink to the actual document below).  Just two weeks after their wedding, on October 12, 1946, there is a Pan Am Flight Manifest showing them returning from Havana into Miami. Perhaps this had been their honeymoon. Of course, that was back in the day when Havana was something of a cross between Honolulu and Las Vegas – a very popular resort destination. It shows them to have been living at 52 7th Ave. in Brooklyn.  And one year later another PanAm Flight Manifest shows them to be returning from a trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador.  This would have been an opportunity to introduce Edna to his large family in Ecuador.

Julio and Edna had two children, Peter Lawrence and Diane Kathleen.  Peter was born in 1951 and Diane was born in 1953.  Both children were adopted.  Frank Connolly recalls a conversation with Boni Martinez in which the fact of Peter’s having been adopted came up.  Also looking at the Baptismal Records for both children we see that they were both born in Pottsville PA and that their baptisms took place near Julio and Edna’s residence in New Jersey months after their births (Peter’s was 2.5 months later and Diane’s was 4 months later).   The fact that they were both born hours away in the same town of Pottsville PA would lead us to conclude that they must have been biological siblings but, of course, we can’t be sure.   It is significant to note that Peter and Diane were both baptized in the same Episcopal Church of the Ascension that Julio and Edna were married in.  John Connolly has a distinct memory of a conversation he had with Julio’s son during which Peter told him in no uncertain terms “that he (and so, I assumed, his family) was not Catholic”.  John thinks that he was around 13 yrs of age at the time (Peter was 5 years younger than John).

Julio and Edna’s ties to the descendants of Maria Teresa

Julio Aguirre’s close ties to the descendants of Dr. Martinez are due to his sister’s marriage. His older sister was named Ernestina and she was married to Dr Martinez’ son Rafael.

Rafael Martinez Serrano was Dr. Martinez’ 8th child. He was born in  1890 or 1889. This means that he was a two year old boy at the time of his mother’s death …and about six years old at the time that Dr. Martinez married his 2nd wife Maria Teresa Del Pozo. As a six year old little boy whose mother had died recently, Rafael probably developed close ties to Maria Teresa who was technically his stepmother. We know for sure that the same cannot be said for his next older sibling Miguel (#7) who was eight years old at the time of Dr. Martinez’ 2nd marriage – we know for sure that that relationship was very antagonistic. But based on all the information currently available to us it seems reasonable to assume that Rafael had close ties to Maria Teresa; a six-year-old little boy needs a stepmother. Julio Aguirre had an older sister named Ernestina Aguirre. When they grew up, Ernestina married Rafael. So since Rafael had close ties to Maria Teresa it makes sense that Julio would be in contact with Maria Teresa’s orphaned children when he came to the US some time around 1930, a decade after Maria Teresa’s untimely death.
Ernestina’s daughter-in-law is talking on this video segment.

Julio, along with his wife later Edna, is known to have maintained close ties to his cousin Boni Martinez (and his wife and family) and also to Mary Agnes Martinez (Connolly) and her family.

Frank Connolly reports the following memory about Julio and Edna:   “When I was in sixth grade (1951) our father was hospitalized from a quite serious work accident. With no paycheck for many weeks the family was in grim straits. At that time Julio and Edna visited. They bought us a LOT of groceries which our mother gratefully received.”  This was at a time when Mary Agnes had six children and was hoping to have no more.  But in that very year (1951) she would become pregnant with her 7th child.  

Both Frank and Grace Connolly have fond memories -dating back to their childhood years- of spending wonderful times with Julio and Edna including fascinating road trips to Washington DC, or to visit their uncle Boni and aunt Margaret …in a nice late model car which was a very unusual opportunity for them at that point in their lives.

Edna contracted a case of inoperable breast cancer and she died in 1965 – on September 8th.  Her adopted son and daughter, Peter and Diane, would have been 14 and 12 respectively at the time of their mother’s death.   So far, no conclusive information has come to light about Peter and Diane after their mother’s death …or about whether or not Julio remarried.

Julio outlived Edna by more than three decades.  He lived to the age of 90 and died on August 9, 1997 (based on information from a social security record).

This page will be updated with more stories about Julio and Edna as they become available – as they undoubtely will ! 

Supporting Documentation: Julio and Edna

Source	Description
US Gov’t	Julio’s Original arival was on the SS Santa Teresa which had originated in Valpariso Chile. Doc_1,  Doc_2
US Gov’t	There is evidence that when Julio originally arrived in 1930, he crewed on Ships for about four years beginning just a few months after his arrival.  Click these links to see the relevant document:  1930 Cruise with Cousin Louis,  1933 Cruise, 1934 Cruise- Jamaica,  1934 West Coast of South America.
US Gov’t	Julio applied for Naturalization in 1938
US Gov’t	Julio’s Draft Card is dated 1941 and 1942
Church of the Ascension	Julio Married Edna at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension (Anglican or Church of England) Church in New Jersey in 1946. There is also an entry in that church’s register, also dated 1946.  Interestingly, a footnote for that entry flags Julio as “Not Episcopalian”.
PanAm	Julio and Edna Flew from Havana Cuba to Miami two weeks after their wedding in 1946
PanAm	A year after their wedding, Julio and Edna appear as passengers of a PanAm Flight from Guayaquil to Miami.
Church of the Ascension	1951: Baptism of son Peter Lawrence at Episcopal Church of the Ascension.  Abstract from Ancestry.com
Church of the Ascension	1953: Baptism of daughter Diane Kathleen at Episcopal Church of the Ascension. Abstract from Ancestry.com
The “Record”	1965: Death of Edna from breast Cancer.   Obituary (text) from “The Record”

This page was last edited by Patrick on April 16, 2023