Family Biographies
Carlos Recio
1849-1910
Biography from Various Sources
compiled by Jim Thompson
Carlos Recio was born July 6, 1849, in Puerto Principe, Cuba. In 1872, shortly after reaching his majority, Mr. Recio came to Key West, FL. When he arrived he was a poor boy, without friends, his total capital not exceeding one hundred dollars. But he had what was better than money, a burning ambition to make his way in the world and the energy and industry which always ensure success. His first venture was as clerk in a grocery store, a position he retained until 1875. In that year he branched out for himself, embarking in a wholesale and retail grocery business. In 1876 Mr. Recio decided to abandon the retail branch of the business and devoted himself exclusively to the wholesale trade. On June 5, 1879, Mr. Recio was married to Miss Emeline Corral, who was born in Havana, Cuba, September 6, 1862, and came to Key West with her parents in 1869. Carlos met with continued success and was recognized as one of the leading merchants and most substantial business men of Key West.
He had built the largest
wholesale/retail grocery store on the island. In official life he served
as a member of the Monroe county board of commissioners for four years.
His fraternal connections were with the Masonic order and Oddfellows and he was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal church.
Carlos and Emeline had six sons and three daughters. The family was one
of the best known and most popular in Key West.
As a close friend of Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti, Carlos Recio did much
to help the Cuban freedom effort, including smuggling supplies to
revolutionists on merchant ships. Key West played an important role in
protecting and perpetuating the Cuban separatist ideal during these
years; an effort that by the mid-1880s had earned it a reputation as the
primary rebel center in the United States. Indeed, on coming to Key West
for the first time in 1884, the rebel chieftain Maximo Gomez noted in
his diary, "we arrived in Key West . . . where the best of the Cuban
emigre centers exisits."By the end of the decade, Jose Marti also
recognized the importance of the Key, and the newly-established
community in Tampa, and based his rise to prominence on this
constituency....
Revolutionary concerns again gained prominence in the colony when
Dr. Eusebio Hernandez, collaborating closely with Gomez and Maceo,
arrived in Key West in early January 1885, hoping to raise at least
$20,000. He and Gomez had estimated that $55,000 would be needed for the
first expedition, and in considering quotas for the various centers, it
was thought that only Panama could produce the equal of Key West. The
other proposed fundraising locations were Philadelphia, New Orleans, and
Kingston (Jamaica), each estimated to produce $3,000; Santo Domingo,
$1,000; and New York, $5,000. Key West became the primary locale for
raising needed financial resources.
On arriving, Hernandez obtained the active cooperation of Lamadriz and
Poyo, and the three initiated their rounds of the cigar factories. Cigar
manufacturers Gate, Cayetano Sorta, Francisco Marrero, Enrique Canals,
and Carlos Recio one of the most prosperous merchants on the isle,
offered to loan the revolution $30,000....."
In 1895 Carlos purchased the property now known as The Conch House. It
was his daughter, Herminia, who made the Conch House her home, along
with her four children and husband Lance Lester, whose own family's
history and influence in Key West dates back to the mid-1800's. Captain
Joseph Lester of England settled here after following the sea for many
years. Captain John Whalton, another Lester ancestor, established the
first lightship at Carysfort Reef off Key Largo in 1826 and died there
in an Indian ambush a decade later.
Lance Lester himself was the first graduate of Key West High School and
the University of Florida Law School. He devoted his entire life to the
service of Key West citizens, first as a respected lawyer, then as city
and state attorney. The Monroe County Justice Building is named in his
honor.
The Conch House is now owned by Carlos Recio's great-granddaughter,
Francine Delaney Holland, and great-great-grandson, Sam Holland, Jr.
Between two well-known corner bars in Key West, Sloppy Joe's and the
Bull and Whistle, one finds a melange of heirlooms, including the cast
concrete former Island City Bank founded in 1905, exemplifying a Havana
influence, also evident at the Bull, once Carlos Recio's Grocery. The
Fogarty House at 227 is where in 1912 Key West's mayor, Dr. Jeremiah
Fogarty, entertained Henry Flagler, President William Taft and
dignitaries celebrating the historic railroads linking of the island to
the mainland.
Sources:
1. "Memoirs of Florida", Volume 2, page 665, 1902, by Rowland H. Rerick
2. website:http://www.conchhouse.com/aboutus.htm
3. The Florida Historical Quarterly volume 61, issue 1, "CUBAN PATRIOTS
IN KEY WEST, 1878-1886: GUARDIANS AT THE SEPARATIST IDEAL" by Gerald E.
Poyo.
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Florida: 1513-1913, Past, Present and Future George M. Chapin S.J.C. Publishing Co, Chicago, IL 1914 Pgs 313-314
CARLOS RECIO
Among the men whose ability, enterprise and initiative spirit, directed into business channels, made them prominent among the real promoters and upbuilders of Key West’s commercial institutions was numbered Carlos Redo, who for thirty-five years conducted one of the largest and most important wholesale grocery enterprises in the city. His life measured up to the highest standard of honorable manhood and his death deprived the city of one of its active, prominent and deservedly successful business men as well as one of her most public-spirited and progressive citizens. Carlos Redo was a native of the Cuban province of Puerto Principe, born July 6, 1839, and in that locality he spent his boyhood and acquired his education. Shortly alter reaching his majority, in 1872, he came to Key West and for thirty-eight years thereafter remained a respected and honored resident of the city. He was a splendid type of the self-made man, for arriving here without money and entirely friendless, he faced the hard conditions of his life with confidence and courage and by the exercise of his firm determination and persistency of purpose steadily worked his way upward to success. His first position was as clerk in a grocery store and this he retained until 1875, when he embarked in business for himself, establishing a wholesale and retail grocery enterprise, with which he was connected until his death. In 1876 he abandoned the retail branch of his business, afterward devoting himself exclusively to the wholesale trade, and built up a large and important enterprise which became recognized as a powerful element in the city’s commercial growth. Mr. Recio became known as one of Key West’s leading merchants and most substantial business men and be continued active in the management of his enterprise, which grew larger and more important with the passing years, until his death, which occurred on the 22nd of March, 1910, when he was sixty years of age. Fraternally Mr. Recio was a member of the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his religious views were in accord with the doctrines of the Episcopal Church, he being a member of St. Paul’s church of this city. He served as a member of the Monroe county Board of Commissioners for four years. He was public-spirited and loyal in matters of citizenship, taking a deep interest in those measures and projects which had for their object the up-building and development of the city and county and it was thus that in his passing Monroe county lost one of her representative and valued citizens.
On the 5th of
June, 1879, Mr. Recio was united in marriage to Miss Emeline
Corrall, who was born in Havana, Cuba, September 6, 1862 and who
came to Key West with Tier parents in 1869. Mr. and Mrs. Redo
became the parents of nine children, as follows: Carlos Nester;
Fernando Emilio, who died on the 15th of March, 1910, one week
prior to his father’s demise; Caries Manuel; Francisco Xavier;
Emelina Teresa, the wife of John Alexander Hayes; Alfredo Louis;
Estella Rebecca, who married Policarp Artman; Bolivar Tomas; and
Herminia, the wife of Joseph Lancelot Lester.
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