Descendants of Francisco Garay & Aurora Gonzalez Mendoza

Francisco Garay was born Nov. 1845 in Cuba. He came to the US probably with his wife Aurora and first two daughters around 1886, to Key West, Florida. Francisco and Aurora's full name comes from the funeral book of their daughter, Carmen Garay Macias.  It is not known if Gonzalez was Aurora's father's surname and Mendoza was her mother's surname, as traditional Hispanic naming would dictate, or if vice-versa.  Aurora died before June 1900.

On the 1900 census in Tampa, Florida:
Garay, Francisco (head) b. Nov., age 54, wid, b. Cuba, fb. Cuba, mb. Cuba, in US for 14 years, occup. Peddler
 "  Micaela (dau.) b. Jun age 16,  b. Cuba, fb. Cuba, mb. Cuba
 "  Carmen (dau)  b. Aug age 13, b. Cuba, fb. Cuba, mb. Cuba
 "  Rita   (dau)     b. Nov  age 10, b. Fla.  fb. Cuba, mb. Cuba
 "  Adella (dau)   b. Oct  age   6  b. Fla.  fb. Cuba, mb. Cuba

The Garay family was in Key West in 1894 because their daughter Adelaida was born there.  They were in Tampa, FL in 1902 because that is when their daughter Carmen Garay married Berardo Macias there; Carmen was only 16 at the time.  Tampa City directory for 1905  shows a Frank Garay, occupation: clerk, living at 1611 13th Avenue with Micaela Garay and Rita Garay.  The 1905 directory did not list spouse names or minors.  Frank is probably Francisco Garay.  The 1907 Tampa City directory shows:  

Garay, Francisco (Aurora) cigarmkr living at  347 Chestnut, West Tampa.  Also in the home are:
Garay, Miguel cgrmkr -->this must be misspelling of Micaela
Garay, Reita cgrmkr  -->Rita 
Garay Aida 1907      -->Adelaida

The Tampa city direcories would indicate in the listings of widowed  persons, the name of the deceased spouse in parenthesis, with a notation "wid. of".  It must be that for this listing of Francisco, the "wid. of" was mistakenly omitted.

The Garays are absent from the 1903 directory in Tampa and there was no directory published in 1904.  It is known that their daughter, Carmen Garay Macias was in Key West in 1904 because that is where her sons Berardo and Enrique were born.  Carmen and husband Berardo Macias, Sr. were back in Tampa by 1908 listed in the Tampa City directory.  

 A major source of info on the Garay family is the funeral book, obit & death cert. of daughter Carmen Garay Macias.

Children:

Michaela Garay - (b. 1883, Cuba  d. .Dec 13, 1919, Tampa, FL)  marr1 Jose Sanchez,  marr2 Jose Gato