Talk:Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

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While merging Arthur Schomburg into Arturo Alfonso Schomburg I came across a couple of inconsistencies which I mention here:


 * Virgin Islands Dutch ruled or Danish ruled when Arturo studied there? Looks like Danish ruled to me.
 * Two sons or three with his first wife Elizabeth? Article said two (Arthur A. and Kingsley) but I found another which said three (Maximo Gomez, Arthur Alfonso Jr., and Kingsley Guarionex)
 * First son with second wife named Reginald Stanfield or Reginald Stanton?

--Stormie 04:24, May 29, 2005 (UTC)


 * Re: Dutch vs. Danish: Danish. The Dutch influence in the V.I. (at least St. Thomas) was in the late 1600s and early 1700s.  Danish settlements started during that time, and the islands were an official Danish colony from 1754-1917.
 * --Gruepig 03:47, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

Arturo Alfonso's father - mestizo?
Hello,

I'd really like to know about Arturo Alfonso's father being mestizo - this is not in the family books for sure.

Carlos Frédrico Schomburg was born in 1832 in Hannover province, Germany - his complete name was, in his native tongue, Carl Andreas Freiderich(k) Schomburg. Working first as a painter, then as a merchant shipman, he moved early in his life from his native Hannover to Denmark (Copenhagen), then later north to the port town of Skagen where he married and fathered six children between 1862-1875. Carl did much trading in the then still-Danish Virgin islands during his lifetime.

I'm going to have a hard time providing a reference for my information - it comes from my own family records and no published place other, so I won't be putting any original research here. The only online evidence I can find to cite is the Danish census board website - http://ddd.dda.dk/dddform_uk.asp - no direct link, but do a search for "Schomberg" in the province of Aalborg and you'll have the right record (a census from 1860). (Note: remark that although spelled differently, this is the same family, consistant in household and members through the census years (and this with my own family records) - census registrars in other years have spelled the name Schomborg, Schombørg and even Schaumburg and Schaumborg).

Looking forward to any additional information on this - thanks. T HE P ROMENADER 13:47, 30 July 2006 (UTC)


 * You are right! It seems as if somrbody just assumed that Arturo's father was a mestizo and added the term.   I removed it.  A lot of people are totally unaware of the German influence in the Caribbean, that's why I wrote the following article: German immigration to Puerto Rico.  I hope that you see it and enjoy it.  Tony the Marine 16:44, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

It is interesting that you say this since a conversation with Donald Nelthropp Sr. a descendant of Hiram von B___ a distiller who lived on St. Croix has informed me that his ancestry was German. According to Mr. Nelthropp we were both wrong.RichardBond (talk) 00:46, 3 September 2015 (UTC)
 * (raising had) Again, Alfonso's father was my great-great-grandfather. But, Richard, where did you get your info? Any source is appreciated. Cheers!  THE PROMENADER  ✎ ✓ 07:00, 3 September 2015 (UTC)

I was chiding Tony about a different Puerto Rican family not Schomburg. The first professional baseball player in the major leagues was from a family which moved there from St. Croix. Tony says that the family was English. Donald Nelthropp a descendant of the family says it is German.RichardBond (talk) 07:16, 3 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Are the baseball player and Alfonso related? There were very few Shomburg records on Saint-Croix, as apparently Carl didn't stay there very long.  THE PROMENADER  ✎ ✓ 08:29, 8 September 2015 (UTC)


 * A slight update: I'd exchanged correspondance with the Schomburg Museum of Black Culture (since renamed the 'Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture'), and they sent me an entire package of documentation which pretty well confirms our family ties: I'm hoping to pay a visit there on my next trip to North America to get more info from historians there (and perhaps some usable sources). Cheers.  THE PROMENADER  ✎ ✓ 20:21, 27 January 2017 (UTC)


 * That would be wonderful. I have a aprticular interest in the matter since I created the article and I am fascinated by the contributions which Schomberg has made not only to the Afro-American/Latinos but to the world in general. I never hear of the contributions that this great man made to the African-American community nor are they mentioned in our educational system during the celebration of African-American month. I always hoped that by creating this article that would change. Tony the Marine (talk) 23:06, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg's mother's name
The current text Hispanicizes AAS's mother's second name and treats it as a personal name when other sources have it as Joseph and a surname. There is a Black family from St. Croix surnamed Joseph that was there at the right time.RichardBond (talk) 19:45, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

St. Thomas College
St. Thomas was a college in the British sense not the American sense. It was a private school offering what Americans call high school.RichardBond (talk) 19:51, 6 September 2014 (UTC)

Arturo Alfonso's spouses - two Elizabeth's or three?
Carole Boston Weatherford's book, Schomburg, The Man Who Built A Library, on page 16 has illustrated wedding pictures of three marriages, p 17 text is titled THREE ELIZABETHS, and the text has a paragraph on each marriage, listing the children of each. This Wikipedia entry for Arturo Schomburg has only the first two that Weatherford lists, and states that the second lived until Schomburg passed. Weatherford states that when the second Elizabeth Morrow Taylor passed, he married Elizabeth Green and they had three children and that he had children with each of the three Elizabeths. I looked up Arthur Schomburg on Wikipedia after having read the Weatherford book with a boy I tutor at a library, seeking some additional information regarding Schomburg - I was rather shocked to see the Wikipedia article list only two Elizabeth spouses, after my student & I were both very taken by t he fact, according to Weatherford that he had married three Elizabeths!Ohiyesapr (talk) 00:01, 16 December 2018 (UTC) Just decided to check back after sharing w my student that I'd reported the discrepancy, and was happy to see your response,and, happy to see the change in the text under Marriage and family, BUT, see also that the side-box of facts and picture of Arturo is till showing just two Elizabeths... Ohiyesapr (talk) 11:22, 23 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Great observation! I added the info. Thanks. Tony the Marine (talk) 03:42, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

"Arturo" or "Arthur"?
I have noticed in some websites the erroneous posting of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg's name as Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, especially on websites dealing with African-American history such as this one: and this one:. Let me clarify that in Schomburg's birth certificate his name appears as "Arturo" and that he never legally changed his name even though he may have been called by his "Americanized" name "Arthur" by his African-American friends. This reminds me of Roberto Clemente. When Roberto came to the United States to play for the Pirates, the press wanted to call him "Bob" Clemente, but he was too proud of his Puerto Rican heritage, as I am sure Schomburg was, to change his name. Therefore, let's always keep his true and real name "Arturo" in his bio. and ask those who change his name in other websites to do the same. Tony the Marine (talk) 17:25, 16 December 2018 (UTC)

This reminds me of a member of the congregation in the United States Virgin Islands where my father was a deacon. He was a boat captain named Jeronimo Scatliffe. His parents were from the British Virgin Islands and were working in the Dominican Republic when he was born. His parents wanted to call him Jerome but were told they had to give him a Latino name. Arturo's parents might not have even been allowed a choice by the Spanish notary. RichardBond (talk) 22:24, 5 August 2020 (UTC)

Further reading: I added the recent Vanessa Valdés study (Diasporic Blackness) of Schomburg--it's very good. Zamboni 54 Zamboni54 (talk) 00:11, 8 February 2021 (UTC)