JOSEF SIOCO
Josef Sioco
Josef Sioco was originally from Bocaue, Bulacan. His first wife was a lady surnamed “Carlos”. They had a daughter, Maria de la Paz Sioco y Carlos (+1897). Maria married Joaquin Arnedo Cruz y Tanjutco (+1897). (These + signs signify years when they died.)
Josef remarried. His second wife was Matea Rodriguez y Tuasan (+191_). Matea was the second daughter of Olegario Rodriguez (+1874) by his first wife Escolastica Tuason (+1850).
Josef and Matea had three daughters: Francisca (born before 1858), Sabina (1858-1950) and Florencia (1860-1925). Francisca died young. Sabina married her Rodriguez first cousin Manuel Escaler y Rodriguez, of Balanga, Bataan. Florencia married Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez of Baliwag, Bulacan.
After Josef Sioco’s death in 1864, Matea Rodriguez viuda de Sioco married Juan Arnedo Cruz y Tanjutco, the rich brother-in-law of her stepdaughter, Maria de la Paz Sioco de Arnedo. Matea also outlived Juan.[1]
One of the characteristics of Josef Sioco was that he was a very good businessman. He was able to accumulate a many pieces of landholdings all over Bulacan and Pampanga. They called Josef, “Pepeng Daga”, which implied that he was like a rat, having small pockets of lands everywhere he went.
Some said that his lands reached Tarlac, but there was no evidence of this from the Project of Partition[2] executed by the Gonzalez Brothers when Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez died. The lands that could only have come from the inheritance of Doña Florencia from her father Josef Sioco , were in Magalang, Sulipan (Apalit), Capalangan (Apalit), Sucad (Apalit), San Vicente (Apalit), Portrero (Bacolor), Cabalantian (Bacolor), Nabong (Calumpit), Tulauc (San Simon) and Sta. Monica ( San Simon). If you map out these lands, you can see that it stretches from Apalit to Bacolor to Magalang.
The list looks impressive at first glance, but when Augusto, the most successful brother, tried to distribute the lands to his siblings after the death of their father Dr. Joaquin Gonzalez, he had difficulty raising the total value that each child would get to P4,000. From the Project of Partition, Augusto reached the “Fifth Revision”, and each child could only get P3,175 each. Eventually, he was able to distribute P4,000 each.
Later, these lands were augmented by direct purchases of lands or marriage to an heiress by the Brothers.
When Doña Florencia died in November 6, 1925 in Apalit, Pampanga, a subsequent Project of Partition was undertaken and finalized in 1927. Unfortunately, this author only has the Supplementary of the Partition, not the Main document. There was no mention of lands other than the Baliwag and San Simon lands, the Baliwag lands having come from Dr. Joaquin’s inheritance from Mariquita Gonzalez.
[1] Augusto Gonzalez III. “Proposed Day Trip of the Gonzalez Doble Zeta Core Group”. April 14, 2004.
[2] En El Interesado Del Finado Don Joaquin Gonzalez, “Proyecto De Particion De Bienes”. Causa Civil no. 254, Gobierno de las Islas Filipinas, Jusgado de Primera Instancia de Pampanga, Septimo Distrito Judicial. July 1, 1915. 17pp.
APALIT GONZALEZES 
Atty. Ompong Gonzalez, brother of Toto, says that the pictures I have on file of Josef Sioco, are in fact, the pictures of Olegario Rodriguez, brother of Matea Rodrigez, sister of the mother of Florencia Sioco Most likely he is right. But I find that this picture of Josef in my files, has the same eyes as Florencia Sioco Gonzalez when she was older. She would have had the same eyes, having had a Rodriguez mother.
But I will stand corrected.
Hi Ate Elsie, the black and white picture you have now is correctly Josef Sioco.
Olegario as stated in your post is the father of Matea Rodriguez, the mother of Florencia Rodriguez Sioco
-Ompong
Ate Elsie:
Olegario Rodriguez [ + 1874 ] of Santa Ines, Bacolor, Pampanga [ of a family originally from Bataan & Zambales ] was the father of Matea Tuason Rodriguez, the mother of Florencia Rodriguez Sioco. His first wife was a Chinese mestiza, Escolastica Pamintuan Tuason, by whom he had 5 daughters: Prisca Ines Rodriguez-Escaler [ + 1896 ], Matea Rodriguez-Sioco-Arnedo [ + 1918 ], Marta Rodriguez-Santos, Juana Rodriguez-Guanzon, and Maria Rodriguez. Escolastica passed away in 1850. Afterwards, he married another Chinese mestiza, Jacoba Bautista [ + 1874 ] of Binondo, Manila, and they had many more children; their descendants are the Rodriguez clan of Bacolor and San Fernando today.
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Josef Sioco [ o 1786 – + 1864 ] of Bocaue, Bulacan [ of a family from Hermosa, Bataan and before that Lingayen, Pangasinan ] first married _____ Carlos and settled in barrio Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga in the 1830s. He became very prosperous as a rice planter, dry goods trader, and moneylender. They had one daughter, Maria de la Paz Carlos Sioco who married Joaquin Tanjutco Arnedo. They became the famous Capitan Joaquin & Capitana Maria Arnedo of Sulipan, the hosts to European royalty & nobility.
At the age of 73, Josef Sioco married the 29 year old Matea Rodriguez [ + 1918 ] from Bacolor. They had 3 daughters in quick succession: Francisca [ o 1857 ], Sabina [ o 1858 – + 1950 ] , & Florencia [ o 1860 – +1925 ]. Francisca died young. Sabina married her maternal first cousin Manuel Rodriguez Escaler of Balanga, Bataan. Florencia married the Spanish mestizo Dr. Joaquin Lopez Gonzalez of Baliuag, Bulacan. Josef Sioco died at the Rodriguez house in Bacolor in 1864 and was buried in that town. I saw his simple “lapida” at one wall of the Gospel transept of Bacolor church in November 1988.
After Josef Sioco died, his widow Matea Rodriguez married another rich man, Juan Tanjutco Arnedo, brother of Capitan Joaquin Tanjutco Arnedo. Matea & Juan had no children, so Matea inherited his estate.
Toodles,
Toto