Irene Dolores Tejada Guzmán

Dominican-born great-grandmother (Miguel gen-3); wife of Evaristo Dante Pezzotti Salterucci, mother of Miguel's grandfather Blas Antonio Pezzotti Tejada. Widowed 12 May 1929 at age 32 with 7 young children. 50 years of widowhood to her death 9 Aug 1979 — consistent with the widow portrait (dark dress / mantilla suggestive of luto cerrado).

Names

• Birth name: Irene Dolores Tejada Guzmán
• Known as (per S-005): Nené (Aya) — Nené is a common Dominican feminine nickname (often for a María / Inés / Irene / Elena). "Aya" likely a family / household-role nickname (Spanish aya = "nanny" or "governess," but in DR also affectionate elder-female term).
• Married name (Italian convention per S-005): Irene Dolores Pezzotti Salterucci (born Tejada Guzmán).

Birth-year resolution

S-004 GEDCOM gave 1897; S-005 MyHeritage gives 1896 with a separate christening date of 25 Oct 1897. 14-month delayed baptism — not unusual for late-19th-c. rural DR; sometimes done on parish missionary visits or batched. The 1897 baptism is likely the source of S-004's 1897 birth-year error (Ancestry trees often confuse baptism with birth when the baptism is the earliest-found record). Resolution: working hypothesis 7 Aug 1896 Salcedo.

Parentage (per S-004 + S-005)

• Father: Cornelio Cipriano Tejada Brache (b. 1865 Los Tocones, Jayabo, Salcedo, DR; d. 1946 DR).
• Mother: Juana Francisca de las Mercedes Guzmán Veloz (b. 13 Aug 1876 Moca, Espaillat, DR; d. 1935 Moca). S-005 captures her married surname as "Juana Francisca de las Mercedes Tejada Brache (born Guzmán Veloz)" — appending husband's apellido, non-standard Hispanic convention. The birth-name "Guzmán Veloz" is the correct genealogical reference.

Siblings (Tejada Guzmán — new per S-005)

S-005 lists 5 siblings (so the family had at least 6 children):

Worth a separate Tejada-Guzmán family file. Living first cousins of Miguel's mother on this side likely number in the dozens.

Open questions

1. What was Irene doing in San Juan, PR, 21 December 1947? Christmas visit, residence, migration? Was Reynaldo Caonabo (then ~24) already in PR? Were other Tejada / Guzmán relatives there? Worth asking mom + extended family.
2. Sibling cluster — Tejada Guzmán sibling expansion needed.
3. Catholic baptism record 25 Oct 1897 Salcedo — request from Parroquia San Juan Evangelista. Would name parents, godparents, birth date precisely.
4. Mom's first cousins — children of Manuel Marino, Juana Consuelo, Juan Antonio, Cornelio Ramón, Cornelio Jorge Tejada Guzmán are Mom's first cousins (Tejada-Guzmán side). Many likely still alive in DR.
5. Catholic / widow context. Photo strongly suggests devout Catholic widowhood. Did she join a tercera orden (e.g. Carmelitas or Dominicas Terciarias)?

Sources

• S-004 — Ancestry GEDCOM (1897 birth-year is likely baptism-date confusion).
• S-005 — MyHeritage.it, accessed 24 May 2026.