A friend, an historian of the Phillipine Revolution and the events leading up to it, would very much like to be able to locate Josephine Bracken's birth certificate and indeed if possible her grave. Her baptismal certificate is extant but that's that. There must surely have been a birth certificate too.
Josephine Bracken is significant because she was the wife of Dr Jose Rizal, the hero of the Philippines struggle against Spain. Her nationality is usually given as "Irish" but that is more correctly a descripotion of her ethnicity; she would have been a British citizen.
She was born on the 9th August 1876 to Elizabeth Jane Bracken nee McBride, wife of Corporal James Bracken. Her mother died soon after she was born and she was adopted by an American, George Taufer, who was an engineer with the Hong Kong Fire Department.
After the execution of Dr Rizal she took part in the Philippine Revolution then returned to Hong Kong where she married Vincente Abad; she died of TB on March 15th 1902 and is reputedly buried in Happy Valley Cemetery.
Can anyone help?
If you have any comments,
If you have any comments, please leave them over on this thread.
Regards, David