The Brooks Despaigne Family: their economic rise in Santiago de Cuba (1852-1865)

Abstract

The Brooks Despaigne constituted one of the several families been founded by immigrants that settled down in the city of Santiago de Cuba from the first half of the XIX century. It was integrated by progenitors original from Great Britain and Jamaica who had a considerable purchasing power, and children that were born in the Island. The family was recognized by their incursion in the santiaguera commercial activity. In such a way, the father, Thomas Brooks instituted in 1838 a society which became later, in Brooks & Co. (1852) it meant the family´s main source of incomes. This commercial company was characterized by its great influence in the santiaguera dynamics mercantile, it wide economic transactions and their growing prosperity. The older male children incorporated to the last of the companies and they progressively managed it.