José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda[6][7] (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896), was a Filipino nationalist, writer[8] and revolutionary. He is widely considered the greatest national hero of the Philippines.[9] He was the author of Noli Me Tángere, El Filibusterismo and a number of poems and essays. He was executed on December 30, 1896.Ancestry[edit]
Rizal was a 5th-generation patrilineal descendant of Domingo Lam-co traditional Chinese: 柯儀南; simplified Chinese: 柯仪南; pinyin: Kē Yínán; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kho Gî-lâm, a Chinese immigrant entrepreneur who sailed to the Philippines from Jinjiang, Quanzhou in the mid-17th century.[10] Lam-co married Inez de la Rosa, a Sangley of Luzon.[11]
Teodora Alonzo, mother of Dr. José Rizal
José Rizal also had Spanish and Japanese ancestors. His grandfather and father of Teodora was a half Spaniard engineer named Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo.[12] His maternal great-great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua, a descendant of Japanese settlers.
In 1849, then Governor-General of the Philippines Narciso Clavería, issued a Decree by which native Filipino and immigrant families were to adopt Spanish surnames from a list of Spanish family names. Although the Chino Mestizos were allowed to hold on to their Chinese surnames, Lam-co changed his surname to the Spanish "Mercado" (market), possibly to indicate their Chinese merchant roots. José's father Francisco[13] adopted the surname "Rizal" (originally Ricial,[14] the green of young growth or green fields), which was suggested to him by a provincial governor, or as José had described him, "a friend of the family". However, the name change caused confusion in the business affairs of Francisco, most of which were begun under the old name. After a few years, he settled on the name "Rizal Mercado" as a compromise, but usually just used the original surname "Mercado".
Francisco Rizal Mercado (1818–1897)
Birth and Early Childhood[edit]
Jose Rizal was born to a wealthy family in Calamba,...