Antonio Maceo Grajales - Early Years

Early Years

Maceo was the son of a Venezuelan farmer and dealer in agricultural products, Marcos Maceo, and an Afro-Cuban woman, Mariana Grajales y Coello. His father moved from Caracas, Venezuela to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, in 1823, after some of his comrades were exiled from South America. José Antonio Maceo y Grajales (full name) was born June 14, 1845, in the town of San Luis, in the Oriente Province outside of Santiago de Cuba, in a farm known to locals as Jobabo,. Although his father taught him skills in the use of arms and management of their small properties, it was his mother, Mariana Grajales, who inculcated in him a sense of order. This maternal discipline would be important in the development of Maceo's character and would be reflected later in his acts as a military leader.

At the age of sixteen, Maceo went to work for his father, delivering products and supplies by mule. He was a successful entrepreneur and farmer. As the oldest of the children, he inherited his father's leadership qualities and later would become a decorated general. Maceo developed an active interest in the political issues of his time and was initiated in the mysteries of Freemasonry. The Cuban Freemasonry movement was influenced by the principles of the French Revolution - "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" - as well as the Masons' main guidelines: God, Reason, Virtue.