Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro 

(Tagalogpronunciation: [anˈdɾes bonɪˈfaʃo], Spanish
pronunciation: [anˈdres boni'fasjo], November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897) was a Filipino
revolutionary leader and the president of the Tagalog Republic. He is often called "The
Father of the Philippine Revolution".[3][4] He was one of the founders and
later Supremo (Supreme Leader) of the Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng
mga Anak ng Bayan or more commonly known as the "Katipunan", a movement which
sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the
Philippine Revolution.[5][6][7]

Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro was born on November 30, 1863, in Tondo, Manila,[8] and

was the first of six children of Catalina de Castro, a Spanish Mestiza, and Santiago
Bonifacio,[9] an Alkalde[10] of Tondo.[4][11] He learned the alphabet through his mother's
sister. He was later enrolled in Guillermo Osmeña's private school, [12][13] and learned
English while employed as a clerk-messenger by a British firm. [14] Some sources assert
that he was orphaned at an early age,[15][16] but, considering the existence of an 1881
record that has Bonifacio's parents listed as living in Tondo, it is disputed by others. [17]
Bonifacio was blessed with good hands in craftsmanship and visual arts that he made
canes and paper fans, which he and his young siblings sold. [18] He also made posters for
business firms. This became their thriving family business that continued on when the
men of the family, namely Andres, Ciriaco, Procopio, and Troadio, were employed with
private and government companies, which provided them with decent living conditions.
[19]
In his late teens, he worked as a mandatario (agent) for the British trading firm Fleming
and Company,[20]where he rose to become a corredor (broker) of tar, rattan and other
goods. He later transferred to Fressell and Company, a German trading firm, where he
worked as a bodeguero (storehouse keeper) responsible for warehouse inventory. He was
also a theater actor and often played the role of Bernardo Carpio, a fictional character in
Tagalog folklore.[21]
Not finishing his normal education, Bonifacio enriched his natural intelligence with self-
education. He read books about the French Revolution, biographies of the Presidents of
the United States, books about contemporary Philippine penal and civil codes, and novels
such as Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Eugène Sue's Le Juif errant and José Rizal's Noli Me
Tángere and El filibusterismo. Aside from Tagalog and Spanish, he could speak and
understand English, which he learned while working at J.M. Fleming and Co. [22][self-published
source?]

Bonifacio's first wife, Monica, was his neighbor in Palomar, Tondo.[23] She died

of leprosy[24][25] and they had no recorded children.
In 1892, Bonifacio, a 29-year-old widower, met the 18-year-old Gregoria de
Jesús[26] through his friend Teodoro Plata, who was her cousin. Gregoria, also called
Oriang, was the daughter of a prominent citizen and landowner from Caloocan.
[27] Gregoria's parents did not agree at first to their relationship as Andrés was
a freemason and freemasons were then considered enemies of the Catholic church.[28] Her
parents eventually gave in and Andrés and Gregoria were married through
a Catholic ceremony in Binondo Church in March 1893 or 1894. The couple also were
married through Katipunan rites in a friend's house in Santa Cruz, Manila on the same
day of their church wedding.[29]
They had one son, born in early 1896,[30] who died of smallpox in infancy.[25][31]