Chardón ( birth name : '' ' Carlos Eugenio Chardón Palacios ' '' ) was born in Ponce , Puerto Rico , to Carlos Felix Chardón and Isabel Palacios Pelletier . His great-grandfather , Juan Bautista Chardón , a Catholic native of Champagne , France , immigrated to Puerto Rico from Louisiana in 1816 , encouraged by the Royal Decree of Graces issued by the Spanish Crown , which was trying to attract new settlers to the island Chardón received his primary and secondary education in his hometown . In 1915 he began his studies in agriculture at the College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in Mayagüez . Chardón went to the United States to continue his college education at Cornell University in New York State after Mayagüez was struck by an earthquake in 1918 . It did considerable damage to the university and the city , damaging hundreds of masonry and wooden buildings , both commercial and residential
earthquake in 1918
1918 San Fermín earthquake
Carlos E. Chardón