Emilio Famy Aguinaldo Sr.

was born on March 22, 1869[c] in Cavite el Viejo (present-day Kawit), in

Cavite province, to Carlos Jamir Aguinaldo and Trinidad Famy-Aguinaldo,[d] a Tagalog Chinese mestizo
couple who had eight children, the seventh of whom was Emilio Sr. The Aguinaldo family was quite well-
to-do, as his father, Carlos J. Aguinaldo was the community's appointed gobernadorcillo (municipal
governor) in the Spanish colonial administration and his grandparents Eugenio K. Aguinaldo and Maria
Jamir-Aguinaldo. He studied at Colegio de San Juan de Letran but wasn't able to finish his studies due to
an outbreak of cholera in 1882.

Emilio became the "Cabeza de Barangay" in 1895 when the Maura Law that called for the reorganization
of local governments was enacted. At the age of 25, Aguinaldo became Cavite el Viejo's first
"gobernadorcillo capitan municipal" (Municipal Governor-Captain) while on a business trip in Mindoro.