What's In A (sur)Name?

The last four days I spent pouring through Puerto Rico's Civil Registry Birth Records from 1894-1908 from Patillas, Puerto Rico in search of my 2nd great grandmother. 3,003 documents later, I haven't found her. The reason why I decided to bite the bullet and search each document one-by-one is because in other documents where she is mentioned, there a surname which she uses which I have yet to see anywhere else in Puerto Rico (including census records). Which prompted me to write this blog post about the surname and hopefully someone with some knowledge of it or a lead could help me out!

Background: 

Some background about my 2nd great grandmother: Her name is Amalia Rivera Rodriguez/Masantini (she goes back and forth between Rodriguez & Masantini) and she was born about 1898-1901 in what the documents state is Patillas, Puerto Rico. Her father was Cruz Rivera Collazo also from Patillas, Puerto Rico and her mother was Luisa Rodriguez/Masantini from Patillas/Maunabo, Puerto Rico. Amalia married Julio Correa Gustavo/Charles on the 9th of March 1919 in Salinas, Puerto Rico. In her marriage certificate she is mentioned as Amalia Rodriguez (pictured below) and the reason being most likely because her parents were never married. 

9 March 1919 in Salinas, Puerto Rico

In 1910, Amalia Rivera is living with her father Cruz Rivera Collazo in Guardarraya, Patillas, Puerto Rico; her father's martial status is marked as (S): Single. By 1920, Amalia is already living in Rio Jueyes, Salinas, Puerto Rico with her husband. Here, she is mentioned as Masantini (picture below): 

1920 Census in Rio Jueyes, Salinas, Puerto Rico

Months later in March her first son, Manuel Correa Rivera (my great grandfather) was born. On his birth certificate Amalia is mentioned as Rivera and her mother was mentioned as Luisa Masantini. (Pictures below):

1920, Amalia Rivera appears on Manuel's birth certificate

My 3rd great grandmother, Luisa Masantini (sometimes appears as Rodriguez)

The name Masantini doesn't appear again until her third child, Modesta Correa Rivera is born in 1927 when it mentions again Luisa, her mother, as Masantini instead of Rodriguez:

Masantini appears again in 1927

Surname

This surname sounds very Italian/Corsican which is why I'm so interested in it, along with other reasons which I'll discuss shortly. I've search the Puerto Rico Records of Foreign Residents, 1815-1845 and no Masantini or variation of the name appears (I've searched Mazzantini/Mazantini as well). So either the person came in after 1845 or before 1815. Equally, the name has yet to appear anywhere else; even in the 3,003 records I searched not once did a Masantini appear. So I decided to do some research into the last name. I tried searching Masantini along with Puerto Rico and again nothing appeared. I remembered that during one of the "Who Do Think You Are" episodes I believe during the first season they used an Italian surname database to figure out where in Italy there name would be from. Giving it a shot, I decided to search in the database for anyone with the last name Masantini in Italy. To my surprise it appeared! A very small amount of Masantini were found in the Tuscany area of Italy, specifically in the Firenze area. Here are some screenshots of the name appearing in Italy.

Masantini as the red dot (1-5) in Tuscany

The area highlighted where the name appears

Masantini appearing in the Toscana (Tuscan) region, specifically in Firenze

Not wanting to jump the gun and assume that I have Tuscany ancestry running through me, I'll wait until I have further proof to help me identify whether or not I am related to a Masantini family coming from Firenze (also known as Florence in English). Interestingly the name also doesn't appear in America according to this database. There's another reason why I became so interested and it deals with my grandfather's genes.

Genetics

With many 3rd party tools, you can easily use the genetic information you have gotten to find out more. I tested my grandfather with 23andme and posted about results earlier in April. While using things such as Gedmatch.com and getting the BGA analysis I've been noticing some interesting things which I don't know if they are pure coincidences or more pieces to this mystery. In the possible populations mentioned in the BGA analysis were Tuscan along with Italian as well as Spain, when I asked if it was safe to assume there was Tuscan in my grandfather's ancestry he mentioned that it was unlikely to be significant. But could it mean that because my grandfather potentially has some Italian that it appeared none the less though not significantly? Equally in one of the cross sections of European populations, he appears smacked in the middle of the Tuscan & Italian populations. Again I could be overestimating it but no one I've tested in my family from both sides fits so neatly or even as near Tuscan/Italian like he does.

Carlos appears within the Tuscan population

Equally his red dot in the map for Europe appears right over the Tuscan part as well instead of near what I would expect, Spain.

Red Europe dot over Tuscany

Lastly, in the Gedmatch MDLP World-22 Oracle it's interesting to note that in the mixed mode population sharing after Puerto Rican the next possible one is Italian_North and equally as interesting Swiss (which I think could be possibility from German influence on his paternal side- another mystery I'm trying to solve).

Italian_North appearing right after Puerto Rican

I could be overestimating this and connecting false coincidental dots to one another just because I keep seeing the words "Italian" and "Tuscan" appearing left and right; or I could be onto something. So for now I'll settle with the former and consider myself crazy :) There are of course many questions to be asked. Could it be possible that this 'potential' Italian ancestry produce these Italian and Tuscan hits on the genetic side? No one else that I've tested in my family (besides occasionally my mother, of course) gets near to Italy or Tuscany, so why just him? Are the Spanish and Italians genetically different enough for these results to be more than just coincidences? 

Hopefully one day I'll have a solid answer as to why he appears so close to the Italian/Tuscan population and whether or not the "Masantini" family has anything to do with it. So until then I'll hope, dream, imagine and think about all the possible outcomes to this mystery! (And if anyone has an answer or could help; they'll be awesome!)

Narrowing Down Possibilites

I've been meaning to post about this a while ago and with some recent changes to the 23andme relative finder, I've decided to finally write this post!

By testing with 23andme and testing several family members, I am able to narrow down where certain cousins are related to me in my family. Recently I was able to add my grandfather to the list of tested relatives- after much persuading! This has helped tremendously to figure out who comes from what side of the family, yet unfortunately I haven't be able to confirm any of these lines except one.

Recently 23andme added another feature which allows you to link your parents, if you have them tested, and break up your matches into both "mother's side" and "father's side". Here are some screenshots from the new updates to Relative Finder.

New Relative Finder menu

Drop down menu which includes mother and father break down

Here are two distant cousins- "M" for Maternal and "P" for Paternal

For me this new update is both a curse and a blessing. The curse part of it is that practically all my cousins are related to me from my maternal and paternal side. except a handful of distant cousins that are too far away to actually determine how they are related to me. Puerto Rico's population is pretty small if you consider how a country like the United States has many constant, different inputs of cultures. Granted, Puerto Rico has a good number of different populations that can be found on the island, yet the population became a bit inbred after a while since some families have been on the island for such a long time. Most of my family, for example, has been on the island for at least 200-300 years so my mom and dad's side must have rubbed elbows somewhere along the genealogical tree; and 23andme does say they are 3-5th cousins, but I think the relationship is further because I've traced most of their lines through 3rd-5th generations and there is no overlap of ancestors from what I have found.

The blessing is that it allows me to separate the interesting matches I have easily. Now I don't have to enter the Family Inheritance: Advanced tab in Ancestry Labs to figure out where this cousin matches me or my mom/dad's side. Now I can just enter Relative Finder, look for their name and look to see whether a "M" or "P" appears. This is extremely helpful to sort out the Southern and Eastern European matches that keep appearing on my mother's side through her father. What's awesome is that since I was fortunate to test both of my mom's parents I can link them as well and break down the matches even further. Hopefully there'll be a sale soon so that I can test some members on my dad's side of the family in order to break down matches further as well. There are some interesting matches through my dad's side which I would love to know if they come from his mom's or dad's side of the family. 

Soon enough 23andme is expected to release a more up-to-date Ancestry Painting which will include more populations. Hopefully this will help out with sorting out cousins as well!

More pieces to the puzzle?

With the official indexed release of the 1940 Census, I've been searching endlessly for my ancestors hidden within these documents. Only one of my grandparents was born by 1940 and so I've only be able to locate all my great grandparents and some great great parents- those that were still alive. The 1940 Census doesn't bring that much light into my family but it does help add some distant cousins and push some branches out collaterally. But there is my great grandfather, Manuel Correa Rivera, who was very elusive to me until about sometime last year and so there is still a lot to learn about him.

According to the 1930 Census, and if all my information is correct, Manuel was living with his cousin Celedonio Secola and his wife and daughter in San Juan, Puerto Rico. By 1940, Celedonio has returned to Salinas, Puerto Rico and is living there with his mother as well as 'single' which is interesting. Both report that by 1935 they were still living in San Juan.

Now, looking for Manuel was a bit difficult. I tried searching with various things such as name, location, age, sex, etc. Finally I found a "Manolo" Correa Rivera living in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico who I'm pretty sure is my great grandfather. A lot of the information matches with what I know or have about him.

His race was 'colored', he was born about 1920, it says his residence in 1935 was Ponce which is interesting because in my grandfather's birth certificate he mentions Ponce and so does my grandfather whenever I talk to him about his father. So maybe he lived there for a while and considers that home? I have to look into that more! What kind of sealed the deal for me was that his profession was a chauffeur to the family he lived with. Now, how many Manuel Correa Riveras can be living in San Juan, Puerto Rico born abt 1920 of color with the profession of chauffeur? To me, there are too many coincidences for it NOT to be him!

Manuel Correa Rivera living with Luis Sanchez Vahamonde in San Juan, 1940. 

I just really hope that this is the same person I've been trying to track down for about a little over a year now! Too many pieces fit together into this puzzle for it not to be him, even despite having the name "Manolo" which after I looked up is a nickname for Manuel so easily the family could have referred to him as Manolo. So far this is the only person that matches the search and so I hope that everything is correct!

If only there was someone who knew either my great grandfather or even Luis Sanchez Vahamonde which whom Manuel lived with! I guess I have to keep searching for the remaining pieces of this puzzle!