A Puerto Rican Look at: Y-DNA67 (Avilés/Magraner)

***Si eres descendiente de los Magraner de Sóller, Mallorca, especialmente a través de Damián Magraner Morell o uno de sus hermanos, me gustaría hablar con usted para ver si podemos establecer una conexión genética. Puedes dejar un comentario aquí en este blog para contactarte conmigo. ¡Muchísimas gracias!***

While in Puerto Rico for Spring Break, one of my goals was to test various family members through various companies. Since I don't have easy access to men who carry Avilés and Correa Y-DNA like I do the Rivera line (myself being a carrier of this Y-DNA group) since those members live in Puerto Rico, I decided I would focus on getting a male cousin from my Avilés family and my Correa grandfather to test. I decided to buy two Y-DNA67 exams for them from FTDNA. Recently, they had a DNA day sale and I decided to myself a Y-DNA111 exam to test my Rivera branch as well. So those are boxes I can check off on my genealogical goals for 2019! This blog will focus solely on my Avilés Y-DNA results.

Buying a FTDNA Y-DNA test is not cheap! I would recommend to get these tests if you are an experienced genealogist interested in learning more about your Y-DNA group or an amateur genealogist trying to crack a wall in your direct paternal family. I have been fortunate to test various branches and I have done so for genealogical purposes such as: Establishing whether I have an African or European Guadeloupean Y-DNA group (Charles family), potential Jewish/Arab Y-DNA group (Correa family), Mallorcan connection to the Magraner family (Avilés family), and trying to establish a stronger connection for a relatively uncommon haplogroup (Rivera family). 

Family Tree DNA Home Page [FTDNA]

Background

For anyone that has been following my blog (thank you kindly!), you have probably seen the surnames Avilés and Magraner various times throughout many old posts. My trying to solve this family's mystery dates back to the beginning of my blog in 2011, wondering about my 2nd great-grandfather's origins. I spent time researching and writing about José Avilés Magraner in 2014 for the 52 Ancestors Challenge. I learned the name of my potential 3rd great-grandfather, Damián Magraner Morell, and traveled to Sóller, Mallorca a year later in 2015, his hometown, to learn more about the man who made his way to Río Prieto, Lares, Puerto Rico. The closest I've gotten to confirming this on paper has been José's brother Lorenzo Avilés who mentions Damián Magraner  on his Social Security Application as his father. I stepped on Lares land for the first time in many years in 2017 but didn't make it up to Río Prieto. This year though I did! 

Also, having a DNA match with a fellow genealogist with a grandmother  from Sóller, Mallorca through various family members connected to the Avilés family helped me to help prove that genetically there is something there! 

Collecting DNA

With my grandmother and great-aunts in tow we headed over to Río Prieto by car, my great-aunt wasn't too comfortable driving up the steep and narrow roads so I took charge of getting us there. The ride ended up not being too bad and I got to visit a few members connected to my paternal grandmother and great grandmother, I was introduced to the family as "el nieto de Carmen" (the grandson of Carmen) since they had never met me before and my dad spent his childhood between San Juan and New York and not in the mountain town of Lares. The ride over was amazing and here are some photos of getting to and being in Lares, it was amazing to see the land transform as we made our way up the mountain! 

Driving up the mountain [Personal Photo]

Nature at its best! [Personal Photo]

The view from my cousin's land [Personal Photo]

The "two way road" near my cousin's land [Personal Photo]

Our first stop was the house of my 1st cousin 2x removed. After seeing his land, talking about the effects of Hurricane María, and being gifted many fruits, I gathered up the courage to ask if he was willing to take two DNA tests for me. I was a bit scared he would say "no" for fear of not knowing what the test would do, but he was very willing to help out. I collected his DNA, wrote down some important information, and when we got back to San Juan mailed off the DNA test. 

My reason to test this line was because I wanted to know where in the world it was connected to and whether or not it could prove that my family was related to the Magraner family. The test results came back pretty quickly and so I took a look at them!

Interpreting results

Magraner Haplogroup? [Personal Photo]

Getting a Y-DNA67 gave me basic results, in the sense that R-M269 is a fairly common group and doesn't give too many specifics into the smaller, more recent branches of this Y-DNA branch. My next step would be to upgrade the test to get more detailed results and potentially make more educated results of my connection in R-M269. Under matches, I currently have 2 matches at the Y-DNA67 level but at a genetic distance of 5 and 7, this would mean that our connection is much farther back in history versus having a genetic distance with a smaller number which would mean having a closer relationship in generations. My genetic cousin at the "genetic distance 5" reached out to me and we quickly chatted and noticed our relation was too far to discover at the moment but interestingly noticed that our surnames both had to deal with fruits - Magraner being a surname connected to the pomegranate tree! Lowering my markers to 37 for example gives me more matches but again, at a pretty far distance. The cousins seem to be wide spread across various countries in Europe, I do have some matches from Puerto Rico but they are at Y-DNA12 which is fairly distant as well. As you can see below my Y-DNA67 match has recent roots in the US but he said his family has older roots in southern France.

Y-DNA67 Match [Personal Photo]

My goal is that by hopefully writing about this branch and taking a Y-DNA test I'll be able to confirm my connection to the Magraner family of Sóller, Mallorca. If you descend from this branch, I'd love to chat and see if we can figure out our potential connection!

Conclusion

Though in a sense my results were "inconclusive", there still is hope! Y-DNA usually takes longer from what I know to establish stronger connections because it's such a specific group that is being tested versus for example autosomal DNA. 23andme has given me a bit of a deeper glance into the R-M269 group and hopefully as I upgrade to Y-DNA111, I will have stronger/clearer results and hopefully a Magraner descendant tests as well. This will in turn allow me to make a genetically educated guess about my Avilés family and whether our roots really are in Mallorca. 

Haplogroup R-Z209 [Personal Photo]

Here's to hopefully solving a 128 year mystery in the making! 

Sóller, Mallorca [Google Images]

Travel Tuesday – Sóller, Mallorca

This post will be about my visit to the island of Mallorca, specifically about the town of Sóller, where the Magraner family originally came from before arriving to Río Prieto, Lares, Puerto Rico. I came to Sóller to learn more about Damián Magraner Morell and his life before and after Puerto Rico. I believe that Damián is possibly my 3rd great grandfather on my paternal side of the family.

I headed to Sóller from Palma on the touristic train hoping to catch some views of the island as I headed to the northern town of Sóller. Every time I visit a town where my ancestors lived there's a weird feeling of euphoria. Not only because I am visiting a new place, but because of this deeper connection with the town. Knowing that an ancestor lived their lives in a certain town, gives new meaning and appreciation to being able to travel there. One of my first views as I stepped off the train and towards the main square was the church of Sant Bartomeu, where Damián would have been baptized circa 1846.

Iglesia de Sant Bartomeu [Personal Photo]

While in Sóller I was able to learn more about Damián's life; he served as mayor for two years in the mid-1880s and was able to learn that he passed away in 1910. I was fortunate to see the "padrones" showing him and his family in Sóller. Since two of his sons traveled to Puerto Rico in 1911, they listed their mother's address in Sóller allowing me to easily find them listed by their address. Also, since the address still exists I was able to visit the street and the houses they would have lived in. I was told the addresses could have moved up or down one house since 1910, but generally they were in that same vicinity. Here is a picture below of the house(s) which were listed in Damián's death certificate where they would have been living since about 1880. I asked in the supermarket across the street if there was a Magraner family here in these houses but I was told the houses were currently being rented out.

Calle Sant Jaume [Personal Photo]

I also headed to the cemetery in search of Damián's tomb since the archives don't have him listed, most of their records start after his death and so there is no evidence of where exactly he would be buried though he is buried there. I walked around the cemetery looking for any Damiáns or Magraner tombs and I couldn't find many that really that tied into my family. I was, however, lucky to find the tomb of a Nicólas Magraner Morell, most likely the brother of Damián. Unfortunately, it doesn't list who else from his family is buried in the plot but it was nice to see at least one person's tomb. Here are pictures of the view as I walked up towards the cemetery (absolutely amazing!) and a picture of the tomb itself. 

View near the cemetery [Personal Photo]

Tomb of Nicólas Magraner Morell [Personal Photo]

Conclusions

Even though I learned a lot more about Damián, his family, and his life in Sóller I am still unsure of his connection and whether or not he is my third great grandfather. Damián spent some time coming back and forth between Puerto Rico and Sóller and so knowing whether or not he was officially in Puerto Rico to be José's and Lorenzo's father is a bit difficult. He was listed as living in Puerto Rico around 1887, but there is no proof (that I know of) that he was there in the years of 1891 and 1894. We do know that Damián would eventually return to Sóller, helping the town during the time of the Spanish-American War. In Palma, I tried to retrieve Damián's last testament/will to see if there was any mention of land being given to a José Avilés, but unfortunately I would have to prove my connection to Damián via a paper trail in order to see his will. Which, as we know, would be impossible since I am basing this on family lore, information from census records, and coincidences (which don't sound like too much to rely on really!)

Recently, while looking at the 1910 and 1920 census records and José Avilés' WWI Registration Card I was able to finally figure out who the "Ramón Magraner" on his WWI card was! It seems that there was a mistake on various WWI cards for a "Ramón/Raimundo Rullán Pons", who was the administrator of a coffee farm. Ramón Rullán Pons was living with Damián in the late 1880s and it is highly likely that he was working on the Hacienda Margarita de Magraner, which belonged to the Magraner Morell siblings -- Damián being one of them. So we know that José and Lorenzo did work on Damián's lands before owning their own; which helps to establish a connection between both families. 

While I was in Sóller, I began to think a bit more of Damián and the probabilities of him being my 3rd great-grandfather. It seems that Damián held some sort of status in Sóller: he helped build the Banc de Sóller, was mayor for 2 years, and probably held other positions before his death. If Damián truly was the father of José and Lorenzo, I think there were little odds back then for him to recognize his illegitimate children. Imagine a man of status and married, accepting these two children as his own -- there would have been much stir in Lares, Puerto Rico and Sóller, Mallorca about his relationship with a Puerto Rican woman and would have probably been scandalous. As we know, many of our ancestors did things that either were unearthed then or are being unearthed now by us genealogists. If I were able to establish a firm connection to Damián I really don't know how the Magraner family would react to this. Did the family know about it? Could the descendants already be informed about potential Puerto Rican cousins? Hopefully I'll be able to answer these questions one day and the million others surrounding my ancestors! 

I hope to return to Sóller one day and do more research. I would love to visit during the summer and stay a month to learn and research more about the Magraner family. Hopefully I'll able able to find some descendants of Damián and see my theory proven or disproven, and I'm really hoping for the former! 

A Visit to the AGPR (Archivo General de Puerto Rico)

So while I was in Puerto Rico I decided to visit the AGPR which is known to have records. I knew that the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña was located near El Morro and in Old San Juan so I headed there first thinking that was where the AGPR was but I was wrong and so had to head to its actual location which is across the street from the Luis Muñoz Rivera park.

You have to sign in when you go in and to your left is the AGPR. Truth be told, I wasn't too happy with the way the guy treated me. I went in and asked if there were any records available for me to use in order to work with for my family tree. He responded in a snotty manner that I needed to first start with my grandparents and work my way back. Okay, I understand what he means, but at the same time how many random people know about this place that haven't actually already started doing some sort of genealogical research? Also, I'm only 21 so I understand if they don't get too many people my age asking for old records. I told him that I had most of branches to the 1800s and he then asked me what towns I had family in. From all the towns I gave him there were only two which had records which were Lares and Utuado; I listed about 10 different towns and I was surprised they only had records for two of them.

I decided to order records from Lares since I knew my great great grandfather was born there and I still have distant family there, which I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. I ordered three different cajas (boxes) which is the maximum you can order and was told to come back the following Thursday. When I came back the next week I was both surprised and upset/shocked. I ordered different records ranging from Population Census in Lares to records of who had what farms, lands, etc. I was excited to touch old records but I was upset at the condition of the records. You are not required to put on gloves and some records are falling apart- have they even microfilmed these records?!?

Going in I was looking specifically for two last names: Avilés and Magraner. I knew that my Avilés line lived in Rio Prieto in Lares where my great great grandfather José Avilés was born while the Magraner name is believed to be surname of José Avilés' father. Since José was born out of wedlock he carries his mother's name. I searched the records for any hint of these families living in Rio Prieto, Lares; I kind of regret not looking at the other barrios but since my great great grandfather was born and lived in Rio Prieto his whole life I didn't want to waste time searching in other places. Sadly, I didn't come across ANY Avilés person in Rio Prieto on neither the 1897 Population Census or property records which was upsetting because where in the world did they go?!? José would be around 6 years old at the time the population census was taken and so he couldn't go wandering off alone. But this isn't the first time I've come across a Houdini act by the Avilés family, for some reason I can't find them in the 1910 Census either! Which is extremely weird because in 1911 José Avilés married my great great grandmother Dionisia Gonzalez. 


However, I was able to find a Magraner living in Rio Prieto. I don't know if this IS my 3rd great grandfather but it could be possible. This Magraner was born in Spain, moved to Puerto Rico and lived in Lares (which all fit the tale my family tells). This man's name is Damian Magraner Morey and was born in Sóller, Mallorca about 1847 and immigrated to Puerto Rico at about the age of 26. He appears as a resident owning a farm and living with other Spaniards who seem to work on his farm. The only thing is that Damian appears to be 'married' on the Census, so where is his family? Could his family be my Avilés family or was his wife waiting back in Spain?

I googled for this Magraner and found a Damià Magraner Morell from Sóller as well and this could easily be the same man since Morey/Morell are very similar just an orthographic difference and my guess is Damià is the Catalan version of Damian. It seems that by the following year in 1898 Damian had returned to Sóller, Mallorca and from the records I've found and from what I can make out from Catalan he assumed some position at a company. For example: 

"Damià Magraner Morell i Guillem Colom Rullan han estat elegits vocals de la junta del Banc de Sóller que, en el darrer any ha tingut uns beneficis de 78.423’04 pts. Ramon Marquès és el nou president."  

"Damià Magraner Morell ha estat nomenat president de la fàbrica de teixits La Solidez en el lloc del recentment desaparegut Pere J. Coll."

While a article written titled "Una Emigració Forçada: la Participació dels Sollerics a la Guerres de Cuba, Puerto Rico i Filipines (1895-1898) i els seus efectes a Sóller" stated that Damià Magraner Morell was a 'tinent de batle' a deputy mayor. So maybe this could be my 3rd great grandfather; part of the tale in my family is that he had come to Puerto Rico because of the Spanish-American War but maybe it was that he had returned to Mallorca to help the Spaniards fight the war. He never appears on any of the census records and neither in the death records of Lares. I have to read the entire article and look for more information on this man to see what I can come up with- I'm surprised that I'm pretty much able to read Catalan since it's a mix of French and Spanish I can understand about a good 85-90% of it.

The only way to be 100% of this Magraner connection would be to find a male descendant from José Avilés and test them for Y-DNA that would match the Magraners from Mallorca. But until then I can only hope this is the actual father, we'll just have to wait and see. 


Here are some of the records I found for Damian Magraner Morey (Morell):

Magraner in Rio Prieto, Lares claiming his home

No. 21 Damian Magraner claiming his land in Rio Prieto, Lares

Damian Magraner in the 1897 Census w/ other Spaniards