A Puerto Rican Look at: Y-DNA111 (Correa)

Like my Avilés/Magraner line, I tested my Correa Y-DNA line while I was in Puerto Rico, this time with my maternal grandfather. Though I originally tested this line at Y-DNA67, I have upgraded the line to Y-DNA111 on FTDNA and with the recent Thanksgiving sales I have finally upgraded the line to Big-Y 700. The results will take a while to upload, especially with what I can only imagine are a bunch of people taking advantage of the sale. So I figured I would write about what I know at this level and see what else comes from the upgrade.

CORREA - SURNAME ORIGINS 

Though I have posted about the Correa surname before (post here and here). I'd figure I cover this quickly again to tie it into the genetic understanding of this line. The Correa surname comes to me via my mother and her father, and from there runs via the paternal line up to the 1700s. This is what the paper trail has shown me at least, remember that there is always the possibility of a NPE (Non-Paternity Event) which are usually not traced on paper. Below you can see me, Luis, at the bottom and my line all the way until my 6th great-grandfather Juan Francisco Correa (I have blurred of people who are still alive).

9 Generations of Correa [Personal Photo]

In an ideal genealogical world, this would mean that my Correa cousins and any other male Correa tied to this line would all descend genetically via their Y-DNA from this same man. Matching other Correa men would help attest to this, but unfortunately so far there haven't been other men in my family or relatives that I know who have tested. Y-DNA testing (and rightfully so due to its cost) is something more serious geneticists/genealogists use to trace lines that either ran dry via paper-trail, experienced traumatic events such as slavery, the holocaust, wars that disconnected them from information, and/or was adopted and not sure of their origins. I personally have not tested all of my Y-DNA possible lines, especially since I would have to find distant males cousins to test for lines that have "daughtered out". So far, I have tested my own Rivera line (since I wanted to know more about it since it's a common surname), my maternal Avilés line (said to be tied to Mallorca via a NPE), the Charles line (arrived to Puerto Rico from Guadeloupe and was previously enslaved), and my Correa line (surname interest/since the paper trail ran out). 

When I mean surname interest, I have always been interested in this name for two reasons. 1) It's not that common of a surname in Puerto Rico, though there is always the mention of Capitán Antonio de los Reyes Correa it's not a surname I often hear when I meet other Puerto Ricans, and 2) I have always heard that the surname is tied to Sephardic Jewish origins in Spain. 

The surname for example appears in Amsterdam via Isabel (Rebecca) Correa, a famous Dutch Sephardic poetess who was born in Portugal.

Isabel (Rebecca) de Correa [Jewish Virtual Library]

It has also appeared amongst those tried for "judaizantes" ("Judaizers") during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. A quick search of Correa + Inquisición gave me various hits. 

Tribunal de la Inquisición en Llerena [PARES]

Tribunal de la Inquisición en Llerena [PARES]

Does this mean that my own Correa family were Jewish as well? Not necessarily but the genetic information is interesting to add. Let's see what my grandfather's genes say about this line!

CORREA - GENETIC ORIGINS

When I got the autosomal and haplogroup results for grandfather on 23andme, I was very interested since it seems that his haplogroup isn't that common amongst men in their database/that have tested. So I wanted to see what it would be like in FTDNA.

FTDNA Landing Page [FTDNA/Personal Photo]

My grandfather's haplogroup is current listed as "J-Z18271", this name is expected to change once I get my Big-Y700 results - expected to arrive sometime in February. Below you can see where this specific SNP (Z18271) has been found in Europe. This specific branch can be found in various parts of the world, but it's interesting to note that it's mainly found amongst Eastern European countries. This is a very different result than expecting to find many "genetic cousins" scattered amongst the Iberian Peninsula and other parts of western Europe.

SNP MAP [FTDNA/Personal Photo]

CORREA - HAPLOGROUP ASSIGNMENT

The main haplogroup my grandfather belongs to is "J" which you can see how it got into Europe below. Further below is an image of my specific haplogroup for my grandfather as well, currently at Y-DNA111.

Migration Map [FTDNA]

Correa Haplogroup [FTDNA/Personal Photo]

This group has its origins mainly in the Middle East amongst the Arab and Jewish populations. This was interesting to me taking into consideration the Sephardic Jewish theory of this surname. Remember that genetics predate current religious, political, geographic divides. It is possible that somehow my Correa family was a part of the Arab/Morsico or Jewish/Sefardí population in Spanish which was later pushed out during the reconquista. It made it's way into Puerto Rico where it has been present for the last 300 years.

Some research places the haplogroup amongst the "Kohanim" or Cohen branch of Jews, which is the "priest" class. If this is the case for my family, this would obviously be very far back and probably not in recent times, though it would be very interesting nonetheless! My family has likely been Christian/Catholic for at least the last 300 years while in Puerto Rico. Since I haven't been able to trace them off the island yet, I am not sure what their history and religious practices were before arriving to Puerto Rico.

J-Z18271 Branch [GenoGenea]

GENETIC MATCHES

Currently, I have one match from the entire database of FTDNA for my Correa Y-DNA111 test, and it's a genetic cousin who shares another line with me, so it was interesting seeing him match me on the Y-DNA level on another completely different line as well. As you can see the surname for his earliest ancestor is not "Correa", if not "Santiago". So somewhere along our lines there was a NPE, we're not sure who's line it comes from but we're thinking it might be his. Currently, this cousin is tested at Y-DNA37 so their haplogroup isn't as specific as mine. The genetic distance is 3 meaning that our relationship is further back in generations, but I'm not sure if this distance "closes" once they upgrade their Y-DNA test.

Y-DNA Match [FTDNA/Personal Photo]

CONCLUSIONS

I'm hoping that upgrading the test will give some more insight into whether it's more likely to be Arab or Jewish in origin. I have been in contact with some of the administrators of the FTDNA project I am a part of via my results in the J haplogroup. They are also interested to see what comes out of this result since I don't match many other people. This is very fascinating for me and definitely something I am learning along the way with. I'm not super well-versed in Y-DNA analysis so learning via my multiple accounts has been pretty helpful! Hoping my results come faster than I expect!

ARE YOU A CORREA FROM PUERTO RICO? 

HAVE YOU TAKEN A Y-DNA TEST? 

The Strange Case of the Carcaño Branch

About 7 years ago, I had discovered the names of my 5th great-grandparents and those of their parents in their marriage record in the year 1819. José de León Correa Carcaño, son of Juan Francisco Correa and María Eugenia Carcaño, said to be natives of San Juan and María de la Cruz Rodríguez Ruiz, daughter of Sebastián Rodríguez and María de Gracia Ruiz, natives of Coamo.

Out of these four lines - Correa, Carcaño, Rodríguez, and Ruiz, I have only been able to discover more information about only a few. Here are some links to previous posts on my blog about these lines.

Correa- Summarizing my research about my family, though I am currently stuck.
Rodríguez- Writing about my 6th Great-Grandfather during the 52 Ancestor Challenge.
Manuel Ruiz- Discovering that my 7th Great-Grandfather was a pardo slave in Coamo.

The Carcaño line (as well as the Correa line) has been extremely difficult to trace. So I wanted to focus a bit on what I know on the Carcaño and some theories in hopes of being able to discover more about my 6th great-grandmother.

CARCAÑO AS A SURNAME

Besides seeing the surname Carcaño in the marriage record of my 5th great-grandparents, it has not been a surname I often see in my genealogical searches. So first, I wanted to research the surname itself outside of Puerto Rico. I wanted to know how popular the surname might be in Spain. I have mentioned the use of the INE before (Intituto Nacional Estadística) and it is one of the main ways I check how or where a surname could have arrived to Puerto Rico from within Spain. Searching "Carcaño" didn't give me many hits, as you can see below the surname is used only by 100+ people and limited to a few regions in Spain. You can see that Cádiz and Alicante seem to be the "highest" concentration of Carcaño surnamed people in Spain and it makes a few appearances in Madrid and Barcelona. Since the surname is so limited, I would imagine these separate family branches are tied to each whether distantly or more closely related.

The version "Carcano" shows only about 20 people in Madrid using this variation, by the way! 

Carcaño Surname Map [INE]

CARCAÑO... ¿GENOVÉS?

My searching on the internet brought me to an article from Torrevieja that mentions a family reunion of the Carcaño branch bringing together about 150 family members. It also states that the family came to Spain from Genova, Italy around 1810 probably fleeing the siege of Napoleon, the first registered Carcaño in Torrevieja occurred in 1820.

Carcaño Family Reunion [DiarioInformación]

This would lead me to believe that the Carcaño family entered through Alicante (the region where Torrevieja is located) and from there the family spread to other regions. Could this mean that the surname has its origins in Italian rather than Spanish? It would explain why it isn't as commonly found in Spain and why it's harder to find in Puerto Rico as well.

CARCAÑOS IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

My search for María Eugenia Carcaño took me to the San Juan church records in the early 1700s. So far, I have yet to find a marriage record for María Eugenia Carcaño and her husband Juan Francisco Correa, but I did run into another Carcaño branch which was interesting to find. Since I have no idea how, if at all, this branch is tied to me I decided to build out a tree and see what I could find on them. Even if they aren't related to me I hope that my research benefits another Carcaño family.

The first Carcaño branch I found was a marriage record for a Manuela Carcaño to a Juan Ferregut in the San Juan church records in the year 1777. Below you can see a snippet of the wedding record, stating that Juan Ferregut was from Pa[r]ma (Palma), Mallorca, the legitimate son of Guillermo Ferregut and Catalina Villa and Manuela Carcaño, a resident of this city [San Juan], the daughter of Josef Carcaño and Manuela Polanco, she deceased.

Manuela Carcaño, San Juan, Marriage, 1777 [FamilySearch]

Since José de León Correa was said to have been born in the 1790s in San Juan, I figured that Manuela could easily be a sister to María Eugenia, as their ages were probably in the same ballpark range. So I wanted to discover more about José Carcaño and Manuela Polanco, who were they and could they have been my 7th great-grandparents? 

I was able to find that Manuela was baptized as Manuela de los Reyes, daughter of José Carcaño and Manuela Polanco, parda in January 1764. Manuela was baptized in the book of blancos but as you can see her mother was listed as parda. This was important to note for me because my María Eugenia Carcaño is listed with her husband to be pardos libres in the records of Coamo. This type of evidence becomes important when trying to track family members across various towns and different race books of church baptisms and marriages. 

Manuela Carcaño, San Juan, Baptism, 1764 [FamilySearch]

Something extremely odd here is the math! If Manuela would have been born in 1764 and married in 1777, this would mean that she was only 13 years old when she married! Her marriage record does not mention her actual age or her needing permission from her father to get married. I have also yet to find another baptism for another Manuela Carcaño, so it is possible that the age was fudged either on the baptism or marriage. I'm not sure how common it was for girls to marry this young in the 1700s, I do however have a case of one of my 2nd great-grandmothers marrying at the age of 15 (based off her baptism and marriage records) in 1906, so it's very possible that was common amongst certain families for status reasons.

Having Manuela's baptism in 1764 gave me a starting point to check for marriage records for José Carcaño and Manuela Polanco... ultimately anytime before that year. Lucky for me, they would have married a year before that in 1763 in San Juan! 

José Carcaño + Manuela Polanco, San Juan, Marriage, 1763 [FamilySearch]

José Carcaño was said to be a native of Genova, from the Spanish kingdom, the son of De[c]iderio and Francisca Carcaño, Manuela Polanco was a native of this city [San Juan] and the daughter of Alonso Polanco and María del Rosario, she was deceased. It's interesting to see that José Carcaño is also tied to the community of Carcaños in Genova! It seems that for a while the Republic of Genoa aligned itself with the Spanish Empire to help in the decline it was experiencing, which is probably why in Puerto Rico it was mentioned as a part of the Spanish Kingdom.

José's wife, Manuela Polanco would pass away in May 1768 in San Juan and left behind a will. Before passing she had given birth to a girl named Isidora that same month who unfortunately passed two months later in July 1768. I'm not sure if that will would still be available in San Juan, if so, it might contain a clue to who were Manuela's children and whether a María Eugenia was one of them. 

José would go on to remarry in Bayamón in 1776 to a María del Carmen García Manzano. It is also possible that María Eugenia could have been one of the first daughters to this couple, except this is where the trail runs cold. 

I have no further information about José Carcaño and where he passed away, whether in San Juan or Bayamón. 

CARCAÑOS IN RÍO PIEDRAS, PUERTO RICO

While on a visit to San Juan last March I visited the Archivo Diocesano in San Juan to look for marriage dispensations. In talking to Elyse who runs the archivo, I asked about other documents in San Juan and the surrounding area for the 1700s. She showed me a couple of indexed books of San Juan and Río Piedras, in them I searched for any people surnamed Correa or Carcaño. 

In one of the entries, I came across a Nicolás Carcaño, illegitimate son of Eugenia Carcaño. I was surprised to see the name, I jotted it down and when I got home I did some more searching. Could this be my 6th great-grandmother?!

Nicolás Carcaño, native son of Eugenia married in October 1790 in Río Piedras to a María Joaquina, native daughter of María Tomasa. It lists them as morenos libres in the record, which again is interesting to note, as you saw above for Manuela Carcaño, she was baptized in the white books but had a parda mother. 

Nicolás Carcaño, Río Piedras, Marriage, 1790 [FamilySearch]

Nicolás would have been born in the 1770s, though a bit older than José de León, this wouldn't be completely impossible for him to be a brother. The interesting thing here though is that no father is listed for Nicolás meaning he would have been a "Carcaño" and not a "Correa Carcaño". Still, I figured it was worth an investigation.

Searching for death records of Eugenia Carcaño in Río Piedras I came across various death records for Nicolás' children: Lucas (1798), Gabriela (1798), Cipriana (1799), and María (1800), all passing away as párvulos (infants) - all children born shortly after their marriage but unfortunately who didn't live long into adulthood. Continuing my search higher in the years, I was able to find a death record for an Eugenia Carcaño. 

Eugenia Carcaño, Río Piedras, Death, 1803 [FamilySearch]

Here you can see a Eugenia Carcaño, resident of Río Piedras, married to "José", black, slave of José María Ruiz, she died in April of 1803. Though I was hopeful at first, a few things don't match with my 6th great-grandmother. The husband's name for example was different and neither Juan Francisco Correa or Eugenia Carcaño showed up as enslaved or moreno libre in Coamo. Could she have remarried? Possible. Could she have been moreno libre in Río Piedras and her son listed as pardo libre in Coamo. Also possible.

But there is another piece of evidence that might help us explain why she might not be my Eugenia Carcaño. When José de León Correa, her son, marries in 1809, it does not list her as "deceased". Other marriage records in that year show spouse's parents as difunto/a but Eugenia and Juan Francisco are not listed as that. Which would lead us to believe that she was still alive past 1803. Could this be an error? Possibly. But I'm hoping that José de León knew the status of the life of his parents' when he married and thus giving us hope that Eugenia Carcaño is still out there in the records... yet to be discovered. 

CARCAÑOS IN LOÍZA, PUERTO RICO

My final search was in Loíza, Puerto Rico, and there I was able to find a few more Carcaños. None of them matched the names I have in Coamo but it was interesting to find the surname there and see where they were placed in the different racial categories. Here are some examples below: 

José Carcaño, moreno libro, 1793 [FamilySearch]

Paula Carcaño, Pardo Libre, 1794 [FamilySearch]

First Twin of José Carcaño, Moreno Libre, 1795 [FamilySearch]

Second Twin of José Carcaño, Moreno Libre, 1795 [FamilySearch]

Felipa Carcaño, Parda Libre, 1795 [FamilySearch]

CONCLUSIONS

Honestly, I'm not sure that I have any, the only thing I have found is that in Puerto Rico there existed white, pardo, and moreno Carcaños across San Juan, Río Piedras, and Loíza. One branch came from Italy and might have ties to a current branch living in Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain with similar roots in Genova. A death record in 1803 for an Eugenia Carcaño was found in Río Piedras, but based off José de León's marriage record she doesn't match since my 6th great-grandmother wasn't said to be deceased when he married in 1809. 

I'm not sure, however, if there was ever a Carcaño slave owner. All the Carcaños I seem to find are all moreno libre/pardo libre and I have yet to find an esclavo de ______ Carcaño. I am not sure what this says about the white Carcaños as well. But at some point the morenos libres would have been freed from a white Carcaño owner or chose that surname (for whatever reason). 

I am hopeful that one day I'll be able to fully unravel this Carcaño mystery. Luckily for me, the surname is still pretty rare, meaning that when I come across it my eyes catch it automatically, unlike coming across more common surnames such as Martínez, Rivera, etc. I'll have to extend my search to other towns nearby and continue to track down the Carcaño branch located in San Juan and see where that trail ends. The question also still begs: where the heck is my Correa branch as well?!

Are you a Carcaño from Puerto Rico? 

Any ties to Juan Francisco Correa & María Eugenia Carcaño? 

At a Complete and Utter Standstill...

In the last couple of weeks, I've taken another stab at researching my Correa side of the family but as the title suggests I am going nowhere! Though I haven't be able to move much further into the family tree, I've decided to post about them and what I do know about the family and hopefully get some clarity or ideas for new places to search.

Salinas

Back in 2015 I visited Salinas, Puerto Rico. Here I was able to meet some cousins who were Correa distant cousins as well and was able to chat with them about our history. Since this is the more recent town in our family's history finding baptism, marriage, and death records has been fairly easy. My great-grandfather was born there in 1920 along with my 2nd great-grandfather born there in 1895. My 3rd great-grandfather Manuel Correa Ortiz, was either born in Salinas or Coamo, I have yet to find a baptism record for him. His siblings born before and after him are registered in the baptismal books of Salinas yet my Manuel is estimated to have been born around 1858 and he doesn't appear in the 1st baptismal book of Salinas which covers the years 1854-1867. Maybe he's a bit older than I expected or maybe he was actually born in Coamo?

Coamo

My 4th great-grandparents married in Coamo in 1850, They were Juan (Nepomucino) Correa and Bibiana Ortiz. They're both listed as "pardos libres" and being natives of that town. Their parents are listed as José León Correa and María de la Cruz Rodríguez for Juan Correa and Antonia Ortiz for Bibiana Ortiz. It is possible that the first children from this relationship were baptized in Coamo and honestly I'm not sure if I've ever checked the first years after their marriage to see if any children were born in Coamo. However, by 1854 they had registered their daughter María Asunción Correa Ortiz.

A quick look at the baptismal book of Coamo between 1851-1855 show no "Correa" children indexed at the end of the book.

Marriage Nº 193- Juan Correa & Bibiana Ortiz [FamilySearch]

Moving up to my 5th great-grandfather José de León Correa, he married twice in Coamo - once in 1809 to Rosa Ortiz and a second time in 1819 to my 5th great-grandmother María de la Cruz Rodríguez Ruiz. In his first marriage in 1809 it seems that the church in San Juan was aware of his marriage seeing as how it mentions ... "Santa Yglesia Catedral de Puerto Rico". It seems that José León Correa had permission or was approved by the church in San Juan to marry and the priest in Coamo was aware of that. No race is mentioned here for them but in other records José León Correa appears as "pardo libre".

Marriage- José León Correa & Rosa Ortiz [FamilySearch]

The question now is: Where in San Juan are they registered?

San Juan

In San Juan for the 1700s there was one church that appears on FamilySearch which is the "Iglesia Católica, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios". What's interesting is that in the notes it states: "La iglesia también se conoce por las denominaciones Catedral de San Juan, Basílica Menor o Sagrario de la Santa Iglesia Catedral" (FamilySearch). Here we see the same terminology of Catedral de San Juan and Santa Iglesia Catedral, so my hunch is that my family should be somewhere within these books.

But unfortunately... I can't find ANYTHING!

I've searched between 1783-1800 in the San Juan pardos baptisms searching for José León Correa. According to the records I have he would have been born around 1790, so technically this range of years should be enough to find him... Nothing!

Next I checked marriages for Juan Francisco Correa and María Eugenia Carcaño - my 6th great-grandparents. I searched the white marriages from 1772-1778, the pardo weddings between May 1797-1818... Nothing! I even checked in Guaynabo which is nearby between Aug. 1771-Dec. 1790 and nothing there as well. I know there is a chunk missing before 1797 in the pardo marriages so it's possible that they're in there somewhere.

I've also checked the confirmations of San Juan between 1792-1808 for any Correa Carcaño children... nothing! Here there are a mix of white, mixed, and slave children so I would technically catch one of their confirmations one way or another, but still no hints of a Juan Francisco Correa or María Eugenia Carcaño.

My last searches were the death records of San Juan, I've searched between 1803-1809, 1820-1834 for my 6th great-grandparents and of course... nothing!

Something I do suggest is keeping track of these searches in the notes of your family tree, I have mine on Ancestry and so I have notes on what and where I have searched. That way I'm not searching in circles for their records, especially when you stop and pick up searching months later.

Notes on José León [Personal Family Tree]

Elsewhere?

It's possible that they were registered somewhere else and that José León Correa really wasn't from San Juan. Usually when someone says they're from another town, jumping into those records I have been able to find them. This is the first time that I'm having such a hard time finding even any hint of them. There are actually very little mentions of "Correa" in San Juan to begin with. Some people have suggested that he might have been from Arecibo where there are a good number of Correas, but seeing as how the records for this town aren't online I haven't been able to search their church records.  Coamo is another town with Correas, but as you can see my family is from there and I have searched those years to no avail.

Conclusions

Really there aren't any! My next guess would be to push back the years and see if possibly José León was born before the 1780s. This would make him a bit older than Rosa Ortiz when they married seeing as how she was born about 1791 but honestly in this time and even recently, men could be older than their wives and no one would blink any eye. Another theory is that they were not consider pardo in San Juan but "mulato" or even "blanco" but I feel that might more of an off theory. Still, it's important to keep an eye open for changing of races across documents which definitely happened back in the days.

Also, I'd have to continue searching in nearby towns for any hints of Juan Francisco Correa and María Eugenia Carcaño. Hoping that sooner rather than later I'm able to crack this wall once again and push these lines further back! 

A Puerto Rican Look at: Colorized Pedigrees!

I've been seeing these style of pedigrees online for a while now and decided I should give it a go! Thanks to Zalewski Family Genealogy blog  I was able to use the template and create my very own pedigree. Because my family has been on the island of Puerto Rico for over 200+ years, I didn't think it would have made sense to create a chart with just the same color over and over again to represent Puerto Rico. With this template I was able to include up to my 3rd great grandparents, which are 32 different ancestors! I was able to include their surnames on the side as well, giving you an idea where my family surnames originate from on the island. It was interesting seeing how diverse my family tree is in terms of locations. If you notice, it was only recently that my family came to the capital of San Juan with 3/4 of my grandparents being born there, though all of them spent their formative years growing up and living there. If you take a further look, my family has been present on the island for those 200+ years in almost all my branches, there is only one ancestor that made the cut for being from another place and that's my 3rd great grandfather from Mallorca, Spain.

I definitely had a lot of fun doing this pedigree and there are so many other styles you could do as well! Though morbid, I'm thinking of creating a pedigree with family deaths to see if there are any recurring patterns and to have an idea of what is potentially passed down in my family. You could also even create a pedigree with signatures of your ancestors! Though I would love to create one, unfortunately most of my ancestors didn't know how to write since they were all farmers and barely attended school past what we know as elementary/middle school.

Colorized Pedigree [Personal Photo]

I'm not sure how common it is to move so much to different cities but if you notice my mother's side of the family, they were notorious for making moves across the island. My father's side on the other hand seems to stick more to certain towns. For example, we have been in the towns of Corozal, Lares, and Toa Alta for many many years on my dad's side of the family. To give you an idea, here's a list of all my family locations which include 20 different locations on the island, those being: 

• Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
• Barranquitas, Puerto Rico
• Corozal, Puerto Rico
• Jayuya, Puerto Rico
• Lares, Puerto Rico
• Maunabo, Puerto Rico
• Manatí, Puerto Rico
• Morovis, Puerto Rico
• Patillas, Puerto Rico
• Quebradillas, Puerto Rico
• Salinas, Puerto Rico
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• San Sebastián, Puerto Rico
• Toa Alta, Puerto Rico
• Utuado, Puerto Rico
• Vega Baja, Puerto Rico
• Vieques, Puerto Rico
• Yabucoa, Puerto Rico
• Yauco, Puerto Rico
• Mallorca, Spain

I recommend any genealogist who enjoys working with their tree to give this a go. It was super easy to create and could make a very cool poster for a wall! You could even include names and dates to give it more importance as well! 

52 Ancestors – #44 Alejandro Rivera González (1883-1958)

So I'm not gonna lie -- this is kind of a cheat post! Before the 52 Ancestor challenge was created I had gone about doing my own little series back in 2012 (has time flown by that fast already?), in which I would focus on ancestors' stories via the records I had of them. I started with Alejandro Rivera González and probably added a few more before I officially decided to go and join the 52 Ancestors Challenge bandwagon. So if you want to read some more about Alejandro's life click here  to see what I already knew about him through the records I had. I'll give a quick overview just in case the other post is too long or not worth reading (don't worry, no judging is happening here!). I want to add more to his story which I'll be doing here by closing any ends of the story which I previously didn't have information for and might have now!

Summary: Alejandro Rivera González was born in Toa Alta in 1883 to his parents Manuel de Jesús Rivera Díaz and Laureana González Mojica. Alejandro would marry three times throughout his life, his last wife being my great grandmother Mercedes Ortiz Marrero. In total, Alejandro would father 16 children in total from his three marriages. He was also a short little fellow of 5'4" :) who could read and write and owned land in Toa Alta before moving to the barrio La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

New Details: 

His first wife's death: With the release of the Puerto Rican Civil Registry on Ancestry.com I have been able to track down certain death certificates extremely quickly or with much more ease than through FamilySearch. Fortunately, I was able to find Brigida Hernández Vélez - Alejandro's first wife's death certificate. Brigida passed away in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico on the 28th of June 1913 to gastroenteritis. This would mean that Alejandro would lose his wife on the 28th of june and his last son Pedro from Brigida on the 16th of July 1913. I imagine this must have been extremely hard on Alejandro, losing his last born child from his first marriage and wife only a month apart.

Alejandro's death: Like the record above, I was FINALLY able to find Alejandro's death certificate by playing around with the settings of the ancestry Puerto Rican Civil Registry search. I was able to find out that Alejandro Rivera González passed away on the 5th of June 1958 in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico. For whatever reason, he was incorrectly written down as "Alejandro Rivera Marrero" even though his mother is correctly listed as "Laureana González". I imagine this was a mistake caused in confusion with the surname of my great grandmother and his wife "Mercedes Marrero". It says he worked in "obras públicas" which I really don't know what that means; he worked in that "field" up until 1951. Interestingly, the person who registered the death of my great grandfather was my own grandfather Felipe Rivera Ortiz who was probably still living with the family when his father passed away. His cause of death is registered as "senility", as well as fallo cardiaco "a heart attack", and derrame cerebral "a stroke". He was buried one day later on the 6th of June 1958 and thanks to my cousin I now know exactly where he is buried. I was very happy to have found his death certificate since it puts a close on his life and what happened to him and when/where he died. It's also interesting to put into perspective that my grandfather lost his dad at 22 which must have been hard on him, his dad was much older than a "typical" dad was in those days in Puerto Rico but still I imagine they had a close connection.

I would love to meet descendants of the siblings of Alejandro and maybe compare photos (if any are available) of them to see how they each inherited genes from their ancestors and how they similar/different. It's so interesting to see that my great grandfather was a pretty short man when I myself measure 6'0". Hopefully one day I'll be able to learn more stories about his family, his parents and maybe even what life was like for them back in Toa Alta and maybe find out what brought him to San Juan after living in Toa Alta for so many years. 

52 Ancestors – #11 José de León Correa Carcaño (1778?-1856)

Today's ancestor is a maternal ancestor who I'm kind of stuck on and would love to learn more about! He is my 5th great grandfather and his name is José de León Correa Carcaño.


This ancestor is the earliest documented "Correa" on my family tree so far. Growing up, I was aware of my Correa family as it would have been my 2nd last name had I been born in Puerto Rico, yet I was unaware of the family's origin. I have written previously about this family and all of the information and even misinformation I had on them. Luckily, I was able to crack my Correa brick wall and learn more about my maternal family.

José de León Correa Carcaño was born about 1778 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to his parents Juan Francisco Correa and María Eugenia Carcaño. As you can see, José was born a long time ago and thus would not appear on any census records. So I must rely on church records in order to find out more about my ancestors. José's son and my 4th great grandfather was named Juan Nepomucino Correa Rodríguez and according to records he was born in Coamo yet he lived and passed away in Salinas, Puerto Rico in 1883 – he is the first generation of Salinas inhabitants of the Correas. As you can see we are dealing now with three different towns: San Juan, Coamo and Salinas. This Correa family moved around pretty quickly, within two generations they had covered three towns and finally settled in Salinas probably around the mid-1800s.

San Juan – Coamo – Salinas [Google Maps]

José de León had two marriages and both occurred in Coamo, PR. I was fortunate and lucky to use the microfilms from Coamo in order to try and find José's marriages. Jose's first marriage in 1809 was to Rosa Ortiz, a illegitimate daughter of Luisa Ortiz, both natives of Coamo. With Rosa, to date, I know that José had four children: Antonio, María, Maximo and Juana. 10 year after his first marriage, José married my 5th great grandmother María de la Cruz Rodríguez Ruiz – they married on the 21st of November in 1819 in Coamo, Puerto Rico. Since they lived in Coamo, they most likely married in the Church of San Blás de Illescas, which began construction in 1661 making it one of the oldest churches on the island.

San Blás de Illescas, Coamo, Puerto Rico [Wikipedia]

I'm not sure however of where or when José de León passed away. It is very possible that José moved to Salinas with his son and died there, but it would have to have happened before 1885 as I've checked the books after that year or possibly José stayed in Coamo and lived out the rest of his life there [UPDATE: I have found José de León Correa's death record in 1856 in Coamo, Puerto Rico]. I also don't know where my 5th great grandmother María de la Cruz passed away. I'll have to order the church records from Salinas and Coamo again to search and see if I can find their death records. María de la Cruz was the daughter of Sebastián Rodríguez Rodríguez and María de Gracia Ruiz Sánchez, and it seems that both her parents and grandparents were from Coamo as well. Coamo was founded in 1579 and who knows how long my family had lived there! Salinas on the other hand wasn't founded until 1851!

Coamo, Puerto Rico [Google]

What's interesting is that my Correa line's Y-DNA is J1/J1e. This group can commonly be found in the Middle Eastern area which to me is super interesting. What's interesting is that Correa is commonly referred to as a Sephardic Jewish surname and there are males with a J1e paternal haplogroup who are Jewish. Could my male ancestor originally have fled Spain during or after the inquisition? Or was he a male that arrived in Spain from Africa via the Muslim Conquest? So far these are two possible theories, until I can truly document my Correa males with a paper trail or take a more in-depth Y-DNA test I'll have to settle for the hypotheses I have so far.

Haplogroup J1 Frequency [Eupedia]

Hopefully, I'll be able to find out who José de León's grandparents were and hopefully get a step closer to learning more about my Correa family origin. I haven't come across too many Correas in my life (besides my family) and/or in my genealogical search so hopefully finding them in documents will be easy peasy! 

52 Ancestors – #10 Hernán Pérez (1508-1581)

Post #10 already!! Today's ancestor I want to focus on I've talked a little bit about but in a different aspect. I've talked about his origins in my post "Travel Tuesday: Oh The Place I'll Go". This post will discuss more about my 11th great grandfather Hernán Pérez.

I would have NEVER imagined that by the age of 23 I would be able to say that I have reached far back to an 11th great grandfather. This, of course, was with the help of genealogists who have come before me and have complied a lot of this information. Hernán Pérez is a paternal ancestor who I connect to via my Sepúlveda line, I imagine I have a good number of distant cousins through Hernán seeing as how he is so far back the lines most extend so much outwards from him. So let's get started talking about Hernán!

Hernán Pérez, 11th great grandfather [Ancestry.com]

Hernán Pérez was born about 1508 in the town of Almonte, Huelva, Andalucía, España. That's roughly 482 years between his birth and mine! Almonte as I mentioned in my Travel Tuesday post is a southern city in Spain located in the Andalucia region. Hernán's parents Alonso de Lepe and Catalina de Pérez were most likely also from Almonte and were born in the 1490s. It's very interesting to think about my family in Spain at this time seeing as how this was when Christopher Columbus was around and Jews/Muslims were being told they had to leave Spain. What's interesting about Hernán's paternal side of the family is that it seems they were explores/conquistadores. His uncle, Hernando de Lepe seems to have arrived in 1513 with his brother Alonso de Lepe (my 12th great grandfather) to Americas. There is another record for a Hernando de Lepe traveling in 1565 to Puerto Rico with his wife Juana Díaz and listed as son of Diego, who is also my 13th great grandfather. Could have Hernando traveled back and forth for a bit before deciding to settle in Puerto Rico? My 12th great grandparents moved to Puerto Rico as well (Alonso de Lepe and Catalina Pérez), but what would have made them come to PR? Easily we can say that Hernán was looking for a better life and a new one but what about Alonso and Catalina? Were they Jews who feared the consequences of being discovered? Or were they simply adventurous and looking for a life away from boring, old Almonte? Hopefully I'll be able to find some information about their voyage here and place it into some historical context.

According to various sources and books, Hernán Pérez lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico and worked as an escribano which could mean notary or scribe. Here is a reference from the book Siglo en Blanco about Hernán Pérez and his arrival to Puerto Rico in 1540. It mentions that by marrying María del Rincón (my 11th great grandmother), Hernán was able to ascend the social ladder quickly seeing as how María's was a part of a influential and old well established family in Puerto Rico.

Siglo en Blanco [Google Books]

According to this book, it also seems that "Hernán Pérez arrived in Puerto Rico to answer a petition placed by his uncle who was also a scribe named Alonso de Molina. It states that the next year Alonso transferred his lucrative business in San Juan to Hernán as well as marrying off his step-daughter María del Rincón to him. According to various witnesses, 'their marriage was one of the richest marriages that there was on the island.' The dowry of his wife was large and included, 'more than 100,000 pesos in hacienda, slaves, estancias, jewelry…" this allowed Pérez to ascend the social ladder quickly". [My translation]

So it seems that Hernán had a lot to look forward to in Puerto Rico, I'm not sure if he was aware that a wife would be included in the offer but he probably certainly knew that a job was ready for him upon his arrival. I have a copy of Siglo en Blanco and definitely plan to read it as it'll give me more details in not only Hernán's life but also Puerto Rican life in those times. Paternally, Hernán came from a very interesting family because like I had mentioned his uncle and grandfather was a traveler and probably conquistador. His grandfather, Diego de Lepe, according to various sources had traveled to Brazil/South American coast between 1499-1500. Is this why Hernán Pérez himself and his parents traveled to Puerto Rico, knowing that there were more opportunities for them abroad than in Spain? 

Hopefully I'll be able to go to Almonte and see the town and hopefully learn more about Hernán Pérez and his family. I'm sure I'm walk by one of that family's descendants, a distant cousin, and have no idea they are related to me. As we probably do every day of our lives (depending on where we live)! 

According to a few sources (which I'm blanking on right now), Hernán Pérez passed away the 27th of December 1581 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His daughter, Ana del Rincón, is my 10th great grandmother and she is who ties into the Sepúlveda family. Ana might have been one of the last children to be born seeing as how her birth year is listed around 1580. 

I hope to learn more about Hernán Pérez, his travels to Puerto Rico, and his life back in Almonte!

52 Ancestors – #5 Manuel Correa Rivera (1920-1993)

Post #5! I'll dedicate this post to a man I knew soooo little about until recently. Literally, growing up I only knew his name and that was about it. Yet now with how much I know about him, I feel a strange connection to this ancestor. I wish I would have meet him, but unfortunately he has passed on and so now I can only carry his stories and listen and learn about the life of my great grandfather, Manuel Correa Rivera.

Manuel Correa Rivera, was actually born as Isidro Correa Rivera in Río Jueyes, Salinas, Puerto Rico. Our family isn't sure why he took on the name Manuel, but that was also his grandfather's name so it could easily have been in his honor or because he looked so much like him. Manuel was the eldest of three children, Manuel was born on the 4th of March 1920, his brother Alejandro on the 17th of March 1923 and his sister Modesta on the 16th of January 1927. Their parents were Julio Correa Gustavo (son of María Paulina Gustavo Lotten) and Julio's wife has gone by the names Amalia Rivera Rodríguez and Amalia Rivera Masantini.

Salinas, Puerto Rico [Google]

Living on the coast and literally by the water meant that being fishermen was probably an accessible business and easy job to get into. My great grandfather never officially worked as a fisherman from what we know but his father Julio certainly did. Odds are Julio's father Manuel Correa was also a fisherman in Salinas. Unfortunately, at the age of nine my great grandfather lost his father Julio to Tuberculosis in 1929. Three years later, Manuel and his siblings would lose their mother to what is known as Pre-eclampsia. Most likely, Amalia was pregnant at the time of her death (In the 1930 Census, she appears living with a Francisco Giraud López who could have been the father of the child). I imagine this was a tough time for Manuel and his siblings, by the age of 13 he had lost both of his parents leaving him, his brother and sister orphaned at a young age.

Luckily, the 1935 Census can tell us where the children were sent to live. Manuel Correa Rivera appears in the 1935 Census living with his aunt Senovia Correa Gustavo and her husband Francisco Alvarado Santiago. Modesta Correa Rivera was also living in this same household. I can't however find Alejandro Correa Rivera anywhere on any of the census records. Could he have passed away as a child? 

By 1940, Manuel is living and working in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the 1930 Census, Manuel had appeared living in San Juan (briefly I guess), with his cousin Celedonio Sécola Correa – son of his paternal aunt Luisa Correa Gustavo. In 1940, Manuel (recorded with his nickname 'Manolo') was living with Luis Sanchez-Vahamonde Oller and his wife Sarah Aparicio on Calle Padre Berrios in San Juan. Luis Sanchez-Vahamonde was working as a lawyer in San Juan and my great grandfather was the family chauffeur. 

Between 1940 and 1944, my great grandfather would meet my great grandmother Ernesta (Ernestina) Miranda Rivera, originally from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Together they had two children, the first my grandfather and the second his little sister who passed away from Meningitis at the age of 5. This picture below was taken sometime between 1944-1950 (my guess probably 1948-49), pictured is my great grandfather in the middle with his two children on his side. When I showed my grandfather is picture, he remembered that they nicknamed his father "Joe Louis" because he looked so much like the boxer. 

Manuel Correa Rivera – Center [Personal Family Photo]

For many years I had known so little, there were rumors that he might have been from Ponce or Guayama, until I finally discovered he was from Salinas. We knew that he worked for the AMA (Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses) company in San Juan and apparently had become one of its first drivers when it first started. Recently, this summer I learned more about my great grandfather from my half great-uncles who were his children from a second marriage. Manuel was apparently a very intelligent man who loved to read the newspaper and complete the crosswords in the back, always finishing them completely. He was apparently very musically talented, he was able to play the guitar, the marímbola and even the accordion. The accordion to me was interesting because it makes me think of French people right away, could he have learned to play from his father when he was young?

I was also told that he loved to speak to foreigners in San Juan when he was driving for the taxi company. Manuel apparently was able to speak four languages: Spanish, English, French and another they couldn't remember. I was floored when I heard he spoke French! Did he inherit French as a language from his father and maybe other family members he lived with when he was younger? Could the fourth language my uncles couldn't remember be Créole?

This small fact drew me closer to my great grandfather, especially being the only one in my family greatly interested in languages. I talked before about genetic memory, could Manuel have passed down a love of languages to me? I had always wanted to learn French and travel to France when I was younger, when I completed my goal it just felt right. Was it encoded in my DNA?

I unfortunately don't know what my great grandfather passed away from but I know he passed away on the 7th of May, 1993. I also don't know where he is buried but I imagine it is somewhere in the San Juan/ Hato Rey area. Hopefully I'll be able to visit his grave someday and pay my respects to him. I would have loved to hear his stories of his childhood in Salinas and find out whether or not French was a household language used between family members. Hopefully there are more stories of him and his family somewhere in Salinas, waiting to be found! 

52 Ancestors – #3 Mercedes Ortiz Marrero (1903-1984)

I want to focus on an ancestor in this post that I've been learning a lot about recently through stories. This ancestor is my great grandmother Mercedes Ortiz Marrero. I unfortunately never got to meet my great grandmother but hearing stories about her has gotten me as close to knowing her as possible.

My father's grandparents growing up were always shrouded in mystery as I had never met any of them. I always would hear that his grandmother, Mercedes lived in Carolina and died the same day as her daughter who they called "Tía Toña". At that point I knew so little, and it wasn't until a death certificate, a blog post, and a visit to a museum began to open up this side of the family like I wouldn't have imagined. 

Mercedes Ortiz Marrero [Personal Family Photo]

My great grandmother, Mercedes Ortiz Marrero, was born in Corozal, Puerto Rico (most likely in the barrio of Palos Blancos) according to her death certificate on the 15th of November 1903. Oddly enough, I haven't been able to find her proper birth record. I do however know that her parents were Martin Ortiz Pérez and Antonia Marrero Marrero, both natives of Corozal, Puerto Rico themselves. Mercedes came from a big family, 12 siblings so far counted (13 including her), and was the first daughter born out of all of her siblings. 

In 1910 and 1920, Mercedes was living with her parents and siblings together in a home Martin owned. In 1910, Martin and Antonia's already 10 year old marriage had produced six children ranging from Martin Jr. (aged 9) to Fermina (aged 1) – both Martin Ortiz and Antonia Marrero could not read or write and Martin was employed as a laborer on a sugarcane farm while Antonia was a domestic housewife. 

In 1920, Mercedes was still living at home with her parents and now seven children household (some might have passed away but four more were born). None of the children were able to read or write and it seems that none attended school either. All were unemployed except Martin who was still employed as a farmer on an agricultural farm. 

In 1922, Mercedes' life would begin to change. During this year, Mercedes would marry Alejandro Rivera González (my direct Rivera ancestor) on the 31st of March. Alejandro had been previously married two other times – his first wife Brigida Hernández Vélez passed away, while his second marriage to Petrona Ortiz Nieves ended in a divorce by the Tribunal District on the 17th of February 1922 (he married pretty fast between his 2nd and 3rd marriage). Both of his previous marriages produced three children from each wife. 

I don't know the story of how Mercedes and Alejandro met but I can make a pretty darn good guess with the 1920 Census – Alejandro's older sister was next door neighbors to my great grandmother! Alejandro lived in Toa Alta, an adjacent town, and probably met Mercedes while visiting his older sister. Below you can see Valentina Rivera González living with her husband right next door to my great grandmother and her parents:

Love at First [next-door] Sight!

I'm not sure if Mercedes moved in with Alejandro or lived with her parents until they found a home but in the 1930 census, Alejandro and Mercedes are shown living in La Perla in San Juan, Puerto Rico. They would live here throughout the 1930, 1935 and 1940 Census. Mercedes had eight children (which includes my grandfather, Felipe Rivera Ortiz) bringing the total of children Alejandro had to 14!

Growing up I only knew two stories of my great grandmother – the first was that she had died the same day as her daughter and the second was that she had worked for the mayor of Puerto Rico, Felisa Rincón de Gautier. Who would have thought that these two stories were actually completely true!? Blogging about the mystery of my great grandmother, I was fortunately blessed with the serendipitous meeting of my cousin, a granddaughter of Mercedes. She was able to confirm that my great grandmother had worked for Felisa Rincón de Gautier (The first female mayor in the Americas might I add!) and had passed away after finding out about the death of her own daughter, Antonia Rivera Ortiz, both on the 1st of December 1984. My great grandmother not only worked for the mayor, but they were great friends. She was devastated when she heard about the death of my great grandmother and couldn't believe that she had not only lost a worker but a dear friend. 

Pictured L-to-R:
Ana Rivera, Mercedes Ortiz, Tomasita Maldonado (back row)
Inocencia "Chencha" Maysonet, Felisa Rincón, "Chita" Maysonet, y Julia Cortijo.
Photo circa 1958
[Personal Family Photo]

While visiting the Felisa Rincón de Gautier museum in San Juan, I was able to meet a lady who remembered my great grandmother fairly well and even remembered that she made the best arroz con dulce and harina de maíz desserts, which she made for parties held in the home of Felisa Rincón. When my aunt Toña bought her home in Carolina, her children wanted her to retire and live with Tía Toña which they did until they both passed away.

I have been fortunate to uncover these stories of my great grandmother, giving me a better picture of the woman she was and the life she lived. I have also been blessed with the meeting of my cousin who was able to supply me with stories and pictures, debts I could never repay to her and her family for being the keepers of these important valuable things. I can only continue to pass along the stories I have been given to the future generations and hopefully my own children. This 52 Ancestors Challenge has really gotten me pumped about documenting the stories that go along with my ancestors, I've been so inspired by the other blogs I have been reading!

Losing a Loved One

A little over a month ago, I received a call from my mom who told me that my great grandfather had passed away. That quickly I had lost the oldest family member from my line, my maternal great grandfather Narciso Meléndez. I was fortunate to have met my great grandfather and visit him in Puerto Rico while I was on vacation many times throughout my life. His lines were some of the more difficult ones to crack and to this day I continue to work on them. Yet, my great grandfather's passing brought along many interesting and new things as well. A picture of his father was found while looking through the home along with other old family pictures; I was also able to visit his grave where his wife my great grandmother is buried and I was able to find out the date when they were married.

My great grandfather was born in Coto, Manatí, Puerto Rico on the 29th of October 1922. I remember while I was growing up my grandmother always said her father never really knew his birthday was but they always celebrated towards the end of October. I was fortunate to find his birth record and confirm that he was actually born on the 29th of October which makes sense since it is the day of Saint Narcissus.

Manatí, Puerto Rico

Even though being born in Manatí, my great grandfather headed to San Juan to find work. It was there that he met my great grandmother, Epifania Dávila Orozco who was originally from Yabucoa. He ended up moving to Yabucoa with her for a while and my grandmother was born there. They then moved back to San Juan together and would stay there for the rest of their lives. My great grandfather mainly worked in construction but I remember that my grandmother told me that he used to work in the restaurant "Casa de España" in San Juan. My great grandfather would bring home things that were hard to find in stores for the family to have to eat. I imagine there was some economic hardship being that he probably worked here sometime in the late 1940s-1950s.

Restaurante Casa de España

Finding my great grandfather in the Census records was a bit difficult at first. I couldn't find a "Narciso Meléndez" living in Manatí. So I decided to ask my grandmother for the names of his siblings to see if any of them would appear. My great grandfather had a brother named Anacleto Meléndez Sánchez and it was by typing in his name that I found the family in the 1930 Census. Turns out that my great grandfather was recorded as "Carmelo Meléndez Sánchez", a nickname which my family knows he used for all of his life. Interestingly, only in the 1935 Census does my great grandfather use the name "Narciso".

Meléndez Sánchez Family in Manatí, PR- 1930

My great great grandparents were José Meléndez Moran and Anicasia Sánchez Arvelo, as you can see per the 1930 Census. I didn't know much about them since I never got to ask my great grandfather about them. All I know about them is information I've attained through records. I know that they married in Manatí in 1908 but they came from different towns- José from Vega Baja and Anicasia probably from Utuado. Which in itself is complex because Anicasia's dad was from Quebradillas and her mother from San Sebastián. José was one of MANY children, he had about roughly 14 other siblings (12 of which I have documented through birth/death certificates, the other two appear in census records)! He also worked most- if not all of his life- as a farmer/laborer on a farm. It's also interesting to note that on his WWII Registration Card he was marked as 62" of height, which makes him roughly 5'2".

There are many unanswered questions about my great grandfather's ancestors. On one side of the family there is a mess of last names which we used both officially/non-officially on records while on his maternal side no church records were microfilmed by the LDS church so any records I want to find on his mother's side of the family I probably have to write to the church or visit with permission to search through the books; sometimes this is difficult because they are a) don't grant permission to anyone or b) the books I want to use are no longer available to the public.

However, I was fortunate to take a DNA sample of my great grandfather which will hold and show so much information as time continues. For example, recently a cousin born in Zimbabwe came up!

4th-Distant Zimbabwean Cousin!

I hope to continue learning about my great grandfather's ancestors and their respective stories!