A Puerto Rican Look at: 23andMe European Ancestry Reports

Updated 23andMe Ancestry Reports - Spanish & Portuguese DNA [Personal Photo]

Recently, after having a conversation with a friend about the new update to 23andme, he had figured out there were some new updated reports specifically to some of the populations - in this case the European Ancestry Reports. He realized that his Spanish & Portuguese report had indicated some new information about regions in Spain where his family was from. So I logged into my accounts to see the regions and it was very interesting! So in this post I will talk about the European update that I saw on my Ancestry Reports and how over generations it looks for my family from Puerto Rico. I have yet to really see other Puerto Rican results outside of my family members so I'm interesting in hearing from others of their reports.

How can I find my reports? 

When you log into your 23andMe account under the Ancestry tab you will see on the second line: "All Ancestry Reports". Click on this to access your reports.

All Ancestry Reports [Personal Photo - 23andMe]

You should be able to see your reports like below. These are updated results for 23andMe which I'll have to analyze deeper at another time, especially now that my African results have been broken down into more specific categories. For example, if you can click on "Spanish and Portuguese", in my case, I'll be able to see more in-depth results. This will vary depending in your ancestry and where your family is from. Despite having higher percentages of African results with certain members of my family, the results currently do not go anymore in-depth.

Ancestry Composition Reports [Personal Photo - 23andMe]

Below, you can see what my personal results look like, as you can read this isn't a perfected science... yet. The results will change since it's currently based on what people have reported their ancestry to be from. It states that "in the last 200 years, your ancestors may have lived in the following locations". 200 years ago was 1819, and a great majority of my ancestors were already living in Puerto Rico, besides my Mallorcan line which was introduced later in mid-1800s. However, you can see here that three regions are highlighted for me, these being: Andalucía, Canary Islands, and Cataluña. At first glance, my reaction was "this isn't surprising", knowing Caribbean/Puerto Rican history you know that most of the peoples that came to populate this region were from the southern parts of Spain and the Canary Islands. The pull to Cataluña I imagine is from my Mallorcan ancestor, especially since I imagine the people that went into the Balearic Islands were probably mostly from the regions of Valencia and Cataluña. My strongest region based off the colors seems to be Andalucía - again not too surprising. I've also traced some family lines to this region so my paper trail helps to confirm that as well. 

Spanish & Portuguese Report [Personal Photo - 23andMe]

European Reports Analysis

Taking these reports of Spanish & Portuguese I was able to compile the different regions my family are related to based off these ancestry reports. It's interesting seeing the similarities and differences between my family members, also seeing that some of my family members got results for Portugal was interesting as well. I compiled them into a chart showing the different family members, their percentages, the Spanish regions, Portuguese regions, and for one family member Italian regions.

Compiled European Ancestry Reports [Personal Photo]  

You can see that I start with myself, move into my parents' generations, and later the generation of my grandparents/great-aunts & one great-grandfather. I've placed their last names next to their generational name mostly for my sake to remember who exactly it was that showed these results. As you can see there are a lot of overlaps between regions mainly Andalucía and the Canary Islands. You can also see Galicia, Extremadura, Cataluña, Valencia, Madrid, and the Basque country amongst other regions in my family. Cataluña and Valencia as I theorize are regions that pull towards the Balearic Islands due to my ancestor in Sóller, Mallorca. Looking at the regions of one of my uncle's they hit the nail on the head with actually mentioning "Balearic Islands" as one of his region. Some of the regions mentioned, I have been able to find genealogical and paper trail evidence of family presence there. However, I don't have all of my lines traced back to Europe so I'm not sure where else my Spanish ancestors are from and this could definitely take time. 

With the Portuguese ancestry, only three family members show Portugal: two of my great-aunts and my maternal grandfather. My Rivera great-aunt shows Azores and Madeira which are regions I have found before amongst my matches in 23andMe, as does my Vélez great-aunt and Correa great-grandfather. Interestingly though, my Vélez great-aunt also shows Braga while my Correa grandfather shows Setubal and Brangança district. 

Braga is towards the north of Portugal which could be connected to Galicia and ancestors that lived in that area. 

Braga, Portugal [23andMe]

This next town (Setúbal) is closer to the south of Portugal and even had a Al-Andalusian Arabic name earlier on in its history. Could be tied to southern Spanish ancestors though this town is closer to the ocean on the left than closer to the Spanish border on the right.

Setubal, Portugal [23andMe]

This last region is more northern than Braga and closer to the Spanish border. Just like Braga, it could be tied to Galician ancestors. There's definitely more research I would have to do into these Portuguese regions!

Bragança, Portugal [23andMe]

Interestingly, my Vélez great-aunt shows two Italian regions, though she only has 2.5% of Italian DNA. It shows her tied to the regions of Lazio and Calabria in Italy which is interesting to see since I have no known Italian genealogy so far. Her Italian ancestry says to have been introduced into the family around 1710 and 1800 and anywhere from her 3rd to 6th great-grandparents. 

Lazio & Calabria, Italy [23andMe]

My Vélez great-uncle, brother to my great-aunt (both siblings of my grandmother) also shows Italian ancestry. His percentage is at 5.5% which is higher than my aunt and shows three regions, two of which they both share. The third region is Sicily which for my Vélez great-uncle shows up at region #1. Truly, I'm not sure how this ancestry has been introduced to my family. Whether through Mallorca, a Corsican ancestor that came to Puerto Rico, or another way. I've only been able to research a few branches to the early 1700s so there's definitely somewhere else they could be hidden along my pedigree. I also wonder however if other Puerto Ricans have this similar ancestry in their gene pool. 

Sicily, Lazio & Calabria, Italy [23andMe]

Conclusion

There is still much to learn from these new ancestry reports, some of them make a lot of sense like the various regions in Spain but I'm not sure how Portugal and Italy fall into play with my ancestry yet. My hope is that in a near future the regions will be more informative as well as the African regions being added to better distinguish the different tribes and countries. This is especially important for those of us with slave ancestry who might have no idea where in West Africa their ancestry is tied to. My goal is to analyze the recent updates for my African results as well... stay tuned! 

Senegambian & Guinean Ancestry [23andMe] 

Tracing a Line to Spain - The Cantos Dávila Family

Recently, I've been out of the "blog game". And to be honest, with school starting up again I always find it hard to balance personal time and work time, though I try to continue searching here and there when I can. I also want to continue cataloguing towns as I was doing this summer and I'm hoping to crank out some more when I can soon.

And so for my first post back (and a rather long one!), I want to talk about a line I've recently starting digging into again, and this is my maternal Dávila line. In the past I have blogged about this family various times, recently I talked about this family in the post "A Family's Move Through Paper Trail" where I traced my 5th great grandparents from Maunabo back to the town of Coamo. 4 years ago (wow, time flies!) I posted about my 5th great grandfather Bartolomé Dávila Cantos (one of the ancestors I traced back to Coamo).

Back when I posted about Bartolomé I knew that he lived in Maunabo, probably died there as well and that was it. Fastforward 4 years later I found him in records, along with his wife Cándida Rodríguez in Coamo where their first four children were born. Because the surname Dávila was tied to "Cantos" I figured it would be easy to distinguish them from other Dávila families - though mine go back and forth dropping and adding the "Cantos" bit. So I started digging around Coamo to see what I could fine.

A Family Presence in Coamo

One of the most important things when researching your family is paying attention to who else the family was surrounded by in records. For example, who declared a birth or death? And especially important, who were the child's godparents? While researching the children of Bartolomé Dávila and Cándida Rodríguez, I took note of who the godparents were. In chronological order, these where the godparents that were either "Dávila" or "Cantos". These are godparents that both appeared in Coamo and Maunabo:

1808- Bernardino Ramos + Marcelina Cantos Dávila (Coamo)
1809- Hilario José + Josefa Gracia Cantos (Coamo)
1814- José Hilario Cantos + Inés García (Maunabo)
1820- Félix Rodríguez + Catalina Dávila (Maunabo)

Notice the usage of Cantos, Dávila, and Cantos Dávila - as you can see there was a lot of back and forth with the surname, which wasn't too uncommon for double-barreled surnames of the time. From this you can see that there were other Cantos Dávila living in Coamo besides Bartolomé.

Equally, Marcelina was married in 1806 to Bernardino (Aponte de) Ramos, and it states her parents were José Cantos Dávila and Josefa García Rodríguez Bonilla, which is interesting to see all of these surnames together. When Marcelina marries, none of the parents are listed as deceased.

Marriage Record, 1806 [FamilySearch]

Equally, Hilario married in Maunabo in 1815 to a María del Rosario Ortiz. Again, the parents are listed as José and María Josefa García. Also underlined in red, notice that the parents are listed as "white" in this record.

Marriage Record, 1815 [FamilySearch]

Finally, there was one more record to help add to this clan. A marriage record between José Gabriel Sánchez and Catalina Cantos in 1796 in Coamo. This record is very hard to read so I won't post it above but playing around with the image you can make out "José Cantos" and "Josefa García" as the parents as well.

So now we have new names to search - José Cantos Dávila and María Josefa García Rodríguez Bonilla.

Proving Relations - My 6th Great-Grandparents?

Finding Marcelina's and Hilario's marriage record opened up a new possibility, that these two new names of José and María Josefa could be my 6th great-grandparents. Seeing as how Marcelina and Hilario were godparents to Bartolomé's children, it's easy to see how these two were uncle and aunt to their brother's children and were chosen as godparents for them. 

I wanted to find out more about them. Thanks to some members of the genealogical community, a good number of the early records in Coamo have been indexed into charts which are easily searchable. By searching the surnames "Cantos" and "Dávila" I wanted to see what I could find. I was able to pick them out a few times through various years as godparents - the years being 1775, 1777, 1796, and 1799. There was a year they appeared as godparents in Cayey in 1787 but they mentioned they were residents of Coamo. We can see that José Cantos Dávila and María Josefa García were pretty well established into the life of Coamo having been there since the mid 1770s and probably still living there when their daughter Marcelina married in 1806. 

Baptism Record, 1777 [FamilySearch]

Baptism Record, 1796 [FamilySearch]

As you can see above, they were serving as godparents for a span of 20 years. In the 1770s they were probably in their late 30- early 40s and in the 1790s around their late 50-early 60s. Notice in red in the second record that they are godparents for the son of a Esteban Rodríguez García Bonilla, I am imagining he is the brother of Josefa.

My last piece of evidence to seal the deal is a baptism record that I am pretty sure is for my 4th great grandfather. The year this child is born, in Coamo, and then to José Cantos Dávila and Josefa García in my mind helps to prove that Bartolomé was the son of José and Josefa, brother of Marcelina, Hilario, and Catalina which again helps to explain why he would choose them as godparents. The only caveat here is that the son is registered as Bartolo instead of Bartolomé, however in my paternal side of the family in the early 1800s I had a similar situation with an ancestor who was both Bartolomé and Bartolo. Here is the record! 

Baptism Record, 1776 [FamilySearch]

The only extra piece I would need to help to back up this claim is finding the marriage record between Bartolomé Dávila and Cándida Rodríguez, I have searched in Coamo in the late 1790s and early 1800s around the time frame their first child was born in Coamo, but so far no luck!

This last piece of this puzzle is the most interesting, in Hilario's baptism record in 1785 it mentions: "Joseph Cantos Dávila natural de los reynos de españa en Sn Juan de Puerto..." [sic]. I was pleasantly surprised to see this! We now had a town of origin for José Cantos Dávila, and it was in Spain! (Checking off New Years Resolution to find a direct Spanish ancestor!) 

Baptism Record, 1785 [FamilySearch]

San Juan del Puerto, España

Of course at first after finding this I thought, "oh darn! This record must be wrong, I think the person is trying to say the city of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico!" But a quick Google searched proved me wrong! 

San Juan del Puerto, Spain [Google]

There actually is a town named San Juan del Puerto and it's in southern Spain! Looking at the map, it seems to be a pretty small town near Huelva and Palos de la Frontera, other towns in southern Spain my ancestry is said to go back to. As you can see below, it's a fairly small town!

 San Juan del Puerto [Google Maps]

San Juan del Puerto [Google Maps]

In 2016, the population was just near 9,000 people - funny enough that this town is named after Saint John the Baptist the same way Puerto Rico was in the beginning of its history. Reading its Wikipedia page in Spanish it mentions that the town's founding dates back to 1468.

Conclusions

I wonder when José would have made his journey to the new world and under what circumstances. Also, something interesting to note is José's last name "Dávila". Most sources say that it is a combined surname for "de Ávila" meaning from the town of Ávila. Which makes me wonder if ultimately their family was from there. In my linguistics class we learned that some Spaniards moved to the south before venturing off to the New World, ultimately acquiring a southern Spanish accent that was brought to the New World. Which makes me wonder if José Cantos Dávila would be one of those men. 

For now, with all of the research and different information collected, I am rooting for the fact that José Cantos Dávila and Josefa García are my 6th great-grandparents. I've mulled it over the past few weeks and writing it all out helps to clarify for me the strength between the documents. Ultimately the icing on the cake would be finding the marriage record of Bartolomé to see if his parents listed there are José Cantos Dávila and Josefa García. Onwards to searching more! 

A Puerto Rican Look at: Sephardic Jews

For most hispanic genealogist, at one point during our research, the question: Do I have Sephardic Jewish ancestors? has come up! Not only across Spanish speaking countries in the Caribbean, Southern and Central America can Sephardic Jews be found but even on islands such as Jamaica, Curaçao, and as far as the old territories of the Ottoman Empire. Along with slave ancestors, these can be hard ancestors to find and each respectively have their difficulties. While slaves were not considered people and therefore many times do not appear by names on most records, Sephardic Jews who hid from the inquisition changed names, sometimes very frequently, and tried to evade shifting eyes from the "old Christians" in order to not cause too much alarm.

So I want to talk about the prospects of having Jewish ancestors and somethings to take into consideration while doing your research. I am in no way an expert when it comes to judaism, Sephardic Jewish migration, or anything of the likes. If not, I'm learning along the way as well!

Jewish presence in Spain [Google]

Quick Historical Background

To write a historical background on the Sephardic Jews and their diaspora could take forever! And I say this because many people dedicate their lives to studying the Sephardic Jews, their customs, language, travel routes, and ways of life. So here's a quick background for those who might not know much about these kinds of Jews. So to start off: yes, there are various types of Jews! The main two are Ashkenazi (which are most of the Jewish people you might know with origins in Eastern European countries such as Germany, Poland, Ukraine all the way to Russia) and then there are the Sephardic Jews (which I'll explain in just a moment). There are also the Mizrahi Jews which can be found in Middle Eastern countries.

The Sephardic Jews are said to have lived in Spain since the second temple's destruction in Israel. Their name derives from "ספרד" (Sepharad), the name given to Spain in Hebrew and therefore they are known are Sephardic Jews in English, sometimes also called "Sefarditas" or sefardíes in Spanish. In 1492, with a royal edict given by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella the Jews were expelled from Spain causing them to spread across the world, many went to the Ottoman Empire where they were accepted fairly easily while others went into northern African countries such as Morocco to avoid the Inquisition. Those that quickly fled into Portugal needed to once again uproot and leave their new country once Portugal expelled the Jews as well. There were those that went to the new world as well, some right after the edict and as late as the 1600s since the Inquisition lasted longer than what most people expect. Let us also not forget that the Moors/Arabs were also expelled from Spain, I think a lot of people forget that part of history when we talk about the year 1492.

Of course, there were those who stayed and became nuevos cristianos or "New Christians" who were seen differently from those who were Old Christians before the royal edict. There were different treatments to those who recently converted, and not in a good way. Those in Mallorca for example where called "Chuetas/Xuetas" and were made fun of until not so long ago. Many of the Jews who converted are also known as "B'nei anusim" for their forced conversion to Christianity. Another name given to the Sephardic Jews are crypto Jews because many under the guise of Christians, still practiced many Jewish customs at home amongst close family members. So much so, that now a days Christians don't even know they have Jewish traditions within their family due to these dark times.

There is much, much, and I mean much, more to cover! There are many books to read and personal stories of those who have gone back in time to find their Jewish roots through genealogy and studying family customs. I have recently just read Genie Milgrom's My 15 grandmothers and Doreen Carvajal's The Forgetting River which I recommend to any interested in learning more about Sephardic Jews and their journey to countries such as Cuba and Costa Rica. Even though they don't focus so much on the actual genealogy research conducted, it's interesting to see the much more personal side of research.

Sephardic Jewish Migration [Google]

Some things to consider

As you research your genealogy, there have been a few tips and tricks that other Sephardic Jewish genealogists have said you should keep an eye out for. For example, taking into consideration the years your ancestors have traveled to your countries. I have ancestors who came to Puerto Rico at the turn of the 15th century. Some would have seen the edict declared and the expulsion of Jews from Spain, and I ask myself were these ancestors part of that wave to leave? Like I mentioned, some if not most will be hard to trace and you need to keep in mind possible name changes and evasion on their part.

Another thing to keep in mind are traditions and customs dealing with things such as food, burial, marriage, etc. Some say that the Sephardic Jews are known to intermarry within their community in order to preserve their Jewish traditions. There are many families on the western side of the island of Puerto Rico who are well known for intermarrying and I wonder if they go back to Jewish origins. There are many little things that can be clues to a Sephardic Jewish past! 

Something to take into consideration also is your DNA haplogroups and connections to others. For example, my grandfather has the Y-DNA haplogroup J1e which is commonly associated with Jews (but also with Muslims/Arabs). Since it originates and concretes in the Near East, it can be from either one of these groups. This leads me to believe that one of my original Correa ancestors was from Spain and was either a Muslim or a Jew who later came to the new world. 

J1e World Map [23andme]

J1 Haplogroup Description [23andme]

This also leads me to next consideration -- names! 

Now this one is tough! Many people believe that having a surname that ends in "-ez" in a guaranteed ticket to claiming Jewish origins. The reason behind is that "-ez" surnames mean 'son of' which was a common naming tradition amongst Jews which can be seen with the modern use of 'Ben'. Therefore surnames such as Pérez, Hernández, Fernández, and González to name a few are considered to be surnames of Jews. Now, this is and isn't possible for some people. Yes, Jews did take on surnames with "-ez" endings but not all did. Some are known to have taken surnames of cities such as Toledo/ Toledano, Zamora, etc. and that some took natural places names such as Ríos, Flores, etc. Again, we can't just say "Yes! They were Jews" without researching and looking into their history. 

Even first names can be a hint to a Jewish past, but again -- research, research, research! For example, I just came across an aunt's branch in my tree with "typical Jewish names" for their children. This is the first time on my tree that I have seen children have names that overwhelming point to Jewish origins. The four children's names are : Luz María, Ismael, Abraham, and Benjamin the last three being names that can be found within the Jewish naming tradition. But again, who knows? Maybe this couple enjoyed reading the Old Testament and was influenced by writers with such names. In my family there is a person with a name of Lebanese origin, does it mean we are Lebanese? No, just that that child received that name to honor a Lebanese writer. Therefore, it's hard to tell! Nothing is just black and white in genealogy and when it comes to Sephardic Jews it can definitely be hard to tell.

Familia Carrero-Medina [Personal Photo]

Conclusions

For me personally, it has been a work in progress. There are a few branches that I think can potentially identity to have Sephardic Jewish ancestry but I haven't jumped to a definite "yes" just yet! For example, with my J1e haplogroup I have to explore more into the paper trail to see how far this branch was in Puerto Rico before originating somewhere else. This line has been in Puerto Rico since at least the mid-1700s but I would need to search more into the church records to see if they were from Spain and if so from where. 

I still have a lot of reading to do to make sure I am aware of these origins without falsely associating names or traditions to Sephardic Jews. There is a lot of "junk research" on the internet as well, so trying to sleuth through that and not get caught up in the wrong information can be hard. There are websites that will tell you to check if your surname is there to be Jewish, but again... thread lightly! 

In Puerto Rico, many people already by the 1800s were being documented by the church and I have never seen synagogue records or any other type of church/temple, etc. records for Puerto Rico. And of course, the 1800s is 400 years far removed from the times of the expulsion so proving a certain Sephardic Jewish pedigree can be hard but not necessarily impossible. It takes patience, a bit of luck, and a lot of knowledge on how to use the records and what to look for to actually find those ancestors.  

To those searching -- best of luck and hopefully we'll find our ancestors soon! 

Medieval Jewish Manuscript [Google]

First Puerto Rican MLB player - Hiram Bithorn

Hispanic heritage month came and went faster than I could blink an eye! I wanted to write a post and as you can see never got the chance; but while doing some research I came across someone I had not previously heard about from Puerto Rico and decided to find out some more information about his background after not seeing much about his origin, despite having a surname like "Bithorn". So I decided to do some digging on Puerto Rico's first MLB Player- Hiram Bithorn Sosa.

Hiram Bithorn Sosa [Google Images]

Initially when I saw his name I thought, "Wait… this guy is Puerto Rican? And his name is Hiram Bithorn..? And I don't know anything about him??" As you can see I was just all around surprised. During my time in high school and most of college I looked up and researched a lot about Puerto Rico -- its history, its politics, its linguistics… anything I could get my hands on. But for some reason, I never came across Hiram. I was especially surprised since he was the first Puerto Rican baseball player to play Major League Baseball. I decided to see what I could find out about Hiram Bithorn Sosa. 

Wikipedia told me that Hiram was born in 1916 in San Juan and so I knew where to search for his birth certificate. I was mainly interested in finding out where this "Bithorn" surname came from since I had never seen it in my searches and isn't a common surname. Hiram was born as "Hiram Gabriel Bithorn Sosa", on the 18th of March 1916 in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Hiram was the son of Waldemar Bithorn and María Sosa, both from San Juan. His paternal grandparents were listed as Fernando Bithorn Andersen and Tomasa Huicy both deceased by 1916. And through his maternal line, Roque Sosa Reyes from Trujillo Alto and Santos Castillo, deceased. 

Hiram Gabriel Bithorn Sosa, 1916 [Ancestry]

Paternal Family 

Looking at his paternal grandfather's second surname Andersen we can guess sometime type of Danish origin or even Swedish if the person incorrectly wrote "Andersson". Huicy on the other hand I had no lead as to where that surname was from. The more I dug into his paternal family, the more information I found. It turns out that Fernando Bithorn Andersen was a native of St. Croix, at that point a Danish  island, son of a Danish man from Copenhagen and his mother a native of St. Croix. I was even able to find a 1846 census record from St. Croix listing his father, Carl Bithorn (originally from Copenhagen), his mother Elisa (née Andersen) along with his siblings Anna and Eugene. Notice that his name was originally Ferdinand and when moving to Puerto Rico he became "Fernando". We see this a lot with immigrants that come from non-Spanish countries who suddenly become "Juan" instead of John and "María" instead of Mary. 

St. Croix, 1846 Census [Ancestry]

So far I've been able to find one record for a potential baptism for Carl Bithorn in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1805. My guess is that it is the same man since it matches the information we have. 

Carl Bithorn - Danish Baptism, 1805 [Ancestry]

Hiram's paternal grandmother Tomasa Huicy has a different ancestry all together. Tomasa Huicy Marín died on the 24th of January 1889 and was the daughter of Bernardo Huicy and Catalina Marín Molinari. Her father was from Vizcaya, Spain while her mother was a native of Puerto Rico. Her grandparents though, Santiago Marín and Tomasa Molinari, where said to be from Corcega and the Dominican Republic respectively. I tried looking up more information about Bernardo Huicy (potential maternal surname "Ordorgoiti" but I can across nothing about his actual origin in Vizcaya. He was however important in Arecibo with different roles such as a member of the Board of Trustees as well as mayor in the early 1900s. 

Maternal Family

On Hiram's maternal side we see that his grandfather Roque Sosa Reyes was the son of Domingo Sosa Suarez and María Andrea Reyes Betancourt, both from the Canary Islands. María Andrea Reyes Betancourt specifically from the island of Lanzarote. Hiram's grandmother, Santos Castillo Pastrana has been the only ancestor hard to track. We know that she was from Trujillo Alto and passed away before 1906. Her parents were Fernando Castillo and María Pastrana but no idea if they were from Puerto Rico or somewhere else. 

It is interesting to notice that Hiram's family is fairly "recently" Puerto Rican seeing as how 3 out of his 4 grandparents had at least one parent born outside of Puerto Rico. From most of my searches, Puerto Ricans have deep roots on the island through at least one line or one side of the family, so it was interesting researching Hiram and finding his family easily traces out of Puerto Rico to various places such as Spain (Vizcaya and the Canary Islands), Italy, the Dominican Republic, and especially to Denmark. 

This link about Hiram's life gives a very interesting look into his career, life, and even some of what he faced due to his race. It's interesting how during those times, and even now a days, people quickly want to classify someone to a certain box in regards to race. With a name such as Hiram Bithorn, one might not expect a Puerto Rican to walk into the room, but that's the beautiful thing about our small island-- that there is such diversity amongst its inhabitants. 

Bithorn unfortunately passed away on the 29th of December, 1951 at the age of 35 in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, México after being shot by a police officer. It was very interesting learning about Hiram his ancestry, and the life he lived as the first Puerto Rican MLB player.  

Another Mystery Solved?

As you can tell by now I've been away for a while but I'm happy to say I have finally completed my last semester and I officially have my Master's degree! But enough about that, more importantly I am here to update something I have been searching for a LONG time now and I think I have finally come to the end of that search. I've had many searches and brickwalls throughout my genealogical years and some have been tough, for example like searching for my ancestors in Martinique and Guadeloupe. This mystery though has been with me since the beginning of my searches in 2004 and even from before when I was being told tales of my ancestors; but today (hopefully finally) I have written proof on the father of my ancestor José Avilés Magraner.

For those who have been reading for my blog (many thanks and I hope you are enjoying my posts!) you know by know the mystery that surrounds José Avilés' father. And for those of you who don't a quick recap: José was said to be the son of a Spaniard who lived in Río Prieto, Lares and that his said surname was "Magraner". After searching for some years through various records, I was able to bring it down the potential father to Damián Magraner or one of his brothers who owned land in Río Prieto, Lares. I deduced that Damián had to be the father for multiple reasons: 1) My 2nd great grandfather and his brother Lorenzo both carried the surname Magraner after their mothers, 2) There were tales in the family about the relationship between a Spaniard and a Puerto Rican woman that produced José, 3) My ancestor worked Damián's land, therefore there was some sort of connection there already in place, and finally, probably the most important 4) Both José and Lorenzo named a son "Damián".

Now the problem lied in proving this relationship. In NO document that I have does Damián appear as the father of the children. This I ended up deducing had to deal with the fact that Damián was a married man back in Sóller, Mallorca to an Antonia Morell Pons and that a man of his status could not recognize bastard children. I was pretty convinced that Damián was the father and even traveled to Sóller, Mallorca while I was abroad to learn more about Damián, his family, and his life on the islands (both Puerto Rico and Mallorca). But I left with no real clue, still with just coincidences and theories in my head. But recently I discovered a single document that could finally piece it all together!

Recently I learned about the "U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007". At first glance I thought it was just the SSDI but when I typed in the search engine family names, I was getting information that the latter didn't have. For example, the Applications and Claims Index sometimes provides names of parents which the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) does not do. So I wondered, could these new documents shed light on my Avilés Magraner ancestors? At first, I started searching just for José Avilés Magraner with both surnames and just one, but I couldn't find anything. I actually have been having a lot of trouble finding his SSDI and death date since no one in my family is too sure when it was. My next best thing was Lorenzo Avilés Magraner who I did have a death record and date for, so I decided to give it a shot. My first results gave me a Lorenzo Avilés from Lares, Puerto Rico and I figured it definitely had to be my 2nd great grand-uncle.

Search for Lorenzo Avilés Magraner [Ancestry]

Even though it didn't mention a Magraner surname, I figured I should just click on it and see what the results would yield. There were the odds that nothing would come back besides his name and his birth and death date, so I crossed my fingers. Keep in mind that I've been constantly faced with a blank spot in the section of "father's name" so I really didn't expect anything new. Except this was the FIRST time that I was thoroughly surprised and completely elated. This time there WAS a father's name! And it mentions exactly who I thought it was: Damián Magraner!

Granted there is always room for error, and that goes without saying for everyone, not just me when dealing with names and genealogy. But I'm happy to FINALLY see a name for a father and that it was the one who I have been betting my money on this whole time. I've ordered Lorenzo's Social Security Application (form SS-5) and I'm hoping that there it does mention Damian Magraner as his father. I really am glad that I now have a record which mentions Damian as the father! I guess I can officially say I have a third great grandfather from Spain and that the tales that were told had some truth to them! 

I would still love to find an Avilés descendant and test their Y-DNA to hopefully one day find a Magraner descendant and see if they match up, this would truly be the only way to once and for all close shut this mystery. Until then, I'll wait for Lorenzo's social security application and be happy with how far I have gotten.

Take a look at those documents, you never know if they can answer some questions for you as well! Just remember the years are from 1936-2007! Happy hunting! 

Where in the World is Luis (San Diego)?!

So finally after being abroad for 8 months, I'm finally home in New York! Even though I've been home for about two weeks now, I think I'm finally hitting my "Okay, you're settled and you have time for things now" phase. I've ignored this blog for a bit which I never like to do in the first place, but hopefully now I'll be able to catch up on some posts that I've wanted to write but didn't get the chance to with all my work and traveling during the spring semester. This summer I'll be pretty busy as well finishing up my Master's program but hopefully I'll be able to add some posts here and there and keep the blog active again! For those who might be interested, here's a map of all the places I was fortunate enough to visit while I was living abroad in Spain, these are 8 months worth of cites and towns I visited during vacations and weekends. I definitely had a great time living abroad in Europe but I'm happy to be home with friends and family!

Travel Map of 2014-2015

Here's to more posts about my genealogical adventures both on paper and in person! :)

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! 

Travel Tuesday – El Puerto de Santa María, Spain

I know today is no longer Tuesday but I wanted to write this post and heck why not still post it even though it's Wednesday! But I wanted to talk about my trip to Andalusia in the south of the Spain and the wonderful opportunity I got to visit a town in which I have ancestors from. This town is called El Puerto de Santa María!

Friday I traveled to Cádiz, all the down in the southern part of Andalucía, a town of importance during the Spanish's hold of their overseas territories and the import and export of goods to those colonies. 30 minutes a bit north by fast train is a town called "El Puerto de Santa María", a town in which my 9th great grandfather was born in!

Now some of you might ask, "How do heck do you know who your great grandfather is?!". Luckily with my searching and the help of other genealogists I have been able to trace my line to Miguel de Miranda, my 9th great grandfather who would move to Puerto Rico, marry, and live there. Miguel de Miranda would marry in San Juan, Puerto Rico on the 7th of January 1668 to Andrea Rodríguez and there it would mention his town of origin. Knowing that there was a concrete place in Spain I could visit, I knew that at some point I had to go!

Marriage certificate - San Juan, Puerto Rico [FamilySearch]

I arrived through the train station to El Puerto de Santa María and was actually very giddy to get off the train and start exploring the streets and places of the town my family had lived in about 365+ years ago, which is absolutely mind boggling. I had jotted down some places I wanted to visit beforehand while in Cádiz the day before and wanted to visit as much as I could in the hours that I was there.

RENFE Station [Personal Photo]

I was fortunate enough that on a Saturday a lot was still open that I could go in and see. I stopped by the tourist office to pick up a map and then right across the plaza was a castle that I visited quickly. Being the only person there for the tour between 10:30-11:30 (in English), the security guard let me in for free and I was able to wander around alone since the tour guide wasn't around and was busy elsewhere. It was actually pretty cool and at the same time pretty creepy to walk around since there was literally no one else there except the guard who checked up on me twice and then left me alone wander around for the rest of my time there. 

Castillo de San Marcos [Personal Photo]

Inside Castillo de San Marcos [Personal Photo]

After, I headed over to La Iglesia Mayor Prioral which was pretty much the highlight of my trip to El Puerto de Santa María. I knew that the church was in use during the time that my ancestors lived there and so I wanted to go inside and see what the church was like. I have visited various different churches will traveling Spain but entering Iglesia Mayor Prioral was a completely different experience for me. I knew that this church had some sort of connection to me and I knew that visiting it would sort of reconnect me to Miguel de Miranda. I walked around, taking the church in as much as possible, prayed a bit thanking God for the opportunity to retrace my roots back to this church, and then headed over to the little office to see if I could buy something in order to remember my visit. Unfortunately, there weren't any rosaries that I could purchase but I did get a little cross that I hope but on a string/chain and wear.

Iglesia Mayor Prioral [Personal Photo]

I started chatting with the older man who was helping me and I asked about the use of the church. He told me that it was built in the XV century and has been in use since then, with some reconstruction in the XVII century after an earthquake (if I'm remembering correctly). I told him I was very interested in the church because I had an ancestor that migrated to Puerto Rico from this town and had lived here in the mid-late XVII century. He told me that if I knew some dates and names that I could potentially find some information in the church's parochial archives. I was super excited and ready to rattle off names, dates, and anything else to get me closer to new information. Unfortunately, the man who is in charge of the records wasn't there on Saturdays which was a bummer. Luckily, I asked for a phone number and name I could reach telling him that I was only in town for a day. He was very kind to provide the information and told me that they should be able to pull something up with the information I have. I'm very excited with the prospect of new information and hope to call soon to get some more information on Miguel de Miranda and hopefully of his parents, Miguel Martín and Isabel Rodríguez, as well. 

Inside - Iglesia Mayor Prioral [Personal Photo]

After visiting the church I headed to the Plaza de Toros and got to walk around the area where the Matadores go up against the bulls in the main ring. It was interesting standing there on the sand (vs sitting on the stands), where the bulls unfortunately are killed, as three young boys were practicing joyfully for their future career. I grabbed some lunch at a little Italian restaurant and saw some others places around El Puerto de Santa María. Luckily for me, the weather was amazing that Saturday and the sky was beautiful blue. Walking around the town and seeing palm trees made me feel like I was in the Caribbean, and I can see why so many southern Spaniards probably settled easily into islands such as Puerto Rico. 

Walking around El Puerto de Santa María [Personal Photo]

Hopefully I'll be able to find some more information once I call the church and do hope that Miguel de Miranda was baptized there and that his parents married there. Maybe they'll even be able to extend my tree further with the information they can provide? I might need to return in the spring if they aren't able to do over the phone requests of searching for information, but we shall see! Nonetheless, I had a great time walking around the town, seeing old sites, thinking about my ancestors, and their lives here in El Puerto de Santa María. 

52 Ancestors – #32 Alonso Maldonado

Almost caught up, almost caught up!! Here is another post of a pretty old ancestor, this time my 12th great grandfather Alonso Maldonado. [Note: because these ancestors are so far back there is always room for error, for example: paper records were wrong due to a NPE (non-paternity event) that occurred somewhere in the family and was kept a secret.]

Parcial view of Chinchón, España [Wikipedia]

Alonso Maldonado is another ancestor with connections to Spain, he himself was born around 1502 in the town of Chinchón in what was the kingdom of Toledo, Spain. This town, just like Pastrana, is not too far away from Madrid. I love looking up these towns and reading up on all the information I can on them. Since I've researched and read about many of the towns from my family in Puerto Rico and Martinique, every time I find a new town for an ancestor I look up images, maps, and any other information I can get my hands on.

Chinchón's population, like Pastrana's, is also pretty tiny, in 2008 it hovered a little over 5,000 people. It's interesting to note that the town's church, Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, started construction in 1534 and was later finished in 1626. This means that my ancestors would have been in the town when the church's construction was underway but never saw its completion since my 11th great grandfather, Pedro Maldonado, left Spain for Puerto Rico in 1549. Alonso Maldonado, Pedro's father, on the other hand might have seen more of the church's construction. I'm not sure if Alonso stayed in Spain or moved to Puerto Rico as well but since he was born about 1502 he would have been in his mid-30s when construction began. I'm also not sure of his death, but I imagine he died by the late 1580s, any longer than that would be past the typical life expectancy and sooner than 1580 is possible as well.

View of Chinchón, España [Wikipedia]

Since Chinchón is a small town, there isn't too much going on or to see except the few historical monuments here and there. One of the interesting spots is the Castillo de Chinchón, also known as the Castillo de los Condes. I would love to visit this castle, since an event occurred here in 1520, which means my ancestors where still around. I'm not sure how easily or not it is to get to the town of Chichón and its castle, but I would love to attempt to go.

Alonso Maldonado was married to Elena de Torres, also a native of Chinchón. Both surnames, Maldonado and Torres, seem to be found in higher frequency in the south of Spain. I'm not sure of Elena's death date as well. There are many different trees online that include Alonso and Elena and since I'm not sure of who their parents are I'll hold off from believing or adding any of the information I see.

Excited to learn more about the town my ancestors lived in and hopefully see and walk the same streets they did! 

52 Ancestors – #30 Pedro Fernández

It feels awesome to be back writing about my ancestors! I was a bit nervous at first that I would just get lazy and never get around to it, but I'm almost at the half way mark of the 52 Ancestor Challenge. This is definitely hard to keep up with, with the rest of live going on and what not -- but none the less I'm up to my 30th ancestor! This post will be about my 10th (woah!) great grandfather Pedro Fernández. If you notice, I didn't place a birth year and death year at the top and that's because I have no exact date for either (even the birth year is greatly estimated) but no fear, I'll post none the less!

One of my 10th great grandfather's via my maternal side of the family is Pedro Fernández. The only reason I have even a name for him is due to the help of other genealogists who have paved the way with hours and hours of research probably before I was even born! To them, I raise my (figurative) glass and can't thank them enough! Hopefully, one day I'll be able to do the same for the next generation of genealogists to come.

Pedro Fernández is one of my Spanish ancestors, literally -- he was born in Spain and later migrated to Puerto Rico. Pedro, from what we know, was born in a town called Pastrana located in the province of Guadalajara, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Manca in Spain (whew!). According to Wikipedia the town was especially important in the 16th and 17th century, around the time my ancestors would have been born there.

Pastrana, Guadalajara, España [Wikipedia]

Here is an aerial view of some of Pastrana. The town is only 95km from Madrid, which is very exciting because I'll be there in a few weeks and hope to visit Pastrana! Also according to wikipedia, the town's population is that of…1,054 (extremely small!). There are a few monuments and museums to visit in the town, so I think a day-trip will be sufficient to see most of the town. There's even a Palacio Ducal (The Spanish Wiki has more information) and there are Jewish and Arab quarters.

I'm not sure what drove Pedro Fernández and his wife Isabel Ruiz to find a new home; whether religious, political, or economic reasons both Pedro and Isabel (whether together or separately I'm not sure) left Pastrana and headed over to Puerto Rico somewhere in the mid-1600s. I'm also not sure how many generations the Fernández and Ruiz family was there, whether many or a few, but it seems they were ready to begin a new life somewhere new. My 9th great grandfather, who took on two completely different last names, was born about 1645 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. His name was Pedro Díaz Muñiz de Pastrana, and he was also an Alférez from what he know about him. According to Wikipedia (my best friend today), an Alférez was "in medieval Iberia, was a high-ranking official in the household of a king or magnate. The term is derived from the Arabic الفارس (al-fāris), meaning "horseman" or "cavalier", and it was commonly Latinised as alferiz or alferis". I'm not sure how or where he got the title from, seeing as how Pedro Jr. was born in Puerto Rico and not Spain.

Before, it wasn't necessary that a child had to take on either of the parents' surnames; if a grandfather or grandmother had a higher ranking surname by which the child could go by to get better footing in society, the parents could choose to give them that surname. I'm not sure if Díaz and Muñiz are paternal or maternal surnames but I'm guessing they held some sort of title or importance to the family. There is also the slim (yet possible) fact that Pedro and Isabel were trying to escape some sort of past in Spain, whether religious or political and didn't want their child involved or followed by those surnames. Both Fernández and Muñiz seem to be found heavily on the north-western side of Spain, so potentially my ancestors moved down from there into Pastrana.

I don't know how possible it is to get specific information on Pedro Fernández and Isabel Ruiz since they lived over 400+ years ago but I would love to know what kind of Spain they lived in, or rather how the town of Pastrana was set up and why they would want to leave. Who knows if there is a common descendant of the Fernández and Ruiz lines living amongst those 1,054 inhabitants. It's kind of surreal to think of a 10th great grandfather, because that is REALLY far removed from where I am today. If and when I step into the town of Pastrana, it will have been somewhere near/close to 370 years (a rough estimate passed around the time Pedro Díaz Muñiz was born in Arecibo) since that family left the town for good. How odd that will be to return and walk potentially the same streets they did. If and when (because I really want to) go I will definitely give another update on the town!