Adjuntas - Iglesia San Joaquín

So this will be my first of various posts with links to the FamilySearch records. I'll place some quick facts about the town and then from there the film numbers, titles, and then whether there is an index for those records.

Town Name: Adjuntas, Puerto Rico
Demonym: Adjunteños
Town Founding: 1815
Church Name: Iglesia Católica San Joaquín

San Joaquín - Adjuntas, Puerto Rico [AquiestaPuertoRico]

BAPTISMS/BAUTISMOS

Record Names Nombre de Archivos	Start Page Página Inicio	End Page Última Página	Index? ¿Índice?	Film Nº Nº de Rollo
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1867-1881(Vol. 6)	464	497	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 4
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1867-1881(Vol. 7)	498	532	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 4
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1867-1881(Vol. 8)	533	568	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 4
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1867-1881(Vol. 9)	568	608	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 4
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1867-1881(Vol. 10)	609	644	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 4
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1867-1881(Vol. 11)	645	682	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 4
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1867-1881(Vol. 12)	682	724	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 4
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1881-1898 (Vols. 13-24)	5	240	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 1
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1889-1898 (Vol. 19)	727	763	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 5
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1889-1898 (Vol. 20)	765	793	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 5
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1889-1898 (Vol. 21)	794	825	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 5
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1889-1898 (Vol. 22)	827	861	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 5
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1889-1898 (Vol. 23)	863	896	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 5
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1889-1898 (Vol. 24)	898	955	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 5
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1898-1915 (Vols. 25-30)	243	379	Yes/Sí	820727, Items 2-3
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1915-1925 (Vols. 31-33)	383	460	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 6
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1915-1925 (Vols. 31)	959	1024	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 6
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1915-1925 (Vols. 32)	1026	1086	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 6
Index Baptisms/Índice de Bautismos 1915-1925 (Vols. 33)	1088	1148	Yes/Sí	820727, Item 6
Índice de Matrimonio 1900-1952 se dice estar entremezclado con el índice de bautismos/ Marriage Index 1900-1952 is said to be intermixed to this index of baptisms
White Baptisms/Bautismos Blancos 1818-1846 (Vol. 1)	24	203	Yes/Sí	820720
Mixed Baptisms/Bautismos Pardos 1815-1844 (Vol. 1)	208	441	No	820720
White Baptisms/Bautismos Blancos 1847-1857 (Vol. 2)	475	711	Yes/Sí	820720
Mixed Baptisms/Bautismos Pardos 1844-1872 (Vol. 2)	727	821	Yes/Sí	820720
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1857-1871 (Vol. 3)	841	1021	Yes/Sí	820720
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1861-1864 (Vol. 4)	1051	1329	Yes/Sí	820720
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1864-1867 (Vol. 5)	1365	1641	Yes/Sí	820720
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1867-1869 (Vol. 6)	1665	1946	Yes/Sí	820720
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1869-1871 (Vol. 7)	1958	2172	Yes/Sí	820720
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1871-1871	4	75	No	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1871-1874 (Vol. 8)	112	401	Yes/Sí (Name/ Nombre)	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1874-1876 (Vol. 9)	429	733	Yes/Sí	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1876-1878 (Vol. 10)	770	1075	Yes/Sí	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1878-1879 (Vol. 11)	1104	1379	Yes/Sí	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1879-1881 (Vol. 12)	1384	1664	Yes/Sí	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1881-1883 (Vol. 13)	1727	2037	Yes/Sí	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1883-1884 (Vol. 14)	2041	2244	No	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1884-1885 (Vol. 15)	2248	2525	No	820721
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1885-1885	4	32	No	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1885-1886 (Vol. 16)	71	373	Yes/Sí	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1886-1887 (Vol. 17)	409	712	Yes/Sí	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1887-1889 (Vol. 18)	752	1054	Yes/Sí	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1889-1890 (Vol. 19)	1095	1398	Yes/Sí	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1890-1891 (Vol. 20)	1436	1737	Yes/Sí	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1891-1892 (Vol. 21)	1772	2074	Yes/Sí	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1892-1894 (Vol. 22)	2079	2386	No	820722
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1894-1896 (Vol. 23)	5	316	Yes/Sí	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1896-1898 (Vol. 24)	349	756	Yes/Sí	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1898-1902 (Vol. 25)	796	1201	Yes/Sí	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1903-1905 (Vol. 26)	1233	1449	Yes/Sí	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1905-1907 (Vol. 27)	1502	1709	No	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos Feb. 1907- May 1907 (Vol. 28)	1481	1502	No	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos Jun 1907- 1910 (Vol. 28)	1723	2012	Yes/Sí	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1910-1912 (Vol. 29)	2031	2289	No	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1912-1915 (Vol. 30)	2295	2547	No	820723
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1915-1918 (Vol. 31)	4	367	No	820724, Items 1-2
All Baptisms/ Bautismos de todos 1918-1921(Vol. 32)	373	730	No	820724, Items 1-2

CONFIRMATIONS/CONFIRMACIONES 

Record Names Nombre de Archivos	Start Page Página Inicio	End Page Última Página	Index? ¿Índice?	Film Nº Nº de Rollo
Confirmations/ Confirmaciones 1829-1859	948	1110	No	820725, Item 5
Confirmations/ Confirmaciones 1856-1890	749	944	No	820725, Item 4
Confirmations/ Confirmaciones 1890-1923	1113	1206	No	820725, Item 5

MARRIAGES/MATRIMONIOS

Record Names Nombre de Archivos	Start Page Página Inicio	End Page Última Página	Index? ¿Índice?	Film Nº Nº de Rollo
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1815-1852	738	835	No	820724, Item 3
White Marriages/ Matrimonios blancos 1818-1861	841	1029	Yes/Sí	820724, Item 4
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1861-1870 (Vol. 2)	1050	1330	Yes/Sí	820724, Item 5
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1870-1878 (Vol. 3)	1360	1661	Yes/Sí	820724, Item 6
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1878-1886 (Vol. 4)	1687	1978	Yes/Sí	820724, Item 7
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1886-1888 (Vol. 5)	2005	2134	Yes/Sí	820724, Item 8
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1888-1892 (Vol. 6)	2165	2480	Yes/Sí	820724, Item 9
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1892-1905 (Vol. 7)	6	321	Yes/Sí	820725, Item 1
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1905-1912 (Vol. 8)	351	555	Yes/Sí	820725, Item 2
Marriages/ Matrimonios 1912-1921 (Vol. 9)	586	723	Yes/Sí	820725, Item 3

DEATHS/DEFUNCIONES

Record Names Nombre de Archivos	Start Page Página de Inicio	End Page Última Página	Index? ¿Índice?	Film Nº Nº de Rollo
Deaths/ Defunciones 1815-1860 (Vol. 1)	1210	1594	Yes/Sí	820725, Item 7
Deaths/ Defunciones 1860-1868 (Vol. 2)	1632	1913	Yes/Sí	820725, Item 8
Deaths/ Defunciones 1868-1875 (Vol. 3)	1946	2248	Yes/Sí (Name/ Nombre)	820725, Item 9
Deaths/ Defunciones 1875- 1880 (Vol. 4)	7	284	Yes/Sí	820726, Item 1
Deaths/ Defunciones 1880-1884 (Vol. 5)	315	595	Yes/Sí	820726, Item 2
Deaths/ Defunciones 1884-1885 (Vol. 6)	630	831	No	820726, Item 3
Deaths/ Defunciones 1885- 1888 (Vol. 7)	836	1138	Yes/Sí	820726, Item 4
Deaths/ Defunciones 1888- 1891 (Vol. 8)	1175	1484	Yes/Sí	820726, Item 5
Deaths/ Defunciones 1891-1894 (Vol. 9)	1519	1823	Yes/Sí	820726, Item 6
Deaths/ Defunciones 1894-1897 (Vol. 10)	1856	2160	Yes/Sí	820726, Item 7
Deaths/ Defunciones 1897- 1923 (Vol. 11)	2198	2564	Yes/Sí	820726, Item 8

A Death Record To Confuse Them All

Recently, while searching the Adjuntas church records where I was able to distinguish and clarify the relationship between a set of couples (siblings marrying siblings) I also bumped coincidentally into another death record for a 6th great grandfather of mine. This death record belonged to Francisco Pérez de la Cruz, my ancestor along my father's side of the family.

The reason I title this blog post "A death record to confuse them all" is because somehow on all the online public trees I've seen on Ancestry, the parents for Francisco Pérez are completely different. Hesitant to add his parents, having learned from previous experiences, I held off until I could find information to either disprove or prove the relationship of these "parents" to Francisco Pérez de la Cruz. So I'll jump a little into this record and what I was able to find out.

Who was Francisco Pérez de la Cruz

My 6th great grandfather was said to be from the town of "El Pepino" which is currently today known as San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. This town lies toward the northwestern part of Puerto Rico and near towns such as Quebradillas, Lares, and Utuado were I have other ancestors from other ancestors of in tree. My father's family, specifically through my grandmother, can be found in this part of the island.

San Sebastián, Puerto Rico [Google Maps]

Before finding his death record I had no clear idea when Francisco was born, but based off his childrens' baptism years I knew that he would have been born in the mid to early 1700s. If Francisco was originally from San Sebastián as most records state, he would have been born around the founding of the town which was found in 1752 by townsmen of areas such as Aguada. This would mean that Francisco's parents could have been from another town in the area having moved into San Sebastián once the town was officially founded.

Francisco Pérez de la Cruz around the late 1700s would have married Ana Narcisa Sánchez, my 6th great-grandmother and with her would have various children, so far I have:

• María Manuela Pérez de la Cruz Sánchez
• María de la Paz Pérez de la Cruz Sánchez
• María de los Reyes Pérez de la Cruz Sánchez
• Bernardino Pérez de la Cruz Sánchez
• Narcisa Pérez de la Cruz Sánchez
• José Valerio Pérez de la Cruz Sánchez
• Toribio de Jesús Pérez de la Cruz Sánchez

From this relationship, I descend from María de los Reyes Pérez and her husband Gerónimo Vélez Rodríguez. From Francisco's children, various of them, my 5th great grandmother included moved into Adjuntas a town more into the mountains and found just two towns over from San Sebastián. Adjuntas was founded in 1815 so my family has practically been in this town since its founding. 

Migration to Adjuntas, Puerto Rico [Google Maps]

Little did I know that not only did Francisco's children move into Adjuntas but Francisco did himself.

Note: I don't know where else to post this but I'll just drop this here. Notice that Francisco's surname is "Pérez de la Cruz", this is a compound name being that he inherited this surname solely from his father. The children used Pérez de la Cruz/Pérez off and on and ultimately the name was just dropped to Pérez like most compound surnames. 

Documentation

While searching in Adjuntas, I came across Francisco's death and was pleasantly surprised! This whole time I had believed he had passed in San Sebastián, and due to their lack of church records on FamilySearch I settled with not finding any more information on him for the time being. But glancing through the pages I saw "Francisco Pérez de la Cruz" written on the top corner of the page and I was glad I stopped to read what it said.

Francisco Pérez de la Cruz, Año 1828, Nº 182, Folio 48vt [FamilySearch]

The main information from this death record is that on the 28th of June 1828 was buried, Don Francisco Pérez de la Cruz of 65 years of age, first married to Ana Narciso Sánchez and now married to Asención de Castro was the son of Don Simón Pérez de la Cruz and Doña María de Santiago, both deceased, he a native of El Pepino (San Sebastián) and a resident of this one (Adjuntas). He did not leave a testament. 

Establishing New Information

As you can see from the record above a lot of the information matches what I had, he was a native of San Sebastián, born around the 1750-1760s. But I also learned some new information as well, he was married for a second time to a "Asención de Castro" and was the son of Simón Pérez de la Cruz and María de Santiago. Having this new information, I realized that many of the trees on Ancestry had completely different parents and none of them even had the combination of "Pérez de la Cruz Santiago" for Francisco. It could be that the death record is wrong (which does happen) but until further notice these to me are the parents for Francisco Pérez de la Cruz. If there is another document out there to refute this information, please let me know so I can update my tree!

Funny enough by changing the information on Francisco, I'm not getting the old trees that used to pop up with his name. By searching his name on the public trees on Ancestry I was able to find various examples of what used to pop up on my tree.

[Ancestry Public Trees]

[Ancestry Public Trees]

Here are two examples of Francisco listed with different parents of what I found on the death record in Adjuntas. The spouse and the children are the same of Ana Narcisa Sánchez and children I listed above, but I have yet to find a public tree with a Simón Pérez de la Cruz and María de Santiago as the parents of Francisco. I'm not sure where this original information came from and if whether there is depth to the connection, but so far they are not matching up.

Whether or not Simón, like his son Francisco, was one of the first to settle in Adjuntas, I'll have to continue my research to see if he stayed in San Sebastián or made his way into Adjuntas as well. Given that he was born in the early 1700s and Adjuntas wasn't founded in 1815, I would imagine that he passed away in San Sebastián or another town nearby that was around founded (you can never be too sure!). 

Nonetheless, I'm happy to be able to add another generation to another ancestor and almost pushing into the 1600s on this line! Hoping to discover more along the way! 

A Family's Move Through Paper Trail

Recently, I've been taking a dive into the Puerto Rican Church Records again on FamilySearch. By chance and funny enough, by looking to one branch of my family I bumped into a completely different one. Finding children being born in towns nearby (and not so nearby) and parents appearing as godparents has allowed me to track my family's movement across the island. This is pretty important in genealogy since movement from town to town means that there might be other branches to your tree that stayed behind and distant cousins are probably there. This could also mean that your ancestors might have been married before arriving to the town you knew they were from and if there is no death record in the town they resided most of their lives, they might have moved back or moved over to a neighboring town where another of their children lived.

This post will be about one specific couple who I have been able to trace through documents moving across the island. The couple's names is: Bartolomé Dávila & María Cándida Rodríguez. They are my 5th great-grandparents on my maternal side of the family.


Bartolomé Dávila & Cándida Rodríguez

From the information I have so far I know that Bartolomé Dávila (sometimes written as Dávila Cantos) and his wife María Cándida Rodríguez were born in the mid 1700s based of the baptism dates of their children. Originally when I discovered this pair, I knew that they had lived in Maunabo where part of my maternal ancestors had lived. My 2nd great-grandfather Pedro Dávila Ruiz was either born in Yabucoa or Maunabo but for sure his parents and grandparents lived their lives in Maunabo.

It wasn't until recently that I was searching the town of Coamo for my Correa families that I surprisingly bumped into Bartolomé and Cándida. At first I was confused because I knew they lived in Maunabo, but seeing the surname Dávila Cantos and seeing as how they weren't having children in Maunabo at that time, I am pretty sure that these are my ancestors living in Coamo before moving into Maunabo. Now, there is always the possibility that this is just a coincidence. That there was another pair with the same names living in Coamo but given the time frame (early 1800s) and the set of names, I'm fairly certain there's are my ancestors. The lack of births in the those years in Maunabo also help to build the case that they are one and the same instead of two separate pairs.

Here are the children and the towns they were born in that I have so far for Bartolomé Dávila and Cándida Rodríguez:

• Luciana Dávila Rodríguez (1808) - Coamo 
• Juan Estanislao Dávila Rodríguez (1809) - Coamo 
• Rafael Dávila Rodríguez (1810) - Coamo 
• José Laureano Dávila Rodríguez (1814) - Maunabo 
• Juliana Dávila Rodríguez (1816) - Maunabo 
• José Manuel Dávila Rodríguez (1818) - Maunabo 
• María Feliciana Dávila Rodríguez (1820) - Maunabo 
• Francisca Dávila Rodríguez (1821) - Maunbo 
• Manuel Dávila Rodríguez (1826) - Maunabo 

I wonder if the gap between 1821-1826 means that the family temporarily moved somewhere else and then returned to Maunabo seeing as how they were having children every 1-2 years. 

Tracking Movement
Here's a map showing the years they were living in the respective towns. Notice that Coamo isn't "right next door" like how the other two towns are. I wonder what made the family move from Coamo into Maunabo and where their origins are, hopefully by digging a bit more into the Coamo church records I will able to trace the Dávila Cantos surname and learn more about their origins.

Moving around the island - Coamo, Maunabo, and Patillas [Google Maps]

As you can see, they were in Coamo around 1808-1810 living there by proof of their children's baptism records which I'll paste some of them down below. The family then moves into Maunabo around the 1811-1813 because by 1814 they are baptizing children there. Notice also that in 1819 the couple appears in Patillas, here they are appearing as godparents. Since Patillas and Maunabo are neighoring towns it is very possible that they just jumped over into Patillas to serve as godparents for a family they knew but continued their residence in Maunabo. Their last child I have is born in 1826 in Maunabo, from there I don't know what happened to them. Since Maunabo's death records aren't uploaded to FamilySearch I'm not sure if they died there or in another town. My guess is that they stayed in Maunabo, but at this rate as you can see it isn't a given that they died where they lived.

Documentation

As you can see below the first baptism was in 1808 of their daughter Luciana Dávila Rodríguez, interestingly enough the father's surnames are listed as "Cantos Dávila" and the godparents are Bernardino Ramos & Marcelina Cantos Dávila. I imagine that Marcelina is a potential sister to Bartolomé and I have to continue my searches in Coamo for this family to see what else I can find. Potentially, there are other branches here left that did not move into Maunabo.

Luciana Dávila Rodríguez, Año 1808, Folio 190 [FamilySearch] 

Here you can see (barely) that Bartolomé Dávila and María Cándida Rodríguez are serving as godparents in Patillas to Juana Feliciana Rodríguez, the natural daughter of María Rodríguez. Could María and Cándida be sisters?

Juana Feliciana Rodríguez, Año 1819, Folio 155 [FamilySearch]

Lastily, the record below is of a final baptism from Manuel Dávila Rodríguez born in Maunabo in 1826. The godparents are Don José Ortiz and Lorenza Rivera, no known relationship yet to my ancestors but possibly a family they were very close with in Maunabo. 

Manuel Dávila Rodríguez, Año 1826, Nº 568, Folio 80 [FamilySearch]

By the time Manuel was born the parents were probably in their early 40s which I would imagine that Manuel would have been one of their last children. If I remember correctly, I could not find any other children being born in Maunabo passed 1826 for the couple.

Conclusion

As you can see, the family made a big jump from Coamo to Maunabo. Nowadays, this probably isn't much but I can imagine in those times that move across various towns wasn't easy. The gap of 1811-1813 is probably when they moved and I wonder if any children were born along the way in one of the towns along the route, the only way to know is to check any available church records for those towns. I also have to check the Coamo records for any possible siblings or ties to the Dávila Cantos and Rodríguez family. I haven't come across "Cantos" really in my searches so I'm interested in seeing where they were from.

So lesson learned! Check neighboring towns and having an idea of the town's founding and history which will hopefully give you a better understanding to your family's past and history there! If you can't find records for your family, check towns in the surrounding area and always keep your eyes open for your ancestors as they might pop up anywhere (within reason)!

A Puerto Rican Look at: Geno 2.0

Earlier this year, I took the National Geographic (Geno 2.0) test. It was one of the ones I had wanted to take a while back when I first heard about genetic genealogical testing, but it was still pretty pricey. With a recent drop in prices around Christmas time, I decided to get a Geno 2.0 and after a few months of waiting, I ended up getting my results. The results did take a bit to come back and with the idea of a "deep analysis" I sat down and waited... and waited... but finally the results came in! So here's a glimpse into the various different information provided to me by Geno 2.0. All in all, everything was pretty straight forward and similar to other DNA exams. Only one part was interesting which I'll get to in a bit.

There are various parts into the results: your genius matches, regional ancestry, deep ancestry, and Hominin ancestry. I'll quickly go through genius matches and Hominin ancestry before covering regional and deep ancestry. I'm placing the images below however how they show up on the website.

Genius Matches [Geno 2.0]

Regional Ancestry [Geno 2.0]

Deep Ancestry [Geno 2.0]

Hominin Ancestry [Geno 2.0]

Genius Matches

This feature is actually pretty cool because I haven't really come across it on other DNA websites, 23andme had a version of this but dunno where it is now... haven't seen it on the haplogroups part of the website in a while. Though it's cool to look at and explore, it doesn't really hold much genealogical value. Most of these people are probably related through off branches of your haplogroup and as you can see the ranges of years are pretty high. Nonetheless, it was a cool first thing to see when I logged into Geno 2.0. Here are two of my matches, Nikola Tesla and Martin Luther! 

Nikola Tesla [Geno 2.0]

Martin Luther [Geno 2.0]

Hominin Ancestry

This is another feature that's cool to look at but again, to me, it doesn't hold much genealogical value. As you can see below I score a 1.2% on my Neanderthal ancestry, which is a tiny bit lower than the average which is 2.1%. Truth be told, I didn't really explore this much but again, just posting it here because it's part of the analysis. 

Hominin Ancestry [Geno 2.0]

Regional Ancestry

Here is the most interesting part of the Geno 2.0 analysis, the regional and deep ancestry! First, you get a heat map of sorts that shows you the different parts of the globe where your regional ancestry can be found. By clicking on the map you are able to see the different percentages of your ancestry, which are also provided below the map. Equally, there is a continents break down as well! Check it out below!  

Map View [Geno 2.0]

Continental Average [Geno 2.0]

Regional Ancestry [Geno 2.0]

Most of the results match what I have seen on other sites, with a few variations here and there. For example, "Eastern Europe" is at 15% and "Jewish Diaspora" at 9% which I think is the highest I've seen it on any site. What's cool is that each region provides an explanation as well. I've screen shotted some of the explanations, check them out! I've provided some for "Western Africa", "Jewish Diaspora", "Eastern Europe", "South America & Amazon", and "North America & Andes".

West Africa [Geno 2.0]

Jewish Diaspora [Geno 2.0]

Eastern Europe [Geno 2.0]

South America & Andes [Geno 2.0]

North America & Amazon [Geno 2.0]

One thing that is kind of tripping me up is the low value I have in "South America & Amazon" and higher percentage in "North America & Andes". Mainly because in the description is says that South America & Amazon consists of the Taíno and Caribs which should be the main groups in my ancestry seeing as how my family is from Puerto Rico where these two tribes could be found. I have not compared with other Puerto Ricans, so I'm not sure if this is common/typical in the results or if I am a sort of outlier from the group. Being that I've done a ton of research into my family and know that we've been on the island since at least the early 1600-1700s through paper trial and obviously even earlier, there is no doubt in my mind that my ancestry is made up of native Caribbean tribes but it does make me wonder!

What's also interesting that they provide you with reference populations which are close to you. My first reference population was actually Colombian and my second, ironically, Puerto Rican. Maybe my high percentage of "North American & Andes" makes Geno 2.0 think that I'm potentially Colombian since they average at about 9% which the Puerto Rican reference population has a lower 3%. Despite having Colombia first, I know that I'm Puerto Rican 😉. I was also pretty surprised that I didn't get any northern African here, which I usually always score a bit of. Interesting seeing the similarities and differences between their reference population and my own results. 

Deep Ancestry

Lastly, there is the deep ancestry part which is basically the paternal and maternal haplogroups. As you saw above these two groups for me are C1b4 (Maternal), and I-F1295 (Paternal). This is the first time I've gotten a deeper "subclade" (if you can call it that) of my paternal haplogroup. For many years I knew it only as 12a1* and recently on 23andme it has gone to I-M26, I imagine I-F1295 is the same but I will have to do some more research into this group. There is also an explanation of the group provided, a timeline throughout the years to its current grouping, and a heat map of where it can be found around the world today. Interestingly enough my paternal haplogroup still seems to be under investigation as it hasn't really been directly pinpointed geographically as my maternal haplogroup. It is however good to see that it can be found in Portugal and Spain which is where I would imagine it to go back to due to my ancestry.

Deep Ancestry [Geno 2.0]

C1b4 Heat Map [Geno 2.0]

C1b Branch Explanation [Geno 2.0]

I-F1295 [Geno 2.0]

I-M26 Branch Explanation [Geno 2.0]

Conclusion

Overall, I think it was interesting having this DNA test done. I don't think I would recommend it to anyone who wants to do more genealogical and genetic work with their testing as there is no chromosome browser or relative finder you can use to continue working on your tree, but it is nice to have it to compare to other DNA test out there. 

I'll have to keep exploring my DNA and especially my paternal branch. My goal is to hopefully have it one day traced back to a town in Europe (probably Spain) where it originated from. Being Rivera/de Rivera/de Ribera I imagine is a pretty common name and probably not tied to a region in Spain like how other surnames are. Therefore, the search continues! 

Genealogical Spring Cleaning! Clearing up the "Vélez Pérez" branch

Recently, I've been going back into my family tree and trying to attach FamilySearch links to all of the documents that I have previously found in the past for my family through the church records of Puerto Rico. Though at first it had been sporadic, adding documents here and there whenever I remembered, this past week I dedicated myself to fixing up a mistake I caught on my tree and have seen MANY, MANY times on other trees as well. So here I'll set straight the mystery around the couples of: Gerónimo Vélez Rodríguez & María de los Reyes Pérez Sánchez AND Germán Vélez Rodríguez & María de la Paz Pérez Sánchez.

Background

I don't remember exactly how I came to confuse the two branches and believe they were all one but I feel like the similarity in names and seeing other public trees led me to believe that they were both one and the same. Plus without access to the Adjuntas church records from home, I didn't really have time to confirm or refute these lines easily. Most of the trees online list the couple with the names all as if variants of the same name and ultimately I did too.

Ancestry Public Trees 

How'd I get to these lines in the first place? Well, my great grandfather Félix Vélez Mercado was a descendant of Gerónimo Vélez Rodríguez via his son José María Vélez Pérez. I've been able to confirm these lines with the help of baptism, marriage, and death records available through the Civil Registry and Church Records of Puerto Rico.

Gerónimo Vélez Rodríguez, my 5th great grandfather

As I happily updated and added new lines to my tree, I got caught up in assuming Gerónimo and Germán were the same man and that María de los Reyes and María de la Paz were the same woman. But then taking a dive into the Adjuntas church death records began to raise some doubts. 

Searching for Records: María de los Reyes & María de la Paz

I had María de la Paz Pérez (originally Pérez de la Cruz) Sánchez's death record, I knew she passed away in June 1890 in Adjuntas Puerto Rico, the daughter of Francisco Pérez and Narcisa Sánchez, the widow of Manuel Germán Vélez. Everything seems to check off correctly, the 6th great grandparents were right, the town the same, and I assumed like others that she was María de los Reyes Pérez. 

But then as I searched I came across another record, except this one from 1838 listing the death of an actual María de los Reyes Pérez -- so it couldn't be that the "same woman" lived one life with two deaths. I started digging further. María de los Reyes actually had a testament done when she passed and part of that information is available on her death record (I imagine there was some small wealth in the family as "testamentos" weren't too common amongst working class/farming families). In her death record she states that she is the daughter of Francisco Pérez and Narcisa Sánchez (check!) and the wife of Gerónimo Vélez (check!) and lists off her children, José María being one of them (check!). 

María de los Reyes Pérez Sánchez, Año 1838, Nº 500, Folio 93vt [FamilySearch]

María de los Reyes Pérez Sánchez, Año 1838, Nº 500, Folio 94 [FamilySearch]

As I went down the line confirming all the of the children between María de los Reyes and Gerónimo, at no point do their names cross over into Germán or María de la Paz on their children's baptism or marriage records and I even found one very promising baptism record to also help set the record straight. Germán and Gerónimo couldn't be the same man if Germán appears as a godfather to one of Gerónimo's children! 

Juan Manuel Vélez Pérez, Año 1847, Nº42, Folio 11 [FamilySearch]

Caveat: It seems that at some point after María de los Reyes' death in 1838, Gernónimo took a second wife, Baltazara Pérez Alancastro, daughter of Bernardino Pérez Sánchez (brother of María de los Reyes). Confusing right? I have yet to attempt to find a matrimony record between them two but other records help to prove so far that these two Gerónimo men are the same. 

So I was still curious, what about Gerónimo? Was there still another way to prove that he was not the same "Germán". Could I find both of their death records? 

Searching for Records: Gerónimo Vélez & Germán Vélez

Equally, like María de la Paz, I had had Gernónimo's death record already in my possession. In his death record he mentions his wife as "Bartazara Pérez" and as the son of Diego Vélez and Juana Rodríguez. By the time he dies in March 1855, there is nothing to declare on his part so "no ortogó" or he didn't leave a testament. This could in part be because María de los Reyes had already left to her children the wealth of the family which easily could have been inherited from her side. 

So my hunt was for a death record for a Manuel Vélez married to María de la Paz, who could prove that their relationship was not of one and the same, if not of potential brothers. Lo and behold, I was able to find a death record for a Manuel Vélez Rodríguez on February 1854 a full year before Gerónimo Vélez. 

Germán Vélez Rodríguez, Año 1854, Nº 1356, Folio 263 [FamilySearch]

Germán Vélez Rodríguez, Año 1854, Nº 1356, Folio 263vt [FamilySearch]

Highlighted above, though hard to pick out for the untrained eye, are some of the key details of Germán Vélez. It mentions his name in green "Germán Vélez", in yellow we see his wife's name "María de la Paz Pérez" and in blue on the next page you can find his parents' names "Diego Vélez & Juana Rodríguez". 

Conclusions

Quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if someone has already come to this conclusion before me and found these records as well, but the reason I write this post is to hopefully clear up and air out the confusion of these two sets of siblings that married each other. All of the public trees I come across on Ancestry, like me, had the names of each of the couples intertwined to one another. And for amateur genealogists who are unaware of the errors of said trees, they'll happily add these names together. Though they ultimately lead back to the same set of ancestors, Diego Vélez and Juana Rodriguez as well as Francisco Pérez and Narcisa Sánchez, it's important to acknowledge which branch is yours as for example the siblings to my 4th great grandfather are not the same children from Germán and María de la Paz. 

Also, I don't mean this post to chastise anyone as I am guilty myself of quickly and excitedly adding names as we can see from this post, yet it's definitely important to also corroborate your findings with direct paperwork from church records or civil registries and not from other trees. So hopefully this has helped others fix and untangle their Gerónimo Vélez/ Germán Vélez and María de los Reyes/ María de la Paz lines that have been intertwined together for some time now! 

Stay tune for another post, solely about Francisco Pérez father of María de la Paz and María de los Reyes who has also been intertwined it seems as well!