Ancestor Hunting

Like most of us know, genealogy is both a blessing and a curse. It can be a nice side hobby, or it can eat up your holiday time like it is doing to me now. So this post I'll dedicate to the tough part of genealogy, because we all know it exists!

Mainly I want to dedicate it to one line in my family which is giving me the runaround!

This line is the Gustavo/Charles line from Martinique/Guadeloupe, and as you can see the uncertainty in name and place of origin is an 'uh-oh' from the start. I'm not 100% sure of this line but with all the evidence I have, I am strongly leaning to this family being part of my maternal line.

The origins of this family that have been mentioned in documents include: England, France, St. Thomas, Martinique, Guadeloupe, amongst probably others. In a previous post I mentioned the Catalog of Foreign Residents and there a Juan Carlos Gustavo is mentioned who I'm hoping is my 4th great grandfather and there it says he is from Martinique so I'm hoping he really is from Martinique.

So originally I thought Juan Carlos and his wife had only one daughter who is my 3rd great grandmother. Yet as I continued searching the census records I came across other Gustavo/Charles in the Southern area of Puerto Rico like where mine lived. So now, the pedigree looks like this so far:

Gustavo & Charles Pedigree

My 3rd great grandmother, who appears as Maria, Maria Paulina, Paulina or as Octavia was said to be born in either Vieques or Fajardo before moving to Salinas with her family. Some documents state Santa Isabel but I'm unsure if this was a place where they might have lived. Valentina, her sister, I found while searching a few months back and she is said to have been born in Martinique (but if in 1874, Juan Carlos was already in Puerto Rico, then this might/might not be possible) and she then later died in Salinas, Puerto Rico. Her brother, Alberto, I actually found today while doing research and he lived in Guanica with his wife until the 1930 Census where he appears living in Ponce; records point to him being born in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Juan Carlos's wife appears as a mess of names as well. She has appeared with the first names, Julia, Juliana, Barbina/Balbina, and Barbara while her last name started in an 1885 document as "Lotten" and has since then appeared as Loten, Lotiz, Loter, Soler, Sotiz, Sotims/Sotins. She in some documents for unknown reasons appears with the surname Perez. Yeah... confusing right! All the documents I have point to her dieing in Ponce sometime between 1895-1896 yet surprisingly even with that small window of time I still haven't been able to find her!!

I have yet been able to find the death records for either Juan Carlos or Julia and continue to search everyday, neither for Octavia who was last reported on documents to be living in Caguas, Puerto Rico. I have run across some other descendants from Juan Carlos and Julia but haven't been able to ask if they know anything about them. And it's very hard to keep track of them because the surname constantly changes back and forth between Gustavo and Charles. My guess is that (along with someone else I theorized with who has researched French ancestors) is that neither Gustavo nor Charles is the original surname but rather middle names that he had. Which then leaves me with, what IS/WAS his last name!?

Hopefully one day I'll be able to break down some of these brick walls and find out more information. What interest me most is their ethnicity because I keep getting German/ East European hits in my 23andme.com account strictly through my mom's dad's side which makes me wonder if it comes from these ancestors.

Only time will tell! Until then... search, search, search!!

Happy 2,000 Ancestors!!

So sometime last week I reached over 2,000 ancestors on my family tree. (That does include branches such as aunts, cousins etc. as well as married in branches). None the less it is very exciting to reach these numbers! I remember when all I knew was my immediate family and only about two sets of great grandparents. Now I can count back most branches to a good solid six generations with some reaching into the 7-9th generations. Today specifically I made over 2,100; so the tree keeps growing!!

Over this break I just mainly plan to attach all the records I have to their respective ancestors and tie up some lose ends with certain ancestors. Today I ordered some records from the church in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico where my grandmother's family is from so hopefully they'll come in time while I'm still here and I'll be able to see them at the LDS center. (Fingers crossed!!)

I wonder how long it'll take me to reach 3,000! :)

Accepting your roots

So it has been a long time since I've posted but now that the semester is over I can add some posts to the blog!

This post is about something I've been noticing and kind of just wanted to write about from my point of view as someone that has been doing genealogy for a while.

I find it a little sad or distasteful (I don't know if this word sounds too strong) when people don't acknowledge ancestors whether or not they are aware of the possibility of them. For example, I've come across a few people who I've tried to connect with either through paper trail or even through DNA. Some are Puerto Rican, just like myself, which means that there background can be a hodge podge of different things. Yet every time I try and figure out a connection I would get a response that sounds like "Hi, my family are from X and X towns. Our roots go to Spain." ...What about your other non-Spanish ancestors? And what is most bothersome is that the only "research" or information they have goes to their grandparents! There are a TON of years before them! Puerto Rico is known for 3 main branches that contributed to the culture: the Taino (natives of the island), the Spanish settlers and the African slaves brought over. Yet there are sooo many different people that came to the island. Among them to give you just are taste are: French, Germans, Corsicans, Italians, Sephardic Jews, Venezuelans, Cubans, Dominicans, even some from as far of as Russia! So how could we be so sure all of our ancestors go back to Spain when there are multiple possibilities!!

Granted, when I first started my ancestry search, I myself wanted to find roots to Spain and kind of still do. Who doesn't? We grow up hearing about the Spaniards this and the Spaniards that, so somewhere inside we want to connect. Yet, as I kept going through with my ancestry I became more aware of myself and my roots. From the ancestors written down as 'mestizo' or 'de color' (both referring to people of varying color) to a pair of ancestors with the race of 'indio'. What rocked my world the most is the possibility of having ancestors from Martinique. I would have never guessed in a million years that I (bolded for emphasis) could potentially have ancestors from Martinique. And still there are so many other links out there that I haven't made yet. Maybe I have an Irish 10th great grandfather or Portuguese 9th grandmother? Granted, okay, they are WAY back to really consider them a contribution to my identity but in a way they are. These are the people not from Spain that have stories as well, the ones who contributed to your ancestry and pedigree with their lives.

So hopefully, one day, people will realize that 'not all branches go to Spain' and the same goes for most people. I guess once people begin to do more research and begin to discover their past will they realize what history has in store.

Catalog of Foreign Residents in Puerto Rico in the 19th century

I've been looking into my line that potentially is from Guadeloupe and Martinique and trying to find more records that would solidify this line.

Estela Cifre Loubriel wrote a book called Catalogo de Extranjeros Residentes en Puerto Rico en el Siglo XIX which mentions a bunch of residents living in Puerto Rico from foreign countries. Some of these countries include the typical Spain, France and Italy while other immigrants come from countries such as Russia, Yugoslavia and Gibraltar.

There's one entry in particular of interest to me. It states:

33. - GUSTAVO, Juan Carlos. Natural de Martinica; súbdito francés; de 55 años; casado; doméstico; reside en Fajardo en el 1874. W. B. C., W. I., AC 6683-J. 


There is high chance that this man could be my 4th great grandfather who made his way from Martinique to Puerto Rico with his wife. What are the odds of another man with the same name coming to Puerto Rico? Some documents of his daughter, my 3rd great grandmother Maria Paulina (Octavia) Gustavo shows that she was either born in Vieques or Fajardo. Vieques, being an island that must be reached by a boat leaves from Fajardo, so she could easily be from either or. I haven't found his wife in the book and neither his daughter, who could have born after this was taken. There is a so called Balbino Gustavo who could be of some relation to Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos is estimated to be born around 1819 with the dates provided.


I had no idea what the letters at the end meant. So I ordered the book to see if she cited her work and hopefully the letters at the end meant something. Like a good researcher she did and I finally got to understand the letters!


W.B.C. W. I., AC 6683-J stand for Washington, D. C, Biblioteca del Congreso. West Indies, número dado al documento enviado a la autora.

So the documents she used are in the Library of Congress in DC!! I just have to find out what type of document it is and if it states more about the people they documented. Maybe they'll have a name for the wife or maybe his children. That way I can start to piece together who this man was and if he really is related to me!

Tying Paper Trail to DNA

I haven't been posting really that much since I've gotten back to school with all the work and all but this is something worth blogging about!

Sometime over the summer, a distant cousin found my tree on ancestry.com and contacted me about a potential relationship. According to our paper trails, my 4th great grandparents on my maternal side of the family are part of her family as well.We were both pretty sure that this match was accurate but not 100% completely sure. The cousin decided to test with 23andme.com, and now we were able to see if we: 1) Came out in each others relative finders and 2) If we matched in the 4th cousin range.

When we got our results, we fit! We were fourth cousins (though sharing only .09%- but this relation is 4 generations back so I wasn't expecting a lot of DNA). Here is a picture of my cousin's match against my mom, my maternal uncle and myself:

My 4th cousin matching with my mom and myself

Even though my maternal uncle doesn't share with this cousin, she doesn't share with neither my grandmother or my great grandfather on my maternal side so that rules out a connection from that family. I'm guessing this part of the DNA my mom received and passed it down to me but my uncle didn't receive. 

This is my first cousin to share both DNA and paper trail with me. I'm hoping we're right about this match because it helps me to solidify a line I had doubts about and didn't know too much information about until sometime last year. Hopefully this will get the ball rolling with other matches from 23andme.

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Magraner in Rio Prieto, Lares claiming his home

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

Damian Magraner in the 1897 Census w/ other Spaniards

Matching Faces to Names

I'm back home from Puerto Rico and want to start blogging about what I found, didn't find and hope to solve with the searching I did while I was there.

Every time I visit Puerto Rico, I search my grandmother's closet (with her permission of course) for the few remaining pictures that were my grandfather's. In the closet there was a album which contained photos of a lot of people I didn't know. Many of them were army friends he met while in army training in Fort Gordon in Georgia while others are pictures of cousins I've never met. I was lucky that many of the cousins in the photos my grandmother was able to identify since they lived near her when she was growing up.

Many of the cousins are cousins through my grandfather's mother Ernesta Miranda Rivera, who had a twin brother and I found two pictures of him! There is one sister of Ernesta's, Isabel Miranda Rivera, who I know have pictures of four of her children. 

Here are pictures I know could add to my tree and hopefully one day come in contact with their descendants.

Antonio Cardona Miranda, 1st cousin 2x removed

Carmen Cardona Miranda, 1st cousin 2x removed

Carmen and her husband Pedro

Jose Miguel Cardona Miranda, 1st cousin 2x removed

Felipe "Pipe" Cardona Miranda, 1st cousin 2x removed

Ernesto Miranda Rivera, great grandmother's twin brother