Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
In the past, I have posted about the use of fairly recently released Full Text Search tool in FamilySearch which has been amazing for quickly identifying non-vital records that may have important information for you research. I have used it to find information about my ancestors from Martinique and Guadeloupe that lived on the east of Puerto […]
The Importance of a Wildcard Search Read More »
One of my goals this year is to learn more about Puerto Rican history and to create a timeline to help me better understand events that occurred throughout the lifetime of my ancestors. I have not really thought about how I want to go about this – whether creating just one big timeline or different mini
Puerto Rican Resource: Notas para su historia Read More »
About five years ago, I learned that my Román Ayala branch originated in the town of Arecibo but made their way to Guaynabo. This was very interesting to me because the Román branch married the Rivera branch of Toa Alta and for some long I had no idea they were from a town outside of
A Slave Owning Family: de Ayala Read More »
Seven years ago, I wrote about the marriage that occurred between my 4th great-grandmother, Dorotea Ramos Martínez, and her husband Manuel Ruiz Soto on 19 July 1860 in Maunabo, Puerto Rico. I was not a descendant from Manuel, but from her first husband Tomás Ruiz. Nonetheless, I found this marriage interesting because there was a
Revisiting a Consanguineous Marriage Read More »
When I first began researching my ancestors from Guadeloupe and Martinique, one of the most interesting things that I kept coming across various records was that they were actually from St. Thomas; however, I never understood why this story existed. Even when I met a cousin that grew up knowing the Charles family, she mentioned
A Puerto Rican Look at: Danish West Indies Passenger Records Read More »
Puerto Rican genealogy typically entails the use of two main resources when it comes to Puerto Rican-produced vital records: (1) the Puerto Rican Civil Registry, and (2) Parish records from the Catholic church. However, as mentioned in various other posts in the past – there are definitely other records out there! I have written about
A Puerto Rican Look at: Applications for Seaman’s Protection Certificates Read More »
Happy New Year! It is that time of the year where I get to set up new genealogical goals for the new year. Last year, I had good success with completing a lot of the resolutions I had set out for 2025. I am hoping I have similar luck and perseverance to complete my goals.
Genealogical Resolutions for 2026! Read More »
Before 2025 closes out, I want to reflect on my goals for the year and where I am with them. It has been quite a busy year (when isn’t it?) but I am always glad and grateful that I set some goals at the beginning of the year and then aim to get through them
Reflecting On My Genealogical Resolutions of 2025! Read More »
Originally, I had planned to post about my Ayala family with origins in Arecibo who later appeared in Guaynabo and Toa Alta where my family ultimately settled for close to 300 years; however, in search for more information on the Ayala family I stumbled across a record I had been searching for and had never
When an Indexed Record is Wrong Read More »
Earlier in the year, I had used LucidChart to chart out the female descendants of Eglantine Lautin – my 5th great-grandmother. This was done in hopes of identifying which female lines left no female descendants and which ones could provide me with a potential daughter, still alive today, who would be the carrier of Eglantine’s
Mapping Out the “de Rivera” Male Descendants Read More »