Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
I guess I’ll start this challenge with a man who I know both some about but yet know nothing about. This man is my great grandfather Felix Vélez Mercado. Felix’s family photo was what catapulted me into genealogy and it was featured in my first post ever in my blog! L-R: Felix (standing back), Carmen
52 Ancestors – #1 Felix Vélez Mercado (1905-1953) Read More »
Every time I log into my ancestry.com account I always check the sidebar for recently added blogs and yesterday I stumbled upon one called “The 52 Ancestors Challenge“. I was intrigued so I decided to read the post and find out what exactly it was about. The 52 Ancestors Challenge Post I was excited to
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge: Accepted! Read More »
A Volcano Researching Martinique, I have come across many different events in history including the tragedy of the eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902. Saint Pierre, located to the north of Martinique, suffered a terrible eruption which would completely wipe out the town and most of its 28,000 inhabitants (higher estimates say that over 30,000
A Volcano, a Man, a Typo? Read More »
I haven’t blogged in a while and with the holidays being both a busy yet relaxing time, I’ve decided to write a post! Recently, a day passed in December that wouldn’t have meant anything special to me until recently. December 21st would have been any other day for me this year; it was a Saturday,
A Change in the Past, A Change for the Future Read More »
From November 1-2, a popular holiday from Mexico also known in the USA due to its closeness in date to Halloween was celebrated- Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). And even though it’s been a week since the holiday, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we remember our ancestors and the importance
Día de los Muertos- Recognizing One’s Ancestors Read More »
This week something awesome happened- Ancestry.com updated their DNA part of the website and added more ethnicity groups! More importantly, they now break down Africa into various sections which is amazing since this is the first time (to my knowledge) that a company has broken down the Autosomal DNA by African countries. Part of the
A Puerto Rican look at: AncestryDNA 2.0 (African Portion) Read More »
Walking in Old San Juan This past summer, I knew that there was one new place in San Juan that I wanted to visit and that was the Archivo Diocesano. I had read a bunch about the place and wanted to visit to see if I could find anything related to my family. The Archivo
Visiting the Archivo Diocesano Read More »
A little over a month ago, I received a call from my mom who told me that my great grandfather had passed away. That quickly I had lost the oldest family member from my line, my maternal great grandfather Narciso Meléndez. I was fortunate to have met my great grandfather and visit him in Puerto
Losing a Loved One Read More »
Things have been pretty slow on my end here! I’ve been searching through church records in different towns in Puerto Rico trying to locate more ancestors and documentation. Just two days ago I found two sets of maternal 5th great grandparents which is awesome to add to the tree. But more interestingly, the 23andme feature
Hints to the Past? Read More »
Recently (as in just yesterday), ancestry.com uploaded the 1935-1936 Census for Puerto Rico. I have been waiting for this census for a while and I’m glad it’s been released! It adds another set of records available on ancestry for Puerto Ricans to use for researching their ancestors. Here is some background information given by ancestry: This
1935 Social & Population Census of Puerto Rico Read More »