Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
Last month, I had a great opportunity where I was able to speak about Puerto Rican genealogy (in both English and Spanish!) to the New York City area. The session was presented online and so I was able to pre-record my presentations in both languages, create the handouts, and share them with the community from …
Preserving Your New York Story: Tracing Your Puerto Rican Roots. Read More »
In Puerto Rican genealogy the year 1885 can be a fairly crucial year. This is because before this date, vital events such as birth, marriage, and death were recorded by the churches… and with that came a lot of variation! For example, some church records are available online while others were not digitized and remain …
TW: Suicide, death. This blog entry contains an article which speaks about suicide. If you find this to be a sensitive topic, please feel free to skip this post. This week I came to learn that the Puerto Rican newspaper El Imparcial had been placed online. Last time this happened, it occurred with the newspaper El Mundo where I …
Many times in Puerto Rican genealogy, we stick to what we know when researching. This means that we heavily rely on four sources of our genealogical searches. These include: Registro Demográfico – created in 1931 Registro Civil – created in 1885 Registros Parroquiales – created individually by their parish United States records (censuses, WWI/WWII registration …
Back in January 2023 when I lived in France I got a chance to visit the ANOM (Archives Nationales d’Outre-Mer). This was exciting because though I had already done research on the ANOM website, I had never been there in person. Their website includes birth, marriage, and death records for my enslaved ancestors from both …
Recently, I decided to upgrade my 23andme test after having left it to the wayside for so many years (it was previously on the V2 chip). It is not that I did not care about my results, it just that for so long I focused on adding other family members to my list that I …
One of the most important elements of genealogy is the continuous need (and want) to learn. This is because constantly there are new resources, new repositories, new websites, new genealogical research methods, and of course, a plethora of new DNA tools. Therefore, in the genealogical world we find ourselves having to constantly and continuously learn – if …
Last year for Veterans Day, I posted about my maternal grandfather and his time in Georgia during the Vietnam War. Though I explored a bit of my grandfather’s life during that time through some of the memorabilia, photos and records that I had inherited of his, there was much left to learn about his time …
Happy New Year! This was my first time being back home in New York City for New Year’s since I was away the last two years living abroad. We were surprised with a sudden downpour of rain and even lightning and thunder; however, we rang in the year cozily from our couch so we were …
In the blink of an eye, here we are closing out another year! It is a bit surreal to think that 2024 is coming to a close and that 2025 is just around the corner. As I do every year, I want to close out the year by reflection on my genealogical goals I set …
Reflecting On My Genealogical Resolutions Of 2024! Read More »