Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
This advice is mainly for Puerto Ricans, especially to those living on the mainland (the United States) wanting to look up their family history. Of course, most of this advice also applies to anyone starting out family history and ancestry searches. Here are some tips, steps and general advice!For Puerto Ricans living in the United […]
10 Genealogical Research Tips Read More »
In Puerto Rico, there can sometimes be a hodgepodge of culture mixing. Besides the typical European, African and Native mix there also happen to be other cultures that have found their way onto the island. From the French and Corsicans, to the Dutch, Italians, Irish and nearby Dominicans and Cubans, and through my research I’ve
I would say I’m a strong advocate for parents telling children stories about their family’s past, of course I don’t think there’s some campaign for this; but for me most of the stories, whether true or leaning towards false, can contain important information for when looking up family history. There’s one story on my dad’s
The Importance of Storytelling Read More »
At the beginning of this journey, I had one goal besides creating my family tree: to find Spanish-born or foreign born ancestors. I don’t know why I thought it important for me to find an ancestor born outside of Puerto Rico, but being that a lot of my ancestors (aka, all the ones I’ve found
Discovering Foreign Ancestors Read More »
Like I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t know too much about my mom’s grandfather and his family. My grandmother had told me that his father, Manuel Correa (The elusive man in my family tree), worked in San Juan, Puerto Rico as a bus driver after meeting Ernesta. From my knowledge, I don’t know
Solving A Mystery- Detective Style Read More »
In all honesty, my maternal grandfather’s line has been one of the hardest to trace for what ever reason. Mostly because I have no communication with him, but I was fortunate enough that my grandmother was aware of some names in his family such as his mother’s name as well as her parents which was
Clearing Up A Mix-Up Read More »
Joining 23&me at the age of 18 opened my mind to A LOT, not just about genealogy, ancestry, genes and everything in between but it allowed me to take part and become a member of a community with genealogy buffs like myself. Logging on and seeing how some people have reached ancestors born in the
The Magic of Genes Read More »
I started searching for records, stories, and information at about the age of 14/15; at this time I was working for the New York Public Library and thanks to a co-worker I found out that I was able to search for documents, luckily, for free on the ancestry.com website. During those years, though young and
What Started It All- Part II Read More »
My great grandparents, my grandmother and her siblings This portrait of my great grandparents, Felix Vélez Mercado and Rosalia Avilés González along with my grandmother Carmen Avilés Vélez (seated close to her father) along with her brother Antonio (older boy) and a baby sibling I don’t know the name of, was the start of
What Started It All- Part I Read More »