Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
There has been a lot of buzz this week around AncestryDNA’s recent update with their DNA percentages. A lot of people have logged in and either been pleasantly surprised, utterly shocked, and somewhere in between. I wanted to share how my percentages have changed and my take on it. Caveat: I am no DNA expert […]
A Puerto Rican Look at: AncestryDNA Update 2024 Read More »
Two weekends ago, I was able to attend the APG PMC (Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference) which was virtually held from the 19-21 September. This was the first time I was able to attned a conference synchronously, in the past I have watched RootsTech webinars but after the fact. I wanted to share my
Attending my First Genealogical Conference Read More »
While visiting Mallorca this past year, I decided to learn more about Damián Magraner’s children from his one and only marriage. According to my research, Damián Magraner is my 3rd-great grandfather on my dad’s side of the family. It has been a long road learning about him and every chance I get I try and
The Family He (Temporarily) Left Behind Read More »
Earlier this year in late February/early March I was able to visit the south of Spain – specifically the cities of Córdoba and Granada for the first time. I always really enjoy visiting Andalusia, mainly because the pace is slower but also because there are elements of their Spanish that are similar to Caribbean Spanish
Travel Tuesday: Córdoba & Granada, Spain Read More »
Originally this post was going to be a “how-to” guide on navigating the ANOM website. But after seeing that Google Translate works directly on the website, I figured it was better to demonstrate how one could go from having an ancestor in Puerto Rico to finding out more information about them in the French Caribbean.
A Puerto Rican Look at: ANOM (Archives Nationales D’Outre-Mer) Read More »
During the month of June (my last month of living abroad), I was able to visit Andalucía in southern Spain to continue researching my Dávila family that came from San Juan del Puerto. During my time there, I came across a marriage record between my 8th great-grandparents that showed them entering into a consanguineous marriage.
A Visit to the Obispado de Huelva Read More »
Recently while working on another genealogical case, I realized that I had gone all these years without ordering a crucial record for my ancestor José Avilés – his SS-5 file. Like many novice genealogists, I probably overlooked this resource when I first started my genealogical journey and then as time went on, I forgot that
A Puerto Rican Look at: SS-5 Files Read More »
In the 20 years I have been doing genealogy, I had yet to find an ancestor from the Canary Islands. Which I found extremely strange given that Canarian ancestors are a dime a dozen in Puerto Rico. It seems however that many of the Canarians came to the island in the initial migration periods; which
My First Canarian Ancestor: Josefa Francisca del Rosario Read More »
I wanted to post today about the use of ‘malnoms’ in Mallorca and their benefits. Sometime last year, I posted about first learning of these names when I found an ancestor written as “als. burot”, which the archivist went on to say was not a nice nickname. He then introduced me to the practice of malnoms.
The Use of “Malnoms”: A Mallorcan Tradition Read More »
This spring has been quite busy (busier than I expected) and so quickly I fell behind on two posts. Coincidentally enough, today when I begin writing this post is May 27 (Memorial Day) in the United States. Why a coincidence? Well, I had chosen this month to write a post about my 5th great-grandfather who
Manuel Román Díaz – A Spanish Soldier Read More »