Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
In late spring/early summer, I got two emails regarding the same thing – a updated new resource that could prove fruitful for my research! Both David Quénéhervé and Mickaël Mange, who have helped in different ways throughout my Afro-French Caribbean research, reached out to me to mention this website. Mickaël mentioned the website was fairly …
Archives Départementales de la Guadeloupe – An Updated Resource! Read More »
Time is flying as the end of the summer nears and it seems like a lot is happening! I missed my final post for August but I am hoping I can post three times this month to make up for it. Quite a bit is going on personally in my life as well (good things!) …
I’m not gonna lie — I have hesitated so many times in writing this post. First, I created the post itself and saved it under drafts for two years (enter the pandemic and other life events), after I began doing some research on the family and then stopped. Lastly, I created a file for them …
A Triple-Barrelled Surnamed Family? The García-Rodríguez-Bonilla Read More »
Sometimes in genealogy, the most important step is taking none at all – take a break from your tree! Though it might seem counter-productive, spending too much time on a specific branch can cause burnout, in my opinion. There are many times you might find yourself coming across dead-ends and brick walls with what seems …
One day while I was in college, a friend asked me a question that to this day has stuck with me. She asked me, “how far can you trace your maternal line?”. She very well knew I was into genealogy and that I could rattle off various names and generations but I still stopped to …
Some time ago (or what feels like an eternity ago) I had the pleasure of presenting for the first time about Puerto Rican research and genealogy. The first presentation was to a society in Texas (over Zoom) which I was asked by a fellow Boston University Genealogical Research classmate if I could present in one …
DNA has been both one of the coolest and yet most difficult tools to use for Puerto Rican genealogy and research. For starters, many Puerto Ricans on the island share mutual ancestors, meaning that DNA has been repeated throughout our branches (sometimes multiple times) and thus create cousin matches seem closer in relation than what they …
There are many times in genealogy where we “discover” an ancestor, but a lot is still left in the shadows. We gain bits and pieces of information about this person, but sometimes the whole picture doesn’t come into full view. It can be missing information such as documents themselves to tie together the person or …
Revisiting my 2nd great-grandmother: Amalia Rivera Rodríguez Read More »
When searching for family, one of the most important things I have come to realize is that sometimes we can find related family members not directly listed as “mother” or “father” in the records, but sometimes we can find them listed as the declarant, a witness, and/or listed as godparents to family members in church …
In the last two years I have taken advantage (in a sense) of all the time from being indoors given the pandemic and I have dedicated this time to genealogical research and education. Back in 2020 I decided to study under Boston University’s Online Certificate Program in Genealogical Research (which I will refer to as “BU” …
A Puerto Rican Look at: BU’s Genealogical Course & ProGen Study Groups Read More »