Genealogía

Manuel Román Díaz – A Spanish Soldier

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 …

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Etymological Pedigree: Surname Origins

In the past, I have written two posts about my family pedigree from different angles. The first was a look at colorized pedigree where I marked in various colors the towns of origins of my ancestors, clustering them by town and generation. My second post was about my family tree but from the perspective of …

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Rivera Belén / Belén Rivera: A Curious Combo

Continuing on the topic of surnames, I want to focus today on the surname “Rivera”, my direct paternal line stretching back into Toa Alta’s history for at least 300 years. Continuing this line further back in time has been a tough cookie to crack and so I want to focus on a potential clue that …

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Chéverez in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico

In this post I want to focus on a rather interesting surname in my family that I have never seen out of the island: Chéverez (we will talk about its variations in a bit). This is a surname that almost exclusively belongs to Puerto Rico; similarly the surname Lamboy/Laboy does not seem to be very common …

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Coartación & Slavery in Lares

While researching my Magraner family in Lares via various online databases, I came across an interesting record that allowed me to learn more about my ancestor (in this case my ancestor’s brother) and the act of coartación in regards to slavery on the island of Puerto Rico.  So in this case I will talk about Gabriel Magraner …

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An Orphaned Child: Zoilo Dávila Santiago

Today I want to focus on something I have not seen quite often in Puerto Rican genealogy (at least on my end while researching), which are adoption and or orphaned children. Interestingly enough, my own great-grandfather was orphaned by the age of 13, having lost his father at 9 years old and his mother at …

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Cultural connection – Learning Catalan

As a member of APG (Association of Professional Genealogists), every year one must complete a certain number of hours as a part of your “continued education”. Currently, the number is set to 12 hours and the professional learning opportunities may range from: “college courses, institutes, conferences, discussion groups, lectures, webinars, online courses (not college), self-directed …

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Genealogical Resolutions for 2024!

Godt nytår! Or “Happy New Year” in Danish! I was fortunate to have spent the new year in a new country (Denmark), exploring new cities (Copenhagen, Hillerød; Malmö and Lund in Sweden) with new people. However, it is a new year which means new genealogical resolutions!  I realized this week that last year’s posts marked …

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Puerto Rican Look at: AncestryDNA Update (2023)

I can not believe that this is already my second to last post for 2023! The year has sped by again (… when doesn’t it?) and I soon wrap my genealogical year with a review of my goals and a genealogical look into 2024. However, to end 2023 I want to focus on one of …

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