Genealogy

A New Piece to the Puzzle! The Jean Charles Gustave Mystery Continues…

ancestry, Basse-Terre, Cholera Epidemic, Françoise Jackson, Genealogy, Guadeloupe, Jean Charles Gustave, Martinique, Vieques /

When fellow French Guadeloupean genealogist David Quénéhervé began his email with “Hi, I think that I’ve found something in Basse-Terre“, I knew that I was going to be delivered some new information pertaining to my ancestors. David has helped me numerous times from finding and using the BNMP, to understanding documents and life in Martinique […]

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52 Ancestors – #3 Mercedes Ortiz Marrero (1903-1984)

Felisa Rincon de Gautier, Genealogy, La Perla, Mercedes Ortiz Marrero, Puerto Rico, San Juan, Toa Alta /

I want to focus on an ancestor in this post that I’ve been learning a lot about recently through stories. This ancestor is my great grandmother Mercedes Ortiz Marrero. I unfortunately never got to meet my great grandmother but hearing stories about her has gotten me as close to knowing her as possible. My father’s

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52 Ancestors – #2 Jean Charles Gustave (1819-1891)

FTDNA, Genealogy, haplogroup, Jean Charles Gustave, Julienne Malvina Lautin, Martinique, Puerto Rico, R-M269, Salinas, Vieques, Y-DNA /

This second post will be about a challenging ancestor of mine who I have mentioned a lot before but I want to dedicate a post to him since he has been a troubling ancestor to pinpoint. This post will be about my 4th great grandfather Jean Charles Gustave. Jean Charles Gustave has been very elusive

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52 Ancestors – #1 Felix Vélez Mercado (1905-1953)

Adjuntas, Felix Vélez Mercado, Genealogy, Puerto Rico, Utuado /

I guess I’ll start this challenge with a man who I know both some about but yet know nothing about. This man is my great grandfather Felix Vélez Mercado. Felix’s family photo was what catapulted me into genealogy and it was featured in my first post ever in my blog! L-R: Felix (standing back), Carmen

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A Change in the Past, A Change for the Future

1848, Actes D'individualités, ancestry, Eglantine Lautin, emancipation, Genealogy, Julienne Malvina Lautin, Lautin, Martinica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, slavery, slaves /

I haven’t blogged in a while and with the holidays being both a busy yet relaxing time, I’ve decided to write a post! Recently, a day passed in December that wouldn’t have meant anything special to me until recently. December 21st would have been any other day for me this year; it was a Saturday,

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Día de los Muertos- Recognizing One’s Ancestors

ancestry, Cuba, Día de los Muertos, Genealogy, Gullah, language, Mande tribe, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone /

From November 1-2, a popular holiday from Mexico also known in the USA due to its closeness in date to Halloween was celebrated- Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). And even though it’s been a week since the holiday, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we remember our ancestors and the importance

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A Puerto Rican look at: AncestryDNA 2.0 (African Portion)

Africa, Ancestry.com, ancestryDNA, Genealogy, genetics, Ghana Empire, Mali, Mali Empire, Mandé, Martinique, Puerto Rican, Songhai Empire /

This week something awesome happened- Ancestry.com updated their DNA part of the website and added more ethnicity groups! More importantly, they now break down Africa into various sections which is amazing since this is the first time (to my knowledge) that a company has broken down the Autosomal DNA by African countries. Part of the

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Losing a Loved One

Anacleto Melendez Sanchez, Anicasia Sanchez Arvelo, Genealogy, great grandfather, Jose Melendez Moran, Manatí, Narciso Melendez Sanchez, Puerto Rico, San Juan, Yabucoa /

A little over a month ago, I received a call from my mom who told me that my great grandfather had passed away. That quickly I had lost the oldest family member from my line, my maternal great grandfather Narciso Meléndez. I was fortunate to have met my great grandfather and visit him in Puerto

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Hints to the Past?

23andme, Africa, Angola, Cape Verde, chromosomes, countries of ancestry, Eglantine Lautin, Genealogy, Martinique, Puerto Rico, slavery, West Africa /

Things have been pretty slow on my end here! I’ve been searching through church records in different towns in Puerto Rico trying to locate more ancestors and documentation. Just two days ago I found two sets of maternal 5th great grandparents which is awesome to add to the tree. But more interestingly, the 23andme feature

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