Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
Recently, in the United States Veterans’ Day, was observed on the 11th of November 2023. For most of my life, I thought I had only one recent ancestor who had served in any modern war, my maternal grandfather having served in the army in the 1960s. However, a document with what seemed like a random …
November in the United States honors “Native American History Month” and so I wanted to write up this post this month to overlap native indigenous roots in the United States with indigenous roots in Puerto Rico. I want to showcase a document that in my opinion is fairly rare and that is because it contains …
Before coming to Spain I was clear on one thing that I wanted to do: Use my free time to get more serious about the BCG (Board of Certified Genealogists) process in order to submit a portfolio and await potential certification. In order to prep for this process, I heard about a course via the …
With a recent move (I am currently living in Spain) and getting used to the rhythm here, genealogy has taken the back burner for a few weeks. Now that I am more settled in, I am hoping that I can fall back in line with my posts (currently I am two behind – this post …
The last month has been quite exciting for me in regards to genealogy! The first exciting news is that I was fortunate to have been chosen for a genealogical scholarship via the APG (Association of Professional Genealogists) and the second exciting news is that I will publish my first genealogical piece with the SPG (Sociedad …
Recently, another genealogist had asked me to check out a document from Puerto Rico and, if possible, provide a transcription for the text. I gladly decided to help, providing both a transcription and translation for the needed document. In helping her out, I decided to try and find some more information about the couple in …
A Coincidental Find: My “De los Santos” Branch from Fajardo Read More »
It is very rare for me to see official name changes while doing Puerto Rican genealogical research. Sometimes, I will see that a person goes by their middle name in other records later in life, for example, someone born as María Dolores might just use Dolores or a Juan de la Cruz might just use …
Many of the sources we use for research in Puerto Rico are vital records – we use birth, marriage, and death records to learn new names of our ancestors as we climb up genealogical trees. Sometimes we get lucky and find confirmation records (the Catholic sacrament) or church dispensations for marriages of consanguineous relations between …
Some time ago last year I realized that the Familysearch collection for Puerto Rican church records included some indexed record entries for people in my family who were either still living or had recently passed away – basically from the recent generations which are harder to research. Except since they were indexed records only and …
If you grew up speaking Spanish or speak the language with elders, then you have likely heard the terms “Don” and “Doña” thrown around. Don Juan, Don Cheo (nickname for José), Doña Pancha (nickname for Francisca), or Doña María are some examples of this type of title being used. Generally, it is used nowadays to …