Finding out what it means to be Boricua through a genetic & genealogical journey through my family history
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 …
The time has finally arrived – April 1st, 2022; the release of the 1950 Census! If this is the first time that you hear about this release, it has been a long time coming. Literally 72 years! The census records recorded every ten years are stored away until the names written on them can be …
When it comes to learning about our ancestors, we usually want to learn pretty much everything about them – no detail seems too small. How tall were they? What color eyes did they have? Where did they live and where did they work? And of course, who were their parents and where were they from? …
Growing up I always knew I had ties to the town of Lares, Puerto Rico and the connection came via the paternal side of the family. My great-grandmother was born and raised in Lares, and just before she passed I got the chance to meet her in the early 1990s. I don’t remember much about …
Just like that it is time to set goals for the new year! If you’d like to read my goals from 2021 and what I was able to accomplish – click here! My Genealogical Resolutions seem to date back to at least 2013, which means I have been doing this for at least 8 years …
When I started researching my family, I was quick to figure out that various sides of my family were just…stuck. Not having access to the church records online meant that I could not research them easily like how I could with other towns such as Adjuntas, Toa Alta, Yabucoa, etc. My great-grandfather, Narciso Sánchez Meléndez, …
When researching families in Puerto Rico, something to keep track of that might be different in a lot of other genealogical searches is the idea of “consanguinity”. Consanguineous can be defined as “sharing the same blood or origin, specifically descending from the same ancestor” (Merriam-Webster). The term can broken down into “con-” and “sanguis” meaning …