Testing with GeneTree

So a couple of months ago there was a sale at GeneTree and so I decided to test my Y-DNA to see if I could get closer matches to try and figure out where my Rivera line comes from. Also, I wanted to see where they would place me being that with 23andme my paternal haplogroup is I2a1* which is commonly found in areas such as Eastern Europe, specifically the Balkan region. This to me was very interesting, yet also my specific haplogroup (I2a1*) is said to have originated high in the Pyrenees, the string of mountains which separate Spain from France which to me seems more of a fit for my paternal line.

Here is my 23andme paternal haplogroup depiction:

Haplogroup I2a1*

GeneTree, also stated that my paternal haplogroup is found heavily in the Balkan region as well as Scandinavia. GeneTree identifies my haplogroup as “I-M170″. Here are the pictures of the haplogroup:

Haplogroup I-M170

Haplogroup origin and description

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to trace my paternal line out of Puerto Rico. The farthest I’ve gotten back is to a man named Joseph/Jose de Rivera who was probably born around the late 1700’s in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. His son, my 3rd great grandfather, Pedro Rivera Roman was born on the 1st of August 1821 in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. His mother and Joseph de Rivera’s wife, Gertrudis Roman/Romana was written down in her death certificate as a “Free Person of Color” which I don’t know what that would have meant during that time and in that town in Puerto Rico. Would she have been born a slave and later freed, or was she always a Free Person of Color? Was she a descendant of Africans, Natives or a mix of either or?Hopefully one day I’ll have most of these questions answered along with where my Rivera paternal line originated from, whether from the Pyrenees or somewhere in the Balkan region. And hopefully I’ll run into a cousin from my Rivera line that can help me trace my line out of Puerto Rico!