Tejer la vida: Lacemakers remembered

A look at some literature on mundillo and seven tejedoras in Moca, Puerto Rico

I was blessed to meet an elder generation of lacemakers— tejedoras or mundillistas–, before they passed on.  I met  many amazing people when I was involved with field research for my project, thanks to happening upon Ada Hernandez Vale in Jaime Babilonia’s Farmacia in the Plaza, the heart of Barrio Pueblo, Moca.  Ada was carrying her chihuahua, Trompito, and in Spanish asked me if I was looking…

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Ubiles: AfroIndigenous Families of Northeast Puerto Rico

Who are the ancestors with the Ubides surname in 17th century Puerto Rico? A look at some early San Juan records.

View from the fortifications of San Juan, 1824. Library of Congress.  What are the origins of the Ubiles families of Barrio Mabu, Humacao?  This post is part of a larger project that explores the lives of ancestors who lived centuries before in Northeast Puerto Rico. As a genealogist, this was an opportunity to delve into the ancestry of Marie Ubides, and share more about what documents hold…

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Friendly Village: a second grade trip

Remembering the dissonance of a second grade reader in the Bronx

PS 25 in 1905.  I attended some 55 years later. The school is still there, on 811 E 149th St. NYC.gov That diasporic feeling  There is no one place or time when diaspora occurs…it is a perpetual space of change and displacement. An awareness. It’s a process I share with many, whether by blood, place or experience, with locations linked by oceans and shaped by the relentless squeeze for money…

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People & Property: Enslaved Ancestors sold by Rafael del Valle to Jose Genaro del Valle, Barrio Malezas, Aguadilla, 1854

In 1854, the terms of a deed reveals the names of 19 enslaved ancestors included in a sale between cousins in mid-nineteenth century Aguadilla.

View of Aguadilla, 1898, from Murat Halstead, Full Official HIstory of the War with Spain: The True Inwardness of the War. [HL Barber, 1898] Slavery was a Family Business Right now i’m looking over this entry for a property sale Aguadilla from February 1854⁠1. It’s a lock, stock and barrel sale between first cousins, and the order of importance for the details enumerated is very telling. It…

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Gente 1868-1872: Enslaved persons held by Felipe Yturrino y Arzua

New post! Saying the names of enslaved ancestors in Anasco, 1868-1872.

Events on the way to freedom In my recent blog post Yturrino: A collateral line, I had questions about what kind of business Felipe Iturrino Arzua (1811 -1894) of Anasco was in. While I was able to follow some notary documents that described a  string of land purchases in different municipalities, it really wasn’t clear what he had invested in.  These land purchases now make more sense after…

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Allen Acevedo (1955-2022)

Losing a cousin is never easy...

Our cousin Allen passed this Monday 17 October, leaving us shocked that he is gone. Allen was funny, kind and generous, someone with a big heart.  His funeral will be held next Monday, 24 October at Blount & Curry Funeral Home at Garden of Memories, 4207 E Lake Ave in Tampa, FL 33610. Visitation 1-2PM, Funeral Service 2-3PM. Born in the Bronx to Vivian Fernandez and Manuel Acevedo, Allen was…

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The Vote of 1960: Context, Challenge, NGS & James Dent Walker

The Vote of 1960: Context, Challenge, NGS & James Dent Walker

Before I start: The view from here, some context In trying to assemble a history of an organization from fragments, I’m grappling with slippage, the way that things unsaid haunt every space, how the unsaid is supposed to be gracious, but hides a different cruelty. It’s working with systems that require violence for its completion, a continuation of the machine of settler logics that seek to…

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Yturrino: Looking at a collateral line

New post! Taking a long view on a collateral line...

Mutriku (Motrico) From”El atlas del rey planeta: La descripción de España y de las costas y puertos de sus reinos”, de Pedro Texeira (1634) Wikimedia Finding additional details can make working with documents fascinating. Often it can help us understand relationships that structured the lives of persons further back in time.   Some collateral lines have ancestors who came from sites in Spain,…

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Finding Juan Jose Carrillo: An African Ancestor

New post on finding an African ancestor in Puerto Rico!

A New Map of That Part of Africa Called the Coast of Guinea. William Snellgrave, 1734. British Library, https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/carviews/a/022zzz000279e26u00mapi00.html Juan Jose Carrillo & Antonia Maria Figueredo Santana: 6th GGPs I’m still reeling. This was a momentous week in more ways than one. Recently I was compiling a list of African ancestors from the 1870 cedulas, and…

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Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard

New post on a must see documentary

“The question is, who owns the rights to the violence of the past? Is it the victim or the perpetrator? ” — Tamara Lanier, Free Renty https://www.freerentyfilm.com This week, I attended a Together Films virtual screening of Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard, organized by genealogist Nicka Smith. Directed by David Gruber, the documentary covers the years that Tamara K. Lanier contacted and was…

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Visualizing Genocide: Indigenous Interventions in Art, Archives and Museums

I'm a contributor to this amazing project out soon! Available for pre-order

So excited to be part of this project! The book, edited by Yve Chavez & Nancy Marie Mithlo “examines how creative arts and memory institutions selectively commemorate or often outright ignore stark histories of colonialism.” My piece for the volume: “Dying to Know You: Critical Insights from a case study of Indigenous Representations in Museums of the Early Republic.” Brings together a lot! I…

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In memory of Basilio, who stole himself, November 1839

Context for a notice for Basilio, a young African man who attempted to gain his freedom in Nov 1839 in NWPR

“Anuncios”, Gazeta de Puerto Rico, 26 November 1839 Page 567 image 3. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2013201074/1839-11-26/ed-1/seq-3/> ANUNCIÓS. El alcalde de la Moca ha participado al Excmo. Sr. Gobernador y Capitán General en oficio de 6 del corriente, que en la hacienda de Luis Masconabe, vecino de aquel partido;…

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Who's Your Mamá? Documents and discrepancies from early 19th century Moca : Part 3

Brick wall? How to untangle sources that just might bring you closer to solving your mystery.

Part 3: Gathering Information & Pulling it all together  Excerpt, Juana Nepomucena Caban, Acta de defuncion, 1888 Gathering Data: What the Acta de Defuncion tells us Four key facts can be gleaned from Juana Nepomucena Caban’s 1888 death certificate: Juana Nepomucena Caban was of advanced age Juana was widowed   she had 14 children with Carlos Mendez… and,  Carlos’ death preceded hers.  As…

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Who's Your Mamá? Documents and discrepancies from early 19th century Moca - Part 2

Approaching a brick wall? Some suggestions for why context matters

Part 2: How to sort through data: Context In this post, I’ll provide the context of a death record for Juana Nepomucena Caban as we start to unpack what appears in this 1888 Acta de Defuncion. Ultimately whatever information is collected, consider it together with any available documentation as you work your way to earlier generations. Since one document leads to another, the civil registration…

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Who's Your Mamá? Documents and discrepancies from early 19th century Moca - Part I

Useful steps in preparation for a case study of a classic brick wall.

Documents and Discrepancies from Early 19th C Moca This blog post is the first of a 3 part case study that shows a process of resolving name discrepancies.  The sections offer Part 1: An overview , Part 2: Dealing with data and then Part 3: Making sense of the bits — gleaning details and pulling it together.  Part One: An Overview Today, searching for ancestor matches with DNA cousins involves…

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The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Researching genealogical societies at the turn of the century

some thoughts on researching an unsettling topic set at the turn of the last century

Louis M Glackens, “Eugenics Makes the World go ’round.” Puck, June 1913. I’ll be honest, researching this hasn’t been easy. I’ve written on historical moments that make for profound discomfort— early museum exhibits of Native American body parts and remains; the fact that the best known museum owner of his day (Peale) held a nuclear family (the Williams) in bondage, and that eugenics permeates a…

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Searching Documents for Benejam Ancestors

Julio Ester ‘Ulla’ Rivera, November 2021. Photo courtesy of Julio Enrique Rivera. I’ve finally submitted the materials, tables and text to accompany Part 3 of the Missing Registro Central de Esclavo volume for Northwest Puerto Rico to Hereditas. This set of transcriptions of cedulas are from Caja 2 (item 2) of 1870. The essay focuses on facets of the lives of 55 enslaved people held by Cristobal…

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