ArchivesPuertoRico.com provides search services to anyone seeking genealogical, ancestral and/or historical information specific to Puerto Rico. We collect, preserve and deliver historical and genealogical information and records. This landing page is a guide to Puerto Rican ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, etc.
One of my pet peeves regarding genealogy is the amount of incorrect data. There is plenty of incorrect data on the internet and Ancestry. People join Ancestry and simply start clicking away. As a result, adding ancestors to their family trees without checking the resources. Thus never noticing a lack of resources. Researching your Puerto Rican Genealogy involves more. CLICKING AND ADDING PEOPLE TO TREES ISN’T GENEALOGY!!!
I say this in the kindest way but it really annoys me that people are under the impression that genealogy is very easy. Henceforth, genealogy is not about clicking and adding a name on the tree. What other ancestry trees are good for are simply clues; yes nothing else but clues! You should not automatically add something that Ancestry gave you as a hint. It is frustrating when I see my ancestors associated with unrelated people. Hence, no connection whatsoever to my ancestor. I’ve seen this pattern on my Bayala and Betancourt lines. It is not surprising that Ancestry can’t keep many interested in genealogy.
Ancestry lacks in many ways as a learning tool. Part of researching your ancestry is reading history books and sources available online. The type of weather and the political situation truly assists in understanding how your family member wound up in a region of the globe or even their living conditions. Consequently, something written in a book does not make it factual. There are times that people quote things in their book and I’ve discovered them to be false.
Researching Your Puerto Rican Genealogy: Outcome of Research
Case in point, I discovered by just looking at the 1910 Census that many Bayala children were living with people with different family names. As a result, I also discovered Juan Montañez living with Pedro Bayala. Hence, I did not understand what was going on. I then decided to look to see if any hurricanes hit the island, was there some form of disease taking over the villages, the possibilities were limitless.
I quickly discovered that Hurricane San Ciriaco of 1899 impacted Puerto Rico. In fact, in speaking with my father about Juan Montañez, I discovered more. As a result, I found out that Juan is actually Pedro Bayala’s son. Therefore, Juan’s real name is Juan Bayala Montañez; my father’s grandfather.
This hurricane was very devastating to the island and what followed was hunger, diseases, and deaths. The hurricane itself killed over 3,000 people. However, many more died between 1899 and 1910. Many children of these families were impacted in a horrible way with some winding up in orphanages. If you need more information on Puerto Rico hurricanes, the following link is a great source.
My second discovery was Oscar Bunker’s book on the History of Caguas. This book assisted me in knowing where to research and validate content. Important to realize that this book is riddled with many errors. There were people who never existed in that book and people whose ages didn’t add up to being parents of individuals. I was not able to locate some of the people mentioned as children. In fact, I am just glad to say that I ask many questions.
Questions…
So the questions you should be asking yourself when you start researching are…
- How did my ancestors wind up in Puerto Rico?
- Where on the island did my ancestors lived?
- Which government was in charge of the island when my ancestor was living?
- What forms were in use in reporting birth, marriage, and death at the time my ancestor was living?
- When I say form I don’t mean an actual form as we would use today to fill out paperwork. In other words, check to see if baptisms into the Roman Catholic faith required.
- Part of Puerto Rico’s history includes only permitting Roman Catholics to live on the island.
- Who was recording births, marriages, and deaths during the time period?
- How did the global rules on Civil Registration that took effect impact the island?
- Puerto Rico wasn’t the only island that needed to create official records.
- Who was the governing country over the island? Was it Spain or the United States during the era you are researching?
Other Resources
Another source besides just clicking away is referencing church books with many being available online via www.familysearch.org or even by visiting a local Family Search Library which is located at a local Mormon Church. You can also locate them all on this website as the films have been broken down to assist a researcher in finding records much easier.
Some other great databases are Spain’s archives called PARES and Puerto Rico’s Archives.
About Puerto Rican Genealogy Sites
So before you click and add someone to your tree do your research. Furthermore, do not add to the madness that has gripped many on Ancestry. Do your own research or you’ll be doing a disservice to yourself, family, and ancestors. Until next time and good luck with your research! It’s not an impossible task but its a lot of work and rewarding as you learn your own history along the way.