African Slavery in the Caribbean & South America
One of the most important things that have made me very successful in my research is reading history. Reading history provides me with clues of where to look next. While the genealogy community has taken a stronghold of dipping into DNA testing, it has opened the door to a lot of misconceptions. Note that this…
Manumitted Enslaved People in Puerto Rico
Most people do not realize that slavery still existed on the island of Puerto Rico well after the United States had freed those enslaved. In Puerto Rico, slavery ended in 1873 by the Spanish National Assembly. However, those enslaved were not exactly free, they had to work for an additional 3 years for those that…
PARES Migratory Movements Database
Spain’s archives, better known as PARES, has many surprises. One of their surprises is their databases that can help many throughout the Caribbean where Spain may have at one time claimed the land. This database is called Ibero-American Migratory Movements or Movimientos Migratorios. Many may not realize that this database exists but it is there…
Researching Panamanian Ancestry
Panama has a rich history with connections to many in the Caribbean islands of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. No matter which island you are from, you will discover cousins from Panama. Personally I’d like to see an increase in people from the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America to have their…
PARES – Portal to Spain’s Archives – Part 2
So since I ended my prior post and didn’t go further into details, I’m going to explain one more piece that I didn’t elaborate when searching in PARES. You can check out my prior post at the below link. As a reminder, this entire blog works using pop-ups. Any link I provide always opens a…
PARES – Portal to Spain’s Archives
So I’m finally getting around to talking about PARES -Portal to Spain’s Archives. One of the most amazing and largest archives globally as well as one of the most difficult to navigate. Some of their archives go back as far as the 1400s. The archives are so vast that it is said that they have…