--By Luis Rivera
I am from a generation that fortunately
started their genealogical research online. From census records to draft cards
and vital records — my searches were facilitated through online databases that
made research easy and accessible at the click of a button. Gone were the days
of going in person to search dusty, crumbling records and cranking microfilm
readers … or so my young genealogical self naively thought! As my genealogical
research became more serious and exhaustive, I learned the importance of going onsite
to places like archives and churches for research. So today I want to focus on
why in this modern age, going onsite continues to be important, not just in
genealogy overall, but specifically in Hispanic research.
Not Everything is Online
Throughout my many years of research, I
learned that simply put… not everything is online. When it comes to Puerto
Rican research this includes a multitude of documents. These can range from
passports, criminal/police records, last wills and testaments, local censuses,
purchases of land and enslaved people, other notarial records, to local town
records that may include an ancestor’s presence, mention, or signature. These
records help us to provide more context to our ancestors’ lives and without
them we would be leaving many stones unturned while executing our research.
Every good genealogist considers records both online and in-person as a part of
their research plan. Taking into consideration offline records continues to be
an important skill in the 21st century.
Archives are slowly catching up to the
digital age and many have begun to digitize some of their collections, though
it may be years before everything is available online. It is therefore our job
to locate these physical records, to the best of our ability, in the search of
our ancestors.
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| Archivo General de Puerto Rico |
The Future of Research
Recently this past summer, I spent time
at the Puerto Rican Genealogical Society helping to digitize records because
time can be cruel to them on a humid island prone to hurricanes. Therefore, the
genealogical society, in partnership with the Catholic Church, began to
digitize records available only in person. These include the dispensas de
soltería (dispensations needed for marriages between a foreigner and a
Puerto Rican or two Puerto Ricans not from the same town) and dispensas de
consanguinidad (needed for marriages between cousins). These records
include information that can be extremely helpful for your genealogical
research. Whether it be extracts of baptisms, hand drawn trees of the
relationship between cousins, to the appearance of witnesses in these said
acts, all of this information can be important when conducting exhaustive
research.
Little young genealogical me would be
totally surprised at how many records I have had to consult in person to learn
more about my family. For example, finding my third-great-grandparents’
consanguineous dispensation from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, helped me to learn that
they shared a set of grandparents. Similarly, researching in San Juan del
Puerto, Spain allowed me to trace a family line back to the sixteenth century.
You never know what you’ll find in person!
Bio: Luis Ariel Rivera, a native of the Bronx, New York, has been researching his family's roots since 2004. His expertise lies in Puerto Rican research, focusing on his family’s Taíno, Spanish, and African roots on the island, while also researching his Afro-French roots in Martinique and Guadeloupe. He is a member of various genealogical organizations connected to his ancestry as well as the National Genealogical Society (NGS) and the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG). As a former second language educator, Luis continues to enjoy finding connections to other languages and cultures through the stories of his ancestors' lives. Currently, Luis works as an Advanced Researcher on the International Team at Legacy Tree Genealogists.
