The Spanish government in some Puerto Rican municipalities kept civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths. Civil registration for the entire territory began in 1885 and these records contain a lot of important genealogical information. You can find Puerto Rican civil registration collections on Ancestry and FamilySearch. Puerto Ricans are a make-up of several different ethnicities, specifically Spanish, African, Taino (Puerto Rico’s Natives) and Morrocan. We will all have different percentages of these ethnicities but, we will share most if not all of them. If you would like to know your story with AncestryDNA get your DNA kit here!
I hope I haven’t bored you with so many details about Biology and Genealogy . Now, let’s start discussing the one thing that got me passionate about Genetic-Genealogy in the first place: my own DNA results.
I remember the day when I saw my DNA results for the first time. I received an e-mail from AncestryDNA notifying that my results were ready. I wanted my husband to be with me because it was a very exciting moment for me.
I remember anticipating those results for weeks and would go on youtube to see random people showing their DNA results to the world and seeing their shocked first reactions.
But why I was so excited and anxious to know? I am a Puerto Rican woman born and raised on the island of Puerto Rico. I have been educated about Puerto Rican history and culture since I was a child. I was told that I came from Taino (Native American), Spaniards and African ancestors and to be proud of
I was confident that it was going to be pretty obvious that these three ethnicities were going to show up in my results but I was still curious and wanted to know if this test had the potential of challenging everything I already knew.
I remember opening the AncestryDNA page and seeing a preview that revealed the first top-two ethnicities: 30% Portuguese? 24% of France? WHAT?! That was basically my first reaction. Even my North American husband though I was being fooled and that it couldn’t be possible.
I clicked the “Discover your DNA story” button to reveal the full report and I kept getting more results that made my jaw drop. Only 9% Spain?? Are you kidding me? Then I see a long list of ethnicities that never in my life crossed my mind: European Jewish, Italy, England, Basque. What is Basque?
Even though this DNA test is based on estimates it still opened a lot of questions. What am I then? Was information kept from me? Did I fell into eternal sleep in my history class? These DNA tests are backed up by years of scientific research. This can’t be lying.
Puerto Rican Dna Results
I was pleased to discover Italian in my list as I love Italian food. I am pretty sure this is the initial reaction of millions of people who get the test and get unexpected results….surprise, confusion, and amusement.
I later learned that those ethnicities go deeper than that. Anybody can enjoy Italian food even if they don’t have a single drop of Italian blood.
This big curiosity led me to find more information about my heritage and dig deeper on Puerto Rican history and my ancient roots. I am still making lots of discoveries as I learn more about
Puerto Rican Dna Test
Why does it even matter you may think? Why is this important??? Well, if you think about it, your past matters, your ancestor’s matters, your history matters. Thanks to all those ancestors you are living and breathing today! They were responsible for your creation, your genes, your traits and possibly your talents.
Your results tell a story and link you to important events that shaped history. These DNA results are going to be a great resource to your genealogical research.
Puerto Rican Dna Study
This has been an exciting adventure for me and I hope it is for you. I invite you to follow me into my journey of exploring my roots and I hope you find some amazing discoveries too. Gallerybhs game farm frenzy.