Irish in Spain (XII): Some Irish Marriages in C18th Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Until recently I was unaware that Sanlúcar de Barrameda was among the Spanish localities that hosted large Irish expatriate colonies in the early 1700s. I spotted the following entries in the course of some recent work in its parish registers:

Marriages 1715-1724:
P. 9V, 10 Dec 1715: Pedro Eston, native of the city of 'Dublino' in Ireland, son of Juan Eston and María Thaf, to Doña Catalina Narcisa de Ávila, widow of Bartolomé Álvarez, resident of this city.

P. 231, 31 May 1722: Don Ricardo Nugent native of Dublin, son of Don Thomas Nugent and Doña Isabel Nugent; to Dª Francisca Ortiz Marujan, legitimate daughter of Don Luis Jose Ortiz & Dª Andrea Marujan Contreras, natives and residents of this place.

Marriages 1724-1732
P. 143, 9 Aug 1728 Patricio Walsh legitimate son of Thomas Walsh & Margarita Walsh, to Catalina Fare d. of Gerardo Fare + Catalina Guarde natives of Ireland and residents of this city. Witnesses P. Fr. Carlos French of the Orden de Predicadores and Don Pedro Pichardo.

P. 211, 19 Jul 1730 Don Patricio French native of the city of 'Galbia' in Ireland, legitimate son of Don Gerónimo French & Doña Susana Ormsby; to Doña Mariana Croquer Daughter of Don Juan Ignacio Croquer y Luisa Alvarez, native and both residents of this place.

P. 116, 28 Aug 1727 Diego Esmith, son of Thomas Esmith and of Cathalina Brum, to Margarita Lorenza, daughter of Guillermo Lorenzo and of Ana Guinsi, native of the city of Dublin and all residents of this place. Witnesses Don Carlos French and Don Juan Grove, both Irish, clergymen.

Possible names and surnames intended by some of the above entries include: Easton, Farrell or Farrill, Ward, Smith, Lawrence (Guillermo Lorenzo = William Lawrence), Quincy or Quincey (Ana Guinsi = Anne Quincey). Galbia is, I presume, Galway.

SOURCE: Diocesan Archive of Asidonia-Jerez, Parish Records of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Marriage Registers 20 and 21.

My Research on the Ancestry of Narciso Rodríguez for PBS' Finding Your Roots: plus a tip for beginners

I was thrilled to see the Fashion's Roots episode of Finding Your Roots finally broadcast this week. Profesionally 2020 has not been a year of memorable achievements so it was nice to revisit more favourable times!

I spent four exciting days last year in one of the most beautiful places in Spain, the island of Gran Canaria, researching the Canarian portion of Narciso Rodríguez' ancestry. The tools at my disposal across three different archives varied greatly, from digitised images of sacramental records and obscure books dealing with early history of the Canary Islands, to original C19th notarial records and C18th marriage cousinship dispensations.

I won't get into the details of eventual discoveries here (watch the episode, it's exciting!) but I want to use a single aspect of this research to illustrate a useful tip for beginning genealogists. After the first several hours I had developed the tree into three different towns - Arucas, Gáldar and Guía. The largest number of ancestors lived in Arucas, but work in its records was hampered by the fact that none of registers have indexes; some of the books are very long, and spending hours scrolling through pages is a genuine logistical issue when an archive is only open four hours a day. Added to that, if your interest is not merely in assembling names and dates, but developing some back story for these ancestors, a sameness of names can be daunting: too many Juan Rodríguez's, and records suggested there were as many as ten men named José Pérez in Arucas at the same time, which makes it very risky to try and match such common names with any 'interesting' stories in litigation or published works.

By contrast, when I spotted an ancestor surnamed Saavedra in Gáldar, she sort of stuck out. Amid a crowd of repetitive surnames - Suarez, several Morenos and a distressing profusion of lines of Rodriguez - she was the odd woman out, and it was by focusing on her that I was able to trace into ancestors with less frequent names, then some from a higher socio-economic status and finally back to the earliest ancestors discussed in this segment of the show.

Naturally, every researcher has different priorities, and one's goals may not be susceptible to prioritising based on logistics. But if, rather than tracing a specific line, your goal is to connect through any line with some sort of background story pertaining to remote ancestors, something memorable beyond simple dates, places and names, you could do worse than to remember: follow the 'weird' surname!

(Above: A panoramic shot of the Vegueta area of Las Palmas I took from atop the Cathedral one afternoon after completing research. Two of the archives where I worked are located in the square at bottom left of the photo.)

Irish in Spain (XI): A C18th Husband & Wife between Málaga, Cádiz and Cuba

Daniel O'Driscoll, a native of Ireland stated to habitually reside in Cádiz, married Ana Michaela Murfy at the 'Sagrario' of the Cathedral of the city of Málaga on 23 October 1797. He was the son of 'Don Juan O'Driscoll' and 'Doña Leonor Macarthy', the bride being the daughter of 'Don Miguel Murfy' and 'Doña María Porro'. The wedding was conducted through a Power of Attorney granted by the groom to his father-in-law on 11 October 1797 before Cádiz notary Félix Araujo.

Though I've seen many Irish families in the sacramental registers of Spanish cities, what made this find particularly interesting was the death record of the groom - the above entry was taken not directly from the relevant marriage register, but from a transcript in the paperwork presented by the bride when she sought to remarry years later. It included another record stating that Daniel O'Driscoll, native of Ireland, in this case a son of 'Jeremías' O'Driscoll and María 'Macarte' had been admitted to the Hospital of San Felipe and San Juan, in care of the Hospitaller Order of St John, in Havana, where he died on 31st January 1803, aged 29. Fourteen years later his widow, who then resided in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) filed paperwork to marry a Dr. Nicolás Meca. 

SOURCE: Archivo General del Arzobispado, Expedientes Matrimoniales Ordinarios, Legajo 1142.

Irish in Spain (X): Some C18th Marriages in the City of Málaga

At Málaga's parish of Santiago on 16 Nov 1733, 'Don Ricardo Colvel' widower of 'Doña María Caliwill' married 'Doña Leonor de Burc' widow of 'Don Patricio Fisomons'. Bride and groom were both residents of the city. [Marriages, Book 12, P. 14]

Also there, on 15 July 1736, Don Daniel Donoban, of 'Ross Carbry', Ireland, Bishopric of Cork, legitimate son of Daniel Donoban and Cathalina Reagan his wife, married Doña María Talbot, legitimate daughter of Guillermo Talbot and Doña Maria Kins Kalagh his wife. The witnesses were Patricio Canisbro, Patricio Ronan and Diego Magdemara. [Marriages, Book 12, P. 61 verso]

These two families intermarried again: at the same parish, on 12 Nov 1742, Don Timotheo Donoban, native of Cork in Ireland, son of the same Daniel and Cathalina, married Doña Cathalina Talbot, a native of Dublin, son of the same Guillermo Talbot and María 'Quinchelli'. The ceremony was performed by Friar Eguardo 'Makena', described as a 'lector jubilado en el Convento de San Agustín'. [Marriages, Book 12, P. 111 verso]

The 'Patricio Ronan' who witnessed the 1736 marriage above, may have been the same man who himself married at Málaga's Cathedral three years previously: on 21 June 1733 Don Patricio Ronan (though the margin reads 'Ronar'), native of 'Dungarbainel' in Ireland, legitimate son of Don Thomas Ronar and Doña Juana Lincon, married Doña Margarita Plunket, resident of Málaga, widow of irishman 'Don Francisco Chamberlan'. The witnesses were Don Timotheo Magdemara and Don Diego Magdemara, residents of Málaga. [Sagrario, Marriages 1729-1752, P. 37]

I'm not going to hazard a guess at the Gaelic spelling of any of these names, but their English renderings may be: Richard Coldwell (or Richard Caldwell?), Mary Caldwell, Eleanor de Burgh, Patrick Fitzsimmons, Daniel Donovan, Catherine Reagan, Mary Talbot, William Talbot, Mary Kinkelly (or Mary Kilkenny?), Timothy Donovan, Catherine Talbot, Patrick Ronan, Thomas Ronan, Joan Lincoln (or Jane Lincoln), Margaret Plunkett, Francis Chamberlain, Timothy Macnamara, James Macnamara. The registers containing the records cited above are to be found in Málaga's excellent Cathedral Archive.

Irish in Spain (VIII): Two Irish Ladies Who Died in Cádiz in 1759

On 4 January 1759, Ana Donovan (also written once as Inés Donovan, so perhaps actually Agnes?) aged 54, native of Kilkenny, died in Cádiz, her burial taking place the next day. On 30 January 1759 Maria Dodd, aged 47, native of the parish de "Butifinensis" in County Cork, Ireland, the widow of "Guillermo Shee" (William Shea) was buried.

SOURCE: Cathedral of Cádiz (Sagrario), Burials, Book 16, Pp. 14 and 17 verso

Irish in Spain (VII): An O'Reilly-Dymock Family in C18th Málaga

On 18th November 1725 at Málaga's church of San Juan Bautista, Gabriel O'Reilly married Elizabeth Dymock. He was born at Troyes (France), the son of Michael O'Reilly and Mary Tallon; she was from "Dunan" (Doonan?), Ireland, the daughter of Francis Dymock and Catherine Quigly.

This couple had at least one child; a boy, Miguel Máximo, was baptised to them at Málaga's cathedral on 30th May 1728. That record simply describes their origin as 'of the Irish nation'; it states that they resided in Málaga's Espartería street and that the infant's godparent was Friar Prosper Colan, an Augustine monk. Names in these records are given in Spanish and surname spelling is inconsistent, so O'Reyli, O'Reylly, Dymoke; Miguel, María, Isabel, Francisco, Catalina.

SOURCES: Marriages 1722-1733, Church of San Juan Bautista, P. 93 verso; Baptisms 1720-1729, Cathedral (Sagrario), P. 257 verso. Both churches in Málaga, records now at the Málaga Diocesan Archive.

Curiosidades Genealógicas (XLV): Un Pagazaurtundúa vasco casa en La Rioja

El 1 de diciembre de 1837 en Treviana, el notario Joaquín de Belandía escrituró las capitulaciones matrimoniales del Dr. D. José de Pagazaurtundúa con Dª Bárbara Briones. Él era el médico titular en dicha villa riojana, natural de Güeñes en 'las Encartaciones de Vizcaya', e hijo de D. Francisco Javier Pagazaurtundúa y de Dª María Santa Marina. La novia, por su parte, era natural de Treviana, hija de D. Francisco Briones, ya difunto, y Dª María Jesús de Vallugera. Ambos contrayentes firmaron con letra clara y firme la carta de dote.

FUENTE: Archivo Histórico Provincial de La Rioja, Protocolos Notariales, Legajo 4410, Folios 65 recto-66 verso del año 1837.

Genealogical Oddities (XLIV): An American Sailor's C19th Spanish Burial

Juan Huldrich was buried in Málaga on 27 October 1836. Aged 25, unmarried, he was stated to be a native of Boston, and described as 'Anglo Americano', so presumably the city in question is that in Massachusetts, not Lincolnshire. He was said to have been a sailor on the frigate 'General' and to have died of a bilious attack. Huldrich seems to be an infrequent surname so I wonder if this was actually a John Hildreth?

SOURCE: Archivo Histórico Curial, Malaga Cathedral (Sagrario), Burials 1807-1837, P. 129

Genealogical Oddities (XXXIX): An 18th Century Irish Marriage in Cadiz

On 27 October 1751, at the chapel in Cádiz' La Carraca arsenal, Diego Conway (ie., James Conway), native of 'Ross in Ireland', a son of Paul Conway and Isabel or Elizabeth 'Flanaly', married Maria Olfield, a native of Dungarvan in the province of Munster, and the daughter of Thomas Oldfield (or Olfield) and 'Ana Geraldino'. The witnesses were Bartholomew Boylan, Matthew Mullan and Edward Duff, and the ceremony was performed by Franciscan friar Anthony Kerigan.

SOURCE:  Arsenal of La Carraca, Cádiz, Marriages 1739-1781, Page 64; Navy Museum Archive, Madrid.

Genealogical Oddities (XXXVIII): A Yorkshire Quaker in 18th Century Cadiz

On 8 November 1757 at Cadiz' Cathedral, one George Rennolds or Reynolds, about 24 years of age and a native of 'the city of York in England', son of 'Guillermo Rennolds' and 'Isabel Yaerel', was baptised into the Catholic faith, having until then belonged to 'the quaking sect', as the record puts it. His Godparent was one Juan Bautista Lostaud, and the witness Friar Maurice Hogan, a Franciscan and the chaplain of the Ultonia Regiment of Infantry.

George's father's name, in English, was presumably William Reynolds and his mother's Christian name would have been Elizabeth, but I cannot guess what 'Yaerel' was intended to be. Perhaps a researcher familiar with York families or Quaker records will know of which tree George was a far-flung branch.

SOURCE: Cadiz Cathedral Archive, Spain, Baptisms, Vol. 59, Page 105

Heraldry and Genealogy in the town of Llerena

 This town in Spain's westerly Extremadura region was the venue for a wedding I recently attended and while there I found some very appealing heraldic display, ranging from these beautifully painted 16th century arms in one of the chapels at the Nuestra Señora de la Granada church, to these more modern painted tiles at the arrivals door of the bus station, showing the arms of the town and of the region.

Some years ago I had occasion to work extensively with 16th century records of both of Llerena's churches as well as the notarial records for the same period, a wealth of documents that revealed a great deal about the families then prominent in the city - Chaves, Silíceo, Oliveros and Larios, among others. I look forward to eventually adding the photographs I obtained of the many armorial stones adorning some of the town's venerable old houses and will surely find these lineages and others represented in them.

Ancestry of Juan Miguez, 18th-century settler of Attakapas and New Orleans

Juan Miguez, who settled in North America's Attakapas County in 1778 and subsequently resided in New Orleans, has been widely listed as a native of 'San Salvador de Febra' in the Spanish region of Galicia, but this seems certain to be the result of a transcription error in the published version of the will left by Juan in New Orleans in 1800. Another publication, which transcribes the list of those who sailed aboard the brig 'San Josef', repeats the Febra error but at least gets us a bit closer to the Miguez' actual point of origin, by adding the placename Tuy.

A survey of the parishes in the Diocese of Tuy yields no Febra, but given the similarity of the uppercase letters T and F in old script it seems to me almost certain that Juan must have been native to the parish of San Salvador de Tebra, in the province of Pontevedra. As José's parents are named in his will, and the diocesan records for the 1700s are today kept at the Diocesan Archive of Tuy, it seems that his ancestry is simply waiting to be discovered.

If anyone can advise me as to specifically which publication was the source of the published transcript of Juan's will, I will happily update the reference below.

SOURCES: Will of Juan Miguez, 1800, extract submitted by Maurine Bergerie to a publication unknown; 'Historia de Alhaurín de la Torre en la Edad Moderna, 1489-1812', by José Manuel de Molina Bautista, extract online at http://www.thecajuns.com/malaguenos%20in%20la.pdf

Irish in Spain (VI): Goold of Dublin marries, in Galicia, Halloran of Kerry

On 12 May 1776 at the Parish of the Esteiro Shipyard near Ferrol in Galicia, Fr. Mardin de Haset, an Augustinian, and then chaplain of the Ultonia Regiment, married Don Diego Goold to Doña Ursula Haluran. Presumably the standard form for these names would have been Gould and Halloran. In any event, the groom was a son of Edmund Goold and Frances Anne O'Reardon, both of Dublin: the bride's parents, Maurice Haluran (Maurice O'Halloran?) and Anne Fitzgerald, both deceased, are stated to have been residents of County Kerry, but their town is given as 'Villa de Palacio', and I cannot venture a guess as to what was intended by this - it literally translates to 'town of Palace' or 'Palacetown. The witnesses were Don Timoteo O'Scanlon and Don Luis O'Brien.

SOURCE: Parroquia de los Reales Astilleros de Esteiro, Matrimonios 1768-1778, Archivo del Museo Naval, Madrid, AMN 1391-16, P. 186 verso

Irish in Spain (V): O'Ryan of Seville, and Mexico

At the Cathedral in Mexico City in March 1822, Don Daniel O'Ryan, a 33-year-old native of Seville, son of Don Baltasar O'Ryan and Doña María Rafaela (Vanhez?), married Doña Manuela Payno, an 18-year-old Spaniard native to Badajoz.

Daniel was probably a son of this Baltasar O'Ryan, who won a Royal Warrant from the Royal Chancellery of Granada in 1806 upholding his gentry status, or hidalguía. 

SOURCE: Informaciones Matrimoniales 1822, Asunción-Sagrario Metropolitano, México; www.familysearch.org

Enríquez de Castilla > Fernando Enríquez > Enríquez de Noboa

I am pleased to be able to share, in web format, a study I prepared of one of the several Enríquez de Noboa lineages in Galicia, which concludes by suggesting a new way to interpret certain evidence of the parentage of Fernando Enríquez, constable of the castle of Allariz at the outset of the 15th century.

http://www.matthewhovious.co.uk/enriquez.htm

Me complace poder compartir con quien quiera asomarse al tema este estudio que preparé en cuanto a uno de los linajes Enríquez de Noboa que alcanzó una cierta relevancia en Galicia durante el antiguo régimen, estudio que concluye proponiendo una forma novedosa de interpretar dos escritos contemporáneos en cuanto a la luz que arrojan sobre el padre de Fernando Enríquez, Tenente del castillo de Allariz al inicio del siglo XV.

[Arms/Escudo: Heralder [CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons]

Genealogical Research Tips from Donald Rumsfeld

'...We know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.'

---Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary for Defence, 2002

The famous quote above, not at first glance relevant to genealogy, is applicable to a particular blind spot which may affect researchers as the use of digitised sources online becomes ever more prevalent.

The easy availability of scanned versions of out-of-copyright publications, works often difficult to locate outside the libraries of a few cities, could lead one to the assumption that everything useful that was published before a certain date is now available somewhere on the internet. Of course, sweeping statements are a hazard in any case, but the falsehood of this assumption is particularly acute when considered in the light of the original size of the books scanned.

It seems that most automated book scanning equipment will not accomodate works larger than a certain page size. This is a particularly vexing problem for genealogists, as many early works in the field - such as groundbreaking county histories and volumes of pedigrees - seem to have been printed in the Large Folio size and so a great many of them, even while safely out of copyright by a century or so, have not received the same treatment as contemporary or newer works, simply because of their size. Researchers who may be initially surprised at not locating  - through Google books or archive.org  - certain pedigrees, charts or antiquarian content, from works legally safe to be freely made available online, should investigate the original size of the publication using reference catalogues; and if it was Octavo or larger, then it's probably pointless to keep searching online - back to the 'Physical' library.

One such work, of great value but not online - nor likely to be in the short term - is George Baker's History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, a work I recently needed for its pedigree of the Knightley family of Fawsley, which turned out to be but one example of the sort of ancient gem one cannot take for granted online. That said, thanks to my digital camera, I am happy to remedy the Internet's deficiency in this regard, and hope others may also find the below pedigree useful in due course!

Lecture at the AIG Colloquium, Bologna

Recently attended the VIIth International Colloquium of Genealogy organized by the Académie Internationale de Généalogie (AIG) in Bologna from September 26th through 29th, 2011. It was wonderful to have the chance to swap with fellow professionals stories (occasionally, horror stories) regarding research experiences 'in the field'. Some very interesting lectures - here are two shots of the setting before my own, delivered on the last morning in the inspiring neoclassical atmosphere of the Palazzo dall'Armi-Marescalchi. My topic was the forgery of proofs of nobility in Aragonese infanzonía litigation, and in particular the nuances of intent behind the creation of such forgeries.