Genealogical Oddities (XLII): A Flemish Gardener's 1807 Marriage in Catalonia

On 25 December 1807 at the parish of St Peter in the Catalan city of Reus, 'Benito' Vandenboske, a gardener, stated to be from Liedekerke in the Diocese of Mechelen in Flanders, married Francisca Girardi y Ripoll, native of Reus. The groom's parents were named as Judocus Vandenboske and Francisca Gilis.

I am unsure what the original form in Flemish would be for this surname: van den Bossche, Van den Bosch, van de Boske?

SOURCE: Parish of Sant Pere, Reus, Marriages 1805-1820, P. 125: Arxiu Històric Arxidiocesà de Tarragona.

Heraldry at Madrid City Hall's principal weddings room

Just found these pictures I took last year when a friend of mine married at Madrid City Hall's principal venue for such ceremonies, the ancient Casa de la Panadería in a square much loved by locals and tourists alike, Plaza Mayor. Perhaps surprisingly, only the Spanish arms - not Madrid's municipal coat - figure as fixtures in the room. The beautifully painted arms adorning the ceiling have obviously been there for a very long time, but I wonder if the heraldic tiles on one wall may have been brought there from elsewhere - the individual parts don't seem to line up very well!

Genealogical Oddities (XLI): An Italian Jewish Convert to Catholicism in 18th Century Cadiz

Marking the start of Hannukah, here's a rare reference to a modern-day convert from Judaism in Spanish sacramental registers. At the chapel of Cádiz' La Carraca arsenal on 29 June 1787, Benjamin Norza, 'known as Alejandro Ferreti in the Marine Batallions', aged 34 or 35, was baptised a Catholic and given the names Pedro Antonio María. Curiously, the record does not say whether he would from then on use the surname Norza or Ferreti. He was stated to have been born in Mantua to Jewish parents, Abraham Norza and Flora Norza.

SOURCE:  Arsenal of La Carraca, Cádiz, Baptisms 1781-1817, Page 38; Navy Museum Archive, Madrid.

Genealogical Oddities (XL): A Scots Nobleman in Spanish Service

19th Century Spanish records document the interesting history of a branch of the distinguished family of Arbuthnott. A gentleman by the name of Jaime Arbuthnot y Arbuthnot was training for the priesthood in Spain when the Peninsular War erupted. In British Liberators in the Age of Napoleon, Dr Graciela Iglesias Rogers speculates at his origin, and 'perhaps illegitimate birth into an aristocratic family as well'. Certainly James Arbuthnot could simply have hispanicised his first name as Jaime; the use of one's mother's surname after the father's is conventional but was not mandatory in his day. In underscoring the fact that his mother too was an Arbuthnot, James perhaps alluded to an even darker secret than illegitimacy.

Whatever the truth regarding his origin, James left the seminary and served with distinction under the Spanish colours. The Spanish Army holds a service record referring to Jaime Arbuthnot y Arbuthnot - as he spelled the surname - as a Field Marshal, and states that he was born in Edinburgh on 24th December 1791, and died in La Coruña on 16th June 1863. It further describes him as being of noble birth. James, or Jaime as he was always called in Spain, married a lady named María de los Dolores Zuazo, a native of the Andalusian town of Puerto Real, and they had at least three children: 

• Jaime, born in Saragossa on 7th September 1834, who became a Commander in Spain's paramilitary Guardia Civil and married twice: first to Emilia Beinet y Bonset, on 22nd December 1861; secondly, to Juana Salord y Escudero, on 10th October 1867; 
• Matilde, baptised at Logroño's church of Santa María la Redonda on 26th July 1836; and 
• Federico, baptised at Barcelona's church of San José on 27th June 1841, at which time his father was stated to be a Brigadier of Infantry and Colonel of Spain's 'Regimiento de América'. 

This last record names the child's paternal grandparents as Sir William Arbuthnott and María Ana Arbuthnott, both natives of Edinburgh; and these are also the parents attributed to James in his own military record.

One wonders if this data is enough to allow a researcher knowledgeable in contemporary Scottish families to link James and his Spanish descendants to the greater Arbuthnott tree. I cannot see, from materials presently availiable online, that this has been done.

SOURCES: Graciela Iglesias Rogers, British Liberators in the Age of Napoleon: Volunteering under the Spanish Flag in the Peninsular War, P. 13; General Military Archive, Segovia, Personnel files of Jaime Arbuthnot y Arbuthnot and Jaime Arbuthnot y Zuazo; Army Ecclesiastical Archive, Madrid, Book 198 [America Infantry Regiment, 1st Batallion, Sacramental Records 1828-1843], P. 19 verso

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

Spanish Heraldic and Genealogical Manuscripts Available Online

A valuable and, I believe, still little-known resource for Spanish heraldry and genealogy online are the manuscripts digitised through the Spanish National Library's 'Biblioteca Digital Hispánica' subsite, the number of which has grown steadily over the past couple of years. This site offers a veritable treasure trove of Spanish heraldic and genealogical manuscripts of diverse periods and provenance, and - it must be said - diverse quality as well. Given the dispersal of the records and registers of grants made by officers of arms under the Spanish crown, this collection may be the closest thing the nation has to the archives of London's College of Arms.

The site's use is straightforward enough; there is room for improvement in the cataloging and one senses that many Spanish antiquaries and even heralds have fallen into complete obscurity, a topic I have previously discussed with certain heraldists in my acquaintance and which is a striking contrast to the relative prominence still enjoyed today in our circles by their English counterparts of long ago, such as Dugdale. For example, they date a manuscript compiled by one Diego de Soto y Aguilar as 'Between 1700 and 1800?' when a quick Google places him at court in the reigns of Felipe III and Felipe IV, that is, the first half of the 1600s.

To sift through some of the manuscripts now available through this site simply go to http://bdh.bne.es/bnesearch/, click on Advanced Search and then fill in Heráldica or Genealogía as subjects, tick on the box for Manuscripts (see example here) and you're off to the races. If you're familiar with sites such as Gallica or Hathi Trust, this will seem comparatively easy to navigate, with thumbnails of each page appearing in a bar at the left as you go through each work.