William S Dean's Blog – September 2010 Archive (6)

Have you heard of issuu.com yet? This is an interesting resource in several ways. For one thing, you can access the latest genealogy magazines at Issuu. As we all know slick magazines abound for all types of subjects, including genealogy and history. But why pay the huge cover prices when you can access them free on-line and (if you register for free) even download the magazines as PDFs. Issuu is what digital publishing is all about. If you register, you can even create and upload your own… Continue

It's funny. Sometimes we neglect tracing back one of our ancestors because...well, because there's so much material about other ancestor lines or we think a particular line is so exciting and interesting. Lately, I've been re-tracing my footsteps to my great great grandmother, Maria Josefa Bermudez (1826-1880). She married into the Yorba family in 1842 in San Juan Capistrano. I had done sketchy research into the Bermudez line in California, but wanted to start seeing where and who they were… Continue

All things considered, many genealogists never get to visit significant geological "roots". Imagine going to the place where some of your ancestors first set foot on "the new homeland". That's what awaits me September 20-21 in San Diego, California. In 1769, California was still "terra incognito" to the Spanish who "owned" it. Isolated points along the coastline had been roughly mapped, but nothing was known. There were no settlements, no waiting stockpiles of supplies, no allies. That is the… Continue

My historical "street cred" is strong in California. My ancestors were among the first Spanish/Mexican settlers in my home state of California, so you may be able to understand both my interest and my quest to always "know more" since my "roots" are so deep in California history. Many of the following ancestors' sons also served at California Presidios, gained grants to rancho lands; many of their daughters married into the same or other Spanish/Californio families.



Many of these men… Continue

Sometimes it's interesting to put the photographs together and see the resemblances and differences. These are photos of "the girls" of my family.



Great niece, Victoria (2010):

Her grandmother, my baby sister, Maggie (about 1956):…

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While it's rarely a challenge outside of old Spanish/Mexican genealogy, the idea of social caste strongly rears its "old school" head when dealing with the complexities of European (Spanish), mestizo, creole, mulatto, indio, and the numerous variations of how much percentage you are of one or another.



I was reminded of the challenge recently when contacted by a possible relative for more information. She had traced her ancestry to the second… Continue