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Saturday, October 12, 2024

8 Tips: Puerto Rican Research

Hispanic Heritage Month (Sep 15 - Oct 15, 2024
Let's feature Puerto Rican Family Research for Hispanic Heritage Month. In our latest Under the Umbrella genealogy newsletter, we touched on Mexican research. Other Hispanic countires are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,  Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
 
World War II Era 
In 1918, the U.S. A. government began recruiting its new Puerto Rican citizens (as of March 1917) as mainland laborers. The idea was to place workers in New York and other states to assist with the shortage of war time in manufacturing, railroad, agriculture, construction, etc. Initially the goal was to register approximately ten thousand people, but that increased to over seventy-five thousand registered Puerto Ricans agreeing to the .35¢ per hour plus military housing/boarding and transportation via military vessels. Your ancestors may have been one of these registered laborers.

What is Puerto Rican DNA
Take a listen to this podcast highlight on Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen as she explains in 48 seconds the DNA when conducting Puerto Rican and other Hispanic DNA. and you will learn there's really no DNA that designates Puerto Rican!

Must Use Record Collections
1.  New York National Archives (NARA). The Guide to Puerto Rican Records in the National Archives, New York City, is a great place to begin your Puerto Rican ancestor research. 

2.  Newspapers. The New York Puerto Rican newspapers reported news of its community. Although much was in Spanish, these OCR digitized copies are easily available with the New York Public Library database resources, or other comprehensive historical/genealogical libraries that hold newspaper database subscriptions (i.e. Midwest Genealogy Center, MO. -  library card will get you home access).
- La Democracia
- La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico
- El Tiempo y Union Obera

3.  Passenger Lists.
--Puerto Rico, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1901 – 1962, ancestry.com
--National Archives Record Group (RG85) Manifests of Ship Passengers Arriving at San Juan, PR in Transit to Other Destinations, 07/01/1921 – 06/30/1947 (microfilm only)
--RG 85.3.1 Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at San Juan PR 10/7/1901 – 6/30/1948

4.  Military Records. Selective Service System draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 are digitally available on FamilySearch.org or ancestry.com.

5.  Passports. Many Puerto Ricans worked in neighboring countries, (i.e. Dominican Republic).  For easier entry and exist many applied for their U. S. passports. Visit U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 on ancestry.com. For Puerto Rico, this collection holds records from 1907-1925. This is a good place to begin your passport research.

6.  Consular Records. 
Did your ancestor travel overseas for work, missionary work, U.S. government work? Was a child of an American citizen born overseas? This occurred frequently with customary long overseas visits. The Department of State records, various records of death notices of US citizens abroad should be scoured for your elusive ancestor. Don’t dismiss these records as only for those who were naturalized USA citizens and returned to their native land to visit family. Vacationers fell sick, were victims of violence, automobile accidents, or were imprisoned, etc. These records also included deaths that occurred in Canada and the Americas.

7.  Guide to Puerto Rican Records in the National Archives NYC, (these records may be transplanted to Pennsylvania 

8. Puerto Rico Civil Registration, familysearch Wiki

Be sure to review our Sept - Oct Under the Umbrella genealogy newsletter.
Looking for the podcast episodes? linktr.ee/hittinthebricks
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Kathleen Brandt, a3Genealogy



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