Following My Heritage: a Personal Journey of Ancestry

I've always been one to research family history. Maybe it was because I had a surname that was so unusual even for my ethnic background. My peers, around a certain holiday, constantly teased me because my name was so festive. Even so, I persisted in learning about my roots.

The first method I used was to ask mom and dad who their parents were. Luckily, they are still living so I could ask them and get a straight answer. If your parents are deceased you might try going to next of kin. If you were not speaking to your next of kin, now would be a good time to try and patch things up.

The next method I used was to learn about the meaning of my last name and the meanings of my parents' last names. Knowing your last name and what country it comes from narrows your genealogical search down a lot. Being of Latin heritage, I am fortunate enough to have the knowledge of the maiden names of the women attached to their husbands' names. I was able to research them as well and found a wealth of information. By the way, this works well if you couldn't patch things up with your next of kin.

Another method I like to use is going to the library. I'm pretty sure every major city in the United States has a library and every major library has its genealogy section. Try looking at your local library.

I know over the years I had to search high and low to find Latin roots. I had the experience of looking at a book's binding in a library aisle only to sigh at the sight of a Smith family tree when I was looking for Rodriguez. Don't give up hope! I didn't and it served me well. Sometimes you can research the Internet and find the vital statistics department in a foreign country and actually write to them about your genealogical journey.

I have found that Latin heritage gets lost in the logs of slave ship books and those things aren't always passed down for shame, guilt or extenuating circumstances, especially if your roots stem from the Caribbean. Sometimes the only things that are passed down from that lineage are the stories.

For example, I was searching for my grandfather on ancestry.com. This is a great place to go and fill out a family tree. It's free, too! I learned a lot about my family tree just by inputting some names and reading the records of those names already in databases for me. Well, anyway, I was searching for my grandfather on ancestry.com and I found my great-great grandfather he had the same name and it was a name that was passed down to generations so I knew that I knew it was he. I was dumbfounded! It read that he was a merchant mariner sailing from the Canary Islands. Wow! The stranger part happened when evidence through research pointed to his family name carrying a lot heavier cargo on his ships - slaves! That just broke my heart! I was bittersweet, for I found a story of voyage on one line in my family but it had some depressing parts, too. Be prepared to find not so picture perfect facts about your family. The one good thing that came out was that the slave trade had been abolished before he himself sailed a vessel, so he possibly could have been trying to get away from poor, oppressive conditions of his homeland. Hence, the American Dream.

Here is another more brief but uplifting story of my other great grandfather. I knew my grandfather had been in the army and that there were stories of a long line of military personnel in my family. But what I found was my great grandfather's WWI draft card. I didn't even know he was in the draft! Wow! So it confirmed to me what had been told to me through mini biopic tales here and there.

After you find these major clues about your family, start researching world history and the time that some of the events occurred pertaining to your personal families' life sagas. You will be more educated and your mind will be more open and enlightened to the sacrifices that these people made for you. You will appreciate your lineage much more and you will hold your head up just a little bit more in confidence.

I hope this helps anyone who has been looking to find where their roots are and when and where they began. I know it helped me. Happy researching on your quest for truth and I shall bid thee, farewell and bon voyage!