Question of the Week: Do you have Spanish roots? [closed]

Question

Do you have any ancestors from Spain? 

Tell us about them with an answer below! You could also answer on Facebook or share the question image with friends and family on social media to get them talking.

Also, you might be interested in our Spain Project. Mindy Silva is recruiting for new Spain Project teams.

Comments

I didn´t actually know that I had Spanish roots on both sides of my family until I put my DNA and that of both parents on sites such as Gedmatch,com and yourdna portal, Both came up with ancesters in many regions thousands of years ago, including Atapuerca in Burgos, Cataluña (through the Visgoths of the 500s) Basque County, Andalusia and Valencia Both also had the Guanches from the Canary island of over 1000 years ago plus all the Baleric Islands, Funnily enough I decided to come and live in Madrid in 1987 and my younger sister went to live in Tenefife 5 years ago. On My heritage and geneanet I have found hundereds of DNA matches from people all over Spain and South America , They also give you a list of the top 5 surnames that you are related to such as Fernadez Rodriguez, Ferrer etc. As most of these ancestors go back over thousands of years, none of my modern ancestors have Spanish names as surnames did not become  a part of everyday use until many centuries later. I came back to my ancestors roots without even knowing it until 3 years ago when  I did a DNA test.

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What a fun discovery, Tracey! Let me know if you find some of those Spanish ancestors, or are just interested in working on Spanish profiles.

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I have managed to discover that my Spanish DNA goes back to the Palaeolithic and Magdelenian period which is about 19,000 years ago! I discovered this on a fantastic free dna site called mitoYDNA. You just upload your DNA and have access to all your haplogroups and everything is carbon dated as they compare your SNPs with archeological finds.I ended up with many from The Basque Country, Cantabria, Catalonia, Andalusia, Burgos, Madrid and a few more regions including the Guanches from 1000 years ago in the Canary Islands,. My mother has some Lebanese DNA from the Crusaders and they ended up conquering Al Andalous in the 800s and probably mixed with the locals, My father is Irish and also has a lot of Spanish DNA  , especially from the Basque regions and a few more from all over Spain,

I have also compared these findings on My Heritage which is fantastic if you have the premium subscription as they tell you where your ancestors came from starting in 1600 up to the year 2000. They also break them down into regions, surnames and Christian names by centuries.  They also have an interactive timeline from 1600 to 2000 which shows you with a world map where your ancestors immigrated to over 400 years.

I have also confirmed my findings on a few other sites such as Gedmatch.com and Yourdnaportal which although not as detailed as they 2 above ,  just confirm your Spanish roots. I also found a few famous Spanish Conquistadores on my materenal side  who went to the New World in the 1500s and funnily enough my mother also has some South American indiginous DNA especially from Boliva, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Peru, I have managed to discover the names of the tribes with the help of Gedmatch.com and myliving Dna. This is just my Spanish DNA but I also have about 30 other ethnticities I have to investigate. I wouldnt like to say how many hours I have dedicated to this but it must be hundreds if not thousands.

Funnily enough I decided to leave England in 87 and come to live and work in Madrid and my other sister moved to Tenerife 5 years ago. Maybe our Spanish ancestors were calling us??

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It sounds like they definitely were calling to you. 

Answer 1

My 3 times great grandmother is called Cornelia Toledo, aka Cornelia van Toledo (family name translates as from Toledo), which was an early indication that the roots of that family was from Spain.  I've seen research that says that yes they were from Spain.   Still validating that myself.

Comments

You'll have to let us know what you find, Coen!

Answer 2

Mothers Father Born Denia SPAIN

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Best of luck with your research, Jesse! Let me know if you want to join the Spain Project.

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sure  if it will help get nameing practice down

Answer 3

My 2x great grandfather, Don Abascal, Esq. was born in Spain.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Abascal-5

My auDNA indicates 1% North African descent. I believe that this is due to Don Abascal, Esq. Some people live in Spain who have roots in North Africa. Moreover, some Cities in North Africa are part of Spain. Not much is known about my 2x great grandfather and nothing is known of his parents.

Comments

I hope you are able to break down that brick wall, Marion!

Answer 4

Yes. On multiple branches especially branches tracing back to Valladolid.

Comments

It will be great to watch your branches grow, Melissa! Let me know if you have any questions!

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I would have questions about branches I could trace back to the 1500s or the 1600s, but there aren't currently records online that help me trace those lines back any further.

Answer 5

My maternal grandfather Frank Joseph Granata, who was born in Sicily, told me that some Duke in his family [dom Granada] wanted to marry the same woman that the King of Spain wanted to marry so the family was exiled to Sicily. But I recently learned the history of the Sephardic Jews and since all the members I know of in my Granata part of my family are Roman Catholic I wonder if this was a drummed up story if they didn't want to admit the family was originally Jewish. My fraternal grandfather and on back in his family [Fauerbach /von Feuerbach in Frankfurt] were Jewish. I was a bit surprised when my DNA results had the highest percentage as 37% European Jewish. But if I have Jews in both sides, from Germany & Spain, then that could explain it. I need to do a lot more research in Spain.

Comments

Wow Betty, that is quite a discovery. I hope that you find the answers about that. Let me know if you want to join the Spain project and continue to add and improve Spanish ancestors. We'd love to have you!

Answer 6

Bom dia, sim, meus avô Christóvão Cortez era Espanhol de Almeria, filho de José Cortez e Campos e de Josepha Cortez Camacho e imigraram para o Brasil no início do Século 20.

Comments

Como anda sua pesquisa? Espero que você encontre respostas para suas perguntas.

Answer 7

Yes, I have very deep Spanish roots, my 19th GGF Hernán Martín Serrano arriving in what is now the United States in 1598 with the Juan de Oñate Expedition of 1598 as founders of Santa Fe. Capt Francisco Montes Vigil another group of my ancestors arrived in 1695 with the well documented Juan Paez Hurtado Expedition. 

In 2016 through my documentation to my 6th GGF Juan Cristoval Montes Vigil, I was able to Join the Sons of the American Revolution due to his donations to the war effort which qualify him as a Spanish Patriot by both the SAR & DAR. Since then I have proven 2 more Spanish Patriots Ancestors to the SAR.

Juan Cristoval Montes Vigil's grandfather was Capt Francisco Montes Vigil. This lead me to his grandfather Juan Montes Vigil, who came from Spain and had recently been found to have a documented Royal Lineage through the Ponce de Leon Family to Charlemagne.  I then  petitioned the Order of the Crown of Charlemagne and sought Juan Montes Vigil as a proposed Spanish Gateway Ancestor. Six months later in July 2019 through the research efforts of the OCC, Juan Montes Vigil was approved as the first Spanish Gateway Ancestor. Now all documented descendants can use him as an acceptable Gateway Ancestor for membership into lineage Societies. I was accepted as a life Member of the Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in August 2019. The first to do so through Juan Montes Vigil and then went further back with the Order of the Meverovingian Dynasty.  I also used Juan Montes Vigil as a Gateway Ancestor to gain membership to the Military Order of The Crusades to Afonso I of Portugal and the Order of Three Crusades 1096-1192 to Amadeus III Count of Savoy.

Comments

Primo!  We are 9th cousins although it gets iffy around Felipe Romero.  Like you, my Spanish ancestry comes through Nueva España and Nuevo México.

Answer 8

According to my My Heritage autosomal DNA test I have 18% Iberian as one item in my results.  I don't understand how to read the info I receive. There are some I share ethnicity with but not DNA, and vice versa.

Comments

DNA has really added to a genealogists toolbox. Do you have any idea on which line your Iberian ancestors were on? If not, it will be fun finding them.

Answer 9

Lots of my ancestors are from Spain or Iberia.
My great grandpa was from Arredondo, Cantabria and came here when his parents sent him so he wasn't enlisted on the military, some of my Great-Great grandparents were from Spain too.
There's Iberian people all over my tree, so it's complicated to name them all!, but most of them are Galicians because of the huge immigration wave Argentina received from the region.
And of course there's also my Basque ancestors who were not from the Spanish side (They were from the ''Pyreenes atlantiques'')but they can be count as Iberians too.

Comments

Bienvenidos! 

Esto es muy interesante. He vivido 10 meses en Argentina y trabajé 18 meses en Galicia.

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I'm always happy to see your work, Gonzalo. You are doing a great job!

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hey my fam is from guanajuato and we have arredondo last name. apparently guanajuato is the place where arredondo is the most common

Answer 10

My mother was born in the Spanish Sahara in 1930.  Her father's family is from Alicante and her mother's family is from Tenerife, Canary Islands.  I wish I could find more information about the family in Spain.

Comments

It looks like those records may be hard to find, Alice.

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So far I have had no luck and made very little progress.  Although I was told by my grandmother (who died years ago) that the family is well documented and can be traced to the 400s and that someone in the family has this information.  So there is hope that one day that will appear.  "fingers crossed"

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I have a lot of family from Tenerife as well, but much further back :)

Answer 11

Yes! I never had any idea about this until I started learning about genealogy, but I am descended from Canary Islanders who came to Louisiana in the 1700s. It's the part of my ancestry I'm most actively researching in now, it's very interesting. :)

Comments

Well hot diggity dog!  We might be related from way way back.   The islands were not highly populated so interesting....  I have plans to visit there next Spring.

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That's awesome!! I have a feeling a visit might be in my future too, but I don't know when! Haha.

Answer 12

At least one branch, through my 23rd GGPs, King Alphonzo IX of Leon (1171-1230) and Queen Berenguela of Castile (1180-1246). Their son, who became King Ferdinand III of Leon and Castile, married Joanna Countess of Panthieu (from France) and their daughter, Eleanor of Castile, was my 21st GGM. She married King Edward I of England, in what was no doubt a political coup.