Into what category should Immigrants from the Canary Islands to Louisiana be placed?

Question

In the late 1700s people from five of the Canary Islands immigrated to Louisiana and settled in 4 primary locations in Louisiana. I believe they need a category. We have a Canary Islands Category and one sub-category: Canarian Immigrants to Puerto Rico. I propose another sub-category: Canarian Immigrants to Louisiana. Here is a link to some information about them. [http://www.wadefalcon.com/spanishlouisiana/IslenosAndMalaguenos.pdf Islenos and Malaguenos in Spanish Louisiana]

Comments please.

Comments

I'd not heard the term Canarian, but if that's what they're called, what you propose is good. "Canarian Immigrants to Louisiana" is the same pattern as other immigrant categories (e.g., French Immigrants to Louisiana - see more at Louisiana Immigration). When you create it, be sure to add [[Category:Louisiana Immigration]].

Considering the size of the pool for people leaving the islands (compared to France, for example), I think the Canary Islands category will be fine with subcategories by place, rather than the categories for Puerto Rico & Louisiana belonging to an intervening subcategory... but if you wanted one, I'd suggest either Canary Islands Immigration or Canary Islands Emigration and Immigration (see this new category - I just saw some discussion about whether the change was needed or not, but I can't find it in G2G, so until that gets settled, I think it best to just have the PR & LA subs directly under the Canary Islands cat).

Cheers, Liz

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hmmm. got tangled up on going/coming. For an intervening category between Canarian Immigrants to Louisiana and Canary Islands ... that would be Canary Islands Emigration (I think)

Which makes a good argument for using Canary Islands Emigration and Immigration  :D

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Bon Dieu! I hadn't heard about [[Category: Louisiana Immigration]].

Answer 1

I love this! I joined a different group basically just to track this very thing. Depending on the parish Louisiana relatives will have heritage from Canada (Acandians) and the Caribbean (PR, DR, Haiti and Cuba) for example. It's not an obvious (until you do your DNA) link all the time, and it's great that there is a place under the Louisiana family flag to categorize French and Spanish Creole family.

Comments

I agree, it depends on how one identifies themselves. Canary islands had native indians and Africans from Guinea and the Gambia as well as Spaniards. Like most Northern African countries you might find Arabic ancestry as well. Canary islands is not African country but it's proximity is why people with African ancestry came from there as well as Cuba and Hispaniola. Its intresting because our neighboring parish Natchitoches has many surnames similar to Cuba! They even make dishes like empanadas. Does anyone in Louisiana eat yucca con mojo also? Lol

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In the Canary Islands we didn’t have Indians. We had natives to the islands called Guanches. They were not Indians.

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Your right about the DNA test telling you. I never knew one of my ancestors were from the Canary Islands until my sons DNA came back. We also found that he had ancestors from the Egypt we never knew about.

How cool is that? I have been doing profiles ancestors since 1995. All this time I wouldn't spend the money for a DNA kit but I won one doing the SAT and let my son use it. Once his came back I ordered my own and one for my brother. My results won't be back until the end of Feb, but I am excited to see them. Just wanted to chime in that somewhere in Louisiana one of my distant relatives came here from there.

I was excited to see this discussion and just wanted to encourage anyone who hasn't taken a DNA test to go ahead and do it. You will be so glad you did. Plus they are on sale right now I believe so now is the time to grab one.

Answer 2

Depending upon exactly when they arrived and where they settled in Louisiana, some Canary immigrants might also fit a few other categories.  If they arrived while Louisiana was still a colony, they could be labelled "Canary Island Creoles" and might be included in any pre-Revolution categories of early American colonists. If they settled on the German or Acadian Coasts, they might be categorized there, etc,

But since these categorizations would not include all Canary Island immigrants to Louisiana, your suggestion is a good one and I support it. As for the Puerto Rican case, however, I think it would need to be a stand-alone category and not a sub-category of the Louisiana group.

Comments

Thanks Morris, I just found this Free Space http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Spanish_Louisiana and it has these categories:

Categories: Louisiana | Louisiana Categories Project | US Southern Colonies Spanish

And someone had already created these two: Canary Islands Category and one sub-category: Canarian Immigrants to Puerto Rico. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Canary_Islands.

Here is another finding: [[Category:Luisiana, Nueva España]] Categories: French History | Spanish History | Nueva España | Spanish Louisiana

I begin to get dizzy after awhile.

This is how we handled the German Coast and Acadian Coast Settlers

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Louisiana_Families

which would lead one to think we should parallel those two groups. The Canary Islanders settled in 4 primary locations along Bayou Lafourche: Galveztown; Valenzuela (Donaldsonville at the confluence of B. Lafourche and the Mississippi); Barataria Bay; and Terre aux Boeff (St. Bernard). The Malaguenos settled in "Nueva Iberia" (New Iberia). So instead of a group category: (Islenos/Canarians, Malaguenos), we could have a location category. 

 The Malaguenos would be called Nueva Iberia Settlers.

With this scenario, we would need to come up with a location name for the Islenos.

Lots to think about so I'm not in a hurry to get this done. It's important we make a rational decision since categories may not be changed nor deleted. Thoughts please.

Answer 3

I am from Louisiana, and most of those families from the Canary Islands are known to be settled in Delacroix. There is actually still very many descendants from the original settlers of Delacroix.

In the Louisiana history books and I think some other history books as well, call them Isleños.

Comments

Kristine Cerniglia raises a good point. The source I cited in the original G2G question uses both terms and introduces us to yet another category of Spanish settlers--the Malaguenos. Here is the source again:  [http://www.wadefalcon.com/spanishlouisiana/IslenosAndMalaguenos.pdf Islenos and Malaguenos in Spanish Louisiana].

It would seem to me that "Los Isleños" (not sure if the ñ is displaying properly) would be a better fit for Louisiana, but maybe we should have a bigger category namely, [[Category: Spanish Immigrants to Louisiana]] with the Islenos and Malaguenos as sub-categories?

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So to the point of Spanish settlers coming to Louisiana. When Spain took over Louisiana, the history goes for New Orleans that they mostly settled in the Marigny, the French were in the French Quarter, and when the Americans came they settled what is now Uptown/ Garden District. When visiting New Orleans you can see the Spanish influence in the architecture in the Marigny, little to no yard; the Amerricans have huge lawns, and then the French Quarter has both Spanish and French influence because of the 3 major fires in colonial times. Anyway my point is the Canary Islanders are regarded as a different segment to the Spanish who came into New Orleans. From my knowledge and I'll have to look this up a bit, most Spaniards who came to live in the previously owned French settlement are the Canary Islanders and those who lived in New Orleans. I think this is mostly because most of the explosion of emigration from Spain went to Florida/ Pensacola as that was Spanish from the beginning, and as we see with most original settlers in Louisiana. They didn't  just pick up and leave when the Spanish came, the same can be said for most of the Spanish when it went back to France then America. We didn't really see a emigration like the Tories of the American Revolution. Most of the late French settlers of Louisiana ( after the original settlers and the Acadians) were those who has little to no opportunity in a France before the French Revolution, and the Spanish, particularly the Canary Islanders were given land grants that resembled their land back home that hey we're just going to give up.

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I added more to Morris Simon's answer above after I commented on your post, sorry for the confusion. Don't give up though; I am glad to have your interest and input and hope that once we decide on the categories, you can help with setting them up. We are trying to decide how the categories should be set up for those Islenos who settled in the 4 distinct places along Bayou Lafourche during a certain time period of Louisiana history. We need to use existing categories if possible. What you've written about New Orleans is certainly important, but would need to be a sub-category of New Orleans I think, more than I want to tackle right now. 

Here is a link to a source I'm going by but if you find the source inaccurate, please comment. [http://www.wadefalcon.com/spanishlouisiana/IslenosAndMalaguenos.pdf Islenos and Malaguenos in Spanish Louisiana]

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in case you missed it, one of the categories you mentioned already exists:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Spanish_Immigrants_to_Louisiana

Last I checked, Phil Smith was still the Categorization project's liaison for the Louisiana Families project. You might want to ask him to weigh in.

Cheers, Liz

PS - Welcome back Jackie! Hope you had a great vacation.

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Thanks Liz, I posted stuff on Morris Simon's comment above which is getting lost. Here is what I posted there. After more reflection, I now understand that the Canarian category I first came upon is from the perspective of the Canary Islands, whereas I want (I think!) to approach the issue from the perspective of Louisiana. So, I now understand what you meant by Emigration vs Immigration! My brain is slow but eventually gets there if I stay awake :)

I just found this Free Space http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Spanish_Louisiana and it has these categories:

Categories: Louisiana | Louisiana Categories Project | US Southern Colonies Spanish

And someone had already created these two: Canary Islands Category and one sub-category: Canarian Immigrants to Puerto Rico. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Canary_Islands.

Here is another finding: [[Category:Luisiana, Nueva España]] Categories: French History | Spanish History | Nueva España | Spanish Louisiana

Add to that http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Spanish_Immigrants_to_Louisiana and I think we are close to a solution. 

I begin to get dizzy after awhile.

This is how we handled the German Coast and Acadian Coast Settlers

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Louisiana_Families

which would lead one to think we should parallel those two groups. The Canary Islanders settled in 4 primary locations along Bayou Lafourche: Galveztown; Valenzuela (Donaldsonville at the confluence of B. Lafourche and the Mississippi); Barataria Bay; and Terre aux Boeff (St. Bernard). The Malaguenos settled in "Nueva Iberia" (New Iberia). So instead of a group category: (Islenos/Canarians, Malaguenos), we could have a location category. 

The Malaguenos would be called Category: Louisiana Nueva Iberia Settlers.

With this scenario, we would need to come up with a location name for the Islenos. 

Lots to think about so I'm not in a hurry to get this done. It's important we make a rational decision since categories may not be changed nor deleted. Thoughts please.

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Oh of course. I completely understand. I just wanted to make the distinction between the Spanish the Spanish settlers that settlers in and around the Marigny and the Islenos who settled by the bayous. Particuarly if we went with the general category of Spanish immigrants to Louisiana.  But maybe subcategories that are categorized as suggested by Jacqueline by location will help group Spanish settlers and make the distinction between the Canary Islanders and the other types of Spanish settlers.

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My apologies also as I have just realized this question is probably looking at this from the perspective of having the entire Spain owned Louisiana (what was later the Louisiana Purchase) and there control in Mexico, Central America, and South America. . I was naively looking at this from a purely present day Louisiana.

Which actually has just made me realize my Canary Islander ancestors who settled in Costa Rica near by where Columbus founded the New World after Hispanola would fall into this category as well. So would it be best to do general locations such as Southern US colonies (the bayou settlers), Hispanola or CarribeansCubaHispanola ( Cuba/ Dominican Republican/ Puerto Rico settlers), and Central/South America (other)? Also I'm very new to genealogy and wikitree so I might be completely out of left field.

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talk about getting lost - I do with categories all the time. The categories at the top of a page aren't necessarily the hierarchy but they do help people navigate through the maze.

Yesterday I created a new location category: [[Category:Poste de Pointe Coupée]]

I intentionally did not include anything more so that it could be further identified as appropriate (or desired) & included it under several categories so that folks could find it:

La Louisiane, Nouvelle-France | Louisiana | Louisiana Families | Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana | New Roads, Louisiana | Louisiana Categories Project | Luisiana, Nueva España

I got completely tangled up in all the various categories for Louisiana (including District & Louisiana Purchase - now strung out across the top of the text for [[Category:Louisiana]]), but settled on recommending using the new category with either the French or Spanish category:

[[Category:Poste de Pointe Coupée]][[Category:La Louisiane, Nouvelle-France]]

during Spanish rule: [[Category:Poste de Pointe Coupée]][[Category:Luisiana, Nueva España]]

Having said all that... I think that maybe a category for Los Isleños should be set up the same way - not identified with either French or Spanish Louisiana, so that profiles for people referred to as Isleños could be categorized in either, as appropriate. But what should their category be?

Los Isleños means the islanders, right? So... Category:Isleños Immigrants to Louisiana - is that ridiculous or logical? would Category:Louisiana Isleños Settlers be better?

Once y'all decide how you want to categorize the group of people you want to group together, post a new G2G for comments about the name itself (along the lines of this post which led to "Louisiana Acadian Coast Settlers" from the original suggestion of Acadian Coast Pioneers).

And thanks for continuing my education :D

Cheers,
Liz

 

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Nice work Liz .. !

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Thanks Jerry! It was one of your edits that made me realize the need :D

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Thanks for weighing in Liz and Kristine and all others--I was making things too complicated. If we go with "Settlers" as the Acadian Coast  and German Coast, then we would restrict it to a certain time period which I am advocating for. This would be from 1778-1783 or 1800 if we want to include the last group mentioned. I believe with the other categories, we put the "Settler" category on the parents and children. They would also be [[Category: Louisiana First Families]]. With the Acadians we have both the categories you mentioned. We have [[Category: Acadian Immigrants to Louisiana]] and [[Category: Louisiana Acadian Coast Settlers]]--not all the Acadians settled the Acadian Coast. We don't have a [[Category: German Immigrants to Louisiana]] that I know of. I'm leaning toward [[Category: Louisiana Isleños Settlers]] with the time period restriction. These individuals would also be put in their location category as we've been discussing, such as New Orleans, Valenzuela, etc. I'd like to hear from a few others before posting in a new thread as you suggest.

This is from the source I've cited elsewhere:

"1778 – 1779 •Five of the island sent recruits to Louisiana: Tenerife (about 45%), Gran Canaria (almost 40%), Gomera, La Palma, and Lanzarote. The 700 recruits brought their families, bringing the total number of immigrants to 2,373. •The following ships brought the Islenos to Louisiana •Santisimo Sacramento - 264 passengers - departed July 10, 1778 •La Victoria - 292 passengers - departed October 22, 1778 •San Ignacio de Loyola - 423 passengers - departed October 29, 1778 •San Juan Nepomuceno - 202 passengers - departed December 9, 1778 •Santa Faz - 406 passengers - departed February 17, 1779 •El Sagrado Corazon de Jesus - 423 passengers - June 5, 1779 •Another ship with the last group of 100 recruits (and their families) were delayed because of the war between England and Spain. They had to stay over in Cuba for the duration, where a number of them died. They finally arrived in 1783. •Several families traveled between Havana, New Orleans and Pensacola after 1783 until 1800."

''edit was to add "Louisiana" to category... "Category:Louisiana Acadian Coast Settlers"''

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I agree - [[Category:Louisiana Isleños Settlers]] parallels existing categories of German Coast Settlers and Louisiana Acadian Coast Settlers nicely, and a parallel immigration category would be [[Category: Isleños Immigrants to Louisiana]].

Category criteria for Louisiana First Families is on the project page (which is linked to from the category page, where there's a short version). The time period(s) for [[Category:Louisiana Isleños Settlers]] and other criteria can be given on its category page.

btw... here's [[Category:German Immigrants to Louisiana]]

Cheers, Liz

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Ok, I will let this percolate over the next day or so and propose those two new categories, then do the same for the Malaguenos which should be easier.... Thank you Liz, you're the best!

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I like Liz's last suggestion because it classifies Canary Islanders in a parallel category to German and Acadian Coast settlers and the new Pointe Coupe cataegory, as described by Jacqueline. The twin structure (one for settlers and another for immigrants) mirrors other categories and seems to fit existing WikiTree classifications. So I cast a vote in favor of [[Category: Louisiana Isleños Settlers]]  and [[Category: Isleños Immigrants to Louisiana]].

Morris  

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Thanks Morris, your input is most welcome!