Family History

I've been working on a digital scrapbook for my parents and I found this old photo of my great grandfather from the turn of the century (last century). Jose Ignacio Hernandez was the son of Canary Islander immigrants (Jose Antonio Hernandez and Encarnacion De la Nuez) who died in an ambush during the war for Cuba's independence. A relative of mine in Texas still has his war machetes!

I was also able to go back one more generation and get Jose Ignacio's grandparent's names (my great great great parents): Jose Sebastian Hernandez and Isabel Rodriguez Guerra.

CUBA a comic by Miche Fiffe

I wasn't planning to post today, but my friend, Frank, just sent me a link to this comic and I was blown away, not only by the superb art, but by its authenticity. As a Cuban-American and unabashed comic geek, I have to say that I totally loved this comic. The depiction of young Michel's visit to Cuba and his interaction with his family their was dead on. I highly recommend it and I look forward to seeing more of his work.

Cuatro Hijos

For more than a year now I've been sifting through old Spanish passenger lists looking to see if I could track down more information about my great great grandfather's arrival to the New World (i.e. Cuba) and I've finally found his name, Jose Antonio Hernandez Rodriguez, on a schooner traveling from Las Palmas, Canary Islands to Havana, Cuba in 1850. The ship was called Cuatro Hijos (Four Sons). The name, date, and locations all line up with the genealogical records kept by my family and it feels pretty cool to have added a bit to the record.

I've been corresponding with some genealogical researchers in the Canary Islands to see if I can trace my family further back than 5 generations and I'll post anything new that turns up.

My DNA

This year I participated in the National Geographic's Genographic Project and I found out that the DNA gotten from my dad’s side of the family is Haplogroup I1a. To quote the great Wikipedia, “I1a is a Y-chromosome haplogroup occurring at greatest frequency in Scandinavia. It displays a very clear frequency gradient, with a peak frequency of approximately 35% among the populations of southern Norway, southwestern Sweden, and Denmark, and rapidly decreasing frequencies toward the edges of the historically Germanic-influenced world.” Needless to say I found this to be rather odd. If you know me, you know that I don’t look particularly Nordic. So I figured I took after my mother’s side of the family... until I got my mitochondrial DNA results, which turned out to be Haplogroup U4 and to quote Oxford Ancestors, “U4 is found today mainly in the east and north of Europe with particularly high concentrations in Scandinavia and the Baltic states." What the -? It's the same thing!

Some background information: The Hernandez family (my branch of it anyway) went from Spain to the Canary Islands to Cuba and then to Miami. Looking at Spanish history it’s not so strange to find out we’re part of Haplogroups I1a and U4 when you think that Spain was occupied, and in some cases permanently settled, by Germanic Tribes such as the Vandals, the Suebi, and the Visigoths, all of which originated in the Baltic area. Spain was also frequently raided by Vikings, which were known for their enthusiastic raping as well as pillaging.