Do We Descend from All of Our Ancestors? Apparently, Not!

One of my favorite YouTubers is Jarret Ross, the GeneaVlogger. In his series "Professional Genealogist Reacts," he reviews videos on genealogy, often focusing on DNA-related topics.

In a recent episode, he discusses Marcus Gallo's video "You Don't Descend from All of Your Ancestors." The key point is that we are not genetically related to most of our ancestors, especially those many generations back. Although we inherit a limited number of unique genes, we have an exponentially vast number of ancestors. For example, if you go back 15 generations, you have 32,768 ancestors, but only 1,112 DNA segments to distribute among them. This means that only about 3% of those ancestors contribute to your DNA at that generation. As Gallo explains, with each generation, the number of DNA segments increases arithmetically, while the number of ancestors increases exponentially.

(Side note: My rule of thumb is that with every 10 generations, the number of ancestors multiplies by over 1,000. For instance, the 10th generation has over 1,000 ancestors, the 20th generation has over a million, the 30th generation has over a billion, and by the 40th generation, you have over a trillion ancestors! To put this in perspective, my potential ancestor Charlemagne, born in A.D. 748, is about 40 generations back. He would be one of about a trillion ancestors in that generation. Of course, there weren't actually a trillion people living back then, so pedigree collapse definitely played a role.)

In the video, Jarret Ross not only highlights Gallo's insights but also adds his own analysis. Both vloggers explore essential concepts like Y-DNA, mt-DNA, and pedigree collapse. Jarret also recommends several websites and tools for conducting in-depth DNA research.

It's an excellent video. You should check it out!

Robert B. Baca Inducted into the 4th Degree in the K of C, 1940.

My grandfather Robert B. Baca received his 4th degree in the Knights of Columbus on June 9, 1940, in Albuquerque. My grandfather was one of the founders of the Socorro chapter of the K of C and was also a Grand Knight of the local chapter. The Socorro chapter of the K of C is named after him. 

Below is my transcription of the Albuquerque Journal story about his induction. 

K. of C. to Confer Fourth Degree

20 Candidates Here For Rites Today

A class of 20 candidates from Albuquerque and Santa Fe will be initiated into the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Columbus at rites here Sunday.

The day's program will begin at 7 o'clock Sunday morning, when the class will meet in front of the Immaculate Conception Church rectory and will march to the church for Holy Communion. Initiation rites will be held at 1 o'clock at the K. or C. Hall. A banquet at 6:30 o'clock at El Fidel Hotel will complete the day's program.

Bishop Sidney M. Metzgar, auxiliary bishop of the Santa Fe archdiocese, will be among those to receive the degree, according to reports from Santa Fe, and the class has been named in his honor. He is scheduled to be the main speaker at the banquet in the evening. He is a member of the San Antonio, Tex., council. He is expected to return from San Antonio in time for the rites. 

Capt. E. G. Freeman, master will be charge of the ritualistic team and will be assisted by officers of Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 

Other candidates for the degree are William A. Arias, Leo Robert Burwinkle, Robert B. Baca, Dr. Michael V. Berardinelli, John Francis Duffy, T. Fidel, the Rev. Francis Gleason, Louis A. Grandjean, Francis J. Gormley, Dr. V. A. Knott, Filberto E. Lucero, Rafael Lopez, John Henry Phelan, Leo F. Sanchez, Delfin Salazar, Sergio A. Viscoli, and Mony Persenti. 

Source: "Albuquerque Journal," database, Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com), K. of C. to Confer Fourth Degree, 9 June 1940, p. 6.

The Spanish Dialect Unique to New Mexico and Colorado

News correspondent Jeremy Jojola, who originally is from New Mexico, created this homage to New Mexican and Spanish language. He says that it's Northern New Mexico, but truthfully my parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts spoke this dialect down in South in Socorro, NM. This language is so familiar to me, even I don't understand it completely. I wish I had recorded my parents and grandmothers when they were alive. 

One of the kids uses the term "queque" for "cake". This is funny, because my aunt uses the term "queque de jamón" when referring to a chocolate cake that she, my mom, and grandmother made for Christmas. The jamón probably referred to the lard that was put in the cake, as that term usually means "ham." It was very delicious, and had the consistency of something like banana-nut bread, which my mom also made.

Enjoy this video!

Cavernous Malformation and the Baca Family

There is a high incidence of Cavernous Malformation among Hispanic families in New Mexico, specifically among descendants of Cristobal Baca II and his son Manuel Baca. Manuel Baca was a progenitor of Baca families who returned to New Mexico in 1693 after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

This genetic mutation can cause brain hemorrhaging among many other symptoms. Obviously, this can be a life altering and life threatening condition.

CCM1, the Common Hispanic Mutation , does not skip generations, and children of those who are affected have a 50/50 chance of inheriting the disease. 

Estimates are that there are 5 million descendants of the Baca family, and that anyone who has 7 generations of New Mexican (Hispanic) ancestry are probably descendants of the Baca family. Among the ancestors identified as probable carriers of the illness are two children of Manuel Baca,  (Maria) Josefa Baca and Cristobal Baca III. Cristobal Baca III has the most  descendants identified as affected by the disease. In addition, half of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca 23 children inherited the disease. He was the grandson of Cristobal Baca III.

Both Josefa Baca and Cristobal Baca III are my ancestors multiple times and Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca is my 4th great-grandfather, along my paternal Baca surname line. 

I'm not by any definition an expert on this topic, but I felt I should share this information. If you are interested in finding out more about this illness, I suggest visiting the site Alliance for the Cure: Cavernous Malformation.

Sources for this post are in its textual links.

Video Link - "Santiago Torres: Early Settler of Socorro, New Mexico".

I posted a new video on The Socorro Genenealogist YouTube channel, Santiago Torres: Early Settler of Socorro, New Mexico.

Santiago Torres and his family arrived in Socorro around 1820. His descendants make up one of the two Torres families of the community. This video profiles one of his descendants in particular, Jose Crespin Torres. 

Torres Family Photos

This weekend, I attended the funeral for my dad's cousin Joe Torres who passed away on July 1st. His nephew Leon shared with me a couple of photographs from the wedding of Val Torres, Joe's brother. Val was married in 1960.

The married couple in the center were Val, born Ignacio Torres after his grandfather, and his bride Elizabeth Ann McCoy. Right behind Val is his brother Joe Torres, the tall man with the sheepish grin and front "Superman" curl. The older woman to the right of Elizabeth is Andrea (Montoya) Torres, Val and Joe's paternal grandmother, and my great-grandmother. Next to her is Joe and Val's father and mother Jose M. Torres, Sr. and Tomasita (Rivera) Torres - Jose has his right hand on his wife's shoulder, and his left hand on the bride's mother Rachel McCoy. On the very far left, holding the baby girl, is Joe's wife, Lori. I'm not sure who the other people in the photo are. It does not appear that my grandparents attended this wedding, nor did my parents, uncles or aunts. 
 

Here is a photo of the married couple again, with her maid of honor S. L.

Speaking of Joe Torres, here are some photos from Joe's memorial yesterday. There were two photo displays with his pictures, a folded flag, and a letter from the president commemorating his passing. I'm not showing all of the photos because they included living relatives such as his young great-grandchildren. The funeral occurred on Friday. His son, one of his daughters, and I all gave eulogies. Joe wasn't just my cousin, but he and his son were my employers. Joe helped me out when I needed a part-time job when I was going back to college. He was a great guy.

Temporary Separation - Philip Bourguignon and Maria Tomasa Gonzales

 In a previous post that I made years ago, I mentioned that I had a copy of a 1872 record that provided for a legal separation between my 2nd great-grandparents Philip Bourguignon and Maria Tomasa Gonzales. In the document, Philip Bourguignon was given full custody of their children. I found this document to be interesting, because the Bourguignons would have at least two children a decade later - one of them being my great-grandmother Carolina Bourguinon. So it was obvious that they did not divorce.

The document is in Spanish, and my ability to read Spanish is limited. I had asked for someone to translate it for me, and the late Francisco Sisneros had offered to do it for me. Unfortunately, at some point before I could get it translated, I lost my copy.

Well, I found it again on Ancestry! As such, I'm asking if someone would make a translation of the full document for me. Here is the link! If you do not have a subscirption to Ancestry, I can send you images instead. The document can be found on pages 143 to 146 of the book. 

Update 6/16/2022: Andres Armijo and I met over the phone yesterday and he helped me translate the document. It's very much boilerplate legal language, but it was still interesting to see the process that Philip Bourguignon used to gain custody of his children during his temporary separation from Maria Tomasa Gonzales. There is also a hint of a possible future separation or divoce proceeding in district court, which I need to search for to see if it actually occured.

When I publish an article about the family, I won't quote or publish a word-for-word translation of the documents. I took notes during my conversation with Andres, but we agreed that we didn't need to translate the entire series of documents. It's all standard wording, so I don't think that we needed that. Instead, I'll summarize the documents. There is some interesting genealogy that I can do with this by looking into the family trees of the various people mentioned in the documents - such as guarantors, justices of the peace and the probate judge.

The Socorro Genealogist YouTube Channel

Last year I launched my new YouTube Channel "The Socorro Genealogist". The purpose of this video blog is to teach genealogical research methods and give tips, as well as present some of my family tree research.

My most recent video is titled "New Mexican Genetic Genealogy, Part I: How I found my parents in my own DNA". In that video, I use a new feature from Ancestry.com that splits a person's DNA so that they can see how they inherited their genes seperately from each of their parents. I compare my DNA with that of my relatives in order to identify which side belongs to which parent. The feature is not able to identify which parent you inherit specific genes from; it just divides the genes into two parts, representing both parents.

I will be exploring DNA again in future videos as well looking at other types of genealogical research.

Please visit my video blog series at this link. When you are there, please subscribe and "like" my videos. I will be posting more video blogs in the weeks and months to come.

My Maternal Grandparents and Their Businesses

With the release of the 1950 Census today, I've already found a few interesting facts about my ancestors. I knew that my maternal grandparents, Santiago and Paulita (Zimmerly) Baca, owned a number of businesses. I didn't realize that they would have indicated in the census that they operated the businesses separately.

Both are listed as self-employed. My grandfather Santiago is listed as working in his retail grocery store, while my grandmother Paulita (or Pablita) is listed as working in her retail appearal store. Santiago worked 54 hours in the previous week; my hard-working grandmother worked 57 hours.

My mother, uncle and aunt are also listed in the household. My mother was listed as 14 years old, although she was actually 15 years old going on 16 (August.) 

Interestingly enough, my father Robert "Bobby" Baca worked in my maternal grandparents' grocery store. I believe he was working there at the time of the census, since he is listed as a employed as a grocery clerk. His father Robert, was working as a postal clerk for the U.S. Postal Service. Elder Robert worked 40 hours in the previous week, while his son worked only 17 - assumedly because he was still going to school.

One last thing: my parents both had the surname "Baca" but were not closely related through the Baca line.

Sources:

1950 U.S. Census, Socorro County, New Mexico, population schedule, Socorro, enumeration district (ED) 28-2, sheets 2 & 3, dwelling # 24, Santiago Baca; digital images, National Archives (1950census.archives.gov : accessed 1 April 2022).

1950 U.S. Census, Socorro County, New Mexico, population schedule, Socorro, enumeration district (ED) 28-1, pp. 32-33, dwelling # 227, Robert Baca; digital images, National Archives (1950census.archives.gov : accessed 1 April 2022).

Gonzales and Montoya Marriage Reveals Complex Relationship

On September 27, 1845, Jose Sebastian Gonzales married Maria Victoriana Montoya in the San Miguel Mission, Socorro, New Mexico. He was the legitimate son of (Jose) Manuel Gonzales and Margarita Montoya; she was the legitimate daughter of (Jose) Bauptista Montoya and Mariana (or Maria Antonia) Garcia. The screen shots of two separate pages in the San Miguel Mission marriage book shown below is the record of their marriage. 1. 

Recently, I found that the ThruLines (tm) program in Ancestry.com misidentified Maria Victoriana's parantage. It suggested that she was the daughter of Juan Montoya, my ancestor. However, she is actually the daughter of his brother Juan Bautista Montoya.

My ancestor Juan Montoya was married to Maria Manuela Garcia Jurado (among others.) He was the son of Antonio Montoya and Maria Guadalupe Salazar; she was the daughter of Francisco Xavier Garcia and Maria Josefa Sanchez. 2. 

On the other hand, Victoriana's parents are siblings of Juan Montoya and Maria Manuela Garcia Jurado. Juan Bautista Montoya was the son of Antonio Montoya and Maria Guadalupe Salazar. Mariana (or Maria Antonia) Garcia was the daughter of Francisco Xavier Garcia Jurado and Maria Josefa Sanchez. 3. In other words, two Montoya brothers with similar names married two Garcia Jurado sisters with similar names. 

As further proof, below are two separate census records from Socorro for the different families. Please note that Victoriana is listed in the Bautista Montoya family:

C(asado)* Juan MONTOYA ................... 39

                Maria Manuela GARCIA ........ 35

                Felipe ...................................... 11

                Pedro ........................................  7

                Juan de Jesus ............................ 4

* "Casado" means "married". 4. 

Bautista MONTOYA  ......................... 34

Mariana GARCIA ................................. 28

Victoriana ............................................... 13

Eugenia ....................................................  8

Casimira ...................................................  6

Maria Micaela ........................................  3 5.

Sources: 

1. "Microfilm # 16996," database of digital images, San Miguel Mission, Socorro, New Mexico, Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org: accessed 19 March 2022), marriage record: Jose Sebastian Gonzales and Maria Victoriana Montoya, 27 September 1845, images 92 & 93.

2. This relationship is shown through their children's baptisms. For example: Juan Nepomuceno Montoya, born 14 March 1822. Source: Lila Armijo Pfeufer, Margaret Leonard Windham, and and Evelyn Lujan Baca, New Mexico Baptisms San Miguel de Socorro Church: 1821-1853 (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1998), p. 4.

3. This relationship is shown through ther chidlren's baptism. For example, the baptism of Victoriana Garcia herself. Source: Lila Armijo Pfeufer, Margaret Leonard Windham, and and Evelyn Lujan Baca, New Mexico Baptisms San Miguel de Socorro Church: 1821-1853 (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1998), p. 4.

4.  Teresa Ramirez Alief Jose Gonzales and Patrica Black Esterly, New Mexico Censuses of 1833 and 1845: Socorro and Surrounding Communities of the Rio Abajo (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1994), p. 4.

5. Teresa Ramirez Alief Jose Gonzales and Patrica Black Esterly, New Mexico Censuses of 1833 and 1845: Socorro and Surrounding Communities of the Rio Abajo (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1994), p. 5.