Family Bibles in Puerto Rico?
I wonder if any of you are aware of Family Bible, Family Registers or similar items for Families of Puerto Rico??
Answers
-
Hi Denis,
I am not aware of people doing it in Puerto Rico. No one has ever mentioned this.
Maria
0 -
I think that's mainly because Family Bibles are much more common among Protestant Christians and most Puerto Ricans are probably Catholic.
0 -
Yes, that makes sense. People got persecuted by the government for being Protestant for a long time. I've seen many naturalization records where one of the requirements was to prove they were Catholic. Before they could be naturalized the parish in their country of origin needed to send a transcription of their baptism. I also remember one stating in his record that
he had converted to Catholicism and had witness to prove it. During that time bibles weren't encouraged as much as the Catechism.
0 -
Thanks for sharing the reason for the lack of Family Bibles in Puerto Rico. Maria, your knowledge will be a benefit to the FamilySearch Community. I am excited to see your group progressing!
0 -
Just to add, i've not heard of bibles used as repositories of family information either-- if they are, this is after 1900, as Protestantism officially entered the island after the Spanish American War.
There are some family registers, however these are modern. Puerto Rico has a long history of self publishing when it comes to town and family histories. There are books such as Lluch Mora's Catalogo de Ortiz de la Renta, or Ramirez Brau's Origenes Portorriquenos, that aimed to collate available data on specific family lines, pre-digital. Some of this will depend on what region or municipality of Puerto Rico one is working in.
If one's ancestors were enslaved, Indigenous and not well to do, it does take longer to build a tree. Even Lluch Mora's Catalogo included some records on the people held in bondage by various lines of Ortiz families.
0
