I’ve always had an interest in my family’s ancestry since the early ’80s as a preteen and I’m an avid genealogist. My ancestry is Dominican (maternal) and Puerto Rican (paternal). DNA has proven that I am from all over the Caribbean and many places in Africa.
As a preteen, I received some pushback, I would get the typical “we don’t talk about these things” responses when asking about my Dominican ancestry. I took on researching family history in the early 1990s since I wanted to understand more about my family and our rainbow of colors. Once I discovered I was Puerto Rican in 2007, I wanted to know more, and through my father, I was able to make more discoveries. Through these discoveries, I have built a tree with over 7,000 family members that include both sides. While I work in the world of technology and telecommunications for the past 24 years, I will always have time for genealogy and run 2 websites; Genealogia Nuestra and Caribbean Genealogy during my free time.
Genealogia Nuestra translates from Spanish to Our Genealogy, and the website is set up to assist others with their research. Caribbean Genealogy is my personal pursuit of finding out more about my African roots and sharing what I discover along the way.
Many ask why I share information freely. Well, I am a firm believer that every person has a right to know and not be blocked from finding out who they are. People who are adopted, an unknown parent, grandparents, not knowing their culture, and the worst, loss of history due to the ugliness of slavery. I share to help resolve all these blockers.
My father always said that knowing your ancestors is to know yourself. I truly believe this as I discover the strong men and women that had to endure plenty in the past, they made it possible for me to be here. My father understood my pursuit but our daily evening call always including his opening joke statement, “How many muertitos did you bother today?”. In memory of my father, Luis Bayala Delgado, I hope that what I share helps many others in their pursuit of discovering the past.
