Cuban Family Roots PODCAST

In this episode, I have the honor of interviewing Genie Milgrom. Genie is a Cuban-American born to a Catholic family. She wrestled most of the life with the Catholic dogma and although rooted in a traditional Catholic family, she converted to Judaism. She immersed herself in the search for her past and in her quest to discover her ancestry discovers her ancestors were part of the Spanish Inquisition. Her Journey led her to writing books, digitizing archives and most recently, created a tell all documentary of her journey.  She even established a website to help those wanting to research their own Jewish Ancestry through the Archives in Spain.

Los Cubano desean irse de la isla y los exiliados reclaman su herencia Espanola, este episodio se los dedicamos a un tema muy popular, la Nacionalidad Espanola por la Ley de Memoria Democratica. Entrevistamos Abel Torres, un Cubano-Americano que es amante a la Genealogia, y se adentro a estudiar las leyes Españolas y Cubanas que se deben entender para poder solicitar la nacionalidad española. Durente la entrevista, Abel nos explica quiénes tienen derecho a optar a la nacionalidad Española, qué documentación hay que presentar y qué recurso existe en caso de denegación. No se lo pierdan!

In this episode I compiled three fascinating interviews from years passed. If you never listened to these episodes before, this interviews are fascinating. The first is with Alina Garcia LaPuerta who discussed Spanish Nobility in Cuba through her book,

In this episode I get to chat with Lourdes Del Pino Olazabal, Vice-President of the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, about how she became part of the club during its initial founding back in 2002. Throughout our chat she explains the many benefits of becoming a member of the club. The Club's website is a hub for numerous databases, including documents from 21 churches in various provinces, cemeteries, land and military records, and passenger lists just to name a few. Lourdes also discusses her role as collaborator in the PBS show Finding your Roots.

In this episode of the Basic of Cuban Genealogy, I hope to share with my rookie genealogist information on how to begin their Cuban genealogy search. They will learn about Cuban church and parish records, where to search military records. I emphasize the importance of understanding Cuban history and where to search for ship passengers, newspaper announcement, and places where records can be found and types of records to find. I wrap up the podcast with information on how to chose a family tree software, DNA testing and cemetery searches. 

En este episodio tengo el placer de entrevistar a Samuel Martínez Alcalá, un joven cubano residente en España que inició un ambicioso proyecto combinando la genealogía cubana con la ciencia de tras de los Haplogrupos para encontrar la populación genética de cubanos y definir a que grupo ancestral pertenecen. A lo largo de la entrevista, Samuel explica cuál

En este episodio de Cuban Family Roots tenemos el placer de entrevistar al escritor cubano, William Navarrete quien publicó su segundo libro de genealógia titulado, Primeras Familias, Pobaldo y Ciudad de San Isidoro de Holguín: Estudios de Genealogía Cubana. El explica que el libro se basa en los matrimonios sacramentales registrados en el primer libro de la iglesia de San Isidoro de Holguín entre 1730 y 1763. Gracias a este estudio, los descendientes de los Holguineros de ayer podrán encontrar una fuente confiable para sus búsquedas genealógicas. Debido a su pasión por la genealogía desde muy joven, Navarrete aspira a extender a los estudios genealógicos más allá de la ciudad de Holguín para abarcar otras ciudades de la provincia de Oriente. Su objetivo final es continual escribiendo libros de estudios genealogíco para que los cubanos en la región oriental del país tengan acceso a sus investigaciónes genealógica.

In this episode I interview Gerardo Gonzalez who recounts his childhood in Placetas. He discusses with me how it was to return to the Cuba he left as a young boy to reconnect with his roots. He recounts moments in his life while in Cuba and his love for his grandfather who he never was able to see again. He dedicates his memoir to all the refugees who have an opportunity to come to America, the beautiful. As a Dean at Indiana University, he was fortunate to initiate a scholarship fund to help other who came looking for a better life in America. Everything he was able to accomplish was because he had his grandfather and family who were his anchors throughout his life. Proceeds from the memoir are donated to refugees, Cuban or not. 

Today I interviewed Luis Tomas Puig as he recounts his family search dating back to 1600.  A trip to Blanes, a village only an hour North of Barcelona, Spain  awakened his curiosity further as he reconnects with his Grandfather's family, a family he had never met. During the trip, he visited cemeteries, churches and collected pictures of his great-grandfather and other ancestors. He learned he was related the DiPuig families of France and Italy and that the line connects with the Germans and Austrians. With a sample of his raw DNA, he was able to uncover his ancient ancestors. Luis, a military man with 20 years of service deicide to go further and wrote a memoir about his family and the struggles while living in communist Cuba. A rish family legacy he will leave for his descendants. Don't miss this fascinating episode! 

Christian recounts his journey to rescuing Spanish – American heritage and  tells us of fishermen on the Gulf Coast who fished the waters alongside their Indian fishing partners known as the “Spanish Indians” and some freed black slaves. Christian was inspired to and began to investigate the lives of these fishermen and their influence in the region. From the Tampa Bay down to the condominium developments at Punta Rassa, several Spanish and Cuban fishermen settled in the region establishing fishing camps called “ranchos. Throughout the interview he tells us what he discovered and enlightens us on the presence of Cubans in early Florida and the strong Cuba-Florida connections.