Saturday 4 April 2009

The posting of the DNA markers is wonderful! Thank you so much those who have contributed! Yesterday I got a book out of the library about how to interpret DNA markers - what each one means and how it pinpoints a location. Well, at least I hope that's what it will do. I'm thinking it would be helpful if everyone could see why ("el porque" as my father always used to say) this or that marker puts our origins in different places. If anyone else wants to post their DNA results step right up! The more the merrier!

In the mean time it's also wonderful that our cousins are all reaching out and making contact... putting up a hand and saying, "Hey I'm here in... and my father or mother was..." Our name is uncommon and we come from those first settlers who made their way from Europe to PR. We are primos and we are waving to each other across time zones and the seas!

Monday 9 March 2009

Rather than leave this in the comments area, I think it should be published here. It's an "annonymous" comment (though it could be from R. Caban!) and lends weight to a Balkan/Eastern European connection:

Hi with my R. Caban Haplogroup I1b
Positive for the following SNPs: M170+ M258+ P19+ P37.2+ P38+
Negative for the following SNPs: M161- M21- M223- M227- M253- M26- M307- M72- P30-
Haplogroup - I1b The Balkan countries likely harbored this subgroup of I during the Last Glacial Maximum. Today this branch is found distributed in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, and extends further east with Slavic-speaking populations

What do the rest of you think? Anyone else got tests done?

Friday 6 March 2009

Cousins...

Hola familia mia! Some time ago I posted a question on the Ancestry.com message boards ( Message Boards > Surnames > Caban >) regarding the origins of our surname. Over time I've had interesting replies!

Marco Caban said "The Radhanites of Spain, in 1400, took the center of the Jewish goverment established in Spain to the korsack of Poland. It is suposed that some of the rabbis were Caban."

I don't know what the "korsack of Poland" means... if it's a typo or I'm just ignorant (most likely the latter) but I did look up the Radhanites in Wikipedia. It says:

"The Radhanites (also Radanites, Hebrew sing. רדהני Radhani, pl. רדהנים Radhanim; Arabic الرذنية ar-Raðaniyya) were medieval Jewish merchants. Whether the term, which is used by only a limited number of primary sources, refers to a specific guild, or a clan, or is a generic term for Jewish merchants in the trans-Eurasian trade network is unclear. Jewish merchants dominated trade between the Christian and Islamic worlds during the early Middle Ages (approx.AD 500–1000). Many trade routes previously established under the Roman Empire continued to function during that period largely through their efforts. Their trade network covered much of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of India and China."

That would explain our name getting around, if it's true that we have Radhanite origins.

CabanR said: "Hi interested in your posting and I also have been curious about the Caban origins - I can shed some new light having done Y DNA testing myCaban heritage traces back to Ireland - they have a county in Ireland call Cavan county - I also thought they were French but there is more to that having Polish origins is another mystery but the Y DNA also indicates Haplogroup I1b originating in the what are the Balkans in Europe

My grandfather Manuel Caban-Vera is a descent of the Caban santeros who settled Camuy-Quebradillas area. Manuel was born in Quebradillas - with DNA testing Y chromosome from the male the Haplogroup ia I1b - originating in the Balkans - they are also Celts - as the DNA mutations show origins in Ireland with matches - There is a county in Ireland call
Cavan county during the Irish disporta - Royal Decree of Grace - 1815 the Caban santeros are known from about 1850 to 1950 as multi-generational family of santeros."

That's very interesting too! My father was descended from the same Santeros. Anyone else connected to the Santeros group?

Randy Caban said: "Caban is also a surname found in Lincolnshire County, England and also in Scotland. Caban is also a word in the Welsh language - Caban is a surname found in Poland pronounced "tsban" and it is found in all parts of Europe."

And that probably brings us back to the Radhanites.

On these pages, Lucita has commented,

"I have a 4th great-grandfather, Alejandro Caban. I had my Mtdna done. I also convinced one of my male cousins to have the Y-DNA test done. Here are the results:
DYS# 393 390 19* (aka 394) 391 385a 385b 426 388 439 389-1 392 389-2
Did you have yours done?"

Hooray! Unfortunately I don't know how to interpret the data and being female mine would only go back to origins so ancient that they just virtually say "Human from planet Earth." But maybe someone will know how to read the data...

And in the meantime we also have cousins... the Rodriguez family has married very closely in with the Cabans, as have the Sotos and the Romans. I got a comment from Angela Roman asking if anyone knows about the connection. I can say what I know...

Valentin Roman Y Campos married Manuela Campos in the 1890s. They had the following children who were listed by the name Campos rather than the name Roman. (I believe this was done after the US took over PR in 1898.):

Francisca - b. 1895
Antonia - b. 1902
Lucia - 1903 - 1925
Jova - b. 1904
John - 1906 - 1972
Bienvenido - b. 1908
Leopoldo - b. 1908
Nazario - 1915 - 2001
Alejandro - b. 1917

All of these children were born in Islote, near Arecibo, in Puerto Rico. Of that list John Campos married Carmen Caban and they had two sons, John and William.

Carmen Caban was the daughter of Roque Caban and Juana Torres. Roque was the son of Eduviges Caban and Maria Rodriguez, and his parents were Juan Caban and Juana Hernandez. Juan and Juana are listed as "strangers to Puerto Rico" in the parish records that my late cousin John discovered. They seem to be the start of the dynasty - at least of the one that I'm descended from.

Their son, Eduviges had 5 sons - Quiterio, Rafael, Wincelso, Antonio and Roque. The Caban Santeros are sons of Quiterio. Roque was the mayor of Aguadilla for a while. Here is the picture from his campaign button -



I descend from Rafael Caban. So... Roque was my great-grand Uncle and his daughter Carmen married into the Roman family. And as I said, this is not the first or only connection. Perhaps you know of others! If nothing else, I hope this list helps some of us find a connection.

Oh and Manuel Caban-Vera is my first cousin once removed! Woo-hoo I connected with someone!!