Here is a very interesting post from Tommy Ramirez - a Caban cousin:

"I have been doing much more research and have found that the Cabans were involved with the Sosa’s who founded Aguadilla. But they are Irish in origin not Jewish. And they were In Puerto Rico many decades before the founding of Aguadilla. One account I found was in an article about Don Juan de la Rosa Velazco y Hernandez del Rio(?-1820, who was born in Santo Domingo and came to Puerto Rico. He was married to Dona Rosa Olavarria y Caban(1747-1843) in Aguada. Dona Rosa Olavarria y Caban was daughter of Don Juan Baustista Olavarria, who was a native of Bilbao Spain. Her mother was Dona maria Caban y de Aviles, who was born in Aguada.

“El apelllido Caban, no es de procedencia espanola. Es un apellodo solariego irlandes que en su origen se escribia “carvan” y que sufrio alteraciones en su escritura, segun el genealogista Rafael Reichard Sapia. Esta familia es muy Antigua y hoy se encuenta disminada por toda esta Zona oeste.”

To Tommy - and our other cousins:

There IS a Cavan County in Ireland. In Spanish the "v" is pronounced "b" so an Irish tie wouldn't at all surprise me. 

Being female a DNA test would only tell me about ancient mitochondrial DNA. There have been DNA tests taken by our male cousins and here is a list of the results, starting with Tommy.

1. Tommy Ramirez:
Thank you I looked at the link but didn’t find much information there. I have since done a DNA test and found that I am Italian , Greek ,Spaniard, African ( from various locations in Africa), Irish , Taino) the farthest I have gone back in my family tree is to Raimundo Caban who married severa antonia maria segui ( she was born in St Agustine florida, when it was a Spanish colony) and on another branch of the family Sinforian Caban who was married to Laureana Acevedo De Caban

2.Annonymous: Family Tree DNA - confirms as follows Haplogroup I2a -Shorthand I-P 37.2 with following Test
M161- M170+ M21- M22- M227- M253- M258+ M26- M307- M72- P19+ P30- P37.2+ P38+

3. Randy Caban: Hi this is Randy Caban and I can confirm as a member of FamilyTree DNA that the published DYS values are the same as mine.

4. CabanR (Randy?): "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."

5. Lucita: 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

 I will say again that I can't read these figures, butif someone can break this down I will be happy to publish it as a post rather than a commentary!

Thank you EVERYBODY for taking an interest in our mysterious family roots!!
 




 

"La Real Cedula de Gracias de 1815 y sus efectos en PR & Emigrantes llegados a PR procedente de Venezuela 1810-1848" by Raquel Rosario Rivera

Ellen Fernandez Sacco (who is an awesome genealogist)  commented:

 I enjoy reading your blog. I also have Caban in my family, which I am currently researching. There are Caban in Puerto Rico before 1800 on the west coast. Unfortunately none are listed in Raquel Rosario Rivera's book on the Real Cedula de Gracias. There seem to be several lines, one indigenous another of European origin. Cabal, Caban, Caval are some of the variations i've seen for the records ca. 1780s-1790s. Raquel Rosario Rivera has two books, La Real Cedula de Gracias de 1815 y sus efectos en PR & Emigrantes llegados a PR procedente de Venezuela 1810-1848. You can probably get them from Libreria Tertulia.

Boabdil said...

Ellen Fernandez Sacco: Madam, I believe I have seen your writings somewhere else related to the genealogy of the Cabans. My name is Boabdil Perez Caban, I am from Moca and family of Lorenzo Caban Alonso. This is what I have found from my tree. Based on church records in Moca, the earliest caban I found so far (going back to Moca in 2 weeks) is Alejandro Caban, father of Jose Maria Caban, father of Lorenzo Fermin Caban lopez, father of Lorenzo Caban Alonso, wich was my grandfather. I just saw this series of posts and have to read them to see if it relates to my line and how to trace it out of PR. Good luck to all..

Anonymous wrote:

   The first Cabán to arrive in Puerto Rico came with the Sosa family, which founded Aguada, a town in the Western part of the Island, next to Aguadilla. I strongly sugest that you look up articles written by Dr. Adolfo Pérez Comas, a prestigious historian and descendant of Bernardo de Sosa, who has done a lot of research about the Cabán de Avilés branch of the family, who came to Puerto Rico in the XVIIIth century. Raquel Rosario Rivera does not include any Cabán in her book about the Cédula de Gracias.

Conclusion (for me) - Ok, the Cabans didn't come to Puerto Rico on the Decree of Graces, if  Raquel Rosario Rivera's books are correct. The Sosa lead is a good one, though I have also heard that Cabans come from Cavan county Ireland - v is pronounced as a soft b many times in Spanish. There are also DNA links that put us in the Balkans and  there are Cabans living for centuries now in Poland! So, still work to be done. 

Shar

Comments with Interesting Research Leads...

There have been some interesting comments (44 to date!!) left on an older post I made a few years back. They include various greetings and the reaching out of our family members to each other. They also include research or information discovered by our cousins around the world!

Genealogical research is a collaborative effort in all ways. Whether you do what you can on-line, via various websites, or you are able (and lucky enough!) to go into old churches or record offices, it is all based on collaboration with dead family who left records, log ago census takers, ancient tax officials and anyone else who recorded social history or data publicly or privately. Even old family legends are not to be discounted, particularly if the keep popping up in several separated branches. The legends may prove to be a myth, but the fact that they pop up here and there shows that some sort of communication is going on, or has gone on between family members at some point.(It's amazing how quickly family members can disconnect! I have many cousins and try to know all of their children, but it takes effort as we are scattered. And yet I find ones who live in the same town - the younger ones - have no knowledge of their connection to each other. Very sad to me.)

So my purpose, beginning with this post, is to put up some of the comments scattered around the blog for you to think about and chew on. If it sparks anything please share!!! 

Thank you!

Shar