Roots of Cypress: An Afro-Diasporic Familial Tapestry

Family histories can be very complex and shrouded in a lot of mystery and conflicting information. Some family origin stories are embellished or misheard or misremembered. Some are purposely rewritten for one reason or another. We know how common it is for people to falsely claim indigenous American heritage, this happened in my family as well; despite having apparently some kind of genetic relationship with indigenous Americans, I have no well documented evidence of any indigenous North American ancestry and if I do have any, it was likely through some of the free people of color that I descend from.  One of the most intriguing journeys I've been on with my genealogical research is my paternal grandmother's family, particularly her biological father's family. As discussed in previous post, my grandmother Victoria was the daughter of Lawrence Santos Jr , a man of Cape Verdean and allegedly Afro-Puerto Rican descent. When I began doing my genealogical research a few years ag...

Today in 1904, one of the most contentious members of my family tree was born. She would also be wedded on this day in 1923. That person is one of my paternal great great grandmothers, Myrtle Santos, nee Boston.  Myrtle Boston (1904-1977), ca 1940s                                    Myrtle's life is a classic example of the clash between family lore, documentation and genetic testing. What I know for certain that Myrtle was the mother of my paternal great grandfather, Lawrence Santos Jr . Everything else is contested. I'll start this post off with the lore I was given to by my relatives that I reconnected with. According to my aunt and cousins, my great grandfather described our family history as such: Myrtle Boston was an Afro-Puerto Rican either born in Santurce, Puerto Rico herself or her father originated from there. Her family somehow got to the US and assimilated into African-Amer...