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Genetics and Genealogy A Path To Self Discovery
John Browne Ayes
Copyright 2006 All Rights Reserved, National and International

Introduction By Dr. Ana Oquendo Pabon, MD

The Puerto Ricans are an admixed people, the product of the Taino, the European and the African to varying degrees. History books will assert that the indigenous people were exterminated within a relatively short time after the encounter with the European. However, though countless innocents lost their lives, whether through disease, war or as a result of slavery, eventual assimilation is the more likely scenario. And, assimilation is not extermination. Although without a doubt, there is not one nabora, nitaino or cacique of pure Taino blood left to walk our beautiful island beaches or guide their canoas through the many rivers and the ocean sea, or hunt in the lush rain forest, many will tell you that they have not been forgotten and live on in them. Memories of Taino ancestors have been captured in many a Boricuas' oral family history from the moment the European stepped on the island, in our folklore, in our language and in the old herbal remedies, passed down from grandparents and mothers to their children generation after generation as a sign of remembrance and respect.

A very long time ago, church parish books in Puerto Rico were separated into that of Whites, ndios (Natives) and Pardos (Mixed). This practice prevailed from the time of the colonization until the mid 19th century. I had the privilege of reading an early 18th century document found by my brother, Padre Jos Antonio, several years ago. From those musty pages written in the difficult but hauntingly beautiful penmanship of the period, the name of an infant could be read. That document held a wealth of information for it gave the child's baptismal date, his date of birth, and the origin and names of his father and mother, our 5th great grandparents who were born circa 1710 and 1724, respectively. What struck me about that old entry in the sacramental book of the parish was that they, and almost every one of the documents found for their fourteen children, were always described as "pardos". This couple has been documented through hundreds of similar documents to be the patriarchal origin of the majority of the people who carried that surname and living in the many towns of the north central part of our island. Long before the mid 19th century when books were no longer separated and the word pardo came to signify anyone of color;

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