Puerto Rico: My Ancestors and Their Descendants

October, 2001

Hello my name is Dalia and I was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. My parents were both born and raised in Puerto Rico and migrated to New York in the 1940's. They lived in an environment where the streets were clean, neighborhoods were safe and neighbors (new "relatives") became family. "The neighborhood" became our playground where everyone knew everyone else and if you did something your parents were sure to know it from our newly acquired "relatives". We played jump rope, handball, stickball and all the other simple innocent childhood games known at that time and for the era. I attended the following: St. Ambrose School, Sara J. Hale H.S., both in good ol' Brooklyn, NY, and Baruch College in Manhattan.

My genealogical search started in 1994 and most of my information is from my Mom and substantiated by documentation. My Dad died 20 years ago when the genealogy bug had not yet bit me - I'm sorry it hadn't - there was so much I could have asked him relevant to my search.

Before I started searching the census records the only information I had for my paternal side were my grandfather's and grandmother's names - and it wasn't even their full names. After searching through the records not only did I find their information but, I even found a great-grandfather! Because I knew so little on my paternal side, the descendants of this line became just as important. Perhaps through a descendant I'll be able to learn what my grandparents were like, how they lived, what kind of people they were. There you have the reason for the name to this site - "Puerto Rico: My Ancestors and Their Descendants".

Most of what you'll find here regarding my paternal side is from the 1910 and 1920 census records. You'll find that there are many missing pieces to some of the names. However, I look forward to next year when the 1930 census becomes available and, perhaps, I will be able to fill in many of those gaps. It is quite something for me considering those paternal lines started with just two names: my grandparents

~ Emiliano Morales-Diaz and Barbara Vivas-Quinones ~