Family History: I AM BEYOND EXCITED

On Saturday Brent and I were going through my ancestors in Family Search and as we were looking down my grandma's line we noticed that it just kept going!! I had not noticed the last time that so many names had been linked.  This particular line went all the way to BC!!  I could not get myself off the computer, I was so excited but we had to go to dinner and celebrate my BIRTHDAY which was the next day, Sunday.  Then on Sunday the same thing, as I had a little more time after church we sat down to look some more and to take the time to read their names and dates and where they were from.  There are thousands of names of people from all over Europe.  It is so cool to see that when you can tap into a line that was all recorded it just keeps going back.  I was lucky that my Ramirez the Arellano line (my maternal grandmother) was so well documented.

My most favorite discovery so far has been that of Juan Ponce de Leon, yes the same who discovered Florida and was the first governor of Puerto Rico and the city I was born and raised in, was named after him, Ponce, Puerto Rico. I was just clicking away down one of the lines, when I saw the last name Ponce de Leon.  I followed that line until I saw his name!!!! I could not believe he is my ancestor, he is my 15 great-grandfather. My line comes from his daughter Juana Ponce de Leon down to my maternal grandmother, Eugenia Ramirez.  A trip to Saint Augustine, Florida is in order. It sure will mean a lot more to me now to go visit Juan Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth in St.. Augustine.

Juan Ponce de Leon

 Juan Ponce de Leon was born (1474) to a noble family in Leon, Spain. He was a captain in the Spanish force commanded by Nicolas Ovando, Spain's royal governor of the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). After putting an end to an indian mutiny, Ponce de Leon was rewarded with the governorship of the eastern province of Hispaniola (Haiti). With rumors of large amount of gold in the island of Borinquen (present-day Puerto Rico) the Spanish crown gave Ponce de Leon permission to explore the island(1509), he founded the settlement of Caparra, which is near what is now San Juan. Ponce de Leon was named the first governor of Puerto Rico. Encourage by the Spanish crown to discover more lands, Ponce de Leon decide to follow rumors of an island called Bimini, which apparently was home to a magical fountain whose water would rejuvenate those who drank it.  He set sail from Puerto Rico (1513) in search of the Fountain of Youth, and the expedition landed (April 2nd 1513) on the coast of what is now Florida, modern-day Saint Augustine, the first Spanish settlement in North America. He thought he had landed on another island and not the coast of North America. He named the site Florida, in honor of the lush and florid vegetation and because it was around Easter time which called Pascua Florida in Spanish. He was named governor Florida. He returned to Puerto Rico.  He set sail again (1521) still looking for the Fountain of Youth.  He landed on the Florida coast, while he and his men were building houses for a proposed settlement, they were attacked by indians.  Many men died but Ponce escaped, but injured by an arrow to the thigh.  He boarded his ship and set sail again, he reached Cuba where he died. He never found the Fountain of Youth. His body is buried in the San Juan cathedral in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Also I always remember my grandmother saying that we were related to the famous Puertorrican pirate Roberto Cofresi. Once my grandmother Eugenia told me that she asked her mother about him and her mom told her never to speak his name again because he was a disgrace to the family.  My grandmother never found out what her relationship to him was.  He is my grandmother's 2nd great-grandfather's brother. The Von Kupferschein family came from Austria, from there went to Bohemia (Prague) and then through Trieste, Italy.  They settled in Trieste, Italy, and one of them (five generations later) came to Puerto Rico which is my family's line. In Puerto Rico they changed the last name from Von Kupferschein to Cofresi so that the Spanish could pronounce it. My grandmother's maternal father was Jose Maria Irizarry Cofresi (Von Kupferschein).

This coloring book was a gift from my mom a long time ago.  She had the author dedicate and sign it for me.  I guess she knew him, I think a distant family of hers. I never let anyone touch it!

 Another thing that my grandmother used to tell me was that we had family that came from the Canary islands. She was right.  I found the line that goes to San Nicolas de Tolentino, Las Palmas, Canarias, Spain, a long name!! 

San Nicolas de Tolentino, Las Palmas, Canarias, Spain

I am having way too much fun with this.  I love thinking about and learning about my ancestors. This particular line is so rich in history. I am loving every minute of it.

I have been busy looking through names