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Abbreviation Question: "Esp" in 1756 Jerez Baptism Record

Published by magicalme -

Hello!
I am reading and trying to understand what this abbreviation means in this baptism record. It looks like "Esp" and I am not sure what that is abbreviated for. I do see it in a few other records, but not a lot. Can anyone assist?

Here is the link to FamilySearch. It is on the bottom of the left side of the page for Joseph Bisente Roman, after it says his name "Joseph Bisente" and before the abbreviation for "son". I am thinking it is for illegitimate? But I am not sure.

Thank you all so very much!

Kristine

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-15048-13156-70?cc=1804458&wc…

Published by Armando - Thu, 2013-05-30 08:09 | Permalink

Kristine,

Most of the time that records aren't digitized online it is because they were lost or damaged long before they started to microfilm them. That seems to be what happened in Jerez. That is why Katy was telling you that it is likely that your only hope is finding a dispensa that mentions your ancestors.

Also, the document you linked states that Joseph Vicente was an hijo legitimo and not hijo ilegitimo. In those days illegitimate children were called hijo natural (one parent is known or both but weren't married) or hijo de padres no conocidos (neither parent is known) and not hijo ilegitimo.

Armando

Armando,

Thank you for expanding on the previous explanation. There is so much to be learned and the community here has been so extremely helpful.

I am going to start looking through that website Katy suggested and see what I can find.
I have gone this far, and I must continue.

Thank you again to everyone!!

Kristine

talking about marriage dispensations, i have done some indexing myself(, if you want i could email you some index that i'm at least almost finished with that haven't been uploaded to the site yet.

ok i'll send you the ones that i sent to guadalajara dispensas that have YET to be uploaded to the site. later, i'll send you the ones i finished that i haven't emailed to her yet. i sent them from google docs through my email on that site: which is ponyboycurtis@live.com (i initially signed up to youtube with this email, but youtube automatically created a google account for every youtube acount, and made the useranems,email, and password sync. that's why i have a googledocs using a hotmail email)

Published by katy_brecht_quesada - Mon, 2013-05-27 10:43 | Permalink

esp is an abbrebiation for espanol. in that context, it means that lineage-wise the child was supposedly white.

you can learn more about the caste system here (although there are some exceptions to the rules stated on that link. for example in jerez (and other nearby towns) people with as much as 1/4 amerindian ancestry usually got the espanol label. occasionally i've seen people whomarked as espanol, then i later found out they had 50%+ amerindian ancestry)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta

Thank you for the reply and the explanation.

In my family, we have always heard that we are from Spain, somewhere, but no one knows where, and now that almost all the elder generation has passed away, there is no one to ask. So this may be leading me to the right direction.

I will keep looking. The abbreviations are a bit difficult mixed with the handwriting, but I love the challenge.

I am noticing that there are some missing records for Jerez, in the 1750's, not quite sure where to look now.

Kristine

Yes, tracing my ancestors back to 1756 right now, is absolutely fascinating. I want to continue, but now that I am getting to the point of missing records, I know it is going to get harder. But that is all a part of the challenge of genealogy, isn't it? =)

If anyone has any tips and tricks as to how to find records from Jerez, that would be great. I am going to start looking for any other children they may have had on that last record I do have and see if there are any other bits of information.

Thank you again for your help.

Kristine

Genealogy Research