Fergie Not Full-Bred Enough to Represent

We already knew that pop star Fergie descended from sheep thieves. Now we learn from Latina magazine that she has Hispanic ancestry as well.

“Yes, I have Mexican in my ancestry,” said Fergie. “My Dad's grandmother was born in Guanajuato. I’m very proud of it; that’s probably where I get my fire! I’m mostly Scottish-Irish, though.”

So, why all the ambiguity around her latinidad before, you might ask? “I don’t go around claiming it big time,” the singer explained, “because there are many more full-bred Latinas that are out there to represent.” [Link]

A Surge in Spanish Surnames

This won't come as news to anyone who follows Major League Baseball, but Hispanic surnames are becoming more prevalent.

Smith remains the most common surname in the United States, according to a new analysis released yesterday by the Census Bureau. But for the first time, two Hispanic surnames — Garcia and Rodriguez — are among the top 10 most common in the nation, and Martinez nearly edged out Wilson for 10th place.

And yet, only one of Ben & Jerry's 44 ice cream flavors has a Hispanic last name.

The Census Bureau’s analysis found that some surnames were especially associated with race and ethnicity.

More than 96 percent of Yoders, Kruegers, Muellers, Kochs, Schwartzes, Schmitts and Novaks were white. Nearly 90 percent of the Washingtons were black, as were 75 percent of the Jeffersons, 66 percent of the Bookers, 54 percent of the Banks and 53 percent of the Mosleys. [Link]

[Thanks, Nancy!]

A Major League Puzzle

Luis Castro had a brief stint with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902, and has been recognized as the first player from Latin America to play big-league baseball in the modern era. Problem is, he might have been born in the United States.

According to e-mails exchanged between the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and a member of the SABR biographical committee in 2001, these were the facts uncovered for a baseball player named Louis Castro during that period: He was born on Nov. 25, 1876 in the United States, he worked in a saloon, married a woman named Margaret and lived in Flushing for most of his life. His father, Nestor Castro, and mother, Agnes Wasquees, were both born in South America and he died at the age of 64 on Sept. 24, 1941 at Manhattan State Hospital on Wards Island.

So that's it. Castro's not only American, he's a New Yorker, right? Maybe.

Castro's death record says he was born in the United States, but the 1910 Georgia Census gives his birthplace as Medellin, Colombia. [Link]

The reputed 1910 census entry for Castro is found on page 132A of roll 192 (Atlanta, Ward 6). His occupation appears to be "undertaker," which must have conflicted with the "long minor-league career after 1902" attributed to him on this forum.

Castro played ball at Manhattan College in the late 1890s. Was he the Louis Castro, born Aug. 1877 in New York, boarding at 2329 8th Avenue in 1900, not far from where the campus was then located? His parents were natives of Australia, which Wikipedia tells me is not the same place as South America.

Anyone with an Ancestry.com subscription and time to kill want to look for Luis/Louis in their indexes?

The Hora with a Latin Beat

From the Miami (Fla.) Herald:

'Secret Jews' of the Spanish Inquisition

Known as anusim, a Hebrew word for Jews who forcibly converted, many Latin American 'crypto-Jews' have rediscovered the faith of their ancestors in recent years.

BY ALEXANDRA ALTER

aalter@herald.com

Stranded on a busy commercial strip of Southwest Eighth Street in Little Havana, Temple Beth Tov-Ahavat Shalom faced a grim future.

Many of its congregants were aging, moving away or dying. Even a merger between two synagogues, Orthodox and Conservative, did little to boost congregation size, which hovers around 150 families, down from 200 in 1998.

But recently, new families have arrived on the synagogue's doorstep. Most come from Latin America and possess only a vague knowledge of Jewish beliefs and practices. But many bring with them a suspicion or even proof that they're descendants of conversos -- Spanish Jews who converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition.

[snip]

Known as anusim, a Hebrew word for Jews who forcibly converted, many Latin American "crypto-Jews" have rediscovered the faith of their ancestors in recent years. Some, aided by DNA testing and Internet sites that post genealogical records, have uncovered evidence of Jewish ancestry, while others cite Jewish customs passed down through generations.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]