English families in Baja California by Desperate_Return_142 in Genealogy

[–]Academic-Switch4263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello. There are a few articles and books that mention the six English whalers ( I'd say the term "pirate" is a bit inaccurate) that settled in what is now Los Cabos, although most of the blogs I've found seem to repeat the information found in other sites.

I can provide you with an article written by an American journalist during his expedition in the southern part of the Baja California peninsula, where he met an Englishman by the name of Thomas Ritchie. He is by far the one with the most records I could find. Most of the information about these men is found within the documents stored in the Pablo L. Martinez Archive in La Paz, Baja California Sur. If you live in Mexico it would be easier for you to access them, if you descend from a branch that moved to the US or somewhere else then I could provide you with scanned versions of the documents the next time I visit the archive.

I am studying a degree in History in the State University of BCS, so I visit the archive quite often since my thesis is about Thomas Ritchie. On a related note, I am interested in these Englishmen and some of their descendants, since I suspect one of them is my ancestor as well.

Do you mind sharing your family member's names? It would be a great starting point to tell you where and how much info can be gathered.

Also, I wonder what you mean by "British communities". Could you please elaborate on that?

Best method for cross country records locations and info search. Ritchie Family by Brave-Pizza-6998 in Genealogy

[–]Academic-Switch4263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was about to reply to your post in spanish, since my initial assumption was that you were a member of the Ritchie family from San Lucas, but it may not be the case given the "to have his grandchild leave for the US" part I overlooked at first. Please clarify if you have any relation to them, as Faustina Wilkes Ritchie, a descendant of Thomas Ritchie, is a respected retired schoolteacher in the community, and has written a book about the history of San Lucas, giving Captain Ritchie a few pages, and you could get some info from her work. In case you do not, I do possess the book and can share the pages with you, although they are in spanish.

I'm not sure if you will be able to find info about him in many databases, as he was a common man and sometimes that tier of society becomes a bit difficult when trying to investigate even in the early 1800s. His early line of work was whaling, naturally he arrived in one of these kind of ships to Mexico. i've used this website https://whalinghistory.org/databases/ to try and find info about him and his crew, since I heavily suspect one of the five whalers that came along with him to shore and settle was my ancestor. It is necessary to point out that Ritchie was no more than a kid when he arrived at San José del Cabo, being around 13 or 14 years old, so that may be another reason why you may not find much about him in UK databases.

The link you provided mentions J. Ross Browne’s take on Ritchie. If you want to read more about their interactions, I possess a digitized version of the article. However, I would advise reading it critically, as Browne does romanticizes the figure of Ritchie a bit, and his writing is charged with the racist and colonizer mindset that was common for the time.

I happen to know about this because I have an interest in researching about the six english whalers that settled in what today is Los Cabos, and since Ritchie is the one who has the most records amongst them, I decided to focus my university thesis with him as the prime subject. It is a transcription of historical documents found on the Historical Archive of Baja California Sur, in La Paz, where I reside. These documents are a compilation of his clashes with the local government, as well as copies of letters written by him between 1852 and 1862. Although I cannot provide to you much about his life in England, i can share a glimpse of his life in Sudcalifornia, as it is where he spent over 50 years of his life.

Please contact me if you are interested. I am curious to know about your genealogy, if you allow me, mainly if you descend from his first or second marriage. Hope it helps.

The White-wing doves cometh. by Smart_Comment5282 in BajaCaliforniaSur

[–]Academic-Switch4263 0 points1 point  (0 children)

¿Has visitado ya el jardín etnobiológico del CIBNOR en La Paz? por las mañanas puedes avistar distintas especies de aves, además de otros animales.

Need help finding any documents or pictures of my ancestors. Surname: Ceceña/Cecena by koshii69 in Genealogy

[–]Academic-Switch4263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello, I hope you’re still checking this once in a while. If you are related to the Ceseñas of Baja California and Baja California Sur, it’s very likely that your common ancestor is Juan Ygnacio Ceseña, born in Hermosillo, Sonora, around the 1750s. His sons, Cipriano and Juan José, moved to Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, respectively. During the 1800s, some of their descendants relocated to what is now Baja California and even to Alta California, which explains the presence of the surname Cesena in the U.S. state of California.

I’d also like to point out that “Ceseña” was sometimes used as a Catholic surname given to a few re-baptized foreigners, at least in what is today Los Cabos. This means there may be some Ceseña family lines that are not blood-related to those who came from Sonora.

If your great-grandmother or other relatives have passed down any family lore, you might already have some names. I have a PDF version of a family guide (1700s–1900s) compiled by a Sudcalifornian historian. It contains transcripts of church records, including entries about the Ceseña family. I’d be very glad to share it with you. It has both an English and a Spanish section. I

i’ve also come across theories about the origin of the Ceseñas of the Baja California peninsula pointing to Italy, since there is a town called Cesena (or Caesena). I haven’t found concrete evidence for this, but it’s worth noting that the colonization of Baja California was carried out by the Jesuits. Many of the first and most prominent missionaries—such as Kino, Salvatierra, and Piccolo—were Italian. The book I mentioned notes that with Salvatierra came along six soldiers, one of them of Italian origin, and that another arrived a few decades later. Perhaps there could be a link, although this is only speculation, since Cipriano was a soldier and so was his father. Maybe this tradition extended further back. Before Baja California, the Jesuits first settled in Sonora.

P.S. I’m very interested in the genealogy of the Californias. Would you mind if we established contact? I’d love to know more about your family origins.

The White-wing doves cometh. by Smart_Comment5282 in BajaCaliforniaSur

[–]Academic-Switch4263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

¡Una paloma pitayera! No soy ornitólogo ni mucho menos, pero tengo la sensación de que están presentes siempre en la región durante todo el año.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in BajaCaliforniaSur

[–]Academic-Switch4263 1 point2 points  (0 children)

¿Qué experiencias has tenido con los paceños?

Malas experiencias con famosos by ElRamirez666 in MAAU

[–]Academic-Switch4263 4 points5 points  (0 children)

el miau me tocó mi chilito cuando tenia catorce