Just a note about the Vasquez family.
I have known for years about the Vasquez connections in our family. Also, about the branch that included Onofrio Vasquez and Jennie Cincotta Vasquez. But I have not been able to find the connection between the two families. This was one of my prime concerns when I took the family tree to Malfa. I met Vasquez cousins there, but they seemed unable to make a connection either. If anyone has a clue about how they are connected or about other Vasquez cousins I would certainly appreciate hearing about it.
On another note, Patrick van der Hoeven has been telling me that local groups in Australia have informed him that the Vasquez family has Sephardic Jewish roots. Seems logical to me. During the repopulation of the islands, many Spanish came to the islands along with the Spanish rulers. Whether the Vasquez family is simply a part of a general Spanish influx or were Jews escaping persecution, I cannot be sure. If someday we were to find records of their arrival, that may shed some light.
That being said, there are Jewish connections in the family even if we do not include the Vasquez family. Lazzaro is another name in the early family that has Jewish roots.
The Jews in Spain were allowed to exist happily alongside the rest of the population for many years after most of Spain was taken by the Muslim Moors. When the Christians started taking back the country, most were allowed to stay. Then as the Christians became the masters of the whole peninsula, Jews were allowed to stay only if they converted to Christianity. Most did this freely. while secretly remaining Jewish. When Ferdinand and Isabella finally took Granada at about the same time as Columbus arrived in America...the last Moorish holdout, the Jews were expelled completely and those who had converted and secretly remained Jewish would be burned by the inquisition if they did not prove total conversion. Finally almost all were expelled, converted or not.
I like to think that the islanders were and are a pretty liberal lot, and accepted their Jewish immigrants pretty readily. In fact they were probably more offended by the Spanish than the Jews.
This is of course very much up in the air. No need to immediately adopt the beautiful Jewish traditions immediately. All the families involved in our tree have been Catholic for a long time. There are interesting devotions in our family. There are particular devotions to Santa Anna, San Biagio, San Bartolomeo, Santa Marina and the more universal devotion to Santa Maria.
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