by Moises Garza

September 10, 2015

Last Names of Nuevo Leon

In this post you will find the rest of the email by Crispin Rendon. It is in regards to Jewish roots. Crispin has undertaken the issue that his DNA as well as many others has been labeled Ashkenazi when it is well known that the Jewish roots for our area are Sephardic. Hopefully in the future FTDNA will differentiate these two better, but more work and research has to be done.

The Rest of the Email by Crispin Rendon

Many years ago I learned of some research by Jose Antonio Esquibel connecting him and therefore our kindred group (with roots from the Mexican States of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas) to Men Gutierrez and Isaac Ha Levi both Sephardic Jews.

You can learn more about Men Gutierrez at this website:

http://www.villadan.com/webcards/ps13/ps13_205.htm

A few years ago I had my autosomal DNA tested at FamilyTreeDNA with a test they call FamilyFinder. Two years ago my test results changed to showing 10% Jewish Diaspora, Ashkenazi. Actually the raw data test results did not change but the algorithm that creates the interpretation that we think of as results changed (see my test results below). I hope they change again soon with my Ashkenazi DNA reclassified as Sephardic DNA. We can leave that for another time.

There is a well known oral tradition that our ancestors from Monterrey had Jewish roots so how much Jewish DNA do we as a kindred group have? That is the question I hope to address by using our kindred group genealogy database. I surveyed 132 cousins from the kindred group database that have FamilyFinder test results, asking that they log on to FamilyTreeDNA and report on how much if any Jewish Diaspora DNA they showed. Counting myself, we have 60 responding to the survey.

This is a summary of my relationships to the survey responders: 1-4th cousin, 4-5th cousins, 11-6th cousins, 30-7th cousins, 10-8th cousins, 1-9th cousin, 1-10th and 1-11th cousin.

This is a summary of reported percentage of Ashkenazi DNA:

49-Zero percent, 1-5%, 4-6%, 2-7%, 1-9%, 1-10%, 2-13%

Genetic Testing Survey Conclusion:

18% of our kindred group report some Jewish Diaspora results from FamilyFinder testing. The test results range from Zero to 13% Jewish Diaspora.

Traditional Genealogy

I checked our database of over 362,000 records to see if the same 60 people descend from Men Gutierrez and or Isaac Ha Levi. I also checked to see how many ways we descend from them.

Number of ways we descend from Men Gutierrez: 11 people not descendant, 10 people 1 way descendant, 18 people 2 way descendant, 4 people 3 way descendant, 3 people 5 way descendant, 3 people 6 way descendant, 2 people 7 way descendant, 2 people 8 way descendant, 4 people 9 way descendant, 2 people 10 way descendant and 1 person 11 way descendant.

Number of ways we descend from Isaac Ha Levi: 31 people not descendant, 11 people 1 way descendant, 8 people 2 way descendant, 3 people 3 way descendant, 2 people 4 way descendant, 1 person 5 way descendant, 1 person 6 way descendant, 2 people 8 way descendant and 1 person 12 way descendant.

Best Regards,

Crispin Rendon

I hope that you have found this topic to be of interest to you. Please let me know your opinion or comments about this subject in the comment section of this post. Let me know if your results have also been labeled as Ashkenazi but you believe that they should be Sephardic. You can also help Crispin with his research by sending him your DNA results showing Jewish Ancestry along with your family tree.

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About the author 

Moises Garza

I have doing my family genealogy since 1998. I am also the creator of this blog We Are Cousins, and the Mexican Genealogy blog. To always be up to date with both of these sites follow me on Facebook. To contact me or book me for a presentation, buy my books, and or learn more about me visit my personal website at www.moisesgarza.com.

Books to Help You Grow Your Family Tree

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  1. I for one do not believe any of this Crypto – Jewish Ancestory . No facts, no evidence, wild stories, the whole thing makes no sense and I cannot understand where people are drawn to this whole lie.
    Amazing that no one who makes these claims has read or understands Iberian history. There is so much good and accurate about this site why do people chase after this fantasy? If you read about these so called crypto- jews what you will find is the Sephardic Jews accompanied the Moors to the occupied areas of the Iberian Penninsula and the conquered Christians were given the choice of becoming Jewish, Islamic or dying, which would you pick? Following the reconquista the former Christians went back to being Christians, no hidden enclaves, no secrecy, no rituals, no torture, no evil Church. The Sephardic Jews accompanied the Iberians to the Carribean and South America and practiced openly there, why would they suddenly have to hide in Mexico and New Mexico? The earliest Jews in the United States were Sephardic and they settled in New England and the South, some very famous Confederates were descended from Sephardic Jews and they never had to hide the fact they were Jewish.
    If you read further DNA studies there is no way to determine religion by DNA as people found out trying to track the Phoenicians in Lebanon and to the embarrassment of many in Israel they have the same DNA as most Lebanese. How many thousands of Arabs have migrated to Mexico, the Caribbean and South America and what will their families DNA show.
    My grgr grandmother was Maria Tamez , married Enrique Jones a Welsh Mercenary serving in the Mexican Army 1847 in the Cathedral in Monterray. I have read claims that Tamez is an Arab

    1. Larry they had to hide in Mexico and New Mexico because of the Spanish inquisition. The inquisition would torture them to make them repent and then would hand them using wires. If they would not repent they would be burned at that stake. That is why many Jewish people would hide whom they were. Many did convert to Catholicism but they continued to practice behind closed doors. The Spanish inquisition was banned in 1818 form Mexico and New Mexico. Please read this article which describes the horrors of the inquisition on Jewish people in Mexico https://www.facebook.com/groups/wacgroup/permalink/879234992145992/

  2. The claim that Tamez is an Arab or Crypto Sephardic name is absurd. Tamez comes from Llanos, Asturias in Northern Spain and the Moors and the Sephardic Jews never reached that province.
    Please read Frank Dobies (famous Texas author correct) Book “Coranado’s Children” in which he talks about the Tamez land grant and hidden treasure in South Texas. It’s a fun book which describes how the same myth about buried treasure surfaces over and over in slightly different form for centuries and how just as the treasure discovered something came up and it was lost again. The Tamez family was at first very successful and accumulated great herds and crops but eventually the Mescalaro’s wore them down and they returned to Nuevo Leon. Did they leave tons of buried treasure no, but they left their name. When they and other Nuevo Leon families arrived in South Texas for the First time the Indians assumed their Spanish surnames, just like the Indians of Canada assumed either French or English surnames. Economic and other factors have caused Nuevo Leon families to migrate to Texas since but Mescalaro and other Texas tribes oral histories support the legend that they got their surnames from the original land grant families.
    Great site, enjoy all the reading and especially the photos and later histories which wrap everything together.

  3. One of my Tamez cousins told me that they have traced the name back to Tell Aviv Israel and believe they are the descendants​ of Jacob from the Bible.

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