Matt Ortega

In recent years, Hispanics from the American Southwest have discovered roots that were only the subject of rumor. From the Boston Globe in December 2004:

He tested the DNA of his relatives, along with some of the parishioners at Albuquerque’s St. Edwin’s Church, where he works. As word got out, others in the community began contacting him. So Sanchez expanded the effort to include Hispanics throughout the state.

Of the 78 people tested, 30 are positive for the marker of the Cohanim, whose genetic line remains strong because they rarely married non-Jews throughout a history spanning up to 4,000 years.

Michael Hammer, a research professor at the University of Arizona who is a specialist on Jewish genetics, said less than 1 percent of non-Jews possessed this marker. That fact, along with the traditions in many of these families, makes it likely they are Jewish, he said.

It was through the New Mexico DNA Project that my father tested positive for this marker and our family confirmed rumors that we were descendants of conversos, Spanish Jews that converted during the Spanish Inquisition following the Alhambra Decree issued by the Spanish monarchs, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

In 1492, Jews in Spain were given the choice of conversion to Catholicism or expulsion. Many fled, but others faked conversions while practicing their faith in secret. These crypto-Jews were hounded throughout the Spanish Inquisition.

“In the 1530s and 1540s, you began to see converted Jews coming to Mexico City, where some converted back to Judaism,” said Moshe Lazar, a professor of comparative literature at the University of Southern California and a specialist on Sephardic Jews, or those from Spain and Portugal. “The women preserved their tradition. They taught their daughters the religion. People began rediscovering their Jewishness but remained Catholics.”

But in 1571, the Inquisition came to Mexico. Authorities were given lists to help identify crypto-Jews, Lazar said. People who did not eat pork, knelt imperfectly in church, rubbed water quickly off newly baptized babies, or did not work Saturdays were suspect. If arrested, they were sometimes burned at the stake.

Many fled to what is now northern New Mexico and remained secretive even after the United States gained control of the area in 1848.

This is the story of my ancestors — specifically:

Ortega – R1b1: Western European origin. This lineage is also the haplogroup containing the Atlantic modal haplotype. Basque and Celtic people belong to this Haplogroup and they were among the earliest settlers of Spain. 68% of modern day Spaniards share this origin. The following markers are common to the people bordering Europe’s Atlantic within a couple of steps; DYS19 (DYS394)=14, DYS388=12, DYS390=24, DYS391=11, DYS392=13 and DYS393=13.

From the History Channel:

March 31, 1492

Jews to be expelled from Spain

In Spain, a royal edict is issued by the nation’s Catholic rulers declaring that all Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity will be expelled from the country. Most Spanish Jews chose exile rather than the renunciation of their religion and culture, and the Spanish economy suffered with the loss of an important portion of its workforce. Many Spanish Jews went to North Africa, the Netherlands, and the Americas, where their skills, capital, and commercial connections were put to good use. Among those who chose conversion, some risked their lives by secretly practicing Judaism, while many sincere converts were nonetheless persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Muslims, or Moors, were ordered to convert to Christianity in 1502.

Read more on Spanish Jews.