Hello, I stumbled upon this group by accident when searching for my Fernandez ancestors, and some of you seem educated in the history of Spanish nobility. I figure maybe some of you can help me with direction of where to go. My grandfather comes from Panama where his father was an ambassador and I believe secretary of the interior. He always told me his ancestors were sent to Panama to help govern and his ancestors before that were sent to Colombia before that by the Queen of Spain to help govern. He comes from a noble family of Spain. My grandfather grew up going to the presidents palace in Panama, being told that Arnulfo Arias Madrid was a relative (my grandfather and father are named after him). When he was taken by his father to Costa Rica for months for "vacation" all the dignitaries and president would come to their home to greet and welcome them. In 1960, his father travelled to Spain to locate the family coat of arms but died in mysterious circumstances before he could present it to our family. My grandfather, Arnulfo Fernandez (b. 1929 Panama) is son of Miguel Angel Fernandez (b. 1898 Colombia/Panama), son of Pedro Fernández Montealegre (b. 1859, costa rica), son of Domingo Evaristo Fernández (I'm 99% sure). I have no way of knowing the Fernández line past that. I can't find documentation. Is there a place that all the noble coat of arms are kept and who they were awarded to? I believe if I can find all the Fernández men who were awarded family crests, then I can eventually determine which is my relative. p.s. My grandfather's mother, who was a Pretto-Seixas, was 100% Jewish, her lines being traced for more than 1,000 years. We believe the Fernández line is also Jewish. Thank you, -Michelle Fernandez/Forester

On Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 9:54:17 PM UTC-3, [email protected] wrote: > Hello, > > I stumbled upon this group by accident when searching for my Fernandez ancestors, and some of you seem educated in the history of Spanish nobility. I figure maybe some of you can help me with direction of where to go. > > > My grandfather comes from Panama where his father was an ambassador and I believe secretary of the interior. He always told me his ancestors were sent to Panama to help govern and his ancestors before that were sent to Colombia before that by the Queen of Spain to help govern. He comes from a noble family of Spain. My grandfather grew up going to the presidents palace in Panama, being told that Arnulfo Arias Madrid was a relative (my grandfather and father are named after him). When he was taken by his father to Costa Rica for months for "vacation" all the dignitaries and president would come to their home to greet and welcome them. In 1960, his father travelled to Spain to locate the family coat of arms but died in mysterious circumstances before he could present it to our family. My grandfather, Arnulfo Fernandez (b. 1929 Panama) is son of Miguel Angel Fernandez (b. 1898 Colombia/Panama), son of Pedro Fernández Montealegre (b. 1859, costa rica), son of Domingo Evaristo Fernández (I'm 99% sure). I have no way of knowing the Fernández line past that. I can't find documentation. Is there a place that all the noble coat of arms are kept and who they were awarded to? I believe if I can find all the Fernández men who were awarded family crests, then I can eventually determine which is my relative. > > p.s. My grandfather's mother, who was a Pretto-Seixas, was 100% Jewish, her lines being traced for more than 1,000 years. We believe the Fernández line is also Jewish. > > Thank you, > -Michelle Fernandez/Forester Sorry, I am a Fernández too. I have no trace (in this line) of any Jewish blood in my ancestry. Fernández is the most common last name in Asturias (Northern Spain) and one of the most common in other areas of Spain. It simply means "son of Fernando" (Ferdinand). There are thousands of unrelated families with the last name in Spain. Without providing hard data, and knowing where specifically your ancestors came from in Spain, it's almost impossible to know anything about your family history, beyond what you already know.

On Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 9:54:17 PM UTC-3, [email protected] wrote: > Hello, > > I stumbled upon this group by accident when searching for my Fernandez ancestors, and some of you seem educated in the history of Spanish nobility. I figure maybe some of you can help me with direction of where to go. > > > My grandfather comes from Panama where his father was an ambassador and I believe secretary of the interior. He always told me his ancestors were sent to Panama to help govern and his ancestors before that were sent to Colombia before that by the Queen of Spain to help govern. He comes from a noble family of Spain. My grandfather grew up going to the presidents palace in Panama, being told that Arnulfo Arias Madrid was a relative (my grandfather and father are named after him). When he was taken by his father to Costa Rica for months for "vacation" all the dignitaries and president would come to their home to greet and welcome them. In 1960, his father travelled to Spain to locate the family coat of arms but died in mysterious circumstances before he could present it to our family. My grandfather, Arnulfo Fernandez (b. 1929 Panama) is son of Miguel Angel Fernandez (b. 1898 Colombia/Panama), son of Pedro Fernández Montealegre (b. 1859, costa rica), son of Domingo Evaristo Fernández (I'm 99% sure). I have no way of knowing the Fernández line past that. I can't find documentation. Is there a place that all the noble coat of arms are kept and who they were awarded to? I believe if I can find all the Fernández men who were awarded family crests, then I can eventually determine which is my relative. > > p.s. My grandfather's mother, who was a Pretto-Seixas, was 100% Jewish, her lines being traced for more than 1,000 years. We believe the Fernández line is also Jewish. > > Thank you, > -Michelle Fernandez/Forester I should also point out that through other lines, branching out, there was a remote ancestress in my Fernández genealogy who was, perhaps of "converso" origin. Her last name was García-Cabrón. Cabrón was listed as a "converso" last name in some writings of dubious origin. However, I haven't found in her immediate ancestry any "converso" blood (which, of course, does not prove there wasn't any). Unfortunately, beyond the 16th C., nothing is documented about this quite peculiar last name, which in modern Spanish is used as an adjective to express a person's bad temper.