Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Season 2, Episode 10: Decoding Our Past Through DNA, featured actress Jessica Alba. The episode focused on her father Mark Abla’s ancestry. What was intriguing was that his matrilineage stemmed from Zacatecas. This got me thinking that many people with ancestry from Zacatecas, including many Nuestros Ranchos researchers, probably share a link with the Albas.

The episode traced Mark Alba’s matriline back to Josefa Laves (b.ca. 1837), daughter of Jose Maria Laves (b.ca. 1820) and Carmen Carrillo (b.ca. 1820). This is where the episode hits the brick wall, but it did add one extra piece of crucial information: Mark’s mt-DNA haplogroup was U6a7a1b, a marker commonly found among Sephardic Jews. This would mean that Carmen Carrillo also carried mt-DNA marker U6a7a1b, as would all of her matrilineal ancestors.

Armed with the information from the episode, I began to focus on how to break down the brick walls, while tracing up this matriline.

1st brick wall:
Initially, no information for Josefa Laves (b.ca. 1837) or her father Jose Maria Laves (b.ca. 1820) could be found. Careful observation revealed that the surname “Laves” was actually “Lares” – an understandable misreading, considering the style of penmanship in the original documents. Also, Josefa Lares was actually born closer to 1847 then 1837.

Jose Maria Lares and Carmen Carrillo were married in Jerez, Zacatecas the 28th of May, 1845, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-DZ95-4L?i=84&wc=3PSJ-9…
This record reveals that Carmen Carrillo was the daughter of Isidro Carrillo and Nepomucena Fernandez (b.ca. 1790).

2nd brick wall:
No marriage record for Isidro Carrillo and Nepomucena Fernandez could be found. It was time to look closer at the baptism records of their children. (Note: Some of the solutions for this 2nd brick wall were scattered among research notes shared years ago by Erlinda Castanon-Long.)

Carmen Carrillo’s 1821 baptism revealed her paternal grandparents but not her maternal grandparents, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-1Z32-H?i=122&wc=3PS8-6…

Luckily, the baptism record of Carmen’s brother Lucas Carrillo named their maternal grandparents, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-1ZQ6-S?i=465&wc=3PS8-6…
That meant that Nepomucena Fernandez was the daughter of Victoriano Fernandez and Felipa Torres (b.ca. 1757).

(Nicolas) Victoriano Fernandez and Felipa (de Jesus) Torres were married the 12th of September, 1782, in Jerez, Zacatecas, as seen here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-GHYP-D?i=301&wc=3P9C-P…
This record reveals that Felipa de Jesus Torres was the daughter of Alejo Balvino de Torres and Antonia Bernardina de Avila (b. ca. 1732). It also adds a note that Nicolas Victoriano Fernandez and Felipa de Jesus Torres were related in “tercero con quarto grado” or in “third and fourth degree” meaning that the groom was three generations away, and the bride was four generations away from a common ancestor. I was unable to locate a corresponding dispensa record for this marriage, but this tiny detail would prove instrumental later.

3rd brick wall:
Going back another generation, no marriage record could be found for Alejo Balvino de Torres and Antonia Bernardina de Avila. Looking through the baptism records of their children would not work this time because they did not list grandparents in this time period. It was time to find an ulterior route. (This would be a tricky one.)

If Mark Alba’s mt-DNA haplogroup was U6a7a1b, then so was Carmen Carrillo’s, and ultimately Antonia Bernardina de Avila’s. I thought to myself: Could there be another Zacatecas lineage carrying the U6a7a1b mt-DNA marker?