I found an interesting article titled “Presencia Judía en Los Altos De Jalisco”. The article explains how many of the first Spanish settlers in Los Altos De Villanueva, Nueva Galicia had some Jewish ancestry. Although I agree with its take on the Jewish roots, it is off base when it explains that our French ancestry comes from French soldiers in the 1900’s. Most of my French ancestry comes from the original settlers who not only had some Jewish ancestry, but also carried with them some French ancestry. In fact as in the case of Toribio Hernández Arellano, the French and Jewish lines were one and the same. In the case of my Reynoso ancestry we find an ancestral line that links to the royal family of France. My father’s dna shows he is 30% French while my mothers dna shows 14% French.

The article also states that many of the first settlers came from Sevilla. There were many Italians in Sevilla in the 15th century which helps account for my mothers dna showing 18% Italian. My dad’s dna only shows 3% Italian. All four of my grandparents descend from the founding families of Los Altos De Jalisco.

Here is the link: https://diariojudio.com/opinion/presencia-judia-en-los-altos-de-jalisco/14539/

Rick A. Ricci