Project Updates
This page documents ongoing research updates, clarifications, and methodological shifts as work progresses.
Updates are shared to maintain transparency, track changes in scope or framing, and provide context for how evidence continues to refine the project over time.
January 2026
Shift Toward Network-Based Analysis
Research continues to prioritize endogamous Sephardic family networks over individual ancestor-based claims. Emphasis is placed on density, repetition, and overlap across multiple connected branches rather than isolated lineage points.
Clarification on Geographic Scope
Several regions are now framed explicitly as geographic containers rather than identity claims. Former territories historically administered under Zacatecas are included when archival, economic, and familial overlap with documented mining networks is present.
Jalisco Exclusion Note Added
Jalisco is addressed separately due to the historically high presence of the Inquisition in the region. Records suggest earlier integration of Sephardic-linked families into Spanish Catholic and Indigenous populations, rather than the sustained endogamous networks observed in Zacatecas and Durango.
Expansion of Naming Analysis
A new reference page, Common First Names, has been added to document recurring naming patterns across connected family branches. This page complements the Confirmed Surnames index by highlighting continuity beyond surnames alone.
New Page: Endogamous Networks
A new reference page, Endogamous Networks, has been added to document historically interconnected family networks identified through marriage patterns, archival records, and geographic continuity.
This page establishes Zacatecas as the primary historical anchor, focusing on mining communities where endogamous family networks are documented across multiple generations. Adjacent regions, including northern Durango, Aguascalientes, and select areas of Michoacán, are included only where documented family presence and network overlap demonstrate continuity with Zacatecas-based communities. Several locations are explicitly noted as former territories of Zacatecas, reflecting historical administrative reality rather than modern state boundaries.
The purpose of this page is to shift analysis away from isolated families or modern regional labels and toward network-based continuity, providing a structural framework for understanding how families, resources, and identities persisted over time.
This page will be updated as research continues and additional archival findings are documented.
