Jorge Estevez, a WFTV Channel 9 news anchor, was invited by Pam Schwartz, the Orange County Regional History Center Chief Curator, to take an Ancestry DNA test to learn more about his family history. She also researched the family histories of other well-known Central Floridians, including
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer;
journalist Brendan O’Connor of the Bungalower; Toni Pressley, Orlando
Pride soccer team defender; and Geraldine Thompson, state
representative and senator and founder of Orlando’s Wells’ Built Museum.
Jorge met Pam at the History Center Research Library where she asked him about what he did know about his family history. To do the DNA test he had to spit into a test tube which was a great photo opportunity for Melissa Procko, History Center Research Librarian, who was documenting the moment with video and still photography.
A line of Jorge’s family tree comes from Cuba which turned out to be problematic for online research since Cuban records must be researched from the courthouses and archives on the island. Pam was afraid she might have bit off more than she could chew, but she enlisted the help of a genealogist who specializes in Cuban research. This genealogist also does research for a TV program called Finding Your Roots.
It turns out that Jorge comes from a family line which is renowned for being public servants who notarize documents. Being a notary in those days was a position of high honor. She even found their notary stamps. The family line was researched way back into the 1500s. Jorge joked that he has never had a tattoo, but he is considering getting a tattoo of one of those ancient hand-drawn stamps since it means so much to him.