Ancestry Explores Pope Leo XIV’s Martínez Heritage

Down in Louisiana, locals often use “gumbo” as a metaphor for their diverse heritage. This iconic Creole stew, whose name stems from a West African word for okra, is a rich blend of techniques and ingredients from French, Choctaw, and German cultures. Like gumbo, a Louisiana Creole family tree can reflect a mix of traditions and ancestral roots.

This is true for the family of the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV. We recently shared discoveries about Leo XIV’s paternal Sicilian and French roots (https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/entertainment-and-culture/pope-leo-xiv-sicilian-roots), and others have written about the pope’s Haitian, Cuban, and Canadian forebears—a common blend of ancestral ties for mixed-race Louisiana Creoles. However, some ingredients in Robert Francis Prevost’s “gumbo” are rare, even for White Creoles in Louisiana.

Is Pope Leo’s Martínez Line Haitian? Cuban?

A key part of Pope Leo’s family tree is the Martínez line, and for years, researchers have questioned its origins. Was it Cuban or Haitian? Many Louisiana Creoles traveled and briefly resided in mid-19th-century Haiti, ostensibly for opportunity, but what about the Martínez family?

The Haitian Connection

A New Orleans birth registration from 4 June 1866 records the birth of Joseph Norval Martínez in “Porto Prince [Port-au-Prince], St. Domingo” on 8 January 1864 to parents Jacques Martínez and Marie Rose Pantaléon Ramos. (Both parents were born in New Orleans, but lived briefly in Port-au-Prince.) Many English speakers at that time referred to Haiti by its colonial name in Spanish, “Santo Domingo,” as a way to show support for its white colonial past and reject its Black independent present. Notably, Joseph’s birth registration does not refer to color, race, or status—an omission usually reserved for white individuals.

While we don’t know what Joseph Norval’s parents did in Port-au-Prince, and despite the birth registration that noted “Santo Domingo,” they seemed to feel connected to the Haitian community. Just a month after Jacques Martínez and his family returned to New Orleans, in February 1866, a terrible fire devastated much of Port-au-Prince, leaving thousands homeless. Jacques and other New Orleans Creoles in the Société des Frères-Unis (United Brothers Benevolent Society) quickly organized a theatrical evening to raise money “for the benefit of fire victims in Port-au-Prince.” This act of solidarity, highlighted in La Tribune de la Nouvelle-Orléans, the Creole-led New Orleans-based civil rights newspaper, also published messages of thanks from grateful Haitians.

Throughout his life, Joseph Norval Martínez consistently reported his birthplace as Haiti in census records (https://www.ancestry.com/c/family-history-learning-hub/us-census)—compelling evidence of the family’s ties and pride in their Haitian roots.

The Cuban Connection

When Joseph’s father, Jacques Martínez, died in New Orleans in late February 1891, his brother-in-law reported his parents’ birthplace as Cuba. This information, plus the family's presence in Haiti, painted a picture of a Cuban-Haitian connection. This blended background was common for many who fled the Haitian Revolution in the late 1700s and early 1800s and settled in New Orleans.

However, the names of Jacques' parents are absent from his death record. They’re also missing from the marriage records for Jacques and his wife, Marie Rose Pantaléon Ramos—the July 1848 civil marriage and their August 1848 religious marriage at Annunciation Catholic Church in New Orleans. We needed to search for other records to learn more about them.

Uncovering More About Jacques Martínez and His Parents

On 22 May 1822, at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, Antonio Martínez was baptized, the “natural son of Raphael Martines and Margarita Carnet,” the latter a mulata libre (free mulatress). His paternal aunt and uncle, “Francisca and Santiago Martines,” served as parrain and nénaine—godfather and godmother in Louisiana French.

At this time, Catholic Louisiana Creoles often carried at least one of their godparents’ first names. Based on research, we now know that baby Antonio (Antoine in French and Creole), possibly named for Père Antoine, the beloved capuchin priest at St. Louis Cathedral, became known as an adult as Jacques in most records. So, where did the name Jacques come from? His paternal uncle and godfather, Santiago Martínez. Santiago is Spanish for Jacques. Baby Antonio chose to use the name Jacques as an adult continuing a decades-long Catholic Creole tradition in Louisiana.

Census, Civil Registration, and Other Records Expand the Story

In Jacques Martínez’s household, in the 1850 and 1860 U.S. Census records for New Orleans, lived an older woman named Marguerite Cadenet. She’s listed as “white” on one record and “mulatto” on the other, suggesting that she sometimes seemed equally European and African mixed, while at other times she appeared more European.

This woman, likely the mother of Jacques, registered with the New Orleans mayor’s office on 10 May 1861 to prove her status as a free woman of color. She registered under “Marguerite Cadenet, alias Widow Martinez,” a quadroon born in New Orleans.

That same day (and location), Jacques’s wife Marie Rose Pantaléon Ramos registered her status as a quadroon woman, age 35, seamstress, and native to New Orleans. Marie registered under the name “Jacques Antonio Martinez”—describing both given names of her husband. Jacques apparently was absent; no registration for him occurred that day.

Lastly, the record for the Jacques Martínez burial vault, at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 in New Orleans, shows interments for at least ten people. The first was Marguerite Cadenet, placed there on 21 April 1870, a day after she died in New Orleans. Considering Marguerite’s description in the 1861 parish registration as “Widow Martinez,” she appears to be Jacques’s mother. Jacques, his wife, Marie, and some of their children are in the same vault.

The Paper Trail Leads to Unexpected Central European Origins, Not Cuban Ones

Going back one generation further, we looked for information about Raphaël Martínez, Jacques Antonio Martínez’s father. Raphaël was one of several children born to the marriage of Jacques Martínez, Sr, and Françoise Rosalie Eulalie Panquinet. Raphaël Eléodore (b. 1795), Françoise (b. 1787), and Jacques Martínez, Jr (b. 1789), were all born in New Orleans and baptized at the cathedral there. Jacques and Françoise’s family was the only one in New Orleans at the time that had three children carrying the names Raphaël (Rafael), Françoise (Francisca), and Jacques (Santiago). But they were not Cubans.

In September 1781, Jacques Martínez Sr married Françoise Panquinet at the cathedral in New Orleans under the name “Santiago Martín.” (Martín and Martínez were once commonly interchanged in the Spanish-speaking world.) However, this marriage record indicates a surprising place of origin: Jacques was from “Perne Parish in Germany.”

Likewise, the 1812 New Orleans Catholic burial record for Jacques Martínez Sr, contains a similarly remarkable detail: he was born in “Prague, Bohemia”—now the Czech Republic.

In conclusion, Pope Leo’s Martínez line actually came from Prague, the Czech Republic, not Cuba. It’s a good lesson that sometimes surnames can mislead us, as can records. It’s always best to confirm information through multiple sources.

Pope Leo XIV’s Global Family Tree

This discovery about Pope Leo XIV’s family tree is a powerful reminder that surnames can be deceiving—“Martínez” may originally have been “Martín” and likely another name in Czech or languages the family spoke in Prague. The Martínez family truly represents a “gumbo” of global influences—from the Czech Republic to Haiti, and from New Orleans to the Vatican. It’s a veritable international family story, a testament to how family history research can uncover unexpected and exciting new truths.

Explore your own family tree with a free Ancestry trial (https://www.ancestry.com/offers/subscribe) and see what discoveries you might make. And if you’re interested in a deeper look at your ancestral origins, an AncestryDNA test (https://www.ancestry.com/dna) can provide you with insights about your maternal and paternal lines. 

If you’d like expert help identifying the likely origins of a specific branch of your family tree, contact AncestryProGenealogists (https://www.progenealogists.com/?b1001).

Researchers: Christophe Landry, Ph.D. and Jari C. Honora, CG®