Consulted, and identified but not yet consulted
Sources
Everything consulted so far, and everything identified as needing to be consulted. The second list is still the longer of the two, and that is the point of publishing it.
Consulted
| Source | Used for | Accessed |
|---|---|---|
| Latin American Anarchist and Labour Periodicals Online, c. 1880–1940 — IISH Amsterdam, via De Gruyter Brill | Testing the family tradition that he fled Argentina as a communist. Searched by the institute's own archivist and again here, under Lerena and Lerina. No person of this family; the apparent hits are the Conde de Lerena of the 1787 census and a Montevideo street | 10 Sep 2026 |
| Ejército Argentino — Fichas de enrolamiento, Cajón 985 (Lera), via FamilySearch image group #112342450, image 665 of 1,119; image ark 3:1:3QHK-MQL4-NQWN | The parents of Pablo Armando Lerena: Juan Carlos Lerena and María Lerena. Also his conscript class (1882), his birthplace as stated to the army (Rosario de Santa Fé), and the enrolling office (Capetown) | 10 Sep 2026 |
| LDS Church Census Records (Worldwide), 1914–1960 — South African Mission, 1935 | Ricardo Juan Carlos Lerena, b.1920, Claremont C.P.; Nuno Fernando Lerena, b.1924, Wynberg C.P. — the family placed by suburb in the year Mary Septima died | 10 Sep 2026 |
| Forebears | Worldwide and per-country distribution of Lerena; the Llerena variant and its 36,828 bearers | 8 Sep 2026 |
| Wikipedia — Gran Premio Gilberto Lerena | Gilberto Justiniano Lerena Lenguas, the Argentine Stud Book, Haras El Viejo, Old Man, and the 1914 renaming of the race | 8 Sep 2026 |
| Wikipedia — Llerena, Badajoz; Basque surnames | The two candidate origins of the name | 8 Sep 2026 |
| Wikipedia — Basque Uruguayans | Basque emigration to the River Plate from the 1820s | 8 Sep 2026 |
| NameCensus | Secondary account of the surname's origin. Treated with caution — such sites routinely assert etymologies without sources | 8 Sep 2026 |
| Sporting Post and South African racing press | Gavin Lerena in South African racing | 8 Sep 2026 |
| The Defranceski archive (this project's sibling) | The MyHeritage tree title naming Lerena and Booyzen; Johannesburg as David's birthplace and the move to Brisbane | 8 Sep 2026 |
| David Defranceski, family testimony | Cheryl Anne Lerena; the Argentine great-grandfather; Rosario; the consulship; the horses; the ostrich farm | 8 Sep 2026 |
Identified, not yet consulted
Argentina and Uruguay
- Civil registration, Santa Fe province (Rosario), from the 1880s.
- Catholic parish registers, Archdiocese of Rosario, via FamilySearch.
- CEMLA immigrant database and the listas de pasajeros into Buenos Aires.
- Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina — consular appointments.
- Argentine Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Memorias and diplomatic lists.
- Argentine Stud Book — Lerena entries as owner and breeder; Haras El Viejo.
- Uruguayan civil and parish registers, Montevideo.
South Africa
- NAAIRS — deceased estate files, wills, departmental records. Highest-value target.
- Civil registration; Department of Home Affairs and the provincial archives.
- Union of South Africa Government Gazette and Cape Colony gazettes — the exequatur recognising a foreign consul.
- South African Stud Book and Jockey Club registers, including imports.
- C.P. Nel Museum, Oudtshoorn, and the Cape archives — the ostrich feather trade.
- Cape and Rand newspapers.
Spain
- INE provincial surname distribution — to test La Rioja against Badajoz.
- Parish and civil registers in whichever province the emigration record eventually names.
The family's own records
- David Defranceski's MyHeritage tree, with its stored facts, citations and media. Not yet read into this archive.
- Australian records for the Johannesburg-to-Brisbane migration, subject to the rule on living people.
Every collection searched, with its link
So that any claim on this site can be checked, and any search repeated, without guessing where it was made.
The Rosario films
| Film | What it is | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| DGS 4530325 | Índice de bautismos, Nuestra Señora del Rosario, 1879–1900 | The three-year sweep: every letter, 1881–83 |
| DGS 4531041 | Matrimonios 1884–1891 (Libro 9 onward) | All of 1884 read act by act |
| DGS 4531040 | Matrimonios 1868–1884 (Libro 8) | Answered from the search index, with a control |
| DGS 4531036 | Índice de matrimonios 1731–1761, 1860–1921 | Where the Lavena candidate came from |
| Film 004331984 | Rosario, Censo Nacional 1869 | Bartolomé Llerena, image 86 |
Indexed collections
| Collection | What it settled |
|---|---|
| Argentina, Santa Fe, Catholic Church Records, 1634–2003 | No Lerena marriage at Rosario 1868–1891; the first Lerenas in the city, at Santa Rosa de Lima, 1903 and 1918 |
| Argentina, National Census, 1869 and 1895 | Bartolomé Llerena in Rosario in 1869; no Lerena in Santa Fe in 1895 |
| Argentina, Baptisms, 1645–1930 | Two Lerena baptisms in the whole indexed country |
| Uruguay, Civil Registration 1879–2020 · Catholic Church Records 1726–2000 · Baptisms 1750–1900 | The Trinidad, Montevideo and Colonia kindreds — and no Pablo Armando in any of them |
| Argentina, Entre Ríos, Civil Registration, 1833–1965 | The four-generation Larena family at Gualeguaychú |
| Spain, Baptisms 1502–1940 · Catholic Church Records 1307–2005 · provincial municipal registers | No Pablo Lerena born 1882; no Armando Lerena, ever |
Outside FamilySearch
| Source | What it gave |
|---|---|
| CEMLA — immigrant arrivals at Buenos Aires | Earliest Lerena arrival 1905, so his parents cannot be in it; Gilberto Lerena, 1928 |
| findmypast — TNA BT26/BT27, censuses, British newspapers | Mary Septima’s 1909 and 1935 voyages; her father the cavalry sergeant; her 1901 pupil-teacher notice |
| ancestors.co.za — SA deceased estates | Death years for five of the family |
| NAAIRS — South African national archives | The 1950 estate, the Koeberg Road stables, the divorces |
| Forebears | 2,124 bearers worldwide; Uruguay the densest |
Archives written to
| Archive | Asked for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Archivo General del Ejército, Buenos Aires
age@ejercito.mil.ar | His libreta de enrolamiento — which names a man’s parents | Sent 8 Sep 2026 |
| Archivo
Histórico de Cancillería archivo@cancilleria.gob.ar | The 1940 passport file and the Cape Town matrícula consular | Sent 9 Sep 2026 |
| International Institute of Social History,
Amsterdam ask@iisg.nl | The Argentine anarchist press and Ley 4144 deportations, 1902–06 | Sent 9 Sep 2026 |
| Archivo General de la Nación | Ley 4144 expulsion files | Written, not sent — no public email; the portal needs a registered account |
Every archive address above was verified from the institution’s own published contact page before anything was sent. Where none is published, none has been invented.
What FamilySearch full text does and does not reach
Recorded 13 September 2026, because it decides which sweeps have to be done by eye.
FamilySearch’s full-text search reads handwriting across images that were never name-indexed. It is the difference between a search and an afternoon of reading — so what it covers is a research fact in its own right.
- Santa Fe province is not in the corpus. That is why the Rosario baptism index had to be read by eye, eighty openings of it.
- Montevideo is in it — parish baptism, marriage, burial and marriage- dispensation registers, the Catedral, San Francisco de Asís, the Cordón, Pocitos.
- Buenos Aires City is in it — parish registers, probate estate case files, even ship-inspection files.
- It found the 1886 Montevideo marriage of the girl from Rosario folio 229 in seconds. It has never found Juan Carlos Lerena.
A null from full text is weaker than a null from reading: the handwriting recognition is good, not perfect, and a name it misreads is a name it cannot return. Every negative from it is recorded as what it is.