My mother's maiden name is Betancourt and the family is from Havana. Her father Matia Betancourt was born in 1890 and died in 1980 in New Jersey. He was a merchant marine in the early 1900's. He then served on the police force in the city of Havana and then retired about 1950. He was the youngest of 4 boys and the only surviving child after the Spanish American War. When he was alive he told me that our ancestors came from the Canary Islands. I recently discovered that a French explorer conquered the Canary Islands in the 1600's and is a very famous historical figure there.