When historian and genealogist Rafael Cañada Quesada died in Jaén, Spain, in August 2026 at the age of 89, the city lost a man who had spent much of his life researching its families, archives and traditions.

Part of that work also left an unexpected connection with Costa Rica.

Born in Jaén in 1937, Cañada devoted decades to history and genealogy. He researched old family lines, heraldry, religious brotherhoods and documents preserved in the archives of his native city.

His work appeared in publications of the Instituto de Estudios Giennenses and in specialized journals. Today, Dialnet records 32 journal articles and two contributions to collective works under his name, with publications spanning from 1996 to 2024.

Among those studies was one that would eventually have particular significance far beyond Jaén.

In 1999, Cañada published Los primeros Borbones en España: los de las casas de Basian, Board y Bussignac in the Boletín del Instituto de Estudios Giennenses.

The study followed lesser known branches of the Borbón family that had settled in Spain. Cañada traced their presence through places including Baeza and other communities in the province of Jaén.

Within that history appears a young man whose life would eventually connect Jaén with Costa Rica.

His name was Andrés Luis de Borbón y Mora de Fuentes.

Born in Jaén in 1734, Andrés Luis later entered royal service and left Spain for Costa Rica in 1763. He remained in Costa Rica, married in Cartago and established a family whose descendants became part of the country’s history.

A journey that began in eighteenth century Jaén had crossed the Atlantic.

More than two centuries later, Rafael Cañada Quesada helped preserve the documentary trail that allows that journey to be followed today.

A life among history and archives

Cañada’s research went well beyond the Borbón family.

His published work covered families and lineages from Jaén, heraldry, historical brotherhoods and records preserved in the city’s archives. He studied documents that might otherwise have remained known mainly to specialists and brought many of those stories into published historical research.

His connection to the history of Jaén was also personal.

For decades he was closely involved with the Insigne y Real Congregación del Santo Sepulcro. He served the organization in different roles, including Secretary General and archivist, and later became its official chronicler.

In December 2009, the congregation honored him for his years of service and particularly for his efforts to preserve and expand its documentary heritage.

He was also closely connected to the Cofradía de Santa Catalina, another important part of the religious and cultural history of Jaén.

His interest in history remained part of his identity throughout his life.

In May 2025, Amavir Jaén, where he was living, published a short profile about him. It described his passion for history and genealogy and noted that he had spent much of his time researching important families from Jaén.

Among those mentioned was the Borbón family.

It was a brief reference, but for Costa Rica it carries particular meaning.

The Costa Rican connection

Genealogy can sometimes look like little more than names and dates on a family tree.

But behind those names are movements of people between countries and continents.

The story documented by Cañada is one example.

Andrés Luis de Borbón left Jaén for Costa Rica in the eighteenth century. His decision to remain there meant that a branch of a family with roots in Europe became part of Costa Rican society.

Without researchers willing to spend years examining old records, connections like these can easily disappear from public memory.

That is why Cañada’s work matters beyond Spain.

His research provides part of the historical foundation for understanding how this particular Borbón line traveled from Europe to Costa Rica and continued there through later generations.

His 1999 study has since crossed the Atlantic in a different way. It has become a source for renewed research and writing about the Borbón family in Costa Rica.

A study written in Jaén more than a quarter of a century ago continues to help tell a Costa Rican story today.

When historical research reaches a new generation

Cañada’s research also became part of my own search into my Costa Rican family history.

My interest in genealogy began when I was ten years old. Many years later, that research led me to the work of Rafael Cañada Quesada and to the story of Andrés Luis de Borbón y Mora de Fuentes.

That discovery eventually became one of the historical foundations for The Magic Trunk of Andrés Borbón, an illustrated children’s book that will be published in the coming weeks in English and Spanish, with the Spanish edition titled El Baúl Mágico de Andrés Borbón.

The story brings together family, imagination and history through the adventures of Dominique and Vivian and a mysterious old trunk.

It is not intended to teach genealogy as a lesson. It introduces children to a much simpler idea: history is not always something distant. Sometimes it can be found in our families, in old documents and in stories that have traveled from one generation to another.

The book represents a very different world from the archives where Cañada conducted his research.

But the connection between the two is real.

Research preserved in Jaén decades ago has helped bring a piece of that history to a new generation of readers.

A legacy that traveled farther than Jaén

Following his death, Diario JAÉN remembered Rafael Cañada Quesada as a historian, genealogist and an important figure in the preservation and defense of the historical and devotional heritage of the city.

His published work shows the breadth of that commitment.

He researched families and institutions, studied old documents and preserved information about people who had lived centuries before him.

For Jaén, his legacy remains closely connected to the city whose history he spent so many years documenting.

For Costa Rica, part of that legacy can be found in the story of a young man born in Jaén in 1734 who crossed the Atlantic and made Costa Rica his home.

Andrés Luis de Borbón made that journey in 1763.

More than two centuries later, Rafael Cañada Quesada helped preserve the history that allows us to remember it.

That may be one of the most valuable things a genealogist can leave behind: a path that allows future generations to find their way back.

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