Research Progress June 2026

It's been a month, and once again time to share research progress since the previous update for May. The most significant developments have all been on my maternal side questions, so this month's post will feature that activity. The discoveries from this month show my three previous questions blending together. Some of the bigger discoveries are still being worked through with cousins, and I'm holding off documenting this case study on the blog until hearing back from everyone for now.

1 - Working with Portillo DNA matches. I have been able to use chromosome mapping from matches on FTDNA, MyHeritage, Gedmatch and 23andme to identify segments most likely connected to the Portillo family. There's a lot here to still work through, but these matches are starting to identify specific segments most likely inherited from the Portillo family, and the segments in common are providing a likely generation of connection between Mariana Portillo and my 3rd-great-grandfather Manuel Portillo.

2 - Analyzing mtDNA matches in the maternal line path of Maria Jesus Vasquez. Now with an additional cousin we have some fascinating results and I'm working through them. This mitotree haplogroup is now A2a5b'd'e.

3 - Campuzano YDNA. This has been the biggest result of the month. I've been using a mix of tools, such as Diagrams.net, DNAPainter, and the various DNA testing platforms, to work through the matches and document the issues with this family line. The testers on both branches of the family are now aware, and I have a full recap of the research so far in the works.

[New] 4 - Identifying living descendants of Jose Jesus Amado for YDNA. This is an old research question that has come back after finding two Amado testers on 23andme, and connecting with the manager of an Amado kit on Ancestry. Using chromosome mapping I can see the segments of these Amado testers overlapping with a Campuzano cousin who descended from Maria Concepcion Amado. My hope is the tester on 23andme might be interested in a YDNA kit from FamilyTreeDNA.

Future RootsTech Talk. I submitted two session proposals for RootsTech 2027. Now I wait. Last year I heard back by mid-September that my 2026 proposal had been declined. Either way I'm looking forward to attending in person.

RootsTech 2027 proposal

 

RootsTech 2027. 

My RootsTech 2027 talk proposal is in. The deadline runs to 29 June, but with travel coming up next week, I went ahead and finished the entry. I might send in a second topic, and have the outline already finished.

Santa Monica mountain lion captured

 

SMDP. Mountain lion in Santa Monica. 29 May 2026.

A mountain lion was safely captured yesterday after hanging out in a Santa Monica backyard, right around the corner from our old home. The story reminded me of P-22, the famous mountain lion of Griffith Park. Hopefully the safe capture and relocation of the mountain lion will also drive attention to the Save LA Cougars campaign and the soon to open Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101.

A Family Secret No More

This is a fascinating long form story in the NY Times (published 15 May 2026), about the families from two brothers originally from New Orleans who were placed in an orphanage. One brother went north to Chicago, passing as white; the other brother stayed in New Orleans. The families later reunited through the journalist who was a former national correspondent with the Times. Well written, and the story weaves in old photos and documents to the present.

A Complicated Map

 

Diagrams.net family map.

Earlier in the month I shared a screenshot from a family relationship map I've been building using the free version from diagrams dot net. The map has now progressed quite far and I've placed 28 DNA testers on the map (there are many more known matches), covering representatives from the two Campuzano families of my 3rd-great-grandfather Vicente Antonio Campuzano. I've also been able to use this map with the multiple relationships from the Portillo family connections.

The map has also proven useful connecting 23andme matches to the tree, and placing them in the appropriate place. On top of this, I am doing chromosome mapping and identifying segments in common with the different testers (except for Ancestry, which does not yet provide this).

A third layer to this exercise has been to query the same prompts of Claude (Sonnet 4.6) and Google Gemini, asking the models to analyze the map given the complicated YDNA case that we now have. After a fascinating back and forth questioning with the models and DNA segments, I have a good idea of how to present the results, and where we need to go next. YDNA testers welcomed.