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.

A new life for a historic home

 

Bar Crisol. Tucson, Arizona.

In 2022 I shared a story on Exo Roast Co in the Barrio Viejo neighborhood of Tucson. The shop is now Cafe/Bar Crisol, located in the former home of my great-grandparents Plutarco Campuzano and Manuela Portillo, at 196 W. Simpson Street.

Ancestry. 1940 US Census. Tucson, Arizona.

Roadrunner

 

Print by Keith D. Jones.

An undated print by my grandfather, Keith D. Jones. I've previously shared some of his artwork and stories on the blog (see California or Bust from 2024).

Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV published a fascinating encyclical letter today titled Magnifica Humanitas, focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence on humanity. I'm not Catholic, but there is a lot here crossing my subjects of interest, from my primary role to family history research. I regularly use AI tools, and work in a technology and policy field, so this encyclical will have some closer reading to follow.