Restating research problem one

Ahead of the DNA Skills Workshop kickoff, I am restating my research problem on my paternal side.

Using my Dad's DNA matches, I am looking for the parents of my Irish immigrant 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget (my Dad's maternal 2nd-great-grandmother). There are hints that this family came from County Longford, Ireland before Bridget arrived in LaSalle County, Illinois sometime before 1849.

On the O'Brien side of the tree, I have a cluster of mystery O'Brien matches descended from James John O'Brien and Mary Nolan. This couple went to Pennsylvania. I have tried using WATO and BanyanDNA to figure out how they may be related to my O'Brien line.

I've now built a genetic map using diagrams.net to see the DNA matches descending from my O'Brien side and the mystery Pennsylvania cluster. I do not have that many O'Brien DNA matches, but thankfully my Dad's first cousin tested at Ancestry and transferred results to FTDNA so that I can see matches in common on both platforms. I can also see some of these Pennsylvania O'Briens are on MyHeritage and 23andme.

California

 

LA Public Library. Brubaker.

Summer

 

Vincent van Gogh. Garden at Arles. Jul 1888.

Research Progress August 2026

This is my monthly spot to review progress on my various research questions. As I head into the DNA Skills Workshop, it is time for a reset.

My Paternal Side

I had hoped to spend some time in July researching the mystery O'Brien connections who went to Australia. While I continued with chromosome mapping, digging into these Australian connections didn't happen. I may put that off for a bit. In the meantime, here's the current topics that I do want to try to pursue in the Skills workshop:

1. Determining the family of my Irish immigrant 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget.
2. Pursuing the possible leads connected to the Hanley family in LaSalle County, Illinois (see my recap from April 2026).
3. Jones YDNA
4. Working with XDNA matches

My Maternal Side

1. Portillo DNA matches and the mystery Guerrero-Leyvas.
2. Analyzing mtDNA matches in the maternal line path of Maria Jesus Vasquez
3. Campuzano YDNA
4. Creating a genetic map for the descendants of Jose Jesus Amado and Gertrudis Palomino
5. Continuing chromosome mapping using matches at FTDNA, Gedmatch, MyHeritage and 23andme

DNA in the news: Smallpox DNA recovered from Conquest-era Chilean mummies

A Reuters article from 30 July 2026 describes new research identifying smallpox in the DNA from Chilean mummies dated to the Spanish conquest era. The research was published in the 30 July issue of Science.

The researchers were able to sequence smallpox genomes from two likely Incan individuals dated between 1492 and 1631 CE.

This reminds me of the traces of smallpox in the photo of Jesus Anaya, taken in November 1916.