Friday, March 31, 2017

Friday Photo - Los Angeles

Photo from the Mayor of Los Angeles on Twitter, 20 Mar 2017.

For this week's Friday Photo I am borrowing from the Mayor of LA's Twitter feed, posted on the Spring Solstice 20 March 2017. It is a stunning morning view of Downtown LA. I have my own morning view of LA, taken from the 4th Floor balcony of our headquarters in Playa Vista back on the start of calendar Spring, 1 March 2017.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Playa Vista, 1 Mar 2017.
For some earlier LA sunrise photos, see this post from 16 October 2014.

Happy Friday everyone.

Filling in gaps

Source: Ancestry. Sonora, Civil Registration Births, 13 Aug 1882.
Back in February 2016 I wrote about Librada Campuzano, half-sister of my 2nd-great-grandfather Vicente Plutarco Campuzano. She lived to be 92 years old, and had a close connection to Dolores Elias Calles and brother Plutarco Elias Calles (who later became President of Mexico). I found another reference to Librada in a Sonora Civil Registration record for her grandson Ricardo Pesqueira. Ricardo was born on 29 July 1871 in Guaymas, Sonora to Fernando Pesqueira and Alejandra Ayon (Librada's daughter). The registration was done at Librada's home in Guaymas in 1882.

Alejandra and Fernando were married in Guaymas on 14 November 1874. The civil registration record confirms Librada was originally from Arizpe, and had been living in Guaymas after the death of her husband Jesus Ayon. It lists Jesus' parents as Jose Ayon of Alamos and Maria Ygnacia Espinoza de las Monteras de Ayon of Sinaloa. The record lists Librada's parents Vicente Campuzano of Arizpe (deceased) and Benancia Gutierrez as still living in Guaymas.


Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Update on Genetic Communities

Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result 29 Mar 2017.
Yesterday Ancestry introduced its new Genetic Communities tool within AncestryDNA. I wrote about this and included some screen shots from my results and the family results I administer. When I checked my results at launch, it showed I matched for two genetic communities: Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest & Virginia, and Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South. I was initially disappointed not to see Mexicans from Sonora and Arizona in my results, but I did find them for my sister, my Mom and her sisters. When I checked the results again, they had changed and I am now showing as a match for three genetic communities: 1) Mexicans in Northwest Mexico & the Southern California Coast, 2) Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest & Virginia, and 3) Settlers of Upper Middle Tennessee.

It is also nice to see Ancestry has 95% confidence I belong to the genetic community Mexicans in Northwest Mexico & the Southern California Coast. I certainly have extensive roots there based on my research and have a strong personal connection to Southern California. I think of Los Angeles as home.
Source: Ancestry. Connection result 29 Mar 2017.
On the result for Settlers of Upper Middle Tennessee, this does match with the Flatt, Gaw, Matthews lines from my Mom's side of the tree. My sister remains a match to Mexicans in Sonora & Southern Arizona, although Ancestry lists their confidence for the result as 40%. Our Mom and her two sisters received a 95% confidence for a connection to the same genetic community. Aunt Patty also matched for Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South and Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest and Virginia, while Aunt Linda matched for Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest and Virginia. Our Dad's results showed 95% confidence for Early Settlers of the Ohio River Valley, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.

I am curious to see how Ancestry refines their results over time. With more people testing across a wider range of countries, they should be able to improve the targeting. It might also help if more people linked a family tree to their AncestryDNA results. I still see too many matches with no trees attached.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Genetic Communities

Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result.
Today Ancestry introduced its new Genetic Communities feature within AncestryDNA. So far it looks pretty cool. They are starting with 300 genetic communities to explore, hopefully more will be added in the near future. The image above shows the community for Settlers of the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia from my Mom's results. This makes sense given the large concentration of ancestors who migrated from Northern Virginia through Kentucky and beyond. Surnames for this branch include Read, Whitley/Wheatley, Ballard, Heslopp, Grinstead, Warren, Matthews, Clark, among others.

Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result.
Within each genetic community you can drill into the detail as it shows people in your tree and connects them back to regions where they may have come from. It looks fairly accurate based on the information from my tree.
Source: Ancestry. Genetic Ancestry landing page.
My Dad's results showed a match for Early Settlers of the Ohio River Valley, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, which certainly links with my research. I like how you can visualize results from your tree within the community and how it pulls up a photo and vital information that you can click into.
Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result.
Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result detail.
Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result detail.
I think our kids will really like seeing the connections visualized this way. It is also interesting to see the little differences between my results and others in the family who have tested. My sister showed up for Mexicans in Sonora and Southern Arizona, which interestingly did not appear as a genetic community when I first started digging around but did show up when I checked again a little later.
Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result.
Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result.
I will be spending more time with this new tool but so far it looks fascinating.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Reflections

Painting by S. Jones, 30 Sep 2016
The paintings above and below are two entries by our daughter in the 2016 Alexandria Reflections Art Contest. The theme of the contest was "What is your story/Cual es su historia?" The one above was titled "Leaves in the wind," and the one below "The long journey". She wrote "the leaves represent the places my family and I have traveled." For the second painting, she wrote "My family has come from places all over the world, so I made this for them." She won a medal for the top painting.
Painting by S. Jones. 30 Sep 2016.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

The Chairmaker's Land

US Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, Harrison County, IN 1882
Back in September 2012, I wrote about my 3rd-great-grandfather David Detrick Lamon, a farmer and chairmaker from Harrison County, Indiana. David's land appears in the 1882 US Indexed County Land Ownership Map for Scott Township, Harrison County. This matches up with a land patent issued to David in May 1845.
US Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, Ancestry.


Saturday, March 25, 2017

Free Clinic Today

Indianapolis Star, 8 Apr 1939
Following yesterday's post of an article in the Indianapolis Star from April 1939 about my great-grandfather Harry E. O'Brien, above is an advertisement for Harry's free clinic at Pearson's. It is interesting to see how Harry offered his expert services around Indianapolis over the years, working with musicians and serving clients for his glass-blown clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Expert Consultation

Indianapolis Star, 7 Apr 1939
I have written quite often about my great-grandfather, Harry E. O'Brien. Here is another article from the Indianapolis Star, published on 7 April 1939, describing how Harry regularly offered consultation and advice to musicians in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis Star, 7 Apr 1939.
For a 1945 article on Harry, see this link.

Friday Photo - One Year Ago

Photo by Patrick Jones. Cemetery at Xcaret Park. 24 Mar 2016.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Banksy at the Moco Museum

Photo by Patrick Jones. Girl with Balloon by Banksy. Moco Museum, Amsterdam.

While in Amsterdam over the weekend I was able to visit the Moco Museum's exhibition Banksy: Laugh Now. In my years of photographing street art around the world I have yet to run across any of Banksy's works. These are usually picked up quickly and fall into private collections. So I was really excited to see the exhibition at the Modern Contemporary (Moco) Museum, a fairly new space located in the historic Villa Alsberg next to the Rijksmuseum.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Painting & stencil by Banksy.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Leopard by Banksy. Moco Museum. 18 Mar 2017.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Swat Van by Banksy.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Swat Van by Banksy. Moco Museum Amsterdam.
The exhibition runs through 31 May 2017 and is currently paired with a Salvador Dali exhibition. It includes about 90 pieces of Banksy's artwork. Tickets were 12.50 Euros.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Walking where they walked almost 400 years ago

Photo by Patrick Jones. Amsterdam, 17 Mar 2017.
Back in January, I wrote about Philippe Du Trieux and Susanna Du Chesne, my 10th-great-grandparents. They were married in 1621 and lived on Runstraat, a nice little street in Amsterdam between the Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht canals. Over the weekend I had an opportunity to visit Amsterdam after meetings in Copenhagen. The photo above is from a little bridge where Runstraat goes over Prinsengracht. The next photo shows the street sign on the corner of Keizersgracht and Runstraat.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Runstraat, Amsterdam.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Runstraat, Amsterdam.
Photo by Patrick Jones. 10 Runstraat.
The street now has shops on the ground level and homes or apartments on the upper levels. It is nice to see the neighborhood where they lived nearly 400 years ago. The next photos are of the Prinsengracht canal. While the buildings may have changed from their day, the canals are in the same place, and this gives me a good sense of their neighborhood.
Photo by Patrick Jones. End of Runstraat. 17 Mar 2017.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Prinsengracht, Amsterdam. 17 Mar 2017.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by the London Police. 18 Mar 2017.
The photo above was taken further up the Prinsengracht canal, with a mural by artists the London Police behind a row of houseboats. I've captured art by the London Police in Dubai and Miami, so this was a nice find in Amsterdam.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Treasures from the National Gallery of Denmark

Photo by Patrick Jones. Virginie by Albert Edelfelt, 1883.

On Saturday I had the opportunity to walk through the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK, Statens Museum for Kunst). I was not sure what to expect, but I was really impressed. This is one of the better national art museums I have seen in a while. The photo above is from the Japanomania exhibition, by Albert Edelfelt. The painting of Virginie really draws you in. I don't capture it well enough on my phone. Really a captivating painting. Along with the painting below by Erik Henningsen of a marching band in Denmark. Below that, the painting of the runners during a full moon. We had a full moon on Saturday after I left the museum.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Changing of the Guard by Erik Henningsen, 1888.
Photo by Patrick Jones. C. W. Eckersberg.
Photo by Patrick Jones. C.W. Eckersberg, 
Photo by Patrick Jones. C.W. Eckersberg. 1824.
Two paintings by Vilhelm Hammershei were also quite stunning.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Vilhelm Hammershei. 1901.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Vilhelm Hammershei. 1905.
Photo by Patrick Jones. Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann, 1876-1878.
The painting above was one of my favorites from the Danish-Nordic permanent collection. This one by Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann (1819-1881) has incredible detail, made during her travels through the Eastern Mediterranean and Ottoman Empire.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Nyhavn

Photo by Patrick Jones. Nyhavn, Copenhagen, 11 Mar 2017

I am currently in Copenhagen, Denmark for meetings this week. Yesterday afternoon I had some time to break away from the venue and wander around the picturesque city. These photos are from Nyhavn, a 17th Century waterfront with colorful buildings, restaurants and old ships. Our team had a wonderful dinner at Cap Horn, a restaurant in an old warehouse and former hotel.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Nyhavn, 11 Mar 2017
Photo by Patrick Jones. Nyhavn, 11 Mar 2017
Photo by Patrick Jones. Nyhavn, 11 Mar 2017
Photo by Patrick Jones. Nyhavn, 11 Mar 2017
Before dinner I visited the fantastic National Gallery of Denmark, and I will highlight this in a subsequent post.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Correcting errors

Painting by Frederick Whitaker. Saguaro Country, 1966.

A helpful researcher contacted me through Ancestry about a branch on my Campuzano side of the tree. This led to some back and forth email, and a realization that I had made an error in my documentation of the family of Juan Bautista Calles and Maria Antonia Campuzano. I have fixed this in my tree and on my blog entry from February 2016. I will take a moment to write about Ramon Calles, a son of Juan Bautista Calles and Maria Antonia Campuzano.

Ramon Calles was born 16 December 1870 in Hermosillo, Sonora. He was baptized on 24 January 1871. Ramon had at least two children with Maria Metzler.
- Abelardo Calles, born about 1896 in Hermosillo
- Maria Enriqueta Calles, born 10 January 1897 in Hermosillo

Ramon worked as a customs agent on the Mexican border in Naco and Agua Prieta, Sonora. His son Abelardo later took over this role.

At some point Ramon separated from Maria Metzler, and moved to Cananea. He started a family with Rafaela Corral, and they were later married on 1 March 1935. Ramon and Rafaela had at least the following children:
- Artemisa Calles, born about 1906
- Ernestina Calles, born 21 April 1909 in Cananea, Sonora
- Jesus Antonio Calles, born 25 October 1911 in Cananea, Sonora

They appear in the 1930 Mexico National Census in Nogales, Sonora.

In February 1923, Ramon crossed the border at Naco, Arizona, going to visit the family of his sister-in-law Domitila Corral de Moreno in Cochise County, Arizona.
Source: Ancestry.

The marriage record for Ramon and Rafaela lists Ramon's parents as Juan Bautista Calles and Maria Antonia Campuzano, and also includes Ramon and Rafaela's signatures.
Source: Ancestry. Image 684 of 995.