The mermaid and the diver

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Belfast. 27 June 2025.

The case for Central Ireland

 

AncestryDNA. Journeys for KDJ.

A bit over a year ago I looked into the Ancestral Journey for Central Ireland (Roscommon and Bordering Counties) using my Dad's DNA data and matches. I have a theory based on the home county for my 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget's first husband, Patrick Dooner. Because his family came from the border of Roscommon and Longford, my theory is that Bridget was likely also from the same area. Two neighbors of Bridget in the 1850 US Census, Thomas and Timothy Hanley, were also from Roscommon.

There are a few DNA matches who have ancestors tracing to this corner of Roscommon and Longford. The number is small, but consistent names keep appearing - Casey, variations of Greeley (Grealey or Grealis), Hanley, Gannon, Farrell, Murtagh - and these people all link to Longford. I think this has to be connected to Bridget's side of the tree. The challenge is how to make the connection.

Hints to Longford

 

Google Maps. Cloonbrock, Longford, IE.

Again I'm looking at a bubble group of matches with surnames Casey, Farrell, and Greeley all linking back to a small area just south of Termonbarry in Longford, Ireland. This feels like I'm getting closer to a possible breakthrough. I am in the process of building out a floating tree, trying to connect these people back to Longford and see if any of their connections link up to Bridget, or her neighbors in La Salle County, Illinois.

Sifting for gold matches

As part of my O'Brien DNA research, I spent some time over the weekend sifting for gold, looking for matches who might help break through some of my brickwalls. The matches in common between my Dad's kit on FamilyTreeDNA and his first cousin, MO, currently generate a list of 661 individuals. I downloaded that group as a CSV file, and then tried to separate those matches further, color coding in the spreadsheet based on known connections to my O'Brien, Lambert, Lamon, and Smith branches.

I have also tried a similar approach within Ancestry, using ProTools and color coding matches. As I've discovered since last summer, one of the big challenges to overcome is a lack of matches connecting to the O'Brien-Bridget side of the tree.

Using the 661 matches in common on FTDNA, I still do not see very many matches that point to unknown families who may be connected to Bridget. On the O'Brien side, there were a few great matches to see. One match, JJO, had the YDNA haplogroup R-FGC5628, which is associated with Brian Boru, the founder of the O'Brien clan. Another match, EM, is a known descendant from the Pennsylvania O'Briens group.

I'm still working to create a group of mystery matches, as so far almost everyone is either Lamon-Smith or O'Brien-Lambert when I do the color coding.

A new image

 

Made in Ideogram. "Bridget, 1850".

For a while I've been using the image on my post from March 2024 as a visualization for Bridget, my 3rd-great-grandmother. Above is a new likeness, made in Ideogram, with the prompt of "a young Irish immigrant, about 26 years old, preparing to marry in 1850 Illinois. She has long dark hair and strength in her blue eyes." 

Bridget likely married my much older 3rd-great-grandfather John O'Brien, who was probably about 56 when they met in La Salle County, Illinois in the late summer of 1850 or 1851, sometime after the 1850 US Census entry on 24 August 1850 and before their first daughter, Anna Maria O'Brien, was born in 1852. They certainly purchased land together in May 1854 in La Salle. I have not yet found a marriage record for them in La Salle County.

I do not know that Bridget had blue eyes, I'm making an assumption. There's a similarity to how I imagined Bridget's daughter Agnes, arriving to perform in Hancock, Michigan in June 1880, or Agnes in the AI tools from MyHeritage as she may have looked performing in Omaha in 1898.

Taking the image above and using the remix feature in Ideogram, shows a younger version of Bridget, departing Ireland for America probably around 1842 to 1844. I think these visuals are helpful for putting these distant family members in context with their journeys, as I did with the visual for my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez, leaving Valparaiso, Chile in 1858.

Made in Ideogram. Bridget around 1842-44.

Closing out (for now) on the Daltons

 

Arizona Daily Star. 25 Mar 1962.

Over the past week, I've looked back again at the Dalton branch descending from Maria Jesus Francisca Vasquez, a niece of my 4th-great-grandfather Pedro Suastegui. I'm going to wrap up for now following this branch, and I know there are some Dalton DNA connections out there who may stumble on to these posts.

I've previously covered in varying depth Hortense Dalton Ronstadt, Lupe Dalton Ronstadt, Natalie Dalton, and Louise Dalton. I have not covered in great detail the brothers, Henry A. Dalton (1888-1975), Winnall Dalton Jr. (1894-1962), or Frank A. Dalton (1897-1951). Winnall Jr.'s obituary is above.

It is worth reading Roger Atwood's 2011 journal article in the Latin American Research Review, titled Gringo Iracundo: Roque Dalton and his father (Vol 46, No. 1, 2011, link to JSTOR). The article provides a much better and more thorough discussion of Winnall Jr and his time in Central America than I can cover here.

A quick review of FamilySearch Labs' Full-Text Search locates quite a few references to Winnall Jr and his brothers, both in passport, consular records, and deeds, along with notarial records in Costa Rica and El Salvador. There are other newspaper articles and passenger records. Winnall Jr.'s WWI Draft Card states that he was involved in the mining business in Honduras and had been a major in the Mexican Army. There's more on this in the 2020 journal article by Erika Pérez titled The Dalton-Zamoranos in the Pacific Historical Review (Vol 89, No. 1, 2020, link to JSTOR).

Relocating to Los Angeles

 

Arizona Daily Star. 23 Mar 1920.

In February 1920, Natalie Dalton moved to Los Angeles, joining her brother Frank, mother Maria Jesus Francesca Vasquez, and sister Louise. The article above shows a March move, but a later article in September 1920 on the death of Maria Jesus describes how the family left Tucson for Los Angeles. In a sense this was a homecoming for the Daltons, as their grandfather Henry Dalton had made a prominent home for the family in the city. The Dalton archive is part of the Huntington Library collection.

Two years later, Natalie voyaged from California to El Salvador, to visit her brother Winnall Dalton Jr and family. Winnall Jr's story in the banana trade of Central America takes us down a rabbit hole, connecting to a wild set of stories involving guns, a Revolutionary poet and a complicated legacy. I'm not prepared to follow that branch further down the tree, but I am interested in Natalie's travel, and of her sister Louise.

Tucson Citizen. 26 Jan 1922.

Arizona Daily Star. 9 Aug 1922.

According to the clippings above, Natalie spent six months traveling in Central and South America. She returned to Los Angeles via San Francisco on the steamship Venezuela.

On 1 June 1929, Natalie and sister Louise, sailed on the S.S. City of Honolulu from Long Beach to Honolulu, Hawaii. They were in Hawaii for a month, and returned via San Francisco on the S.S. Malolo on 3 July 1929. The Malolo was later renamed the Matsonia, and was the same ship that Mary Cox Irvine and her husband William sailed on to Hawaii in 1931. This was definitely a luxury way to travel to and from Hawaii.

In the 1930 US Census, Natalie and Louise were sharing a home in central Los Angeles, between W. Olympic Boulevard and W. Pico. By 1940, the sisters were hosting the six sons of their brother Winnall Jr, in a small home at 911 South Windsor Boulevard.

Ancestry. 1940 US Census. Los Angeles.

Natalie and Louise voyaged again to Central America in May 1935, taking the Grace line S.S. Santa Paula from San Francisco to Guatemala and El Salvador.

On 27 February 1945, Natalie flew on an American Airlines flight from New York to Monterrey, Mexico (via El Paso) with her brother Winnall Jr. She returned on a Mexicana flight from Mexicali to Burbank on 8 April 1945.

Her adventurous life came to an end on 29 September 1969 in Tucson. 

Singing and acting talent

 

Arizona Daily Star, 3 Nov 1912.

Continuing from yesterday's post, Natalie Dalton was a well known performer in Tucson in the decade of 1910. While she often sang with her cousin Anita Calneh Post, she also appeared in musicals like the one featured above in 1912. Natalie sang in various clubs, such as the Saturday Morning Musical Club, Shakespeare Club, and for fundraising events including the YWCA (where she was treasurer of the Womens Business Club in 1917) and Red Cross dance sponsored by Steinfeld's department store. She continued singing in Tucson events, even after moving to Los Angeles in early 1920.

Tucson Citizen. 4 Dec 1913.

Tucson Citizen. 13 Jan 1918.

Arizona Daily Star. 17 Jun 1917.

During this time in 1916 & 1917, by day Natalie worked as a comptometrist for the Arizona Eastern Railroad in Tucson (where she appears in the California, Railroad Employment Records database on Ancestry). A news clipping from 4 July 1915 shows Natalie among a girls' trip party to Long Beach for the holiday weekend by train to escape the Tucson heat.

Arizona Daily Star, 4 Jul 1915.

Natalie's story shifts toward Los Angeles in 1920 after the death of her mother, and her travels take her further to Central America in the 1920s and 1930s. This will be picked up in the next post.

Dalton family photo

 

Photo shared by P. Rosas, 2015. Dalton family about 1890.

Above is another photo from the University of Arizona Special Collections, sent to me by Vasquez-Suastegui researcher P. Rosas in 2015, this time showing the family of Winnall Dalton and Maria Jesus Francesca Vasquez. From left to right, Hortense Dalton (Ronstadt), Winnall Dalton, Henry A. Dalton (little boy), Natalie Dalton, Maria Jesus Francesca Vasquez, Guadelupe "Lupe" Dalton (Ronstadt).

My next focus is on 3rd-daughter Natalie, who has previously been featured in articles with her talented cousin, Anita Calneh Post. She was born on 21 September 1886 in Tucson.

Ancestry. 1910 US Census. Tucson, Arizona.

In the 1913 City Directory for Tucson, Natalie was listed as a "comptometrist", working in her father's carriage shop. She operated a mechanical calculator, keeping the books and financial records for the family business. By the 1918 City Directory, Natalie had become the Deputy Treasurer for Pima County. I'll pick up more of Natalie's fascinating journey in the next post.

She watched Tucson grow

 

Tucson Citizen. 26 Mar 1960.

The full article (linked below the image) from the Tucson Citizen provides a fascinating insight into the story of Hortense Dalton Ronstadt. Below is another clipping from 1952, celebrating the philanthropy work of Hortense did in support of Comstock Children's Hospital. According to the Arizona Historical Society, the hospital operated between 1928-1965. A third article from 1948 describes her early work to donate beef to the children's hospital ward.

Tucson Citizen. 29 Sept 1952.

Tucson Citizen. 27 Nov 1948.

Hortense died in July 1965. I know there are a number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren (and by now probably 2x-great-grandchildren) descending from Hortense. She led an impressive life and contributed to the growth of Tucson through culture, business and philanthropy. I hope this post helps shed some light on the good works of Hortense and family, as there's much more to explore shifting to Hortense's sisters Natalie and Louise next.

Lupe and Hortense

 

Photo from P. Rosas, 2015. UoA Special Collections.

The photo above arrived by email in 2015 from Vasquez-Suastegui researcher P. Rosas, as part of the University of Arizona Special Collections archive on the Dalton, Vasquez and Ronstadt families. The photo dates from about 1887, and shows from left to right Lupe Dalton, Maria Jesus Francesca Vasquez, and Hortense Dalton. Both Dalton girls married brothers in the Ronstadt family. Lupe Dalton married Fred Ronstadt, while Hortense married Jose Maria Ronstadt in March 1901. 

Hortense was the oldest daughter of Maria Jesus Francesca Vasquez and Winnall Dalton. She was born on 4 July 1879 in Tucson. Lupe was born 9 August 1882 in Tucson. I highly recommend reading Borderman, published in 2003 by Edward Ronstadt, as this collection of stories provides an important understanding of the journey for these connected families and their experiences from Sonora, Mexico to Arizona and California. 

This post is not a full recap of the lives of Hortense and Lupe, but I wanted to highlight a few aspects. The Dalton sisters, including their younger sister Natalie, were among the earliest women voters in Arizona when women received the ability to vote in 1913. Copies of their voting records from 1913 are available on Ancestry.

Hortense and J. M. Ronstadt were mentioned in the Society column of the Tucson Daily Citizen on 7 July 1900 as both traveling (separately) to Los Angeles for the summer. They were later married on 11 March 1901, but perhaps this was the trip that brought their engagement together.

Tucson Citizen. 7 July 1900.

Arizona Daily Star. 10 Mar 1901.

Hortense became a notary in August 1900 and helped execute many deeds for the Ronstadts, her parents and others in later years. She later applied these skills in the family business with her husband and later her son Carlos.

FamilySearch. Pima County Deeds, 1900.

On the 28th of June 1949, Hortense sailed on the S.S. Neptunia from New York to Lisbon. She is listed as intending to be on board the ship for four months, so it is likely she continued on from Lisbon to other ports in Europe. In 1949, the ship was operated by a company called the Greek Line. Hortense probably remained on the ship after Lisbon, venturing to the ports of Genoa, Naples and Piraeus, then back to the US.

Ancestry. US Departing Passenger Lists.

I'll have more on Hortense in the next post.

Connecting backward through the records

 

Vasquez-Dalton-Suastegui families, 1888. Ronstadt, p.61.

I've returned to the well of history on the Dalton, Vasquez-Suastegui and Ronstadt families, this time looking back to see if there might be distant cousins who could take a mtDNA test to help determine the mitochondrial haplogroup on our common ancestor, my 5th-great-grandmother Maria Josefa de la Pena, or for Concepcion Suastegui, sister of my 4th-great-grandfather Pedro Suastegui. Sadly, it does not appear there's a cousin available descending from this branch of the family who can connect us back through mtDNA to the Suastegui or de la Pena lines. Or maybe there is, given how cluster views show these people who moved from Sonora, Mexico to the US were likely distantly related to each other.

The photo above comes from Borderman, Memoirs of Federico Jose Maria Ronstadt. From left to right, Josefa Vasquez, Natalie Dalton, Concepcion Suastegui, Hortense Dalton, Winnall Dalton Sr, Henry Dalton (in his lap), Maria Jesus Francesca Vasquez, Lupe Dalton, Rosa Herras, Amelia Herras Vasquez, Adolfo Vasquez, and little Raul and Laura Vasquez in front on the right. The cousin search identified some new-to-me records on the Daltons in Tucson, Los Angeles, and Central America.

I've looked at these cousin connections previously, focusing on Anita Calneh Post and her mother, Maria Esther Suastegui. Anita often performed with her cousin Natalie, but when I was writing about these performances in 2017, I didn't follow Natalie's own path, or her siblings. Their stories highlight some fascinating travel experiences and lead to some surprising, even revolutionary, paths.

A marriage record, 1883

 

FamilySearch. Illinois Marriages. 30 Jan 1883.

In January 2016, I wrote about Mary Elizabeth Schwartzlose Koehler, Allison's 3rd-great-grandmother. At the time, we did not have a copy of her marriage record from West Salem, Edwards, Illinois on 30 January 1883. The record is now available on FamilySearch, as seen in the screenshots above. 

I returned to the Koehlers earlier in the week with Monday's post on the citizenship record for William Henry Koehler. The marriage record is incredibly useful for clearly spelling the names of both parents for William and Mary.

While I am continuing to work backward on the records and scanned documents on both branches via FamilySearch' FullText search, I'm going to be shifting back to a familiar branch on my Mom's side of the tree. Some new-to-me records on the intertwined Suastegui-Vasquez-Dalton-Ronstadt families are now available.

Looking at matches

 

Ancestry's Thrulines.

Using Ancestry's Thrulines tool and comparing DNA matches from Allison's and her mom's results, we can see matches in common descending from the children of Christoph Kuester (1834-1909). On Tuesday I shared a copy of the obituary for Charles H. Kuester from 1928. Christoph arrived in the US about 1850, and married A. Louisa Schwartz (or Schwarz) on 5 May 1854 in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.

Christoph and Louisa appear in the 1870 US Census in Scott Township, Vanderburgh County, Indiana with their growing family.

Ancestry. 1870 US Census. Vanderburgh County, Indiana.

They had at least the following children:

• Louisa Kuester
• John Kuester
• Maria Kuester
• Charles Henry Kuester
• Catherine/Kate Kuester
• Henry Kuester
• Christoph Kuester
• Matilda Kuester

By 1880, the family is listed at the end of the page for the village of Darmstadt in Vanderburgh County.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census.

In the 1900 US Census, some of the children had moved out of Christoph & Louisa's home, but son Henry is listed with his wife Sophia and children Harry and George.

Ancestry. 1900 US Census.

Christoph, listed as Christian in his obituary, died on 17 December 1909 (see also his entry on Findagrave).

Evansville Courier & Press. 19 Dec 1909.

Louisa died on 5 April 1916, and her obituary is below.

Evansville Journal. 6 Apr 1916.

Going back to the DNA matches, Allison's Mom has three matches to descendants from Louisa Kuester, two from John Kuester, and three from Maria. Stepping back a generation, there are 40 matches descending from Christoph's father, Johann Friedrich Christoph Kuester.

The Salmon of Knowledge

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Belfast, 27 June 2025.

The Salmon of Knowledge, also known as The Big Fish sculpture in Belfast, is located at Donegall Quay next to the River Lagan. A closer look at the ceramic mosaic tile sculpture reveals some cool bits of Belfast history.

Photo by Patrick Jones. A closer look at the Big Fish.

Photo by Patrick Jones. The Big Fish, Belfast.

AI Summer

 

Made in Ideogram. Heilan coo in the pub.

It's been a summer of AI tools. I've been using Claude for research prompts and expanding into other tools such as testing Perplexity (I still don't love it as a tool). In June, I shifted to using Ideogram pretty regularly as a feature of the blog. In fact, quite a lot (see here and here). I used it again to visualize a 3rd-great-grandfather leaving the port of Valparaiso, Chile in the 1850s, a travel poster from Belfast to Cairnryan, imagining medical education in 1775, and my 3rd-great-grandparents working at the Buck Tavern in 1850. And as I'm paying for it, I'll continue to use it again for some other prompts.

I've taken things a step further to use multiple AI tools together to generate something truly something. First I used Claude to generate lyrics for a country song, giving it some basic prompts that it be set in an Indiana summer, set between those formative years of high school and college, driving on country roads, enjoying a swim at the lake, etc. It promptly spit out "Indiana Summer", a heart-string sentimental journey back in time to 2006. As this was a bit late for me, I quickly suggested that it try again using 1992 as the date. 

Of course there was a line about driving an old Ford, and I asked this be changed to a rusty old Bonneville. Claude said "Great change! The old rusty Bonneville has a perfect nostalgic feel for early 90s country music and fits well with the Indiana summer vibe. Those old Pontiacs were definitely part of that eras landscape."

Made in Ideogram. Rusty Bonneville in Indiana.

Yep, I definitely tore that car up on the back roads of central Indiana during the summer, not quite like the guy above, but not too far off either. The song lyrics in Claude were pretty spot on too. So I took those lyrics and put them into another free tool called Suno. There's been quite a bit of controversy over the past few weeks about an AI generated band called the Velvet Sundown (see article on The Guardian and this YouTube video). Perhaps they used this tool as well.

Back to my AI-generated song lyrics in Claude. This was not something I set out to do when I first entered the rabbit-hole of AI music. I had watched a YouTube video earlier in the day, Tuesday 15 July and thought I could do that too. And there you go. It worked rather well. Once I edited the prompts in Suno, that's where the magic happened. I'm a bit impressed with the output, and it's kind of crazy how quickly and how spot-on the tool works with the prompts given.

An update to add a photo of the old Bonneville being sanded down by my Dad, sometime about 1990-1992.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dad sanding the Bonneville.

Obituary for Charles

 

Evansville Press. 9 Feb 1928.

The obituary above is for Charles Henry Kuester, who died in the town of Darmstadt, Indiana. He was Allison's 2nd-great-grandfather, and a son of Christoph Kuester. Charles was born in Vanderburgh County, Indiana on 9 February 1865.

A declaration of citizenship

 

FamilySearch. Vanderburgh County, Indiana. 1882.

The record above shows the moment Christopher Kuester became a United States citizen on 11 October 1882. He was Allison's 3rd-great-grandfather. For the moment I'm shifting from my side of the family tree to hers, to follow the stories on two branches of the family who immigrated from Germany and settled in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.

FamilySearch. Vanderburgh County, Indiana. 1906.

Another third-great-grandfather, William Henry Koehler, received his citizenship on 26 September 1906. I previously wrote about him in January 2016. His application for an emergency passport in 1914 referenced his declaration of citizenship. A copy of this document is now digitized on FamilySearch.

At the Buck Tavern, 1850

 

Marianna pouring a pint at the Buck Tavern. Made in Ideogram.

Courtesy of Ideogram, a possible scene of my 3rd-great-grandmother Marianna Haiss Oyler, working in the tavern of her father-in-law, George Oyler Sr in 1850 Hamilton County, Ohio. We know George imported and bred Kent buck sheep, and had a public house called the Buck Tavern.

The image below shows young butcher Samuel Oyler in the Buck Tavern, serving a lamb stew. This generated image had some similarity to photos I have of his sons, Charles John Oyler (my 2nd-great-grandfather) and Samuel Oyler Jr. I tried to create other versions but opted for this one as the others got increasingly more ridiculous.

Samuel in the Tavern, 1850. Made in Ideogram.

Dance by Candlelight

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Belfast, 27 June 2025.

Belfast is an amazing city for street art. I caught this 2012 mural by Irish artist Conor Harrington in the Cathedral Quarter during our recent stop in the city. The work is titled the Duel of Belfast, Dance by Candlelight, interpreted as a metaphor on the city's past and present.

I had a free afternoon to capture some of the well known murals in the Cathedral Quarter. The Visit Belfast street art map (linked above) was really helpful for spotting some of these during my walk.

One other note, riding Irish Rail from Dublin's Connolly Station to Belfast was super easy and I'll definitely think about doing that again on a future Ireland trip.

Hints of Residence

 

FamilySearch. Frederick County, Virginia tax list.

John McIntosh appears on the personal property tax list for Frederick County, Virginia (1782-1789). I have a query to the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society archives to see what else might be available on John.

From Andrew McIntosh's account, John and family were not living in Frederick County for very long, as they packed up for new opportunity in Kentucky in Spring 1784. Before departing Virginia, John and wife Sarah had their first of ten children, James McIntosh. He was born in May 1783 in Winchester.

Battle of Cowpens, 1781

 

Battle of Cowpens by Don Troiani.

One of the worst losses by British forces during the American Revolution occurred at the Battle of Cowpens on 17 January 1781. This influential battle set up the victory at the Siege of Yorktown later in September-October 1781. In the McIntosh family story, our ancestor John McIntosh was in the Battle of Cowpens as part of the cavalry of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.

According to Andrew J. McIntosh (John's grandson), John was trapped under his horse after it was shot and was captured by American General Daniel Morgan as his personal prisoner. Morgan's after action report mentions a list of the captured men, but I have not yet located this. Perhaps this is at the Library of Virginia in the Daniel Morgan Papers or the Daniel Morgan Collection at the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society. Lt. Col. John Moncure's 1996 publication from the US Army's Combat Studies Institute provides a thorough review of the battle in The Cowpens Staff Ride and Battlefield Tour (link, pdf).

Andrew's telling of the story says that Morgan spared John's life and he followed him to Winchester, Virginia. There's so much unknown and lost to time on what contributed to sparing John's life and his fresh start in Virginia.

Welcome to matches by cluster

 

Ancestry ProTools new Cluster feature.

A new clustering tool has appeared in my Ancestry ProTools. I'm excited to put this to work, and see how it differs from the clustering tool on MyHeritage. It is clearly marked as a beta product and Ancestry notes you'll soon be able to adjust the size and make custom clusters.

An example from my Mom's paternal side, does fairly neatly group the largest matches into my Read-Cain (orange) and Whitley-Matthews (purple and green) lines on that side of the tree.

Mom's Paternal view with the new cluster tool.

The maternal view is a bit messier, which probably indicates many of these people in Mexico were related to each other.

Mom's maternal side cluster view.

There's still some bugs to work out. When I ran the tool on my Dad's side of the tree, it would only return a small group of paternal side matches, and left out people I know should be grouped together on the maternal side. It does look promising and should improve over time.