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.

Adding an X to the DNA toolbox

After watching a recent webinar on using XDNA for genealogy (see this 2014 article for a summary, this 2012 blog from Roberta Estes, or this short YouTube video from Diahan Southard of YourDNAGuide for more information), I spent part of the weekend looking at matches on FamilyTreeDNA and Gedmatch. I had completely overlooked this type of DNA, and now see this can be a really useful addition to the toolbox for uncovering matches and inheritance patterns.

If you've transferred a DNA kit to FamilyTreeDNA and unlocked FamilyFinder (their autosomal product), you should be able to see XDNA matches. As an example, below is a partial screenshot (removing any identifying information) from FamilyFinder on my Mom's kit. I've switched to Table View, and clicked twice on the X Match column to pull all the XDNA matches to the top.

FTDNA Table View with X Matches.

The Shared DNA column is showing autosomal DNA in centimorgans. There are other columns further on the right showing mtDNA haplogroups (if a test has been taken), and actions allowing filtering by matches In Common or Not in Common, a link to a family tree (if available) and a notes box. Several of these matches also have profiles on Ancestry or MyHeritage, so this helps identify other connections. I am currently looking at this as another angle on my Vasquez and Amado research questions.

On Gedmatch, this feature has been there for a long time but I didn't know to look for it. Select the kit you want to run a one-to-many DNA comparison on from the drop-down menu (or enter a kit number), and select filter by X DNA. I typically adjust the size to return more matches (perhaps 250), and then I leave everything else as is on the menu and hit the submit button.

Filtering by X DNA matches on Gedmatch.

The first column shows a match number, and a kit number, with the user name and a partially anonymized email address associated with the kit. My image below cuts off those earlier columns to preserve privacy details for the matches from my Mom's kit.

Filtering by X DNA report on Gedmatch.

Again, this is really useful, and it shows most of the largest XDNA matches share no autosomal DNA. I have to scroll down to #10 on the list to see my Mom's 2nd cousin, CD, who I know descends from my 2nd-great-grandparents Vicente Campuzano and Maria Jesus Vasquez through their daughter Concepcion Campuzano. CD has 34.6 cM XDNA in common with my Mom and 211 cM autosomal (209 on Ancestry). It's unclear if she inherited an even 50% from Vicente and Maria Jesus, but I know this 34.6 in common is coming from the Mexican side of the tree as CD won't have any XDNA in common with my Mom's paternal side.

Vicente inherited his XDNA from his mother, Maria Concepcion Amado, so some trace of her XDNA may have passed down to CD through Vicente, but more likely the part in common is from the Vasquez-Suastegui branches of the tree. I still have more to learn about XDNA inheritance and its uses for genealogy. It's great to know these tools are available and I will definitely be using this more in my DNA research questions on the Mexican side of the tree.

Medical education in Edinburgh, 1775

 

Made in Ideogram.

The imagined scene above shows what learning may have been like for John McIntosh while he attended the University of Edinburgh in 1775, listening to lectures by Alexander Monro secundus or William Cullen. This blog written by students (see link) at the university in 2021 also provides a description of how medical education was delivered during the time when John was there.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Edinburgh, 1 July 2025.

John would have also seen this view of Edinburgh Castle, and the growing city below.

DNA in the news

A few stories worth highlighting from over the long holiday weekend:

First, a heartwarming article in the Washington Post about the power of DNA to reunite family, separated at the end of WW2. A half-brother in Japan and sister in California were able to meet after their family members who had tested on MyHeritage were able to resolve the mystery match.

The second article (actually there's several) summarizes a new study in Nature (2 July 2025) on the DNA sequenced for an Egyptian potter who lived 4,500 years ago (see article on DW). National Geographic also published an article on the recreation of the potter's face using DNA analysis. See also the article in the Associated Press from 2 July.

A third story in the Cambridge University Press highlights a study confirming European sardines were used in Roman era fish sauces and farmed along the Galician coast. Scientists used DNA analysis on residue from the bottom of fish-salting vats.

Medical student in the class of 1775

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. U. Edinburgh Archives. 1 July 2025.

Among the many students enrolled at the University of Edinburgh's Medical School in December 1775 was John McIntosh, my 5th-great-grandfather. According to the family story, written by his grandson, Andrew J. McIntosh, John had attended the school to study medicine and surgery. He had been sent to the school by his uncle, John Og, who was also a physician and surgeon. 

When I first read about this story in 2012, and in the years since then, I had not seen any other documentation to verify John had attended the medical school. In February 2025, I wrote to the University Archives to inquire on documentation they may have showing that John McIntosh attended the school in 1775 or 1776. Thankfully, the team at the Heritage Collections department responded quickly that they did have medical matriculation indexes showing John as a student during those years, and I could view those in person during my June trip to Edinburgh. The photo above shows the start of the list of students for the class of surgery, taught by Alexander Monro secundus. John's name appears in a clearly written signature for the December 1775 class (below).

Photo by Patrick Jones. Matriculation index.

Photo by Patrick Jones. 1 July 2025.

On the image above, the description is written in Latin, and I have not yet transcribed this for translation. John also appears on the December 1776 matriculation list, alongside another McIntosh, Lauchlan McIntosh. It is not clear if this a younger brother of John or someone unrelated.

Photo by Patrick Jones. 1776 matriculation index.

Unfortunately, there are no other records on John with the University Archives. I asked an assistant how long a typical student of the day may have attended the medical school. I was told they may have enrolled for a year or two, and from these records it is hard to tell how long a student may have been at the school, whether they finished or graduated.

The family story is that John McIntosh left the school around the Spring of 1776 with his uncle, and he became an assistant surgeon in the British Army under General Cornwallis. As John's signature is on the December 1776 matriculation index, the date of departure in the family story may be off.

I checked the University Archives for any reference to John Og, but nothing came up. If he did train as a physician and surgeon, it happened somewhere else. I need to do some further research into John's service in the British Army, and to see if there are references to John Og as a surgeon in the Army.

I put "John Og" into FamilySearch Labs' Full-text search tool, and found a reference in a 1924 publication called Scottish Notes and Queries (link - Nov. 1924). A McIntosh researcher had submitted a query asking for information on John Og Mackintosh (the uncle) and John Og Mackintosh (the nephew).

FamilySearch. Scottish Notes and Queries, 1924.

A visit to the University of Edinburgh

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. U. of Edinburgh, 29 June 2025.

While in Scotland I was able to make a visit to the University of Edinburgh and the Heritage Collections at the University Library & Archives. The school was established in 1583, and is the sixth-oldest in continuous operation in the English-speaking world.

The staff at the archives were really helpful, and confirmed the availability of the documents I wanted to see in advance of my visit. I'll have more on the result of the search in the next post. I also walked around campus and found the Old Surgeons' Hall, which may have been where John McIntosh had class in 1775 and 1776.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Edinburgh, 1 July 2025.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Old Surgeons' Hall. 

It was also graduation weekend on campus, which made for a lively place while exploring the grounds.

Returning from the trip

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh. 29 June 2025.

After an extra bit of travel adventure returning from Edinburgh, we arrived home last night in time for a long weekend. This was a great trip, visiting Dublin, Belfast and Edinburgh, trying out various trains, a ferry, and local transport options. My step count averaged about 19,000 a day during the trip, highlighted by a climb of Arthur's Seat, Calton Hill and Dean Village last Sunday. 

While Allison's choir was on tour, I also managed to take in a visit to the University Archives at the University of Edinburgh. This deserves its own full post, confirming John McIntosh's time as a medical student at the university prior to joining the British Army.

Belfast was surprising, and Edinburgh is now easily in my top 10 of favorite cities to visit. Dublin was great too, although I wish connecting in Dublin was a little less chaotic and there really should be a rail link between Dublin Airport and the city centre.

Research Progress July 2025

It's been a while since I've given a thorough update on my DNA research questions. Although I post these each month, the last update where I went through each question dates back to April.

1 - Identifying the Irish parents of Bridget, my 3rd-great-grandmother. There's some progress and I'm still looking at some potential connections. As I write this, I will have already been to Dublin for a day, and continued on to Belfast. That's not enough time to follow up on various connections which will have to wait for another future visit to the Emerald Isle.

2 - Determining the generation of connection for the Pennsylvania O'Briens.

3 - Verify the father of Cora Belle Medcalf using DNA connections. Using shared matches of matches between Allison's Mom and grandmother, I believe I've now confirmed Daniel Brown was the father of Cora Belle. Marilyn (Allison's grandmother) shares 101 cM with a descendant of Crawford Brown (Daniel's father) and 58 cM with a different descendant. There's several more matches in between that range descending from the Browns. There's more I can do with shared matches of matches for this group, but I think the connections look pretty strong.

4 - Identify possible siblings of my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez.

5 - Identifying living descendants of my 5th-great-grandparents Jose Jesus Amado and Gertrudis Palomino, exploring potential connections to the Amado family of Los Angeles. This one is in progress, and I'm also looking into some other Amados who arrived in the US from Ottoman Türkiye.

6 - Determining the connection to a cluster of Amado matches from FTDNA and Gedmatch. Pending a follow-up conversation with the distant cousin who manages these DNA kits.

7 - Locating another Jones cousin for YDNA testing. So far, not yet.

8 - Working with a Campuzano cousin on mtDNA. Again, pending further information.

9 - Campuzano YDNA matches. Yep, still pending.

10 - McIntosh line research. I have done some digging into distant connections from the John McIntosh line, and further work will continue after I'm back from Scotland and my visit to the Edinburgh University Archives (which should have occurred yesterday 1 July, but this post was written in advance of travel).

11 - Identifying the connection with the mystery Guerrero-Leyva matches. Again, pending further work.

12 - Working with mtDNA matches and trying to identify connections. I've reached out to them, no responses so far.

I'm preparing some new questions as I retire old ones and continue taking the DNA Study Group online sessions.

As of the end of June, my Mom's DNA matches on Ancestry total 63,000. My Dad's matches are at 51,100. On MyHeritage, her match total is 16,626. My Dad's matches are at 20,805. Both numbers are a lot of people, and it's a challenge to boil those down to matches that reveal connections to hidden branches of the tree. I'm hoping these approaches through DNA Study Group help sift through these thousands of connections to identify the real gems that unlock new stories.

Edinburgh, 1836

 

Google Arts & Culture. Edinburgh, 1836.

By now I've been in Edinburgh for a couple of days, exploring the city and seeing Allison's choir perform. Today I have a visit to the University Archives to view the records on John McIntosh, my 5th-great-grandfather. I'm curious to learn more about his time as a medical student before he shipped off to America to serve in the British Army, and maybe learn more about his Scottish roots.

High Street, Edinburgh

 

J. M. W. Turner. High Street, Edinburgh. 1818.

Travel by Ferry

 

Made with Ideogram 3.0.

Another image created using Ideogram, this time in the style of a travel poster. I think travel posters are pretty great, and I've regularly featured them on the blog. There's even a super cool Poster House museum you can visit in New York City.

For this particular example, as I share this post I'm taking the Stena Line ferry from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Cairnryan, Scotland. I'll have photos from the voyage when I return.

Leaving Valparaiso

 

Gabriel departing Valparaiso. Made in Ideogram.

I know there's a wide variety of opinion about using AI in genealogy and family history circles. As I continue testing image generation for various scenes in my family's branches, this tool is growing on me and I'm impressed with what it can do. The example above is an imagined scene of my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez, departing the port of Valparaiso, Chile in 1858 for a new life in Mexico.

Gabriel was likely about 20 when he left Chile. He reported in his informacion matrimonial in 1863 that he had been in Altar, Sonora for the past five years, providing an estimated arrival in Mexico of 1858. It's possible he arrived in Mexico even earlier, but I don't know. I certainly don't have a photo, he died in 1873 at the age of 34.

My prompt was pretty simple, "a twenty-year old merchant boarding a ship in Valparaiso, Chile in 1858, looking back at the harbor. He has dark hair and a moustache." I like that Ideogram returns four options. The other generated images didn't quite fit the time period or the look that I was expecting to see for a representation of Gabriel.

At the time, this journey from Valparaiso to Guaymas, Sonora (Gabriel's likely landing spot) would have taken 3-4 weeks, maybe longer, with multiple stops along the way in locations such as Peru, Panama, and south of Guaymas on the Mexican coast. According to a query with Claude, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company sailed along the coast from October 1848, and some of those records are preserved through the Pacific Mail Steamship Collection through the Huntington Library. 

In the summer of 1880

 

Made in Ideogram. Agnes in Hancock, Michigan, 1880.

An imagined scene of Agnes Atherton O'Brien, walking outside her hotel in lakeside Hancock, Michigan in June 1880, created using Ideogram. Agnes was listed as a performer in theater in the 1880 US Census for Hancock.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census. Hancock, Michigan.

I know this isn't a perfect representation of 1880s fashion, but this one turned out well enough.

Hancock, 1873

 

A. J. Cleveland, 1873. Hancock, Michigan.

A birds-eye view of Hancock, Houghton County, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula. This is where Agnes Atherton O'Brien performed in June 1880. Below is an engraving of the town, taken from History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (via MIgenweb).

MIGenWeb. 1883.

A good fight

 

Source: NBA

It was a magical run throughout the Playoffs, but in the end the Pacers fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder last night, 103-91. Losing Tyrese Haliburton to injury in the 1st quarter proved to be too much. Like the 2000 Pacers team that went to the NBA Finals, this 2024-25 team will be long remembered for how they fought, eliminating the Bucks, Cavaliers and Knicks, and taking the Thunder to Game 7. 

A sad way to end the season, for certain, but this team earned a lot of respect and gained new fans for their exciting, high-energy play throughout their run.

RootsTech 2026 proposal submitted

My proposal for a 20 minute recorded session for RootsTech 2026 is in. Now I wait to see if the talk gets accepted, and continue to collect potential images and information for the materials. One I won't be using is below.

Made in Ideogram.

Entering the convent

 

Generated in Ideogram 3.0.

Above is a visualization, made in Ideogram, depicting the moment the three O'Brien girls entered the convent school run by the Sisters of Charity at St. Patrick's in La Salle, Illinois in 1860. The girls can be found in the 1860 US Census listed among the pupils of the school - Anna Maria, age 8; Isabella, age 7; and Agnes, age 2.

I'm testing out creating scenes with prompts in AI tools for a potential talk at RootsTech. The other examples were "too happy" but the late fall/early winter scene above seems to fit. The nun also is an approximation of Martina Connolly, 25 in the 1860 Census.

A distant connection

 

Ancestry. WWI Draft Card. 5 June 1917.

I've been looking at Amado DNA connections as part of my DNA research questions. One small match on my Mom's results is a granddaughter of David Amado, who arrived in the US through the port of Baltimore in 1911 and found his way to Chicago. According to his WWI draft registration card, David was born in Calafat, Romania, on the Danube River across from Bulgaria, on 27 March 1889. From looking at other records on Ancestry, I can see David was from the Sephardic community. The 1920 US Census places David and his wife Sophie in the home of Sophie's brother Sam Siprut. Although these people were from Ottoman Türkiye, Bulgaria and Romania, according to the Census, they all spoke Spanish.

Ancestry. 1920 US Census. Chicago, Illinois.

The DNA match to my Mom only shares a minimal 9 cM. From Ancestry's Shared Matches of Matches, I can see this person has a first cousin whose father was a Sephardic immigrant to Chicago from Türkiye, and mother from Bulgaria (just across the Turkish border, relatively close to present day Istanbul). This makes me wonder how distantly this group of possible Amado matches may be related to the Izmir Amados who settled in Los Angeles, and potentially to my own Amado branch that moved to Mexico.
 

One more time

 

NBA.com. Game 7 set for Sunday.

A pause from my regular family history blogging to share some appreciation for my Indiana Pacers, winning last nights' Game 6 at home to set up a historic Game 7 on Sunday in Oklahoma City. This team has been so fun to watch. One way or another, the NBA season ends with this next game.

The Pacers won 108-91, and had a 30 point lead heading into the 4th Quarter. Key reserve players Obi Toppin and T. J. McConnell were huge throughout the game, on a night when star Tyrese Haliburton was limited by injury. The lead allowed the Pacers to rest Haliburton in the 4th, saving his energy for Sunday's final.

RootsTech 2026 call for presentations extended

Last month I shared a link to RootsTech's call for 2026 presentations. Yesterday, the RootsTech team shared on Instagram that the call for presentations has been extended by one week to 11:59pm MT on 30 June. If you're on the fence about submitting a talk or idea for RootsTech 2026, you have another week to do so.

Research query on the A2 mtDNA haplogroup

 

Perplexity AI search.

Here's another search using Perplexity, where I asked the tool to collect journal articles featuring research with mitochondrial DNA from the A2 or A2d2 haplogroups. This was a bit better than my open ended query on Agnes Atherton O'Brien, as it returned several journal articles, links to FamilyTreeDNA's page on the A2 haplogroup, a link to Roberta Estes' 2013 blog on Native American haplogroups, along with one I didn't know previously that Blaine Bettinger also has a mtDNA connection to the A2 haplogroup.

The search concludes with "The A2 haplogroup is extensively studied in the context of Native American genetic history, with several high-impact journal articles providing phylogenetic, evolutionary, and population-level insights. Research on A2d2 is limited, but broader studies on A2 and its subclades offer valuable context and data for understanding its significance in ancient and modern populations".

This search did not locate the journal article I shared last month on Ancient DNA at Copán or the 2023 study on ancient DNA from Teotihuacan.

Turning ideas into images

 

Created in Ideogram 3.0.

I'm continuing to try out Ideogram, turning text prompts into images for use with the blog and family history related projects. Above is a wine crate next to a vineyard completely generated with AI from a text prompt. I used the idea of a Spanish winery in the ancestral region of the Campuzano family. Unlike last time, I did not use another photo as a reference. I asked for a "photo-realistic winery crate with the words Bodega Campuzano etched onto the crate and Cantabria on the bottom". Ideogram took that idea and returned four suggested images, including the one above.

Below is another suggested image, showing the crate with wine bottles, perhaps in the tasting room at my fictitious Spanish winery. I like this one with the simulated Cantabrian shield or family crest on either side of the box. These look pretty good for being AI generated.

Created in Ideogram 3.0.

A long time ago (around 2002 & 2003), before I moved into my current profession, I had developed a wine label, including the domain names and prepared trademark clearances. I was even talking with a European producer on the label concept, and attended an industry tasting event at the exclusive Athenaeum Club in London. Ultimately life took another path, and I ended up in the Internet industry instead of the wine business.

Playing around with this AI tool on this Spanish winery idea above brings back memories of the old wine labels and the crazy experience of our whirlwind trip to London for the tasting. One of these days I may write more about that experience on the blog. Maybe I'll use Ideogram and bring back some images of the labels, showing how they would look today.  

Source material

While conducting my extensive 10+ year search to break down the mystery of my 2nd-great-grandfather John O'Brien's siblings placed in the care of the Sisters of Charity convent in La Salle, Illinois, I used a variety of sources, primarily focusing on Agnes Atherton O'Brien. I'm placing this here as a reminder and potential guide in case I build a proposed talk for Rootstech 2026. I used these sources to write her obituary in October 2023.

US Census Records

• 1860 US Census in La Salle County, Illinois (2 years old in the Sisters of Charity convent)
• 1880 US Census in Hancock, Houghton, Michigan (actress)
• 1910 US Census in Cincinnati, Ohio

Marriage and Divorce Records

• Indiana Marriage Record (Marion County) - 20 October 1881
• Davidson County, Tennessee divorce decree - 24 September 1887 (via the Metro Archives in Nashville)
• Michigan Marriage Records (witness, 27 November 1883 in Wayne County, Michigan), via Ancestry

Newspapers

• Newspapers.com - extensive newspaper articles and advertisements mentioning Agnes performing throughout the United States and Canada between the late 1870s until her death in 1910.
• GenealogyBank
• Illinois Digital Newspaper Archive
• Internet Archive (Billboard magazine, 1914; multiple issues of NY Dramatic Mirror and NY Clipper)
• Quebec Newspapers, banq.qc.ca (1890 and 1906 tours in Canada)
• New York State Historic Newspapers collection
• FamilySearch Full-text search

City Directory for Cincinnati, 1910

Death Records

• Cook County, Illinois Deaths Index (Ancestry)
• Findagrave
• Mount Carmel Cemetery, Chicago (via Catholic Cemeteries of Chicago website) 

Trans-Mississippi International Exhibition website (see blog post from September 2023) for photo by Frank Rinehart from Kirchner's German Village

American Vaudeville Museum archives

I also inquired with the La Salle County Genealogy Society, and wrote to the Diocese of Peoria about the Sisters of Charity and Saint Patrick's Parish in La Salle, Illinois.

Searching with Perplexity

Another recent AI answer-generation tool for genealogists and family historians to try is Perplexity (link). It offers a free option and "pro" membership (currently $20 per month). As I have been testing other AI tools such as MyHeritage's AI photos, Ideogram, Claude and Runway, I decided to go ahead and try out Perplexity using the free option.

I made a simple query, asking for sources on Agnes Atherton O'Brien Gillette (sister of my 2nd-great-grandfather), telling the tool she was an actress who lived between 1858 and 1910. The tool returned an initial response that "Agnes Atherton O'Brien Gillette was an actress and performer active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While direct, detailed sources on her are scarce, there are several archival collections and historical theater resources that may contain relevant materials about her life and career." It then suggested that I look at archival and theater collections, such as the Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Theatrical Agent Records at the New York Public Library, general theater and performer archives, and digitized playbills and programs from the era.

Perplexity gave related questions to ask as prompts, such as "what is known about Agnes Atherton O'Brien Gillette's family and personal life". This prompt returned limited sources, and pulled from my own blog when describing her family and early life. I guess that's a good sign that my blog is available as a source.

I'm going to have a separate post detailing the sources I have used to date on Agnes' life, and this list of sources is more along the lines of what I might have expected Perplexity or another search tool to suggest. 

Crossroads

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Prague. 12 June 2025.

The shot above is part of a larger wall near the Prague Congress Centre, titled Crossroads. The installation is connected to a series of pieces located around the city by the Praho Project. This thoughtful wall caught my attention as I was taking a break from meetings. It asks questions: "Who or what has led you to your current path?" and "What are your hopes right now?", and is written in a mix of Czech and English.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Prague. 12 June 2025.

Happy Fathers Day

Proud moments with the kids this week as I traveled with Sophia in Prague after she flew solo internationally for the first time, and Silas starts his first job today. These are big life achievements. It definitely feels like we reached a parenting milestone this week.

Other things in the news on this Sunday - a fascinating set of articles about a Viking boat burial discovered in Norway with a prominent Viking woman buried with her dog (see original article in Science Norway).

Rock legend Billy Idol discovered he had an unknown son, after his daughter took a 23andme autosomal DNA test and saw a mystery match (NJ.com 15 June 2025).

It looks like 23andme founder Anne Wojcicki will be taking control of the company once again through the bankruptcy proceeding (Yahoo, 13 June 2025). Her larger bid topped the previous one submitted by Regeneron. A hearing is scheduled for this coming Tuesday to decide on the bid.

Back from Prague

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Prague. 12 June 2025.

We're back from the week in Prague. It was great to experience the city again, 12 years after my initial visit, and to create some new travel memories with Sophia at my meeting. The Mucha Museum was a highlight for us both. I'll have more photos and observations to share in another post.

Connecting through Ireland

 

Museum.ie Collections. 1950s.

Historic Prague

 

Charles Bridge, Prague. Karl Postl. Albertina Museum.

Shifting branches

 

Warren County, KY. 1809.

Ahead of a visit to Edinburgh later this summer, I'm returning attention to the McIntosh branch of the tree. Above is a screenshot from the Warren County, Kentucky land records courtesy of FamilySearch Labs' full-text search. This is part of a land record involving John and Sarah Sally McIntosh, my 5th-great-grandparents.

Prague, 2012

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Charles Bridge, Prague. 20 June 2012.

I'm back again in Prague for meetings. I was last here thirteen years ago. Newer photos to follow once I'm back.

Connections to Teotihuacan

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Teotihuacan. 4 Mar 2009.

In March 2009, I had the good fortune to take a day trip to the historic site of Teotihuacan during a break from meetings in Mexico City. It was an amazing experience, and I was able to climb to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. I'm not sure one can do that now (another thing I'm lucky I've done, along with climbing to the top of the Temple of Kukulcan at Chichen Itza).

Reading the study last week on ancient DNA at the Maya city of Copán reminded me to take a look at a study I had previously missed published in Human Genetics in October 2023 on mitochondrial DNA from ancient Teotihuacanos. Two of the individuals recovered at Teotihuacan had the A2d1 haplogroup (13-Lav and 14-Lav). See also this summary from Archaeology News (9 Jan 2024).

Fly to Germany

 

TESSA/LA Public Library.

Testing AI tools

 

MyHeritage. Enhanced Photos tool.

MyHeritage has a number of tools using artificial intelligence, from colorizing old photos, an AI Time Machine (displaying how you or an ancestor might look through different eras), photo enhancing, and DeepStory (allowing photos to "talk" through animation) and Deep Nostalgia editing (bringing photos to "life" without sound). This is my first attempt at using the tool. I've uploaded to MyHeritage's Enhanced Photos a cropped portion of the photo that I believe shows Agnes Atherton O'Brien performing at Kirchner's German Village pavillion in Omaha, Nebraska in July 1898. The result is a little off.

MyHeritage. After AI enhancing.

I've begun using more AI tools with family history. Anthropic's Claude has become a really useful tool. Yesterday I used Claude to help generate a photo editing prompt, which I took over to another platform called Ideogram. This platform does text to image conversion, and allows you to "remix" an uploaded image with the prompt. I tried to see if I could use the cropped portion from the Omaha performance, combined with an image generation prompt, to create a suggested image for how Agnes might have appeared on stage in the 1890s.

Claude was useful for suggesting descriptions for the time period and setting, her costume and appearance, pose and expression, the visual style, and a sample complete prompt. I made some edits to the wording, then copied the prompt over to Ideogram. Ideogram has a feature that interprets the language with its "Magic Prompt" to "optimize and embellish" wording, to add variety and beauty to images generated.

The suggested prompt from Ideogram became: "A sepia-toned vintage portrait photograph captures a captivating vaudeville actress poised on stage, showcasing her timeless beauty and grace. She wears a flowing stage dress from the 1890s featuring a loose art nouveau bodice, bare shoulders adorned with a delicate floral pattern, and a full-length skirt that cascades elegantly around her ankles. Her hair is meticulously styled in the fashionable curls and waves of the era, framing her face as she gazes directly at the camera with a subtle, enigmatic smile. Behind her, a large window with grid panes casts a soft, diffused light across the scene, and a single velvet curtain is partially drawn, hinting at the grandeur of the theater setting." Using this prompt, Ideogram returns four photo options.

"Agnes", Ideogram.AI

Another option might be closer to an early 1880s version of Agnes. This suggestion looks more like my grandmother Blanche in high school.

"Agnes" via Ideogram.

While I haven't been able to make work just yet on Ideogram, I could use the Omaha snapshot as a base and see what the AI does using my grandmother Blanche O'Brien's high school senior photo as a facial influence. As Agnes' grand-niece, there may have been a facial resemblance.

There's yet another AI tool called Runway, which generates amazing video from image prompts. This will need to wait for another day, and I may try it once I'm back from upcoming travel.