An Algerian Connection

 

Geneanet. Oran, Algeria. 1 Jan 1858.

In May and June 2023, I wrote about the family of Allison's 5th-great-grandfather, Jean Pierre Halter. At the time, it was unclear to me what had happened to him and his third family after his children with first wife Anne Marie Hamm moved to New Orleans. I had assumed he had stayed in France, and died in Bas-Rhin.

Instead, it appears Jean Pierre, his third wife Rosine, and their children made their way across the Mediterranean to Oran, Algeria. This was a complete surprise, and thanks to the wonders of the Internet, we can see some of those Algerian records mentioning the family.

Google Maps. Oran, Algeria.

The snapshot of the record above is a death record for Jean Pierre, dated 1 January 1858, from Bou-Tlélis. The record states he was from Birkenwald in Bas-Rhin, and lists his parents Francois Halter and Elisabeth Sigrist. Jean Pierre's death record states he was a cultivateur, or farmer. It isn't clear what types of crops he grew in Algeria, perhaps grapes, olives or other fruit.

Rosine died in Algeria in 1860. Their son, Antoine Halter, graduated from military school in Oran in 1859, and died there on 31 January 1886, 139 years ago today.

Jean Pierre and Rosine had two daughters who married in Algeria: Marie Françoise Halter and Marie Rose Halter. It's quite possible there are descendants of Marie Françoise still in Algeria.

I'm sure Allison's family is unaware of this connection to French-Algerian colonial history. There's more records to share on this branch of the family.

Year of the Snake

 

Smithsonian. Year of the Snake stamp, 2001.

Happy Lunar New Year!

MyHeritage updates DNA estimates

 

MyHeritage. DNA estimates for KDJ. v2.5. Jan 2025.

Back in July 2024, MyHeritage announced its DNA ethnicity estimates would be updated. There were some problems with version 2 of their update, and it appears they've spent the last six months refining the approach and created a new build to version 2.5. The new version of the ethnicity estimate has now rolled out to the kits I administer on MyHeritage. I provided a pre-update review of the kits I manage in September 2024. This post takes a look at the changes.

After waiting since the summer, I had anticipated the version 2.5 update would be released by Rootstech in March, so this was a welcome surprise. For my Dad's results, shown above, I think this seems more accurate than the previous estimates. His top result is 38.7% English, followed by 30.6% Scottish and Welsh. Irish is at 8.7%, with a genetic group concentration in County Cavan and Leitrim (which is directly north from Roscommon and Longford). The next highest percentage is 7.5% Dutch. We have several Dutch lines going back to the 1600s, including the Du Trieux family. I'd expect his Irish percentage to be higher.

The next group is Germanic 5.8%, along with a surprise, Breton at 3.9% French is at 3.0%, and Danish at 1.8%.

MyHeritage. BAJ results v2.5. Jan 2025.

My Mom's update shows the top result as Spanish, Catalan and Basque 25.3%. In Europe, the results appear as English at 19.6%, followed by French at 11.6%. Scottish and Welsh comes in at 10.6%. She has Breton at 7.5%, then Portuguese at 6.6%. Danish and Dutch are each 2.3%. In the Americas, she has South Central America 12.0%, and Mexico 2.2%. She also has genetic groups with high concentrations for Chile, Mexico (Sonora), Arizona and Southern California; and Northwestern Mexico and USA (Arizona and California). South Central America at 12% doesn't seem quite right and feels like it should be switched with the Mexico percentage.

For my results, I now have Scottish and Welsh 31.5%, English 30.3%, French 5.9%, Spanish, Catalan and Basque 5.8%, South Central America 5.2%, Dutch 4.9%, Portuguese 4.6%. Breton comes in at 4.3%, Irish 2.4%, Germanic 2.2%, Danish 1.9%, South Italian 1.0%. For genetic groups, I have Chile, Mexico (Sonora) and USA (Arizona and Southern California), Northwestern Mexico and USA (Arizona and California), along with a cluster of Midwestern and Southern USA groups.

Overall thoughts: The European results generally seem pretty close to what I'd expect, but there are some unexpected percentages, such as Breton and South Central America seems just too high. There are differences from the latest AncestryDNA Ancestral Regions.

Petition to the Virginia General Assembly

 

The petition above was signed by Harris Freeman, brother in law of Samuel Read, on behalf of his minor nephews William Freeman Read (my 4th-great-grandfather) and Harris Read. The petition was also signed by the boys older siblings, John Read, Samuel Read (Jr) and Elizabeth Read Ball and her husband Augustine Ball. The petition was sent to the Virginia General Assembly on 12 January 1816. The petition states the boys were 17 and 15. The siblings requested the General Assembly to allow for the sale of the property and mansion home of their parents, Samuel and Juliann Read, so that the proceeds could be divided properly for the all the children.

William ultimately purchased the property for $850 on 6 May 1820 from his other uncle, William Freeman. William married Emily A. H. Ballard on 20 September 1820 in Culpeper, Virginia.

There are a few more early records in the life of William F. Read to share, before I shift away from the Read-Ballard branch and return to another line on the family.

Vintage stamps

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. 26 Dec 2024.

This is from our dinner at the wonderful Mita in DC over the holidays. At the end, the bill is inside this box of vintage stamps from all over Latin America. I thought these were cool, all from countries I've been lucky to visit over the years. The ones from Chile stood out right away, as I haven't given up on researching my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez in the Chilean records.

7,000 acres

 

FamilySearch. Barren County, KY. Sept 1852.

I've managed to find two more court cases through FamilySearch Labs' full-text search involving my 4th-great-grandfather William F. Read. These cases were filed in Barren County, Kentucky and Shenandoah County, Virginia by John Montague and John Curd. The Barren County case began in September 1852, when the plaintiffs filed suit claiming that they had a partnership with Read as their agent to purchase two tracts of land totalling 7,000 acres in Shenandoah and Warren County, Virginia, spanning Powell Fort Mountain.

Google Maps. Present day location of Powell Mtn.

A conveyance was drawn by attorney John Freeman of Page County, Virginia (possibly a cousin of William F. Read), and signed by the parties on 28 April 1851. An extract from the court file showing the conveyance is below.

FamilySearch. Court file, 1852.

Montague and Curd claimed Read had committed fraud and owed them $150 for expenses paid to Read in support of his journey to Virginia and Maryland to execute the land sale. Read countered, stating he did sign the note but had not committed fraud. William said he went to Virginia first to inquire whether the land could be purchased, returned to Barren County and purchased a horse, saddle and carriage, then returned to Virginia and Maryland and negotiated the purchase for $2500. Read said when he returned from the second trip, he informed the plaintiffs he thought there was a silver mine on the property. He also also said the parties (particularly Curd) agreed to settle and let him out of the partnership. Read asked for the action to be transferred to equity court out of the criminal court.

Montague and Curd continued their case in both Barren County and in the courts of Virginia. In Kentucky, they tried to assert a claim on the property purchased in trust by Rice C. Ballard in 1847 for Emily A. H. Read and children. There are several documents in the file from 1854 and 1856 on this, including an order from the Deputy Sheriff of Barren County to seize the land in Barren County and sell it at auction in order to settle the debt.

The Reads filed a response in April 1856, rejecting the claims made by Montague, Curd and the deputy sheriff. William F. Read died in Barren County on 19 September 1865. In 1866, a deed was entered into the Shenandoah County Court granting the fourth partner in the case, Emanuel Huffman, the shares of William F. Read and John Montague in the 7,000 acres.

 

Lee v Read, 1864

 

FamilySearch. Barren County, KY. 1864.

Another court case involving the land purchased in trust by Rice C. Ballard in 1847 for his sister, my 4th-great-grandmother, Emily A. H. Read, was filed in Barren County Court in 1864 by Elizabeth Lee. Her lawsuit was filed against Emily, her husband William F. Read, her son Guilford D. Read (my 3rd-great-grandfather), and the children of Rice C. Ballard. According to the complaint, on 6 January 1860 Emily and William agreed to pay Elizabeth $65 for the hire of a slave girl named Mary. She says they had only paid $10 of the $65 owed by April 1861. She claimed they had agreed to pay another $60 by 25 December 1861 for Mary's continued hire. Lee tried to attach the lands conveyed by Ballard in 1847 to Emily and children in order to settle the debts. As Ballard had died in 1860, she named his children - Ellen, Annie and Charlotte - as defendants in the case and his successors in the land maintained by the Reads.

Lee died after the case was filed, and the administrator of the estate, James Parrish, petitioned to the court to keep the case in place. Parrish claimed G. D. Read had been avoiding service of process and Emily refused to answer the complaint. G. D. Read would later answer, and claimed he had been out of the county while serving in the Confederate Army. In March 1865, the court ruled that the case could be revived and continued against the Reads.

The promissory note signed by Emily and G. D. Read was submitted as evidence in the case (see below).

It is not clear from the case file how the action was ultimately settled. The Reads continued to own the land, which passed from Emily to her children after her death in 1884. James W. Read and his wife Ann bought out the surviving siblings and continued to own the property until they conveyed it in 1890.

Indebted to a brother-in-law

 

FamilySearch. Fauquier County, VA. 1844.

After locating the 1847 land deed from Rice C. Ballard to his sister, Emily A. H. Read and children, I had wondered why Ballard did not make the deed to Emily's husband, my 4th-great-grandfather, William F. Read. It could be because Ballard had already been burnt on lending money to Read, as seen in the indenture above from Fauquier County, Virginia. In June 1844, William completed a sale with William Rixey Sr. of Culpeper involving land he had purchased from Rice C. Ballard in 1833. The indenture also included a slave woman named Letty, and all the goods and furnishings on a plantation where the Read family was living, which was actually owned by Ballard. The transfer included four horses and twelve cattle. The crops grown on the property, wheat and Indian corn, were designated for Ballard for 1844 and the next five years through 1849.

The deed included a clause that Ballard be paid if Read and heirs left Virginia before 1 August 1849. As the family moved out of Virginia in December 1847 for Kentucky, going to land that Ballard purchased in trust for Emily and children, perhaps the clause is a sign that Ballard didn't trust Read with loans.

FamilySearch. Fauquier County, Virginia. 1844.

Ballard v Warren, 1850

 

FamilySearch. Barren County, KY. 1850.

In April 1850, Rice C. Ballard filed a lawsuit in Barren County, Kentucky against Mary Warren, John Cannon and Franklin Settle. As a wealthy slave trader, Ballard had means to hire an attorney and pursue his case against the widow of David Warren, from whom he had purchased land in trust on behalf of his sister Emily A. H. Read and children in October 1847. According to the complaint, Ballard purchased several parcels of land from Warren, through his agent William F. Read for $1300. Read paid a $300 deposit to Warren in December 1847, when the family moved from Virginia to Barren County. The remaining portion was paid to Franklin Settle for the use and benefit of David's widow, Mary. She used $200 of the total, leaving $800.

David Warren appears to have owed debts to others in the county, who filed suit in Barren County court. Ballard was concerned the creditors would try to seize the land had purchased in trust from Warren, and preemptively filed his case. There's quite a bit of back and forth filings in the file. In my previous post I included a section from the 1850 US census showing Mary Warren and young John Cannon living near the Read family. Ballard claimed that Mary Warren was in process of moving out of state to Missouri and had made a fraudulent conveyance of the remaining $800 note with Franklin Settle to John Cannon, who was not yet 21 years old.

Ballard also asked the court to prevent Mary Warren from conveying five slaves to Cannon, and named three specifically - a woman named Caroline, and two children, Rachel and America. It looks now like America Parrish, the slave later in the household of Emily A. H. Read, could have been the daughter of Caroline. Given other documents mentioning America, she would have been two years old when the lawsuit was filed in 1850.

Ballard v Warren, 1850.

Ballard paid a $2000 bond with Lewis Wilkerson, the creditor on the estate of David Warren, and asked the Sheriff of the county to enjoin Mary Warren and John Cannon. It isn't clear from the record what happened next to Caroline, Rachel and America. Ballard was able to successfully prevent the property deeded in trust to Emily A. H. Read and children from being sold to pay the debts of David Warren.

Mito Updates

Earlier in the month I received my mtDNA full sequence results from FamilyTreeDNA. This included a confirmed haplogroup of A2d2. I submitted a request to join the A2 mtDNA haplogroup project. Today I received a reply welcoming me to the project, with some instructions for participating and sharing my results with the project administrators.

Later this afternoon, FamilyTreeDNA pushed out an email announcing "Big Changes Ahead for Your mtDNA Journey". It looks like they will be releasing their mtDNA Tree of Humankind, perhaps by Rootstech in early March. Testers like myself will receive more refined haplogroups on the expanded mtDNA tree, enhanced reports, and other tools to help explore our mtDNA story in greater depth. This is super cool news, and I'm really looking forward to hearing more about the mtDNA Tree of Humankind.

A complicated legacy

The FamilySearch Full Text Search has added court records from Barren County, Kentucky, uncovering a complex set of lawsuits involving the family of my 4th-great-grandparents, William F. Read and Emily A. H. Ballard Read. These cases fill some gaps in my understanding of the family, and indicate there was a closer relationship to Emily's brother, notorious slave trader Rice Carter Ballard, than I previously knew about. The Read family moved from Fauquier County, Virginia to Barren County, Kentucky in late 1847, and it seems Ballard set up his sister and family in Kentucky with the move.

The property where they settled in Barren County was purchased in trust for Emily by her brother Rice. William served as an agent for Rice in Barren County, while he was at his various plantations around the country. The second image below shows the 1850 Barren County tax record with William listed as the agent for Rice C. Ballard, overseeing 298 acres on Beaver Creek.

FamilySearch. Barren County Court, 1850.

Barren County tax records, 1850.

According to the land deed in one of the case files, on 20 October 1847, Rice paid $1300 to David Warren for the property on Beaver Creek in Barren County, purchased in trust for Emily A. H. Read and her children (see image 67 of the Barren County Court records).

Barren County, KY. 20 Oct 1847.

This puts the 1850 US Census entry mentioning the family in a new light. William, Emily, and children can be seen living on the property in Barren County, valued at $1300. David Warren's widow, Mary, appears two houses down from the Reads.

1850 US Census. Barren County, KY.

Rice Ballard brought suit against Mary Warren, John Cannon and Franklin Settle in 1850, with William F. Read listed as agent of Ballard in the case. The property was mentioned in a second action in equity in 1864, titled Elizabeth Lee v. Emily A. H. Read. The two cases will take some time to unpack, revealing a complicated legacy built on the backs of slaves. I have covered similar posts involving the Ballard family and slave-holding in the related Heslop and Carter families in Emily's line.

I will return to the records on the McKinley family in upcoming posts, as there are quite a few records in Spencer and Shelby Counties, and I am continuing to see if the McKinley and Beadle (Bedle, Beedle) lines can be pushed back further, prior to their arrival in Kentucky.

Will of Mary McKinley

 

FamilySearch. Spencer County, KY Will Books.

After a bit of digging on FamilySearch through the Spencer County, Kentucky will books, I located the will of Mary McKinley, daughter of my 6th-great-grandfather Michael McKinley. This document, dated 13 July 1850, was referenced in Monday's post on the emancipation of Oliver. Mary had no children of her own, and left her estate to her nieces Elizabeth and Margaret. She died in late November 1850, as the will was proven on 2 December 1850.

The will names three slaves, Oliver, Frederick, and Emmet. She bequeathed the boys to Elizabeth and stated that the boys be emancipated upon turning twenty-one years old. Oliver was granted his emancipation in 1855.

From the Spencer County tax records

 

FamilySearch. Spencer County tax records, 1843.

The clippings above come from the Spencer County, Kentucky tax records for the year 1843, showing the McKinley family (here spelled as McKindley), the acres owned, and numbers of slaves. By 1847, Michael had dropped off the tax record, as he had died in 1845. Michael's daughter Mary is listed for that tax year and 1848 with two slaves, and his grand-daughter Lydia with her mother Mary, are listed for that tax year as owning six people.

FamilySearch. Spencer County tax records, 1848.

The 1852 entry shows the three slaves formerly owned by Mary McKinley had passed to Franklin Jones as administrator of her estate.

FamilySearch. Spencer County tax records, 1852.

Oliver, emancipated

 

FamilySearch. Spencer County, KY. 1 Jan 1855.

Yesterday evening's post was supposed to be for this morning, but after finding this record, I pushed out the other one and saved this for today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US. This record is from the 1 January 1855 term of the Spencer County, Kentucky Court. The page shows that Oliver, slave of Michael McKinley, later conveyed to his daughter Mary, was emancipated in her will (still not yet located on FamilySearch). The administrators of her estate, her niece Elizabeth McKinley and husband Franklin Jones, supported Oliver in his emancipation. Previously seen in the records as an eight year old boy conveyed from Michael to Mary, Oliver was 21 by 1855, and granted his freedom. Kentucky was a slave state in 1855. The document above describes him in detail, as nearly five foot nine, with a small scar on his left cheek.

The second page of the record indicates Elizabeth and Franklin communicated to the court that they would support his transport out of Kentucky by March 1855.

FamilySearch. Spencer County, KY.

Oliver, his brother Frederick, and presumably their mother Matilda appear on the 1850 US Slave Schedules, with Mary McKinley listed as the slave owner.

US Federal Slave Schedule, 1850. Spencer County, Kentucky.

On 2 April 1855, Elizabeth and Franklin Jones returned to the court to present an administrator's settlement of the estate of Mary McKinley. The settlement shows they paid $100 for the hire of Oliver in 1854, and $16.50 for the first three months of 1855. They also paid $45 for the hire of Frederick in 1854. Additional lines below show these amounts covered food, clothing and boarding, along with payments to Oliver for money earned. 

FamilySearch. Spencer County, KY. 1855.

The entry from March 1851 shows items sold from the estate of Mary McKinley, including "1 old black woman" for $10.00.

It is not clear what happened to Matilda or Frederick after the records above. It still seemed timely to share these mentions today. These were people held as slaves. While Oliver was given his freedom, the records do not show where they went, and how they fared after 1855.

A closer look at the McKinleys

 

FamilySearch. Spencer County Deeds. 23 May 1842.

The snapshot from the deed above gives a better picture of the wider family of my 4th-great-grandmother Priscilla McKinley. In May 1842, her grandfather Michael McKinley conveyed 100 acres in Spencer County, Kentucky in exchange for one dollar to Priscilla's mother, Mary as widow of William McKinley, and to her brothers and sisters. My last post showed the marriage bond from January 1807 between William and Mary. I believe William and Mary had at least the following children:

• Priscilla McKinley (1808-1872; married Enoch K. Holslcaw)
• Jonathan McKinley
• Sarah Sally McKinley
• Elizabeth A. McKinley
• James McKinley
• Lydia A. McKinley
• Mary McKinley
• George McKinley
• Martha McKinley
• Margaret McKinley

Widow McKinley was living on the land granted by Michael. The last section of the indenture shows that Michael intended for Mary to stay on the land for the rest of her life, free of interference even from her children.

FamilySearch. Spencer County Deeds.

In the next deed on the page, Michael McKinley sold 100 acres to Mark E. Huston for $1056. Following the Huston indenture, Michael completed a deed for one dollar to his daughter, also named Mary McKinley. The property contained 88 acres along the Salt River in Spencer County, and was the property on which Michael lived. The land included an orchard of pear trees. Michael also mentions his step-daughter Sally McCullah, and his grand-daughter by son William, Lydia McKinley.

The indenture also conveyed a slave family, showing Michael McKinley was an enslaver. I assume this is a family. Named on the deed were: Oliver, an eight year old boy, and Frederick, three years old. The document also names Armistead and Matilda, who I assume to be the parents of Oliver and Frederick. Michael granted a half interest in Armistead and Matilda to Mary, along with any future children of Matilda.

A fourth indenture in the set from Michael was directed to his grand-daughter Lydia A. McKinley in exchange for one dollar. This covered the 34 acres of land Michael currently lived on, along the Salt River adjoining the property deeded to Michael's daughter Mary. The deed also granted to Lydia two boys, a twelve year old named Alexander, and a five year old named Felix. He also gave to Lydia the other half interest in Armistead and Matilda. I do not yet know what happened to this family.

The fifth deed in the set was made by Michael for grand-daughter Elizabeth McKinley, covering 45 acres of property.

A sixth deed was made by Michael with Abraham Vandyke, conveying one acre of land for ten dollars.

Six months earlier, on 1 December 1841, Michael completed a deed of sale with Enoch Holsclaw (my 4th-great-grandfather and the husband of Michael's grand-daughter Priscilla) in exchange for $227.54. This covered an interest in the land on which Priscilla's mother lived.

When looking on FamilySearch Labs' for Michael McKinley in Kentucky, I get over 340 entries. Some clearly are outside the time period when he was living, but most of the records so far seem to be connected to him. There's quite a bit more to follow in the Kentucky records.

Michael appears to have died in Spencer County, sometime around May 1845. Mary Beadle McKinley died about December 1850. Her daughter Elizabeth and husband Franklin Jones served as administrators of Mary's estate. I'll have more on this in a subsequent post, including a timely find mentioning Oliver, the slave of Michael conveyed to Mary and Lydia McKinley.

Another bond

FamilySearch. Kentucky Marriage Bonds. 1807.

Combing through the records on FamilySearch mentioning my 5th-great-grandfather William McKinley, I uncovered another gem. The record above is a marriage bond from Shelby County, Kentucky for William, dated 17 January 1807. The reverse side names the bride Polly Beadle, and shows the consent was given by her father, my 6th-great-grandfather, Jonathan Beadle (also spelled Bedle). Spencer County was created out of Bullitt, Nelson and Shelby County in 1824.

FamilySearch. 17 Jan 1807.

Mary (Polly) Beadle McKinley appears in the 1850 US Census in Spencer County, Kentucky, living next to the family of her daughter Sarah. According to the census, she was 57 in 1850, putting her birth year at 1793. If correct, she was 14 at marriage in 1807.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Spencer County, KY.

Marriage Bond

 

FamilySearch. Kentucky Marriage Bonds, 1828.

The record above is a marriage bond from Spencer County, Kentucky, featuring my 4th-great-grandparents Priscilla McKinley and Enoch Holsclaw. I don't think I've come across this one previously. They received the bond on 18 August 1828, and were married the following day. The FamilySearch Labs' search feature has uncovered some new-to-me records on Priscilla's side of the tree, and I've now been able to push back the McKinley family to her grandfather, my 6th-great-grandfather, Michael McKinley.

Rise Above

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Art by Shepard Fairey. Lisbon. 17 Oct 2023.

The shots above and below by Shepard Fairey were part of a larger exhibition that I saw when I was in Libson in October 2023 titled Urban Evolution. I've captured his art over the years in various places, and Sophia's recent shot from NYC earlier this month caught one of his murals.

This past week has felt heavy. We're about to get another blast from the Polar Vortex and the onward train of change in DC. Planning some future adventures has been helpful.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Art by Shepard Fairey. Lisbon.

Getty Villa, 2008

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Getty Villa. Malibu. 27 Dec 2008.

Cantabria

 

Cantabria. Google Maps.

The ancestral home of the Campuzano family is Cantabria, an autonomous community in northern Spain. The namesake village of Campuzano is next to or part of Torrelavega, the second largest population center in Cantabria. The family mentioned in the García Carraffa volume was from Cuchia, located north of Torrelavega.

Campuzano, Spain.

Cuchia, and its surrounding beaches, looks like a place I need to add to my travel bucket list. There are archives for the church in Cuchia (posting here for later research), although these may be under the administration of the Diocese of Santander. I might have to pair a visit to Cantabria with a trip to neighboring Basque Country as I learn more about my Vasquez and Suastegui ancestors too.

Cuchia, Spain.

From the Enciclopedia Heráldica

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Los Angeles, 9 Jan 2025.

My last post described the thin paper used for the transcription on the Campuzano family. The pages were copied from a huge volume published beginning in 1919 by two brothers, Alberto and Arturo García Carraffa. The 88 volume work is titled Enciclopedia Heráldica Hispano-Americana (English language Wikipedia entry here; Spanish language here), featuring over 15,000 surnames in alphabetical order, A through U. A posthumous publication expanded the surnames through Z to 17,000. The transcription helpfully included the citation, along with the volume (Tomo Veintidos) featuring the entry for Campuzano.

After a bit of digging online, I found a digital scan of the volume on FamilySearch (Campuzano begins on page 131 of the volume, image 82). Whoever wrote the note only transcribed the first two pages of the section on the Campuzanos.

García Carraffa. P. 131 on FamilySearch.

The Campuzano family took their name from the town of Campuzano, next to Torrelavega in the northern Spanish province of Cantabria. This family came from Cuchia, on the coast north of Torrelavega, and west of Santander. We do not yet know if we are descended from this Campuzano family line, but if we are, there's a rich history to learn more about. The entry above mentions Antonio de Campuzano de la Riva, the first Count of Mansilla. The title is still in the Campuzano family today.

A Y-DNA test on a direct male Campuzano descendant of Vicente Antonio Campuzano should be able to tell us whether our line descends from this prominent Campuzano family. Another option, but not as precise, would be to transfer an existing autosomal test to FamilyTreeDNA. Over the holiday break, they had a special $10 rate on the autosomal test transfer unlock for FamilyFinder. This means it cost $10 to transfer a test taken at Ancestry to FamilyTreeDNA and receive a Y-DNA haplogroup result (without the holiday discount, it seems to be $20, still totally reasonable). This will still provide a Y-DNA haplogroup and matches. I did this for my Dad's test with Ancestry, before taking my own combined Big Y, mtDNA and FamilyFinder test. Either way, we still need more Y-DNA testers on our Campuzano line.

I have a feeling that we are connected to this line, and I'm looking forward to reading further into the Spanish records.