Summer

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. S & S at Folly Beach. 22 July 2022.

DNA in the news: Ancient DNA at Copán

 

UNESCO/Google Arts & Culture. Copán in 1980.

A new study published in the 28 May 2025 issue of Current Biology (article) shows ancient DNA recovered from the Classic Maya era city of Copán (located in present-day Honduras, on the border with Guatemala). An article in yesterday's The Independent provides a summary.

Of interest to me with the study is that the researchers looked at the DNA of seven individuals from the Copán site estimated to date from 250-950 CE, and four of them matched to the A2 mtDNA haplogroup. In light of the Chaco Canyon & Picuris study released late last month, it's interesting to see more ancient DNA from the Americas show up with A2 connections.

The ones who went to America

 

Ancestry. Gloucestershire Marriages, 1844.

Looking at Ancestry's ThruLines tool, I can see two DNA matches on my Dad's results descending from daughters of Hannah Oyler. One match descends from Hannah Chapman, while the other descends from Fanny Chapman. Both daughters made their way to America, likely for opportunity. Hannah Chapman married David Fowler in the village of Frampton Cotterell outside Bristol in Gloucestershire on 3 October 1844. This is a little odd, as the village is on the opposite side of southern England from Hawkhurst, but maybe Hannah went to Bristol for work after the death of her father.

Hannah and David had a daughter, Mary Hannah (who later went by Anna), and she was baptized in Ticehurst, Sussex on 16 August 1846. In the Spring of 1849, the young family left England for America, and arrived in New York on 30 April 1849. They made their way to Rochester in Upstate New York, and appear in the 1850 US Census there.

Ancestry. New York Arriving Passengers, 1849.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Rochester, NY.

In 1851, Hannah's sister Fanny appears in the England Census living in Brightling, Sussex with her mother, sister Mary, and her mother's second husband George Oyler and his son Thomas. Perhaps Hannah sent word from New York back to England for Fanny to join her, and by April 1852, Fanny had made the journey across the Atlantic. On 13 May 1852, Fanny married Thomas Overy in Rochester, New York. The marriage was witnessed by Fanny's siblings George Chapman and Hannah Fowler. It is unclear how long George stayed in America, but it does seem that he returned to England.

 

Ancestry. Rochester, NY Church Records. 1852.

Hannah and family appear in the 1855 New York Census in Brighton, Monroe County. By this time, Hannah and David had added the following children to their household:

• David Fowler Jr (1851)
• Carolin "Carrie" Fowler (1853)
• Hannah (1854)

By 1860, the Fowlers had moved from Rochester to Genesee County, Michigan and they had three more children in Burton Township, Genesee County, named Frank, Josephine and Minnie. They appear in the 1870 US Census in Flint, Michigan. David Fowler died in 1871. Hannah passed away on 13 April 1900, and her obituary ran in the Flint Journal.

Flint Journal. 14 Apr 1900.

Back to Fanny, she and husband Thomas appear in the 1860 US Census in Calhoun County, Michigan, with their children Hannah (born 1854 in New York), Fanny (born 1856 in Michigan) and William (born 1858 in Michigan). George, also born in New York in 1854, does not appear in the 1860 US Census, but does in 1870. Thomas died in 1863, and Fanny remarried to Englishman John Skinner in 1867. John died on 26 December 1891 in Calhoun County, Michigan. Fanny died on 30 December 1901 in Calhoun County, Michigan. Our DNA connection is through Fanny's daughter, Mary Jane Overy (born 1862).

New finds in newspapers

 

Ancestry's Newspapers.com. 28 May 2025.

Ancestry adds new content all the time to Newspapers.com, so it is important to regularly check back on family names for new articles and references. This afternoon, Ancestry shared a content update on 212 papers added to the archives. Sure enough, these papers contained some relevant articles. Just like earlier in the month when I found some new-to-me mentions of Agnes Atherton in Cincinnati in 1909, today's update contained articles from the Finger Lakes Times. In the summer of 1899, Agnes was on the vaudeville circuit in Upstate New York. These articles help fill in the gaps.

In the last week of August 1899 through Labor Day, Agnes was performing at Cayuga Lake Park. This is a great area for wine tasting today, and one of our favorites, Hermann J. Weimer Vineyard, is midway up the west side of neighboring Seneca Lake if driving north towards Geneva.

Finger Lakes Times. 28 Aug 1899.

Google Maps. 2025.

Primrose Hill

 

Source: KnightFrank & Savills. Primrose Hill. 2024 listing.

On the edge of the village of Hawkhurst is a lovely Grade II listed country house and gardens. According to the 2024 listing, the historic property of Primrose Hill was built in 1802 by William Ayerst, a miller "who also harbored brandy smugglers, an activity notorious in the area." The Ayerst family was likely well known to my Oyler line, as the village is pretty small. Primrose Hill has another connection for two daughters of Hannah Oyler.

Ancestry. 1851 England Census. Hawkhurst, Kent.

In the 1851 England Census, Caroline Chapman appears in the Ayerst household at Primrose Hill as a 25 year old house servant. There's another name on the record, William Willard, 29 year old house servant. Willard would later marry Caroline's older sister, Mary Chapman, in October 1871.

It looks like there's an earlier connection between Mary and William at Primrose Hill. In the 1841 England Census, both appear in the Ayerst household as house staff for miller Thomas Ayerst.

Ancestry. 1841 England Census. Hawkhurst, Kent.

Jumping forward in time to the 1861 England Census, Mary Chapman had returned to the Ayerst residence and was working as a cook. William is listed as a gardener, a profession he would have for the remainder of his life. William would have tended the gardens on the Primrose Hill property, and probably also took care of other handyman tasks to keep up the house.

Ancestry. 1861 England Census.

KnightFrank 2024 listing for Primrose Hill.

In the 1871 England Census, Mary and William are still listed as the cook and gardener to Francis Ayerst.

Ancestry. 1871 England Census.

By 1881, Mary and William had moved into Microstula Cottage in Hawkhurst. William is listed as a gardener and domestic servant. They enjoyed seven more years in the cottage before Mary passed away in August 1888. The couple did not have children.

William appears in the 1891 and 1901 England Census, living on Highgate in Hawkhurst. He died in May 1903. Mary's nephew William Chapman served as his executor.

One last note on the Primrose Hill house, the property sold in October 2024.

96 and 16

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. S at Lake Murray, SC. 28 Mar 2025.

We're celebrating birthdays as our son turns 16 and Allison's grandmother 96 back in Indiana.

Hannah

Back in December 2016, I wrote about the will of my 5th-great-grandfather Samuel Oyler. When he died in 1840, his property passed to his daughter Hannah. She married Joseph Chapman on 7 July 1817, and they had at least the following children:

• Mary Chapman, 1818-1888
• George Chapman, 1820-1855 
• Hannah Chapman, 1822-1900
• Samuel Jewhurst Rabson Chapman, 1824-1906
• Caroline Louisa Chapman, 1825-1869
• Fanny Chapman, 1827-1901

Joseph died in 1832. Hannah remarried on 1 June 1844 to her uncle, George Oyler. She was living in the seaside town of Brighton at the time.

Ancestry. East Sussex, England. 1844.

Hannah (listed as Harriet) and George appear in the 1851 England Census living in Brightling, Sussex. Also in the household were George's son Thomas from his previous marriage, and Hannah's daughters Fanny and Mary.

Ancestry. 1851 England Census.

By 1861, Hannah and George were living on Cranbrook Road in Hawkhurst. George died in Hawkhurst on 3 December 1861.

Ancestry. 1861 England Census.

Ancestry. 1862 UK Wills.

Hannah appears again in the 1871 England Census, living on Old Cranbrook Road in Hawkhurst.

Ancestry. 1871 England Census.

Hannah died on 25 July 1874, her son Samuel and daughter Mary served as the executors of her will.

Ancestry. 1874 UK Wills.

New tools for exploring UK jurisdictions

FamilySearch. England Jurisdictions 1851.

FamilySearch has added a new tool on its Labs feature for exploring where English ancestors lived and connecting to available records. I've been testing it on my Oyler side of the tree. Convenient timing, as my 4th-great-grandparents & family arrived in the US 197 years ago (tomorrow).

FamilySearch. Kent, UK.

I wrote about some of the Oyler records from Cranbrook, Kent back in 2016. I also shared a copy of the will of my 5th-great-grandfather Samuel Oyler, who died in Staplehurst in 1840. It might be time to dig back into the Oyler line and see what records appear in Kent using this new tool.

A corner of La Salle County

 

UWM Library. La Salle County, IL. 1859.

This corner of the La Salle County map from 1859 shows Peru and La Salle Townships, where my 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget was living in 1850 (Peru was then called Salisbury). The map also shows the Illinois and Michigan Canal meeting the Illinois River in La Salle. John and Bridget O'Brien purchased a plot of land from the trustees of the canal in 1853.

Let's go Pacers

 

Source: @Pacers on X. 22 May 2025.

We're still reveling from last night's amazing comeback win by the Indiana Pacers over the NY Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Down 17 in the 4th and by 14 with under 3 minutes remaining, the team pulled an improbable victory in overtime. Just like last year, the Pacers and the Knicks are battling in the playoffs. This year's team might be even better. It will probably be a long series, but taking Game 1 is a big step.

Primrose

Alphonse Mucha. 1899.

This lithograph is from the Alphonse Mucha collection, which we might be seeing in Prague in a few weeks. This also reminds me of Agnes Atherton O'Brien, who I'm working on for a potential virtual talk for RootsTech 2026.

More research prompts from Claude

I'm thinking of some ideas for a virtual talk at RootsTech 2026, and yesterday asked Claude for suggestions on creating a few seconds of AI-generated video to include in a family history talk. I was really impressed with the reply. First it suggested some tools for converting text to video for AI. All of these were new to me. Then it gave me some practical steps, which I'm including below:

1. Write clear descriptions of what you want to show (e.g., "old family photos transitioning through generations")
2. Use specific historical details to make the generated content more accurate
3. Keep video clips short (5-15 seconds works best)
4. Download the generated clips and combine them with any real family photos/videos
5. Add voice narration or text overlays to provide context

Next Claude suggested tips for family history projects:

• Include visual representations of family trees
• Show geographical transitions if your family moved locations
• Recreate scenes from important family moments based on stories
• Create period-appropriate visual styles matching the eras you're discussing

These are great ideas. Claude asked me next "Would you like me to explain any particular platform in more detail, or would you prefer guidance on writing effective prompts for generating family history content?"

MyHeritage has used this technology with their Deep Nostalgia photo editing and historical AI-generated videos for Ancient Origins. I'm looking at something slightly different to include in my potential talk. Claude suggested looking at RunwayML, which so far seems to be amazing.

RootsTech 2026 Call for Presentations

 

Source: FamilySearch. 

The RootsTech 2026 call for presentations is now open (see link) for both online and in-person presentations in Salt Lake City from 5-7 March. The deadline for proposals is 23 June. 

I'm partly posting this as a reminder to myself. I need to consider whether this is even feasible for me to present in person, as I'm supposed to be in Mumbai, India in mid-March 2026. It might be better for me to target RootsTech 2027. Another option would be to submit a 20 minute virtual session proposal for 2026 and aim for a longer in person session proposal for 2027.

Ancestry in the news: the new Pope's Sicilian roots

A bit of fun ancestry news, two teams of researchers following different approaches have uncovered some hidden history on the grandfather of newly designated Pope Leo XIV (see this article on the Ancestry Blog from 15 May 2025). The work of the other team of researchers was highlighted earlier today (YouTube link) on a livestream from Jarrett Ross' GeneaVlogger channel. This group of Gen Z and younger researchers used their Discord channel to share discoveries and arrived at the same conclusions as the Ancestry team, around the same time. The Discord research is featured in a New York Times article.

The video is a fascinating watch, big cheers to everyone and in particular the Discord researchers for great work.

I'm not Catholic, but the dive into Pope Leo's family history has been an interesting flurry of research. Within hours of the announcement, stories appeared highlighting his family's Louisiana Creole roots.

Year One in the Books

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Watkins Glen, NY. 27 Jun 2023.

The first year of college has come to a close, and I'm helping move our student back home for the summer. It seems to have been a successful year.

We're looking forward to some big adventures in a few weeks, and some quiet time at home before heading back north to start Year Two in August.

Recognizing their professions

Cornell Capa. LIFE Magazine, 1948.

For this Mothers Day weekend, I'm looking back at the professions for some of the grandmothers and great-aunts in my tree. I'll start with my Gumpy's mother Alma Oyler Jones, who was listed as a cook in a restaurant in the 1940 US Census, living in Indianapolis. I wish I knew more about which restaurant and what type of cooking she did. By the 1950 US Census, she was working as a saleslady for Danner's Five and Dime store in Irvington, Indianapolis. According to her obituary, she worked there for ten years.

Alma's sister Emily worked as a teacher at Sugar Plains in Boone County, Indiana. Emily was my Gumpy's elementary school teacher, fondly remembered in his chapter on School Days at Sugar Plains from his self-published year 2000 collection of short stories.

My great-grandmother Blanche Lamon worked as a stenographer for Bankers' National Bank in Evansville for a few years after high school, before meeting my great-grandfather Harry O'Brien and moving to Indianapolis. The daughters of Allison's 2nd-great-grandmother Carrie Rech Freyling also worked as stenographers when they moved to California from Evansville in the 1930s.

My grandmother Blanche O'Brien operated a beauty salon in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis.

My great-grandmother Lois ran a restaurant called Turner's Lunch in Indianapolis from the 1930s until her retirement in 1963. The restaurant was rather notorious and frequently mentioned over the years in the Indianapolis newspapers as a site of illegal gambling, counterfeit sales, and illegal whisky. Lois received a beer license for the restaurant in 1935.

According to my Mom, Turner's Lunch was frequented by workers at the Diamond Chain Factory and Eli Lilly on Kentucky Avenue. The building was torn down when Lilly expanded their headquarters. She remembers going there often, and that Grandma Lois made good fried chicken, meatloaf, stews and other diner specialties at the restaurant.

Also on my Mom's side of the tree, my great-grandmother Manuela Portillo worked at the Tucson Steam Laundry when she first arrived in the United States in 1922. Manuela's daughter Lydia, my Granny, became a certified ceramics instructor (40 years) and worked 21 of those years at Riverside Park in Indianapolis.

Rockin' show at Lane Stadium

 

Photo by A. Jones. Metallica, 7 May 2025.

Earlier in the week Allison was at Virginia Tech for meetings, and managed to get up close to the rotating stage for the big Metallica show at Tech's Lane Stadium. VT has long used Metallica's Enter Sandman for the walk-on music for football games, and she says the band delivered an epic performance which registered as a small earthquake on campus. The university clearly enjoyed hosting metal legends Metallica and openers Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera. For more photos, see the VT Hokies website.

A Hollywood Epic

This story appeared on HeyAlma last Friday, summarizing Andrew Garfield's recent episode on the British version of Who Do You Think You Are. Although the episode isn't yet available in the US, I hope I'll be able to see it when in Europe next month. 

From time to time, Ancestry shares UK episodes on their YouTube channel. Two weeks ago they shared a really great episode featuring Olivia Colman (YouTube link), who followed the story of a third-great-grandmother back to India. Maybe Andrew's episode will also be shared at a later date on Ancestry's YouTube channel.

A photograph

Cleveland Plain Dealer. 28 June 1908.

This may be one of the rare occasions when Agnes Atherton O'Brien was featured using her married name, Agnes Gillette, performing in Cleveland's Coliseum Garden theater in the summer of 1908. Seeing this photo in the Cleveland Plain Dealer makes me think the 1898 photo from Kirchner's German Village in Omaha includes Agnes.

By 1908, Agnes was nearing the end of her time on the stage, but still active in the theater community. Below is a photo of the venue, which was demolished in 1909.

Cleveland Public Library Digital Collection. 1904.

Rich, Rare and Racy

 

Cincinnati Enquirer. 18 Feb 1903.

The short article above promoted a performance featuring Agnes Atherton O'Brien (my 2nd-great-aunt) in a club show for the Itannicnics (a fraternal organization using Cincinnati spelled backwards). The show promised something "rich, rare and racy". By this time in her career, Agnes was well known as a "queen of burlesque", and highly regarded for her singing and dancing.

This poster featuring a "Queen of the Itannicnics" from their September 1902 Fall Festival ran in the Cincinnati Post in August 1902. The poster takes some inspiration from the work of Alphonse Mucha, a famous Czech artist who I featured in my obituary for Agnes in October 2023. Mucha's work is currently on exhibition at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, and the Mucha Museum is on our list of museums to visit when we're in Prague in June.

Cincinnati Post. 1902.

Library of Congress. 1903.

The sunburst pin

Cincinnati Enquirer. 15 Nov 1909.

A new-to-me news clipping, published in the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1909, showing Agnes Atherton O'Brien looking for a lost 14-stone diamond sunburst pin and chain and offering a "liberal reward" if returned. The address matches up with her entry in the 1910 US Census for Cincinnati, and the 1910 City Directory, where Agnes is listed as a costumer at the same address. Alfred M. Gillette also appears in the city directory for the same year listed separately as an actor at that address.

US City Directories. Cincinnati, 1910.

Google Maps. 6 E. 13th Street, Cincinnati.

Their place was two blocks away from Washington Park. From the Library of Congress collection, Washington Park (c. 1900-1910) and the neighboring Music Hall can be seen in the photo below.

Library of Congress. Washington Park, Cincinnati. 1910.

The lost item publication raises a question about whether the sunburst pin was a gift from Alfred, or something of sentimental value that Agnes had earned from her years on the stage.

Derby Day

This afternoon is the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby. Here are some historic photos taken by my Gumpy at Churchill Downs, maybe some 90 years ago. This one below was not taken by my Gumpy, but shows the race about 1945.

Edward Clark. Kentucky Derby.

Family Matching

 

Screen capture from LivingDNA. 2 May 2025.

Earlier in the day I received a prompt from LivingDNA that the matches were ready for the tests I administer. I thought it was going to take until next week for LivingDNA to run the tests and generate matches, but it only took two days. On my Dad's results, there are 861 matches. On mine, there are 751. This is a huge difference from MyHeritage, which shows 20,629 for my Dad's results and 19,101 for mine, while AncestryDNA has 78,000 matches for my results and 50,746 for my Dad's.

Even on FamilyTreeDNA, for their autosomal report (Family Finder), I have 7,104 matches, while my Dad's has 7,067. That's quite a range in matches.

As with my other attempts in fishing in all the ponds of DNA data, on my Dad's side I'm specifically looking for matches who might connect into the mystery family of my 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget. There are a couple of matches who also seem to be on MyHeritage and show potential connections to the distant O'Brien line who later appeared in Pennsylvania. There's more to do, but it's a promising start.

Research Progress May 2025

Another month has flown by since my last DNA research question update. Progress is just slow. Or it feels slow on these questions. Research is still happening, I'm adding descendants to different lines to the tree and identifying DNA connections on a few of my questions. No breakthroughs yet.

I'm continuing with DNA Study Group sessions. There's two more this month, and I have a Shared Matches of Matches course to complete. Reading and learning is percolating in the background, but it's not tea yet (or coffee if that's your preferred caffeinated beverage).

This month serves as the gateway to summer, and we're on the verge of quite a lot of travel in June. Knowing these things are coming up, and that time will be short, I'm concentrating on keeping up with Study Group sessions and not trying to force it or get stuck. New things pop up all the time, they always do. In about a week, I'll check back in with LivingDNA to see if we have any matches on my Dad's DNA results or my own. 

DNA news of the day: Chaco Canyon & Picuris study

Today's DNA news is the DNA study published in Nature (30 Apr 2025) on the Picuris Pueblo community and their links to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico (see also this article in Reuters and the Washington Post). It is a fascinating study. Looking into the data, I see some of the modern Picuris have the A2 mtDNA haplogroup (A2ao and A2+), and if I'm reading it correctly, some of the Chaco DNA samples had A2f. As I have A2d2, it's interesting to see these connections.

The study is also a groundbreaking partnership between the Picuris Pueblo and the researchers, as the Pueblo retained data sovereignty throughout the collaboration and tribal members were involved in the research and crafting key findings.