Monday, July 21, 2025

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.

Sunday, July 20, 2025

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.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

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.

Friday, July 18, 2025

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.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

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.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

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.

Monday, July 14, 2025

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.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

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.

Saturday, July 12, 2025

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.

Friday, July 11, 2025

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.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

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.

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

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.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

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.

Monday, July 7, 2025

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.

Sunday, July 6, 2025

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.

Saturday, July 5, 2025

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.

Friday, July 4, 2025

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.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

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.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

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.