Christmas Decorations, 2014

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. The White House, 12 Dec 2014.

A throwback to a different time, showing some of the decorations at the now demolished East Wing of the White House in Washington DC. I have more photos from my visit on that day in 2014, which really feels like a moment in time now that the historic wing is no longer there.

Escolastico and Flora

FamilySearch. 19 Aug 1881. Mazatlan, Sinaloa, MX.

Last week I wrote about Trinidad Leyva, the mother of our mystery match CH. Her parents were Escolastico Leyva and Flora Escovar. They were married in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico on 7 September 1881. The image above comes from their marriage intention document (Informacion Matrimonial) on 19 August 1881. This is a great record, as it states Escolastico was a twenty-six year old shoemaker (zapatero) from Culiacan, Sinaloa, and names his parents Juan Leyva and Carlota Rodriguez (both deceased). 

Flora was fourteen, from San Javier, Sinaloa, not far from the Sinaloa-Sonora border in the northern part of the state. She had been living in Mazatlan for twelve years, with her mother Maria Hernandez. Flora's father, Valentin Escovar, was deceased by the time this marriage intention was made in 1881.

Escolastico and Flora had at least the following children:

• Antonio Leyva (June 1882-1883)
• Ysabel Leyva (1887-1904)
• Enriqueta Leyva (1889-1889)
• Trinidad Leyva (1892-?)
• Juan Leyva (1897-1947)

Escolastico died in 1902 in Sinaloa. Flora lived until 1934 and moved from Sinaloa to Nogales, Sonora.

There's more in the Mexican records on FamilySearch. Somewhere on either Escolastico or Flora's line is our connection to this group of mystery matches. I'm parking this here for now, and will pick up this path later next week.

New look to Ancestry's ThruLines tool

 

Ancestry's ThruLines for KDJ. Dec 2025.

Over the weekend, Ancestry rolled out a new interface for ThruLines, integrating DNA matches into a family tree view. You can then click on any person in the tree, expand backward on a line and see how many DNA matches Ancestry thinks are descending from a person. As an example below, when I am in my Dad's results and click on Robert Thomas Jones Sr, the image shows his children and the path for the DNA matches connected to them.

Ancestry's ThruLines.

The old ThruLines view is still an option, and I think both are useful. I also haven't tested this yet with my iPad, but I think the tree graphics might work better on a screen that I can pinch and expand easily. The new tree graphic is pretty small.

Another cool feature is if you click on an ancestor, you see a right-side profile pop-up which shows how many DNA matches you have and pulls some detail from your tree such as facts from their timeline.

Ancestry. ThruLines profile.

As others I follow have shared, it is good to see Ancestry continuing to innovate and evolve these tools, and I am looking forward to using these to make more connections.

Applications for Citizenship

An article published today in the English version of the Spanish newspaper El País indicates over 2 million descendants of Spanish exiles had applied for citizenship under the Democratic Memory Law. This shows the interest is high in descendants of Spaniards to obtain citizenship.

An earlier article from August describes how grandchildren of Spanish emigrants in Latin America are seeking to restore their citizenship and return to Spain.

Research Progress December 2025

This month has a few updates. Changes are coming in January for the various research questions I've been tracking since the previous progress report. It's also worth comparing against my research questions from a year ago.

Paternal side research

1 - Identifying the parents of Bridget, my Irish 3rd-great-grandmother. This one needs more time, but I am aiming for another extensive post by mid-month, once I'm back from international travel. Looking back at where I was a year ago with this question, it feels like I've made little progress, but I am narrowing the focus and having a specific location to target is helpful.

2 - O'Brien DNA matches. This research question is evolving from the earlier one targeting the generation of connection with the Pennsylvania O'Briens.

3 - Analyzing mtDNA connections in the maternal line path of Sarah Westall and Elizabeth Thornhill Jones. This one is pending a follow-up from test holder Lynn.

4 - Jones YDNA. Pending finding another Jones male to take a YDNA test.

5 - Guthrie DNA group project.

6 - Cleaning up the Thomas Jones and Nancy Tucker research. This one has had a lot of progress behind the scenes, working with Mary from the DAR and distant Tucker and Jones cousins. More to follow later in the month.

Maternal side research

1 - Identifying possible siblings of my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez. Again, not much movement here, but I think with xDNA analysis (see number 8 below), there's an intriguing match in Argentina who may connect to this line.

2 - Working with DNA matches on the Amado side of the tree. Not much different from last month, but I think the Campuzano YDNA and autosomal result will help here once it arrives on FTDNA.

3 - Analyzing mtDNA matches in the maternal line path of Maria Jesus Vasquez. For this one I am building a spreadsheet to analyze my cousin Catherine's matches, and I think this will pay off a bit later in the month.

4 - Guerrero-Leyva mystery matches. There's some progress here as I have more information on how these people connect to each other. I still don't get the generation of connection, but it feels like it will be on one of the gaps in my Portillo side of the tree. I think this one may benefit from an expert consultation.

5 - Resolving descendancy from the daughters of John Carter (1715-1783). Pending a follow-up with the Carter Society.

6 - Identifying a direct maternal line ancestor of Mary Alice Cain Read to encourage to take a mtDNA test. Nothing new since last month.

7 - Campuzano YDNA. This one we're waiting on the results of the YDNA test for our Campuzano cousin, and perhaps in early 2026 we'll have some exciting updates.

8 - [New] xDNA analysis using FTDNA's tools. I've built a spreadsheet with all of the xDNA matches in common with my Mom and Catherine. More to do but I've set things up for after my international trip.

Over the holiday break, I may add some DNA research questions for Allison's side of the tree. These would be new queries to follow depending on testing and analysis with the existing kits we can access on Ancestry.

December in London

 

London Transport Museum. 1951.

As the calendar turns to December, I'm looking ahead to a quick stopover in London before transiting to a warmer climate in the second week of the month. There are a few places high on my list, including a visit to Old Spitalfields Market, Covent Garden, the London Transport Museum, Brick Lane and Shoreditch.

Trinidad

 

Ancestry. US Border Crossings, Calexico, CA.

One of my long running research questions has been to resolve the connection to the Guerrero-Leyva mystery matches on my Mom's side of the tree. In August I tried using the DNAPainter matrix tool on these matches. I've also tried Ancestry's new clusters with ProTools. Now I'm looking at traditional genealogy to see what the records say about how these people connect together. 

My Mom's mystery match CH has 219 cM in common across 9 segments, so it's a strong match. There are a lot of shared matches of matches to CH, including many living individuals in California and Arizona, so I'm going to limit some of the personal data I share with this post. A potential complication I see is there are hints of endogamy, with matches sharing matches who I would not think should be connected together, on both my Portillo and Campuzano sides of the tree.

CH's mother was Trinidad Leyva. She was born in Mazatlan, Sinaloa on 20 January 1892. All signs point to the connection somewhere on Trinidad's paternal or maternal line. The record above from her 1941 US Border Crossing entry in Calexico, California shows a reference to her Alien Registration number. I've submitted a query to the US National Archives in Kansas City for a copy of her A-File (I've had good luck in the past, so fingers crossed).

Mazatlan is a bit south of our primary location in Sonora for my Mexican side of the tree, but Northern Sinaloa does appear as an area where we have a specific connection. Trinidad's maternal line appears to come from the borderlands with Sonora as San Javier is located in the far northern part of the state (within the darker brown in the image below).

AncestryDNA. Ancestral Journey for BAJ.

On the primary side of the border crossing record above, dated 31 July 1941, Trinidad was crossing from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico into Calexico, California with her daughter Rosalva Guerrero. This record tells us a lot, who she was visiting in Mexicali (her cousin Amalia Silva), and who she was going to live with - her son Ignacio Guerrero Jr. in Calexico. In addition to her birth location and birth date which repeats across other records, there are other identifying details and a photo.

Google Maps.

Ancestry. US Border Crossings, 1941.

An earlier border crossing record shows Trinidad going to Glendale, Arizona between September 1923 and January 1924 with three of her children - Inez Guerrero, Ignacio Jr and Rosalva. She had another son, Francisco Guerrero, on 9 October 1924 in Glendale. Trinidad had at least these four children with Ignacio Guerrero Sr, before she had two children with Jose "Joseph" Rivas in Calexico, California. CH is one of those two.

My Mom has a DNA match from CH's brother James, and several from children of Ignacio, which tell me our common connection is backward from Trinidad's branch. This is also exactly the spot on the tree where I know very little, other than my 3rd-great-grandfather Manuel Portillo (born about 1830-30 Aug 1880). I don't know his parents, so one of them may connect to Sinaloa and the Leyva family.

Something else of promise, in CH's most recent Ancestral Origins update, she had 17% Indigenous Americas Mexico, 14% Iberian Peninsula Spain, 7% Northern Spain, 6% Portugal, 2% NW Italy, 2% Sephardic Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1% Sephardic Jews from Northern Africa.

Thanksgiving bread

 

Gert Krautbauer. Bavaria Travel, Google Arts & Culture.

Happy Thanksgiving! Locally it looks like a repeat of 2023's clear and crisp morning for the Turkey Trot runners. May your day be tasty and festive.

Holiday Painting

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dublin. 23 Oct 2025.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dublin. 23 Oct 2025.

More Korean War era draft cards

 

Fold3. US Korean War era draft card. 1948.

At the beginning of the month, I wrote about the new collection of US Korean War era draft registration cards available on Fold3. When the database launched, registration cards from 10 states were available. Ancestry and Fold3 have now added 10 more states to the set. Above is a card for Allison's paternal grandfather, James Ross Havens. In 1948 he was a student at Evansville College (now the University of Evansville), and was a Navy veteran of World War II.

Fold3. 1948.

The draft registration card for Allison's maternal grandfather is also above, showing he was working as a postal carrier in Evansville in 1948. Like James, Fritz was a veteran of World War II and served in the US Army.

FTDNA updates to the MitoTree

 

Source: FTDNA. 24 Nov 2025.

FamilyTreeDNA has published an update on new mtDNA haplogroups added to the MitoTree of Humankind. It looks like new and updated haplogroups may be rolling out soon for those who have taken the mtFull sequence test with FamilyTreeDNA. My own mtDNA haplogroup has not yet updated, but the time tree graphic on my discover page has changed.

In March, the result showed the most recent common maternal ancestor for this line was estimated to be born about 1100 CE with three DNA tested descendants. Now the discover report is showing 850 CE, with six DNA tested descendants.

There's more to read based on these improvements. The FTDNA website is running a bit slow at the moment, but I'll check back this week to see what is new and changed.

Always warm and bright

 

London Transport Museum. 1912.

XDNA Inheritance

 

Source: Blaine Bettinger. The Genetic Genealogist, 2008.

In July 2025, I wrote about using XDNA with DNA matches. I am looking again at XDNA patterns, now that I also have access to my cousin Catherine's results with FamilyTreeDNA. I can compare XDNA matches in common between Catherine and my Mom, and possibly try to identify the most recent common ancestor with matches on the Mexican or Chilean sides of the tree.

Catherine and my Mom share 36 cM of XDNA, and 208 cM of autosomal DNA. Her common ancestor are my 2nd-great-grandparents Vicente Plutarco Campuzano and Maria Jesus Vasquez. With XDNA, because this has a specific inheritance pattern, those 36 cMs could be 50% from Vicente and 50% from Maria Jesus. In addition, Maria Jesus inherited her XDNA from both her parents, Gabriel Vasquez and Maria Jesus Suastegui, while Vicente only inherited his XDNA from his mother, Maria Concepcion Amado. As one of my research areas is to dig into the Amado DNA connections, XDNA provides another possibility for discovery.

Catherine has another XDNA match sharing 25 cM, but only 12 cM autosomal DNA. This match is in Brazil, so this hints at a possible Portuguese connection. It would help to see if there are more testers with a connection to the Amado side who also have a match in common with this particular XDNA match. We're currently waiting on another Campuzano cousin descending from Vicente Plutarco Campuzano and Maria Jesus Vasquez to complete his test, so I'll be curious if this match also appears.

Update - The chart at the top of the post shows female XDNA inheritance, highlighting the parts of the tree passing along XDNA (blue for paternal line inheritance, pink for maternal). So, if you have XDNA matches this can be a powerful tool for identifying matches and lines on the tree for research focus.

FamilyTreeDNA and Gedmatch are the only DNA sites I am aware of that currently display XDNA matches.

Revolutionary Veterans

 

Emanuel Leutze. Washington Crossing the Delaware. 1851.

With the PBS documentary series on the American Revolution premiering this week, I thought it was timely to look at some of the Revolutionary veterans I have covered previously on the blog. Since my meeting in Dublin, I've been providing some research assistance with a distant cousin's DAR application involving my 6th-great-grandfather James Tucker. This recap might be useful later in case S would like to pursue a DAR application.

• James Tucker, 1759-1849. He served in North Carolina.
• Azariah Davis, 1756-1830. He served in Pennsylvania.
• James Smith, 1755-1838. He served in Maryland. See also his pension file.

There's another group I think served during the American Revolution, but I have not yet verified this.

• Samuel Pollock, 1756-1835.
• William Allman, 1746-1830. Pennsylvania.
• Thomas Armstrong, 1734-1776
• Samuel Vail, 1754-1846
• Moses Lambert Jr, 1737-1782. New Jersey.
• Michael Braun. 1761-1826. Pennsylvania.
• John Read, 1734-1819. Virginia.

Finally, there's John McIntosh, the Scottish surgeon whose legend states he was captured at the Battle of Cowpens in 1781 while serving in the British Army.

Now streaming: The American Revolution

 

Source: PBS. The American Revolution (2025).

The 12 hour, six part documentary The American Revolution is now streaming (available each night this week or in full on PBS). Additional detail about the episodes is available on the PBS link above and in the image below.

Source: PBS.

Over the top Christmas lights

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Temple Bar Dublin. 23 Oct 2025.

Culpeper Station

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Culpeper Station. 13 Nov 2025.

Yesterday was another of my regular visits to historic Culpeper, Virginia to perform a role in a critical process of maintaining the global Internet. The shot above is from Amtrak's Culpeper Station, which makes for an easy and reliable way to travel.

ThruLines for Samuel

 

Ancestry's ThruLines. Matches of KDJ. Nov 2025.

Ancestry's ThruLines tool currently shows 46 DNA matches descending from Samuel Oyler using my Dad's DNA results. Two of those DNA matches descend from Potter Samuel Oyler's daughter Frances, and another two descending from Hannah Oyler. Thirty-six of our matches are from George Oyler Sr, who moved to America, operated the Buck Tavern and imported Kent Buck sheep.

At this point I am shifting to another branch of the tree, but it is useful to look back regularly to see how these numbers change.

A key ingredient for Thanksgiving

 

DAR wiki & Government of Canada.

This article in the Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Initiative wiki on the cranberry trade in Nova Scotia has a surprising connection back to the Oylers of Spitalfields Market. The article on Herbert Oyler, son of George B. Oyler, describes his family connection to the apple trade. "The growing of apples appears to be in the blood of the Oyler family...Mr. Oyler was born in England, where his father George Oyler, had 3000 acres of orchard, apples and other fruit. His father was a member of Potter, Oyler, Ltd. in Kent, and Mr. Oyler still holds stock in this leading apple concern of England. His grandfather and great-grandfather were also apple men, making Mr. Oyler the fourth direct generation to be interested as a livelihood in apples and other fruits." This connection goes back even further when you consider the 1,000 year lease on the orchard, gardens and farm assigned to Samuel Oyler in Kent, England in 1834.

Source: Facebook. 1940s label.

The article continues into Herbert Oyler's shift into cranberry production, and how he was a pioneer in Canada using the first sprinkler on a cranberry bog. This was published in a 1955 magazine of the national cranberry growers in the United States and Canada. The Government of Canada website also has some historic photos from the Oyler cranberry operation in Nova Scotia.

It makes sense that the Oylers would seek out produce from beyond England to sell at the Spitalfields Market, but I had no idea how extensive this transatlantic produce trade was. FamilySearch has deeds for Potter Oyler Ltd in Nova Scotia showing they had an apple warehouse. Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley is the heart of the region's apple production and is known as the "Apple Capital of Nova Scotia."

Google Maps. Annapolis Valley, NS.

The Brickies

 

Source: Wikipedia. Sittingbourne F.C.

Here's one more post on the extended Oyler family in Kent, England. In 1922, Potter Oyler (a son or grandson of George Oyler?) was elected President of Sittingbourne Football Club. The team are nicknamed the Brickies, and they still play in the Isthmian Football League in the lower divisions of English football.

East Kent Gazette. 8 Jul 1922.

Oyler served as President in the 1922 season, and did not seek the seat in 1923. The team saw some of its greatest success in the 1922 season, advancing in the FA Cup and scoring 102 goals against 20 goals given up. Again, this is a cool connection to English football, even if on a distant branch.

The Oylers and Spitalfields

 

Photo from Spitalfields Market.

Historic Spitalfields Market has been a trading site in London since the 1600s. Various generations of the Oyler family have sold produce at the old market from the mid 1800s. While my own connection to this branch of the family is distant, I know there are others out there who are more recent descendants from Thomas Pettit Oyler and his heirs. There's a great photo from 1910 showing the name Potter Oyler on the outside of Spitalfields Market (I don't have the digital rights to post it on the blog), and it looks like there was a Potter Oyler Ltd operating at Spitalfields up to 1990.

Thomas Pettit Oyler married Elizabeth Potter in Kent in 1817. They had at five daughters - Caroline, Mary, Frances Matilda, Elisabeth, and Harriet - and one son Potter Samuel Oyler. Thomas and Elizabeth moved from Kent to Shoreditch in the early 1830s. Elizabeth died in 1840, and Thomas in 1842.

Potter Samuel Oyler was born in 1821 in Sandhurst, Kent. In 1841, he married Mary Ann Hales, the granddaughter of a grocer, in Shoreditch, and they had nine children. Potter and family appear in the 1851 England Census, living at 8 Fashion Street in Spitalfields.

Ancestry. 1851 England Census.

By 1861, the family was at 33 and 34 Commercial Street, and Potter is listed as a fruit salesman. His oldest sons, Thomas P. and George Oyler, ages 15 and 13, are listed as assistant salesmen. They would later take over the business with their mother after Potter's death in 1868 (for a copy of the will of Potter Samuel Oyler and Mary Ann Hales Oyler, see this page on Rootsweb posted by a descendant of Thomas Pettit Oyler).

Ancestry. 1861 England Census.

The Standard. 28 Mar 1871.

In the 1871 England Census, Mary Ann is listed at 27 Commercial Street in Spitalfields as a fruit saleswoman with her children.

Ancestry. 1871 England Census.

The Oylers invested in property, and according to the survey of London, in 1879 Thomas P. and brother George Oyler built St. James' Chambers a dormitory house that had 420 lodgers. In 1880, they rebuilt 199 and 201 Poplar High Street, and later 203-207 Poplar High Street. Mary Ann Oyler died in 1886, her daughters married fruit salesmen from the area near Spitalfields. One son William operated the Bridge House tavern.

Thomas Potter and George, operating as "T. and G. Oyler" appear in the England newspapers with various interests, from owning The Swan pub on Great Dover street, a fruit business at Spitalfields Market, and sourcing fruit and produce from Kent and other locations. It looks like the building where the Swan pub was located no longer exists, but The Roebuck is a historic pub nearby that could be worth a visit.

A cool item is this photo of an old market token labeled P. Oyler, Spitalfields. According to a Google search, the tokens were used by wholesalers and retailers to track deposits on returned containers and work done by porters. The tokens served as a receipt and prevented fraud.

Source: eBay.

Branches of the family descending from George Oyler carried on the family business and maintained a connection to Spitalfields Market into recent decades. This is a fascinating bit of history and I'll try to check out the Spitalfields Market area when I'm in London again next month.

A link to Spitalfields Market

 

The Western Times, 24 Jan 1868.

I'm posting this advertisement for Potter Oyler and Sons at the Spitalfields Market ahead of next month's stopover in London. Potter Oyler was a son of Thomas Pettit Oyler, oldest son of my 5th-great-grandfather Samuel Oyler. While my 4th-great-grandfather George and his brothers Samuel Jr, David, William and John went to America, their brother Thomas Pettit stayed in England and worked in Whitechapel, London. I wrote about their sister Hannah Oyler back in May.

Samuel Sr's orchard property in Kent may have put Thomas Pettit and son Potter on a path to selling fruit. I'll explore the fruit business and the Oylers at Spitalfields further in the next post.

In August 2014 I took a street art walk through nearby Shoreditch, without knowing the family connection to the Spitalfields Market. I'm looking forward to a return visit to this part of London.

O'Brien's

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. O'Brien's Dublin. 25 Oct 2025.

A shot from the upstairs bar at O'Brien's The Ferryman pub. The sign at the bar says it was established in 1820. My seafaring 3rd-great-grandfather John O'Brien was born in 1793, maybe if he passed through Dublin after a voyage he had a pint at this pub.

O'Briens was one of my first stops ten years ago during our 2015 meeting in Dublin, and I hosted a happy hour for our extended team in the pub this year. This is a lively spot along the Liffey across from the convention centre.

Food as family history

Take twenty minutes to watch this fascinating YouTube video from NYT Cooking featuring Priya Krishna and her quest to recreate her family's secret spice recipe. She works with two different versions of the recipe, one dictated by her grandfather, and another dictated by her grandmother, both without clear instructions for how to recreate the spice blend. The process takes months, including extended time sending samples of the spice blend to her family members all over the world.

Emotional and really well done, and another example of how YouTube as a platform is so good for this type of short form content.

Update - There's an article to accompany the video if you have a subscription to the New York Times.

James Tucker's Publick House

 

Created in Ideogram. Tucker's Publick House, 1817.

Back in the early months of the blog in March 2012, I wrote about my 5th-great-grandparents Thomas Jones and Nancy Tucker. While I've covered Thomas and the Jones line extensively, I haven't spent a lot of time writing about Nancy's side of the tree. I have been sharing my research with Mary, a skilled researcher working on a Daughters of the American Revolution application for a distant cousin also descending from Thomas and Nancy. There's more to follow on this in future posts.

I've run across news articles describing a James Tucker who operated a house of entertainment along the stage road between Knoxville and Abington, Virginia. The place became known as Tuckertown, and later New Market. We don't know if the James Tucker who opened this first tavern was James Senior or his son, James Tucker Junior. In the June 1816 sessions in Jefferson County, a James Tucker was granted the right to operate "an ordinary" at his home. At this time in Tennessee, an ordinary was a public house that served as an inn or tavern, providing travelers with a place to rest their horses along the stage road and get lodging, meals and drink.

FamilySearch. Jefferson County, TN. June 1816.

In June 1820, James Tucker Junior was granted the authority to keep an ordinary at his house, and took an oath not to allow gambling.

FamilySearch. Jefferson County, TN. June 1820.

An old post on genealogy.com says that James Tucker's Publick House was the site of the first non-Quaker religious services in the area in March 1819. "To gain the community's blessings, he offered his facility to Dandridge's Hopewell Presbyterian Church for worship."

Learning about Tucker's Publick House reminds me of other taverns in the family, the Buck Tavern operated by George Oyler in Hamilton County, Ohio, and the Blue Dove tavern operated by Lodewyck Post in Dutch New Amsterdam.

A corner in Dublin

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dublin. 23 Oct 2025.

mtDNA for Elizabeth and her children

 

Elizabeth and Sarah. Color using MyHeritage.

Back in March, I reached out to cousin Lynn, a direct maternal line descendant of Elizabeth Thornhill Jones through Elizabeth's daughter Catherine. She agreed to take the mtDNA test through FamilyTreeDNA. The result came back last week, giving us a mtDNA haplogroup for her, Elizabeth and her children, along with Elizabeth's mother Sarah Westall.

With this post, I'm following the example of my recap A Place on the Mitotree for the maternal line path of Maria Jesus Vasquez. Lynn's result was U5b2a1a1, a uniquely European haplogroup.

FTDNA. Discover report.

There's further analysis to do with the results and comparing against mtDNA matches from that haplogroup. Hopefully the results will help connect Elizabeth and her mother Sarah into another family in Colonial Virginia, and perhaps we can follow their path back to Europe. FTDNA suggests joining the Cumberland Gap-mtDNA project along with several Scandinavian and British DNA projects.

From a search on Perplexity, there are few scholarly articles mentioning this mtDNA haplogroup in Colonial America, but it is an ancient European maternal lineage. It is interesting to see Finland as a possible origin location. On MyHeritage's Ancient Origins, my Dad's report has .8% Sami.

Elizabeth and her children

Elizabeth Thornhill was born in Culpeper, Virginia about 1808. She moved with her parents Joseph Thornhill and Sarah Westall, and siblings from Culpeper to Jefferson County, Tennessee. Elizabeth married Robert Thomas Jones in Jefferson County on 20 October 1824. She and Robert had at least the following eleven children in Jefferson County:

• Robert Thomas Jones Jr, 1825-1847
• Catherine Jones, 1826-
• Elizabeth Jane Jones, 1827- before 1875
• Margaret Caroline Jones, 1831-1894
• Emeline Jones, 1832-1865
• Adaline Jones, 1835-
• Joseph Thomas Jones, 1837-1910
• Mary E. Jones, 1839-1900
• Martin Van Buren Jones, 1842-1918
• Francis Marion Jones, 1844-1865
• Sarah Melissa Jones, 1846-1888

As mtDNA is inherited from the maternal line, all of Elizabeth's children would have also shared the U5b2a1a1 haplogroup. Only Elizabeth's daughters passed down this haplogroup to their children. This also means Elizabeth inherited the haplogroup from her mother Sarah Westall.

One more note, for the image at the top of the post, I used the features on MyHeritage to enhance and colorize the photo showing Elizabeth and her daughter Sarah Melissa Jones Daniel. The photo was shared to me in 2015 by a distant cousin descending from Sarah Melissa.

Research Progress November 2025

Since last month's update, there's quite a lot of new information to share. Several of these topics deserve a dedicated post, so this is a summary of progress on my various research questions.

Paternal side research

1 - Identifying the parents of Bridget, my Irish 3rd-great-grandmother. Last week I had a consultation with a genealogist at the Irish Family History Centre, who gave me some great suggestions for follow-up after my meetings had ended in Dublin. This needs some more time as I only returned Friday afternoon, but there are some promising leads to pursue.

2 - Generation of connection for the Pennsylvania O'Briens. Based on my experiment with BanyanDNA, I think a case can be made that these people descend from an earlier son of John O'Brien, born between 1807 and the mid-1820s. YDNA testing would help significantly on this question if an O'Brien male descendant of this branch would test, and an O'Brien cousin on my Dad's side took the test. I think this research question will shift in the next month, and I am currently taking the YDNA online course through YourDNAGuide.

3 - Determining the mtDNA haplogroup for the maternal line of Elizabeth Thornhill Jones. Big news! We have a result! No spoilers yet, this deserves its own post.

4 - McIntosh side of the tree and McIntosh DNA matches. This topic may change.

5 - Jones YDNA. I've joined the Jones YDNA project on FamilyTreeDNA and I'm using my own Big Y results as part of the YDNA online course I am in, while also looking for male Jones cousins to encourage to test. There's currently a sale on YDNA kits with FamilyTreeDNA. This topic will evolve but for now it is a placeholder for Jones YDNA research.

6 - Guthrie DNA group project.

7 - [New] Cleaning up my Thomas Jones and Nancy Tucker research. Much more to follow later this month.

Maternal side research

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

2 - Working with DNA matches on the Amado side of the tree.

3 - Analyzing the mtDNA matches in the maternal line path of Maria Jesus Vasquez.

4 - Identifying the connection to the Guerrero-Leyva mystery matches. I might try using BanyanDNA here, in combination with Ancestry's new Clustering with Pro Tools.

5 - Resolving descendancy from the daughters of John Carter (1715-1783) using mtDNA. I've joined the Carter DNA project with FTDNA and will be following up with the Carter Society.

6 - Identifying a direct maternal descendant of Mary Alice Cain Read to encourage to take a mtDNA test.

7 - [New] Campuzano YDNA - This one is an exciting addition to the research. I'm working with Campuzano cousin Pat, and she's persuaded one of her male cousins to take the YDNA test. I purchased a kit and have sent it off to Pat for him when they next connect later in the month. It may take a few months for results, but this will give us a Y haplogroup for the line of Vicente Antonio Campuzano. I am hoping this will help clear up whether this branch came from Cantabria, or if there's some truth to the shipwreck tale passed down to my Granny that a Campuzano was Italian, or some combination of the two (a Sephardic link from northern Spain to Genoa perhaps).

A look at the numbers

On Ancestry, I have 79,801 DNA matches. My Mom's kit has 63,850 matches. My Dad's has 51,738. On MyHeritage, my kit has 19,608 matches. My Mom's has 16,905, and my Dad's has 21,131.

On FTDNA, my FamilyFinder (autosomal) transfer has 7,204 matches. My Mom's has 6851 matches, and my Dad's has 7,149.

With this many matches, the new clustering tools are even more useful.

New Korean War era draft cards

 

Source: Fold3. Nov 2025.

While I was in Dublin, Ancestry's Fold3 team announced the addition of new Korean War era draft registration cards covering 10 states. Lucky for me, several of those states are places of interest for my research. Two sons of my great-grandfather Plutarco Campuzano appear in the draft cards in Arizona, and each of those cards provides interesting details. 

My granduncle Ernie served in the US Marine Corps, and his Korean War era draft registration notes that he had tattoos, including initials on his left arm. His younger brother Frank also had a tattoo on this left arm. Another Campuzano cousin has a card that says he has "numerous tattoos on both forearms". This seems to run in the family.

The Korean War era database should contain draft registration cards for potential cousins on several branches that I'm investigating for YDNA and mtDNA testing.

This database is currently at 13%. I suspect further scanning is paused until the government shutdown ends.

Dublin was EPIC

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. EPIC Museum Dublin. 28 Oct 2025.

I'm back from the extended week of meetings in Dublin, and there's quite a lot to cover. On Thursday 23 October, I had the opportunity to book an hour long discussion with an expert at the Irish Family History Centre. Huge thanks to Kira at the Centre for listening and suggesting several research paths on my questions on my 3rd-great-grandparents John O'Brien and Bridget. I have some new suggestions to pursue and will post more about those shortly.

The Centre is tucked in a corner next to the gift shop above the EPIC Museum. There is a cost for their consultation service but I found it was comparable with other consultations I have paid for. 

EPIC was the site for my organization's reception on Monday night. The building is the historic Custom House Quay in Dublin's Docklands. In the early 1800s the building served as storage for cargoes of tobacco, tea and spirits. The location on the river Liffey was also a departure point for the millions of Irish people who left the island for destinations far and wide.

Happy Halloween

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Art by Maxxer242 in Venice. 8 Jan 2025.

Crossing the Liffey

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dublin. 26 Oct 2018.

Reposting a photo I shared on an earlier stopover in Dublin. By now this has been a regular sight during this week's stay in the city.

Guinness Time

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dublin, 26 Jun 2025.

A historic advertisement from the Guinness Storehouse tour in Dublin, taken this summer during Allison's choir tour visit to the brewery. Looking back, I was here 10 years ago during our last meeting in the city. I've linked a few other throwback shots from the previous Dublin meeting.

Live music, Dublin 2020

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Temple Bar, 18 Feb 2020.

I've shared this shot previously (originally on Instagram, and then again on the blog on 2021). As I'm back in Dublin this week for the second time this year it feels like I should revisit some stops during other visits to the city. The shot above was particularly poignant at the time as it felt like this was my last trip before COVID took off. Of course I was in Mexico as things were shutting down in mid March 2020 so this wasn't my last trip, but looking back on it, this Dublin time stood out as I was interacting with colleagues and community.

I anticipate I'll make a visit or two at the Norseman pub in Temple Bar (or may have already done so by the time this post is live). It is one of my favorite stops in Dublin and a place I've returned to many times. There is live music seven nights a week at the Norseman, and they have good food too.