Turning ideas into images

 

Created in Ideogram 3.0.

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

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

Created in Ideogram 3.0.

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

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

Source material

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

US Census Records

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

Marriage and Divorce Records

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

Newspapers

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

City Directory for Cincinnati, 1910

Death Records

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

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

American Vaudeville Museum archives

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

Searching with Perplexity

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

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

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

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

Crossroads

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Prague. 12 June 2025.

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

Photo by Patrick Jones. Prague. 12 June 2025.

Happy Fathers Day

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

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

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

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

Back from Prague

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Prague. 12 June 2025.

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

Connecting through Ireland

 

Museum.ie Collections. 1950s.

Historic Prague

 

Charles Bridge, Prague. Karl Postl. Albertina Museum.

Shifting branches

 

Warren County, KY. 1809.

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

Prague, 2012

 

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

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

Connections to Teotihuacan

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Teotihuacan. 4 Mar 2009.

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

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

Fly to Germany

 

TESSA/LA Public Library.

Testing AI tools

 

MyHeritage. Enhanced Photos tool.

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

MyHeritage. After AI enhancing.

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

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

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

"Agnes", Ideogram.AI

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

"Agnes" via Ideogram.

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

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

More signs point to Longford

 

AncestryDNA. Ancestral Journeys, Central Ireland.

Looking again at my Dad's DNA matches, I am checking closely at those who have Ancestral Journeys connected to Central Ireland (specifically around the Longford and Roscommon area). I've looked at these off and on as part of my DNA research questions. I am starting to see some patterns in a small cluster of matches with names tracing back to Longford.

There's a bubble group, using the terminology in YourDNAGuide's Shared Matches of Matches course, of people who are definitely connected to each other with strong cM amounts, although they have small amounts in common with my Dad. These people have surnames Farrell, Casey, Donlon and Devlin linking back to Longford and appear in the Central Ireland group for AncestryDNA's Ancestral Journeys. There's quite a bit more work to see how these people might be connected to my 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget's families, but it seems promising that these may link to her mysterious lines. Something I'll pick up further when I'm back from upcoming travel.

Immigrant Heritage Month

June marks Immigrant Heritage Month. I've traditionally used this as a reminder for donations to groups supporting immigration causes. This takes me back to a post I made in June 2016, highlighting the work of Liga Protectora Latina in 1915, when my 2nd-great-grandfather Vicente Campuzano was active in the organization.

Photo by Patrick Jones. DC, 18 Jan 2021.

Research Progress June 2025

Much like last month, progress on my DNA research questions has slowed to a crawl. I have completed a first-pass through the mtDNA for genealogy course with YourDNAGuide, so that's something. I need to revisit the Shared Matches of Matches course. I've also been thinking about how to organize a possible RootsTech 2026 talk.

Research posting will be really slow this month as I'll be in Europe quite a lot. Some exciting things are scheduled now for Edinburgh, where I'll get to view historic documents at the Edinburgh University Library and Archives on my 5th-great-grandfather John McIntosh. He was a medical student at the university in 1775-1776, before joining the British Army. I'll be very interested to see what they have, and will share the results here after I get back.

On to the Finals

 

Washington Post. Justin Casterline/Getty Images. 31 May 2025.

The Indiana Pacers beat the New York Knicks last night, 125-108, winning Game 6 of the Eastern Conference series to book a spot in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000. It was a great game to watch as a Pacers fan. This team plays such a fun style of basketball. They may be underdogs against Oklahoma City, but we'll be watching and cheering them on.

New in family history TV

Another new family history series is kicking off this week, with BBC America/Acorn TV's Relative Secrets premiering on 2 June. This series takes more of a true crime angle with genealogy. The trailer is available here (via YouTube). Jane Seymour is the host.

From time to time I share posts on family history-related series (see here from February). I'm not sure I'll watch this one, I don't have Acorn, but maybe it will interest some who might stumble onto this blog. It might be available for viewing while I'm traveling in Europe & the UK later in June.

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.