RootsTech 2027 proposal

 

RootsTech 2027. 

My RootsTech 2027 talk proposal is in. The deadline runs to 29 June, but with travel coming up next week, I went ahead and finished the entry. I might send in a second topic, and have the outline already finished.

Santa Monica mountain lion captured

 

SMDP. Mountain lion in Santa Monica. 29 May 2026.

A mountain lion was safely captured yesterday after hanging out in a Santa Monica backyard, right around the corner from our old home. The story reminded me of P-22, the famous mountain lion of Griffith Park. Hopefully the safe capture and relocation of the mountain lion will also drive attention to the Save LA Cougars campaign and the soon to open Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101.

A Family Secret No More

This is a fascinating long form story in the NY Times (published 15 May 2026), about the families from two brothers originally from New Orleans who were placed in an orphanage. One brother went north to Chicago, passing as white; the other brother stayed in New Orleans. The families later reunited through the journalist who was a former national correspondent with the Times. Well written, and the story weaves in old photos and documents to the present.

A Complicated Map

 

Diagrams.net family map.

Earlier in the month I shared a screenshot from a family relationship map I've been building using the free version from diagrams dot net. The map has now progressed quite far and I've placed 28 DNA testers on the map (there are many more known matches), covering representatives from the two Campuzano families of my 3rd-great-grandfather Vicente Antonio Campuzano. I've also been able to use this map with the multiple relationships from the Portillo family connections.

The map has also proven useful connecting 23andme matches to the tree, and placing them in the appropriate place. On top of this, I am doing chromosome mapping and identifying segments in common with the different testers (except for Ancestry, which does not yet provide this).

A third layer to this exercise has been to query the same prompts of Claude (Sonnet 4.6) and Google Gemini, asking the models to analyze the map given the complicated YDNA case that we now have. After a fascinating back and forth questioning with the models and DNA segments, I have a good idea of how to present the results, and where we need to go next. YDNA testers welcomed.

A new life for a historic home

 

Bar Crisol. Tucson, Arizona.

In 2022 I shared a story on Exo Roast Co in the Barrio Viejo neighborhood of Tucson. The shop is now Cafe/Bar Crisol, located in the former home of my great-grandparents Plutarco Campuzano and Manuela Portillo, at 196 W. Simpson Street.

Ancestry. 1940 US Census. Tucson, Arizona.

Roadrunner

 

Print by Keith D. Jones.

An undated print by my grandfather, Keith D. Jones. I've previously shared some of his artwork and stories on the blog (see California or Bust from 2024).

Magnifica Humanitas

Pope Leo XIV published a fascinating encyclical letter today titled Magnifica Humanitas, focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence on humanity. I'm not Catholic, but there is a lot here crossing my subjects of interest, from my primary role to family history research. I regularly use AI tools, and work in a technology and policy field, so this encyclical will have some closer reading to follow.

Throwback post: Indy 500 History

In May 2020 I shared a set of photos taken by my Gumpy at the Indianapolis 500, perhaps in 1937 or 1938. Today is race day in Indy for the 110th running, so I'm resharing the link to those photos. 

2026 World Cup teams based on family history

FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off shortly, with forty-eight teams competing across venues in Canada, Mexico and the US starting 11 June and running through 19 July. While we'll be cheering on Team USA, I thought it would be fun to see what other teams I might cheer for during the tournament based on family history connections. I'm not alone in this, based on this FOX5 NY article from 21 May 2026.

Group A features Mexico, which will definitely get some support from our deep roots in Sonora. Group B has Canada and Switzerland. My 4th-great-grandfather Asa Putnam Smith was supposedly born in Nova Scotia in 1783 (I'd love to confirm this with records). We have a Swiss connection through my Dad's side, descending from the Felmey/Völlmi and Imhoff lines of my 5th-great-grandparents.

Group C has Scotland, ancestral home of my 5th-great-grandfather John McIntosh. The group also has Brazil, a surprise landing place for a branch of Allison's Halter line, and Morocco, where we have ancestral origins links to North Africa and the Sephardic community of North Africa on Mom's side of the tree.

Group D features Team USA and Türkiye, where we may have a connection through the Sephardic community of the Eastern Mediterranean. I also have friends and colleagues from Türkiye and hope the team makes it to the knockout stage of the tournament.

Group E has Germany, ancestral home to many branches on both my side and Allison's side of the tree. Group F has Netherlands, and we do have a Dutch connection back to Amsterdam.

Group G features Belgium, and in addition to Brussels being a frequent location for my travel, we have a Belgian connection through the family of Philippe du Trieux.

Group H has Spain (and honorable mention Uruguay). Group I has France, ancestral home to several lines on Dad's side and Allison's side.

Group J includes Algeria, where Allison's 5th-great-grandfather Jean Pierre Halter settled after departing Bas Rhin, France. Defending champs Argentina are also in Group J, and although we don't have a family history connection there (as far as I know), they will be a fun team to watch.

Group K has Portugal, where we have ancestral links on Mom's side to the Azores, Madeira and Portugal. The final group, L, has England, and we have many family history connections on both sides of the tree. This gives quite a few teams for us to cheer along for World Cup 2026.

DNA in the news: Study on Ancient DNA in pre-Inca Peru

A fascinating paper in Nature (22 May 2026) titled Ancient DNA reveals a family ossuary and long-distance migration on the Pacific coast before the Inca Empire. The paper describes a family grouping between 1240-1410 CE of the Chincha Kingdom. One of the individuals had the A2 mtDNA haplogroup.

Nature. 22 May 2026.

Ahead of the long weekend

It's the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend in the US. We have a full household again, and not a lot of major plans other than dodging the rainy weather. We've been watching the NBA Playoffs, which is sadly missing our Pacers, who one year ago took down the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. I'm cheering on Wemby and the Spurs to beat Oklahoma City.

On the family history front, I'm wrapping up the YourDNAGuide Endogamy online course, and continuing chromosome mapping. The long weekend combined with rainy weather provides an opportunity to update my proposed RootsTech 2027 talk. I'm also looking ahead to June travels and the need to solidify the summer schedule before seats become scarce or too expensive.

There are some other threads weaving in the background that I'll hopefully have on the blog in more detail soon.

Testing everywhere was the right choice

 

DNAPainter chromosome map.

I'm now about two months into the process of chromosome mapping of segments, using DNA data from MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, Gedmatch and 23andme. I currently have about 28% of coverage, with 153 segments mapped to DNAPainter. This would not have been possible without the matches who only tested at 23andme.

About a year ago one of my research questions was to identify living descendants of my 5th-great-grandparents Jose Jesus Amado and Gertrudis Palomino. Two of those descendants tested at 23andme. While only one is still alive today, there's are hints of others in the same line, and if they're open to a YDNA kit from FamilyTreeDNA, this might provide some answers on the family's link to Portugal.

Chromosome 10.

Here's an example from my chromosome 10. The two rosé colored segments sandwiched above the yellow segment are both Amados. The yellow segment is Campuzano from a known descendant of Vicente Antonio Campuzano and Maria Concepcion Amado. The overlap is about 16 cM. The yellow is also overlapping with an orange segment from cousin Garry, showing this is a small inherited Campuzano piece.

Chromosome 18.

Another example on chromosome 18 shows an orange segment from a Campuzano tester on 23andme, with a long overlapping piece above two yellow segments who are known Campuzanos descended from my great-grandparents Plutarco Campuzano and Manuela Portillo. All of these testers only appear at 23andme. The tiny brown piece below the yellow is from a Portillo tester who is part of the Guerrero-Leyva group.

There is a cost to all the testing across platforms. I paid for 23andme+ Premium, which is (currently) $69 for a year. So far I've gotten the value and then some with the ability to see matches only available on that platform and see segment data. Many of the other features I haven't yet used, or don't work as well as tools on the other DNA platforms. 23andme's DNA clustering and chromosome comparison is solid and already enabling some discoveries. 

Plaza de España, 2019

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Sevilla, Spain. 27 Aug 2019.

A throwback shot to our family trip to Spain in 2019. I'm two weeks out from returning to Spain for meetings, once again going to Sevilla.

Mapping the DNA matches across platforms

Last Friday's post featured some simple family maps, built using free tools with Diagrams dot net (formerly Draw.io). This is similar to working in LucidChart, without Lucid's AI tools and no account is (currently) required to use it.

Family mapping in Diagrams.net.

What is helpful is that I can scroll across and build out the trees for both families, keeping the two families grouped above, and then "offscreen" on the left of the chart add DNA matches descending from the children of Vicente Antonio Campuzano. I can then color code those, and show centimorgans in common from the known testers at Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, 23andme, or uploaded to Gedmatch.

This is a manual process for me, but I'm finding it useful to see where there are gaps, groups of closer matches, and then I can use the chart to try to make sense of segments in common from those testers not Ancestry (or who have also uploaded kits to FTDNA or Gedmatch).

Maybe there's a different way to do this, but so far this works. 

Looking for YDNA testers

I'm at a stage where additional testers would be helpful for this ongoing Campuzano DNA mystery. We need to have a few more testers descending from both the first family of Vicente Antonio Campuzano and the second. There is not currently a Campuzano DNA project at FTDNA, but I think there needs to be one.

If you're in the direct male path from one of the branches of the family, and you've stumbled onto this blog from a Google search, please reach out.

Spring in the marsh

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Ithaca, NY. 15 May 2026.

Year Two in the Books

College move-out is underway. A mostly rainy drive north today, with the time on the road aided by some fascinating podcast episodes to keep the drive interesting. I highly recommend the One Song podcast (available on Spotify and YouTube). Now I need to read the new memoir from Fab 5 Freddy called Everybody's Fly. Freddy's host duties on Yo! MTV Raps were hugely influential, especially as the show overlapped with my own years as a high school student. I know his show, and his efforts overall opened up a lot of minds to hip hop beyond the roots of the genre.

Crista Cowan's Stories That Live In Us podcast series (available on Spotify, also YouTube) covering the family history stories connected to the states ahead of the America 250 anniversary has also been good and I listened to a few of those as well on the drive.

This week Spotify also released a 20 Year Anniversary feature, covering a personalized recap of my (or your) own Spotify listening history based on their annual Wrapped recap. I was a little surprised to see my Spotify history goes back to 2011. While I think I have an eclectic mix of most streamed songs on my 20 year playlist, I was also impressed to see the number one most streamed by me since 2011 was Blind Melon's Change. 

Released in 1992, the song still holds up strong - ignore the video if you look it up on YouTube, listen to the music. The band's lead singer Shannon Hoon, born in Lafayette, Indiana (also the stomping grounds of Guns N' Roses legend Axl Rose), died in 1995 during my senior year of college. The band had a brief life but continuing legacy, and is underrated as an important band of the 90s.

Tomorrow is a day of packing, cleaning out the dorm and preparing for the drive home.

RootsTech 2027 Call for Presentations

 

RootsTech 2027.

The call for presentations for RootsTech 2027 is open. As seen in the screen capture above, the submission deadline is 29 June 2026. Last year I submitted a proposal for a 20 minute online topic, knowing I would be following remotely while in India for my March 2026 meetings. RootsTech 2027 aligns with my planned travel later in the month so I can attend in person in Salt Lake City and then continue on to Europe for meetings.

I think I have a better concept for a talk this year and have already started to build the format along with relevant sources and images.

Quiet

Posts have been slow for the past few days with the Mothers Day weekend, preparations for college move-out for our student, and AP exams for our other student. In the background there have been a lot of other moving parts - an expert consultation, more chromosome mapping, and reaching out to cousins who may have the missing key (DNA) to unlock some mysteries on the Mexican side of the tree.

There are some new discoveries and cool stories coming to the blog soon enough, but there are a few more loose ends. 

Vicente's Two Families

 

Vicente Antonio Campuzano's first family.

While trying to untangle the relationships and DNA connections descending from my 3rd-great-grandfather Vicente Campuzano and his two families, it is helpful to step back, draw some pictures and look at what we have. An illustration of Vicente's first family with Benancia Gutierrez is above. On Ancestry's Thrulines tool, my Mom and her two sisters have differing numbers of DNA matches descending from the children of Vicente and Benancia Gutierrez, ranging between 54 and 74. Some of these may be half relationships descending from Vicente only, and others very likely are also multiple relationships connecting to branches on our side through Vicente's second family or other currently unknown relationships.

I'm currently working through the self-paced Endogamy and DNA course through YourDNAGuide. It is timely and helpful, as I can now more easily see the problem of multiple relationships and DNA inheritance on this side of the tree. Previously I wrote about Maria Antonia Campuzano, who married Juan Bautista Calles. If my research is correct, Juan's father was Joseph Manuel Calles, and Juan's sister was Maria Manuela Calles (grandmother of my 2nd-great-grandfather Manuel Portillo). Maria Antonia's sister, Maria Teresa de Jesus Campuzano, married Francisco Calles, who is probably connected into Juan Bautista Calles' family. So we have multiple relationships there with sisters marrying men from a likely connected Calles line, and the Calles men also connecting into my Portillo side.

We also have Ygnacio Campuzano, who had a family with Mariana Portillo. Francisco Calles and Maria Teresa de Jesus served at witnesses to the wedding of Ygnacio and Mariana in 1866.

Vicente Antonio Campuzano's second family.

Our line runs from the second family with Maria Concepcion Amado through son Vicente Plutarco Campuzano. Vicente Plutarco's son, my great-grandfather Plutarco, married Manuela Portillo in Tucson in 1923.

DNA in the news: Franklin Expedition sailors identified with DNA

 

Google Arts & Culture. Cresswell, 1854.

A new study has identified four skeletons from the 1845 Franklin Expedition to the Northwest Passage. The English sailors were part of the crew on the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The identifications were made using DNA analysis. Two of the men were identified through mtDNA connections to donor matches, and another through YDNA (see study in ScienceDirect, 6 May 2026).

Returning to our shoemaker in Altar

 

Made in Ideogram. Vicente in 1859. Altar, Sonora.

In December 2025 I created a likeness on Ideogram for my 3rd-great-grandfather Vicente Antonio Campuzano, working as a shoemaker in 1852. Vicente had two families, and from the first branch of the family we have a Big Y 700 tester in cousin Greg. His result provided a clear Iberian connection. A Big Y test has come back from the side of the second family, connecting to my own branch on the Campuzano side. The results are not what I expected, and I'm doing some additional analysis - and guided consultation next Monday - to understand how to proceed next.

There are definite hints of a connection to the Portillo side of the tree. I'll be exploring this further, and first need to connect again with the Big Y testers. 

Segments in common

 

23andme. Chromosome browser comparison.

I'm continuing to work with DNA data and the chromosome browser tools on FTDNA, MyHeritage and now 23andme. Looking at some DNA matches on the Portillo and Campuzano side of the tree who tested at 23andme, I can see segments in common. I'm exploring a theory that may help resolve a question of multiple relationships, and better place Mariana Portillo on our tree in connection with my 3rd-great-grandfather Manuel Portillo.

Some additional new test information has arrived that calls into question some of what we've thought on the Mexican side of the tree. I'm hoping using the chromosome mapping tools will untangle these complications.

Cinco de Mayo

 

US Postal Service, 1999.

More questions than answers

 

St. Patrick's Parish records. LaSalle, Illinois.

In March I wrote to the Archives for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, and they directed me to the Parish Secretary in LaSalle. After providing a donation and details on the records I was seeking, the staff conducted a search. Late Thursday I received a reply with some photos, which may provide some new information on the children of John and Bridget O'Brien. The image below raises additional questions, which I've asked to the parish secretary.

St. Patrick's baptisms. LaSalle, Illinois.

If I am reading this correctly, on 24 March 1860, three children of John and Bridget O'Brien were baptised at St. Patrick's:

• Ann O'Brien, "born about 1853"
• Bridget O'Brien, "born about 1856"
• Mary O'Brien, "born about 1859"

I have as children of my John and Bridget: Anna Maria, born about 1852; Isabella, born about 1853; John J. O'Brien, born in 1854; Agnes O'Brien, born in 1858. Bridget also had her surviving son from her first marriage, Michael Dooner, born in March 1850. I thought Bridget O'Brien had died in mid 1859. Maybe the entries above are not for the children of my John and Bridget. Baptisms for John J. O'Brien and Michael Dooner seem to be missing. Is "Mary O'Brien" Agnes? Is Bridget from 1856 Isabella? Lots of questions here. 

The Sponsors

Perhaps I need to look into the sponsors for the baptised children: M. O'Kane, Margaret Gorman, and Julia Clark.

Ancestry. 1860 US Census. LaSalle, Illinois.

In the 1860 US Census, there is a Julia Clark, living in the household of Patrick and Mary O'Kane in LaSalle. We also know that by August 1860, Anna Maria, Isabella and Agnes were placed in the care of the Sisters of Charity in LaSalle, and they appear in the list of pupils at the convent. 

At first I was struggling with the spelling for the sponsor of Bridget O'Brien, born in 1856, but looking at this again I think the name is Margaret Gorman. There is a Margaret Gorman in the 1860 US Census in LaSalle, a 30 year old woman from Ireland, spelled Margarette.

Ancestry. 1860 US Census. LaSalle, Illinois.

Another option is Margaret Conway, born about 1836, from Ireland, living in Grand Rapids, LaSalle, Illinois.

Derby Day 2026

 

LIFE Photo Collection. George Silk. Kentucky Derby 1959.

Later today is the 152nd Kentucky Derby. I've previously shared a set of photos taken at Churchill Downs by my Gumpy, perhaps sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s. We're looking forward to the race and enjoying the festivities with friends in the neighborhood.

Research Progress May 2026

Here's a monthly recap on progress for my research questions. As with last month, it's been a mix of progress and stall, with a flurry of movement in the past week.

My Paternal Side

1 - Looking for parents of my Irish 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget. I am continuing to work on chromosome mapping using my Dad's results. I also took the leap and submitted yet another DNA kit, this time to 23andme in the hopes of finding some O'Brien/Bridget matches that only tested there. While I did find matches in common to the James O'Brien group there, I'm so far struggling to see any potential matches to Bridget's side of the tree. I have some new information from St. Patrick's Church in LaSalle, Illinois, but this deserves its own post...coming Sunday.

2 - mtDNA matches in the same mitotree path for Sarah Westall and Elizabeth Thornhill Jones. Cousin Lynn shared some information on a 1 step match located in Australia. Doing some digging, I think there's a possible maternal line connection who was born in the UK and placed on a convict ship to Australia in 1786. Perhaps our Westall maternal line connects back to the UK in the past with this match, how far back, we're not certain yet.

3 - Jones YDNA. No further movement since last month.

My Maternal Side

1 - Working with Portillo matches. Surprise movement at the end of the month following my 23andme results. I can see several familiar names connected to the Portillo side of the tree. This will be an area of emphasis in May.

2 - Analyzing mtDNA matches in the maternal line path of Maria Jesus Vasquez. Cousin Joe's mtDNA results arrived, giving us more matches to compare with cousin Catherine.

3 - Campuzano YDNA. Still waiting on cousin Garry's Big Y result to give us a closer-in-time branch point to compare with cousin Greg.

Allison's Sides

1 - mtDNA results in the maternal line path for Dorothea Sophia Gagelmann. Finally results arrived at the end of April.

2 - Separating out maternal and paternal line matches on FTDNA. Not much progress this month.

3 - Analyzing XDNA matches on Allison's side of the tree. I've added some XDNA matches to the spreadsheet, and have been noting which family group I think these matches might belong to.

Future RootsTech Talk

I have made some progress here, building the bones of the talk into a presentation and pulling together the timeline graphics. I probably have half of the talk built in the presentation and the overall outline and themes are done. More to follow in May, and I suspect there may soon be a call for presentations for RootsTech 2027.

Purple Blooms

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Farnham Castle. 23 Apr 2026.