A marriage bond for Thomas and Nancy

 

Jefferson County Archives. 30 June 1798.

Courtesy of DAR researcher Mary, above is a scan of the marriage bond for my 5th-great-grandparents Thomas Jones and Nancy Tucker. This shows Thomas Jones and James Tucker entered into a bond with Tennessee Governor John Sevier for $500.

Jefferson County Archives.

2025 in my photos

 

Instagram. Photos by Patrick Jones.

Each year I share a recap of photos and travels. Next week I'll have a companion piece on research reflections as I close out 2025 and look ahead to research in 2026. In the snapshot above from my Instagram feed, the bottom middle photo is from February in Los Angeles. The bottom left photo is from Rootstech (shared previously here). The left lower middle and middle middle are from our visit to Lake Murray, SC at the end of March. The left shot above the paddleboarding photo is from our June meeting in Prague, with the middle photo from the Urban Nation Street Art Museum in Berlin. The top row is from Belfast (left corner and top middle) and Dublin this June.

My January began with a visit to Los Angeles, with the city on fire as a I flew into LAX. I visited Campuzano cousins in Anaheim and avoided the smoke covering West LA.

In February I returned to LA, and Allison and I took time to go back to the then-Michelin 3-star Inn at Little Washington. Although it lost a star this year, it's still an incredible experience.

Allison at Inn at Little Washington. 7 Feb 2025.

In March I went to Rootstech on my way to my own meeting in Seattle, Washington. We closed out the month with a family visit to South Carolina.

In April I did a Spring time hike through Bath and the Cotswolds. This was an incredible trip and a highly recommended visit to the beautiful English countryside.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Near Bath, UK. 24 Apr 2025.

For May, we moved Sophia home for the summer and enjoyed some paddleboarding on the Potomac.

In June, I had a meeting in Prague and a bonus visit to Berlin prior to the meeting. The train from Berlin to Prague is also highly recommended. Sophia joined me in Prague and we had a really great time in Central Europe. I think we both agreed one of our favorite stops was the Mucha Museum in Prague.

Sophia & I. Prague. 12 Jun 2025.

At the end of June, I joined Allison and her choir on an epic tour of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. I think Belfast is underrated as a city and is a surprisingly cool spot for street art, food and museums. The Titanic Museum is definitely worth visiting as it gives a solid understanding of the city's importance with the linen trade and ship building. We rode the ferry from Belfast to Scotland and then continued on to Edinburgh. I had some bonus time to visit the University of Edinburgh Archives and complete a hike of Arthur's Seat. Edinburgh was really great.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Choir at St. Giles, Edinburgh. 30 Jun 2025.

In August, we returned to NY. I visited the office in LA in September. October brought on our end of the year meeting in Dublin. For November I caught the train to Culpeper to reset the keys to the Internet.

Earlier in the month I had a stopover in London and a quick trip to Ghana.

Tomorrow we're heading down to Blacksburg, VA to catch some college basketball before visiting the family in South Carolina before Christmas. Virginia Tech is 10-2 and we hope to see some exciting basketball to kick off the holiday weekend.

This definitely doesn't capture all my best photos and recollections of the year, but it's a decent overview.

DNA in the news: Beachy Head Woman from Roman Britain

A new article in the Journal of Archaeological Science (17 December 2025) details new DNA findings on skeleton from Southern England that has been dated to 129-311 CE. It's an interesting publication showing how new DNA analysis techniques can challenge and change previous determinations. 

The skeleton was found in the collection of the Eastbourne Town Hall in 2012 (possibly moved there in 1959), and initially believed to be sub-Saharan African in origin. In 2024 an updated DNA method was used, and the researchers also used Unreal Engine (the same computer technology behind popular online games such as Fortnite) to generate a new digital likeness for the woman. Based on the new information, the researchers have determined that Beachy Head Woman came from Roman-era southern Britain.

Wrapped Season

 

Spotify. 2025 Wrapped logo.

Users of Spotify will notice an increase in copycat end of the year "wrapped" updates rolling out from various platforms. Everything from Duolingo to Uber Eats to even Ancestry is providing a Spotify Wrapped-style recap. (Ancestry's green also recalls Spotify's own Wrapped green).

Source: Ancestry.

As with prior years, I will soon have a year in photos and travel post and a review of my research progress, along with a look ahead to 2026. It is natural and quite useful to have these reflective posts in the last two weeks of the year. This month is racing forward and it's really hard to believe next week is Christmas.

A-File Request Received

I've received a reply from the National Archives at Kansas City in response to my request for a copy of the A-file for Trinidad Leyva. I should receive additional information in the next week or so, and I am really curious to see if the file includes some hints of a connection to a branch on our Sonoran or Arizona side of the tree.