Where the stories may go in 2026

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Tree of Life, Frane Delalle. Accra. 10 Dec 2025.

The mural above from the entrance of the Accra International Conference Centre in Ghana is massive. My photo shows the central panel, and there are two other large panels on either side. The murals were painted by Croatian artist Frane Delalle in 1990-1991, with the title The Tree of Life. As I look ahead to the new year, I hope to fill out some of the missing branches on our own tree of life and add to the leaves of stories in our history.

Last year I set some ambitious goals and shared monthly progress posts on my DNA research questions. These are going to evolve for January. While I'll continue to pursue some of these questions in the new year, some of the focus will shift to include open questions on Allison's side of the tree. I am curious to apply learning that may come from watching the sessions at RootsTech 2026 in March, as the event always provides new ideas and techniques for sharing family stories.

I am still interested in trying again for a session at RootsTech 2027. Although the dates have not yet been officially announced by FamilySearch, VisitSaltLake says the event may be at the Salt Palace 4-6 March 2027. This is conveniently the week before I'm supposed to be in Europe that March.

In the new year we'll receive updated Big Y results for our cousin Greg and the Campuzano line. Hopefully these results will give a more recent timeline for our Spanish connection.

I would like to figure out the connection to the mystery matches descending from Trinidad Leyva, and fill in the gaps on our Portillo side of the tree.

On the mtDNA front, we have results pending for another cousin in the maternal line path of Maria Jesus Vasquez. I'm looking forward to what we can learn from the shared mtDNA matches. I am also still very interested to see if mtDNA can help sort out the lines descending from John Carter (1715-1783).

In family history TV, a new season of Finding Your Roots begins on 6 January, and I expect more episodes of Who Do You Think You Are may be available on YouTube. I was able to catch quite a few episodes while in the UK earlier in the month. The episodes from Season 22 with Andrew Garfield, Mishal Husain and Diane Morgan were really good.

There's always the unexpected and new stories that come available as sources are scanned and added to the various sites. Many of the major family history platforms add new material and features leading up to RootsTech (and throughout the year).

Research Reflections on 2025

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. RootsTech, SLC. 5 Mar 2025.

As with last year, I'm using this post to look back on the research discoveries from 2025 and see how I did with the priorities I set for myself at the end of 2024. Continuing education was a big theme of 2025, as I attended RootsTech in person in March, watched a lot of family history YouTube and YourDNAGuide sessions. I participated in the DNA Study Group, the YDG member community on Circle, and online courses on YDNA, mtDNA and Shared Matches of Matches. I am looking forward to maintaining this ongoing education trend in the near year.

Setting research questions and tracking them each month was useful to maintain some focus, although I continue to use a "bounce around" approach to following different research subjects on the blog. Overall I think the monthly research recaps do keep me on target and accountable to follow-through on a particular question as the year progresses.

Looking back, in January I received my mtDNA results through FamilyTreeDNA. In February my Big Y results arrived. While there's more to do with both, receiving these results gave me a much deeper understanding of the maternal and paternal paths of my side of tree.

During the year I was also able to work with cousins Catherine and Lynn on their mtDNA kits, and their results have added to the incredible stories for two maternal branches in our tree (see this post from September, and this one from November). Thanks to our cousin Greg, a few weeks ago we received his initial YDNA haplogroup for the Campuzano line. Seeing the Big Y results in 2026 will be an upcoming highlight for next year.

With 324 posts (and counting), I've surpassed last year blog post total and am approaching 2012's top spot. While I don't set out to publish something every day, I did try to publish more frequently in 2025. Many of these were new discoveries on different branches of our shared family tree. In January I learned about a surprising Algerian connection on Allison's side with her 5th-great-grandfather Jean Pierre Halter. A branch of this family continued with their epic journey from France to Algeria to Brazil, and this made for a fascinating discovery.

We also learned that Allison and I share a common ancestor in our 8th-great-grandfather Philip Truax. This also means we both have a common ancestor in our Dutch New Amsterdam founders Philippe du Trieux and Lodewyck Post.

This year I put AI tools to the test, such as Claude, Ideogram, Perplexity, Runway, and MyHeritage's photo editing. By summer, other tools such as Suno arrived. I created some imagined scenes from the life of ancestors, such as my 3xgreats Marianna Haiss Oyler and Samuel Oyler at the Buck Tavern in 1850s Ohio, and 2xgreat-aunt Agnes Atherton O'Brien performing in 1890.

As for genealogy tools, I tested BanyanDNA on the generation of connection with the mystery O'Brien matches and learned about XDNA inheritance patterns. I hope to put both methods to further use in 2026.

Reflecting back before moving ahead, I generally stayed on focus with the topics I wanted to explore this year, and I learned a lot. Next week before the calendar turns to 2026, I'll share my updated areas of focus for the new year. Continued growth with DNA research and genetic genealogy will remain a big topic.

Merry Christmas

 

Made in Ideogram.

Trinidad's A-File

 

Source: NARA Kansas City. A-files.

On Monday a digital copy of the Alien Registration File for Trinidad Leyva arrived in my inbox from the National Archives in Kansas City. Unlike other copies I have received, this one was strikingly limited in new information. This record confirmed her birthdate and location in Sinaloa, identifying features, and some of her previous border crossing dates. In the record Trinidad also noted that she was widowed and had five children (it looks like she actually had six children).

This record doesn't help clear up how she may be connected to our Mexican side of the tree. It looks like I need to go back another generation on either side of her parents Escolastico and Flora.

Christmas Eve

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dublin, 23 Oct 2025.

We're back from a quick visit to Blacksburg to see the overtime win by the Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball team on Saturday followed by a family visit and college tour at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. It feels a bit crazy to think that by this time next year, we'll be waiting to hear on acceptance letters.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Columbia, SC. 22 Dec 2025.