More testing new tools

In my last post I wrote about MyHeritage's new GAIA tool, and while I had intended to test it over the weekend, I ended up testing a not-yet-public tool built on current AI platforms. This is pretty cool, I can't yet write in detail about this. This new tool is a set of prompts, but seems quite powerful in digging into ethnicity estimates and ancestral journeys across the various testing companies, and highlighting areas worth further exploration.

On MyHeritage, one of my genetic groups is Chileans in Chile. This makes sense as my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez was born in Valparaiso, Chile in 1838. I know the names of his parents from his Informacion Matrimonial in Hermosillo, Sonora in 1863 - Jose Vasquez and Agustina Rojas. There are signs that further back, a maternal line ancestor of Agustina may have been indigenous, but I don't know how far back. Jose's line most likely points to the Basque Country, and the MyHeritage genetic group says that between 1750-1800, top places of origin for this group includes Cadiz in Andalusia, Campiña del Pisuerga (Valladolid) in Castille and Leon, and Biscay and Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country. This gives me some new leads to follow for possible connections to the Vasquez line.

GAIA by MyHeritage

Yesterday MyHeritage announced GAIA (Genealogy AI Agent) as a new feature for its growing set of research tools. I have not yet tried this on my own account, but am planning to try it out over the weekend.

MyHeritage's GAIA.

MyHeritage says this tool is built specifically for genealogy, approaching research like a professional genealogist. It is also built into MyHeritage's databases and tools, and is integrated with the MyHeritage family trees. Having worked with other AI-tools focused on genealogy, such as at YourDNAGuide, the idea of a genealogy-specific tool built into MyHeritage has a lot of promise. I'm interested to see what it can uncover that I have not seen on other platforms. 

DNA in the news: Tracing the spread of Germanic and Celtic languages using ancient genomics

New studies released in Nature (28 October 2026) dive into research on the spread of Germanic languages by examining ancient genomes from populations who migrated across Scandinavia and Western Europe. A second study focused on the spread of Celtic languages using ancient genomics (4 November 2026).

Dia de los Muertos

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Kobe, Japan. 12 Mar 2019.

Research Progress November 2026

October was a slow month for my family history research. I had a lengthy trip to Asia via Los Angeles, and primary obligations led the way leaving little additional spare time for research.  Last month's update is here. For November, I am hoping kick start work on some of those long time questions:

1. Portillo DNA matches and the mystery Guerrero-Leyvas
2. Amado DNA matches and continuing the build on the genetic map of the Amados
3. Campuzano YDNA

I'm currently reading Hunger and Hope by Christine Kinealy, Jason King and Mark G. McGowan. This is a book on the Irish famine migration from Strokestown, Roscommon in 1847. Thomas and Timothy Hanley, brothers of my 4th-great-grandmother Maria Hanley, were part of that famine migration group who made their way to Quebec in 1847. I'm in the process of learning more about their journey and am hoping to share more on their stories in November.

Under the palm trees

Photo by Patrick Jones. Bali. 15 Oct 2026.

 

City Directories update on Ancestry

Ancestry has added 1.37 million records to its US City Directories collection, according to a Facebook post today. The collection spans the years 1822-1999. Taking a quick look, I see a new to me entries:

Ancestry. City Directories. Sioux City, 1894.

Above is an entry in Sioux City, Iowa from 1894, showing Agnes Atherton O'Brien, performing at the Theater Comique. I've previously seen news articles mentioning Agnes in Sioux City from that year, but this confirms her extended stay. 

Cine Con Cultura

A proud Dad moment with S prominently featured in this article on the Cine Con Cultura film festival that concluded last week in Ithaca, NY. The festival ran 14 Sept-21 October for Hispanic Heritage Month. 2026 marked the 12th anniversary of the film festival. She has a great quote at the end of the article, and it's super cool to see this.

In all directions

Photo by Patrick Jones. Bali. 15 Oct 2026.

 

Lucas Museum visit

Photo by Patrick Jones. Lucas Museum. 12 Oct 2026.

Earlier in the month I had a 12 hour layover in Los Angeles en route to Indonesia. I used part of the time to visit the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. I expected to see a lot of props and art inspired by the films of George Lucas, and came away impressed with the extensive collection of other works ranging from Rockwell to street art (Banksy, JR, etc) to comics to Frida Kahlo and more. The gardens have a growing sculpture collection, and the whole complex sits in Exposition Park next to the University of Southern California and Memorial Stadium.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Star Wars props.

Narsiso Martinez. Philosophy in the Fields.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Lucas Museum.

Back on the West Coast

As I type this I am sitting at LAX after long flights from Indonesia, with one more flight to go. I’m glad to have escaped the edge of Typhoon Champi, one of the strongest storms of 2026, as it passed by Taipei. I’ve been in Bali, Indonesia for our annual general meeting since my last post. Photos to follow separately from this return trip to Indonesia after my first visit 13 years ago.

My journey to the Pacific included a stopover visit to the new Lucas Museum for Narrative Art about 10 days ago. The Lucas Museum is super cool and that visit also deserves its own post.

There’s a lot of catching up to do. Regular posts on DNA and family history research soon.   

Java and Bali

 

Boston Public Library. 

Maternal side Ancestry Origins update 20206

AncestryDNA update 2026 for BAJ.

Compared to last year, my Mom's AncestryDNA regions only grew by one from eighteen to nineteen, but behind the numbers there's a different story. As I can see across her sisters' DNA updates and with known cousins from this side of the tree, there are some fascinating patterns underway. It's helpful to look first at the six main macro-regions:

• England 40%
• Iberian Peninsula 35%
• Indigenous Americas - Sonoran Desert & Gulf Coast 11%
• Celtic & Gaelic 9%
• Sephardic Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean 3%
• Western Europe 3%

Some groups completely disappeared: 

• Northwestern Italy (previously 5%)
• Azores (previously 4%)

In their place, Canary Islands is 3%, Portugal went up to 3% from 1%, Madeira held steady at 2%. Spain and Northern Spain both increased, and Indigenous Americas - Mexico dropped by 1% with the new name to Sonoran Desert and Gulf Coast (Mexico and USA). Canary Islands is a fascinating new addition to the regions, and it appears to show up prominently across the known cousin results from the Mexican side of the tree. New regions also appeared for Belgium and Switzerland at 1% each.

On the England results, East Midlands and Yorkshire went up to 8%, Southeastern England dropped to 14%, and new regions were added for Northern England, West Midlands (both 7%) and Devon and Somerset 3%.

Looking at Patty and Linda's results, they have 20 and 19 regions, not too different from last year. The big shifts were with Azores swapping for Canary Islands; North Africa, Indigenous Americas - Bolivia & Peru and Yucatan dropping away; new Denmark and Belgium.

Paternal side Ancestry Origins 2026

Ancestry Origins for KDJ. Oct 2026.

As with last year, I'm separating my review of the annual AncestryDNA update into several posts. Looking at my Dad's 2026 update in comparison with last year's nine regions, his results now show 21, a dramatic difference from 2024 when the results shows just four regions. His macro-regions cover the following areas for 2026:

• England 37%
• Celtic/Gaelic 35%
• Western Europe 27%
• French Canada (New) 1%

French Canada is a surprise, and yet we have a brick wall on my Dad's maternal side in my 4th-great-grandfather Asa Putnam Smith. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1783. When I look at my Dad's current maternal line journeys in common with closest matches, I see one for Montérégie, Quebec and Northern Vermont French Settlers. Very interesting.

Within the macro-regions, there's some new areas. Switzerland, not a surprise, is new at 12%. We have several documented Swiss lines on his side of the tree. Central Scotland and Northern Ireland have been split into Ulster, Ireland and Scottish Lowlands and Central Belt. North East Scotland now appears as 2% (that's John McIntosh). Dad's 5% Belgium could be the Du Trieux line. Leinster, Ireland went up from 8% to 17%. Connacht, Ireland is new at 2%. Northwestern Italy at 1% is a bit of an odd sight in his results, but perhaps proximity of this area to Switzerland accounts for some of this connection. France and Brittany are in at 1% each.

Comparing the 2026 DNA update with prior years

My AncestryDNA 2026 update.

Ancestry's 2026 DNA release is out, and while we're still waiting on Regions by Grandparent, it's time to dive into the comparison with prior years. Last year I had 11 regions, so this year's 22 regions is pretty cool. It is helpful to see how much as improved when I look back at the 2023 and 2022 updates, the new regions might be more actionable now, especially when paired with Shared Matches of Matches and seeing the regions of known cousins.

This year Ancestry is launching SideView 2.0 with the Regions by Grandparent feature. The original SideView appeared in the 2022 update.

I am disappointed some long standing trace percentages have dropped off (Nigeria, North Africa for me, our Indigenous Andes for Bolivia & Peru, Indigenous Mexico - Yucatan). In their place, the strengthened Sephardic Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean is represented equally across the kits for my Mom and her sisters. It is nice to see Spain is back in my results again (12%, plus an additional 3% Northern Spain). Madeira and Northwestern Italy have dropped away. Switzerland is new at 6%, and that makes sense as my 4th-great-grandmother Ursula Fellme was fully Swiss, and our Lamon branch descending from Rudolph Lehman was Swiss.

Indigenous Americas - Mexico is now Sonoran Desert & Gulf Coast (Mexico & USA) at 5%. While the name is new, the percentage is about the same as prior years. I had expected to see more sub-regions in Mexico across the kits I manage. Fortunately shared matches of matches allows me to see the sub-regions of known cousins. For example, my cousin Catherine has Gulf of California (Mexico), which is not surprising, and I am hoping these appear in the Regions by Grandparent feature launching soon. 

First glance, a little disappointing

AncestryDNA. Journeys, Sonora & Southern Arizona.

At first glance, I'm a bit disappointed with the 2026 AncestryDNA update. For months this has been hyped as a big improvement for those with ancestry from Mexico and the Americas. Above is a screenshot from my Mom's Journeys for Sonora and Southern Arizona, unchanged since 2025. Knowing what I know about the Mexican branches of the tree, and our extended Chilean branches from my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez, I was really expecting an explosion of new sub-regions for Mexico and the Americas. So far, there's only one, and it looks like the image below. :(

Ancestry. 2026 DNA Update for Sonoran Desert & Gulf Coast.

Yeah. This is something...perhaps there are more updates coming. Or the still pending Regions by Grandparent will give more insight. For someone with a long and deep detailed Mexican heritage with records, I expected a bit more. And so far, Chile and Indigenous Americas - Andes has dropped away for our 2026 update, which is really disappointing.

There are some positives...but only because I have Shared Matches of Matches with ProTools and can see known cousins I've already documented how they connect with our lines. I can see their updated DNA regions, and can see some patterns not obvious if I was only looking at my results. So my usual snap DNA analysis of the DNA changes is taking a bit longer. There's a lot more data to consider for the kits I manage, and a lot of nuance in the differences. Some new regions for 2026 directly relate to my current research questions. The Canary Islands were already on my travel bucket list and now more so. 

I will have a few more posts on the 2026 update before travel demands take over and I'll be catching up later in the month.

Coming soon: Ancestry regions by grandparent

AncestryDNA. 2026 update.

Ancestry is in the process of rolling out the 2026 DNA update. I'll have a separate in-depth post looking at the changes across the kits I manage. In the meantime, a new feature I'm still waiting to receive is regions by grandparent. When I click on the image above, I see my updated 2026 regions divided by parents, with a green box for "Coming Soon: Regions by Grandparent".

I was really hyped for the potential of the 2026 regions update. Looking at the data, I have mixed feelings. I've lost some small percentages for regions that I've had for a while. Some old areas that had disappeared for me are now back, and a few new regional surprises. I now have the benefit of comparing the changes across a bigger set and with shared matches, and some of the lost regions still appear in these cousins. 

Anticipation

Ancestry's 2026 DNA update drops tomorrow. I'm very curious to see what changes, how the update differs from previous versions, and compares with similar results on 23&Me. 

A few areas I'll be looking closely into:

• SideView 2.0
• Journeys by grandparent
• Improved regions for Mexico and the Americas 

RootsTech 2027 session summaries

Summary descriptions of 276 class sessions for RootsTech 2027 are available on the RootsTech website. The page says the list changes frequently and attendees may be able to plan schedules for sessions to watch in January 2027.

From the initial descriptions, there are many that jump out, so I'll need to prioritize those I can see live vs watch later.

A complicated genetic map

When I last looked at the Guerrero-Leyva connections in January, I considered the possibility this mystery branch could be connected through Alejandro Portillo, a half-brother or potentially a full brother of my 2nd-great-grandfather Manuel Portillo. Using the approach from successfully knocking down the brick wall on Bridget Gannon, I've been building a genetic map for the Portillo side and chromosome mapping on DNAPainter.

There are potential multiple relationships, previously missed half-relationships and some gaps in the records that require careful attention. I need to look again at Escolastico Leyva and Flora Escovar in the records, and for additional DNA matches descending from them. There's also some new to me options on Gedmatch for a couple of matches to the Guerrero-Leyvas, Portillo and Diaz sides.