Helping a connection

At the beginning of March, I received a note through Ancestry from a DNA connection. I was in Puerto Rico at the time for meetings and not able to respond immediately, but I could tell he was a close connection as he was listed as a potential 2nd-3rd cousin. A few weeks later he sent me a reminder and I took a closer look. This connection only had four names on his tree, but one appeared to be of Spanish or Latino origin, so I assumed the connection might be on my Granny's side of the tree. He only knew his mother's name, but no knowledge of her family. After a bit of back and forth messages and some digging in Ancestry's records, I stumbled onto the connection. His grandmother and my Granny were sisters.

I have covered the Campuzano family of my great-grandfather Plutarco quite extensively on the blog. It was nice to connect with this cousin and provide him with an introduction to a side of the family that he never knew existed. The history on this side of the family is deep and rich, so it is great to be able to share that information.

In my AncestryDNA results, I have many matches for the region Northwest Mexico & the California Coast and Sonora and Southern Arizona. Quite a few have not connected a tree to their results, or even have a tree linked with many names, so it is difficult to see how I'm connected to this group of people. It was very nice for my cousin to reach out over Ancestry and ask how we were so closely connected. I wish others would do that. Maybe they have old photos or information that would help clear up gaps and holes on my side of the tree.

Kaka'ako

Photo by Patrick Jones. Mural by Sean Yoro. Honolulu, Hawaii. 25 Mar 2018.

During our Spring Break trip to Hawaii, my sister and I went on a run through nearby Kaka'ako in Honolulu. This area is home to Pow Wow Hawaii, an annual week-long street art festival. Many of the murals in Kaka'ako were created by artists I have seen in other cities, but several are local to Hawaii and Oahu. It was a real treat to be able to catch these during our trip. I will have more in a subsequent post.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Painting of Gabby Pahinui on an alley near SALT.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Painting showing a ship arrival in 1929.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Painting of a local store in 1930.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Painting of old Kaka'ako in 1930.

By Air and Sea

Photo by Patrick Jones. HNL, 26 March 2018.

We're back from Spring Break in Hawaii, adjusting to the time differences, and picking up from the week away. I'm backing up photos that captured some of our experiences from the past week. We enjoyed great weather, saw humpback whales, spinner dolphins & turtles on a catamaran tour. While in Kauai, my Mom, sister and I took an open-door helicopter tour and saw more whales, giant manta rays, goats, and other sights from above. It really was a wonderful trip. I will have more to follow on this as I catch up with photos and put some of my thoughts down into blog-form.

Spring Break

Source: Los Angeles Public Library. Hawaii Travel Poster.

After an extended winter and late snow storm yesterday in Northern Virginia, it is time to create some new family memories for Spring Break. Updates soon!

Edgar and Alma

Undated photo of Edgar Jones and Alma Oyler Jones.

The photo above shows my great-grandparents, Edgar Lawrence Jones and Alma Oyler Jones. I suspect the photo is from the early 1940s, taken by my Gumpy, Keith D. Jones, at their home in Indianapolis.