Month of reflections

 

Camille Pissarro. Conversation. 1881.

December is typically a month for looking back on the highlights of the year before we start fresh with the New Year. This week will likely see the release of the annual Spotify Wrapped recap of the year in music, and similar year end reviews are beginning to follow (looking at you Duolingo). As I do every year, I'll have a post or more reflecting on my favorite photos, travels, experiences, along with lessons and breakthroughs in my family history journey.

I'm approaching thirteen years for this blog. When the year began, I didn't have a goal to publish the most posts since 2015 or possibly match 2016's number of 263, second-most since the very first year in 2012. I do have stories that I want to share before we dive into 2025. Some of these stories will reflect back on 2024 and some will consider the blog as a whole, where I've been, and where things may go in the new year as I continue learning with DNA, and manage these interests while maintaining the day-to-day family and professional obligations.

Some of these posts will be my own photos, some may include snapshots of art, or might be both (my own photos of art). There's more to come and I'll share in the next post.

Connected threads

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Montevideo. 14 Jan 2024.

Research Question Progress

Another month has flown by and it is time to check in on my progress for the research questions I posed two months in for the DNA study group.

On question #1, identifying the parents of Bridget, I am not much further along than I was last month. I tried to create a Leeds Method chart using my Dad's DNA matches between 400 and 90 centimorgans, but he only has 15 matches in that range across the matches on Ancestry, MyHeritage and FTDNA. Only two of these matches are O'Briens. I haven't added any to the 76 matches I had last month. I am continuing to build floating trees for some of the more promising matches in this group, some have links back to La Salle County, Illinois and Ireland, but I have yet to figure out how they are connected.

For question #2, determining the generation of connection with the Pennsylvania O'Briens, I have an idea on how to proceed but it may involve YDNA testing to confirm how this group is connected to ours.

Question #3 has been the bright spot of my research, and one of my biggest successes to date. I believe I've been able to confirm with DNA that Robert Gran Taylor Gibson was the father of Mary Alice Cain Read. This post puts the long search into perspective.

On question #4, I've built a Leeds chart using Allison's Mom's DNA matches. Her grandmother's DNA matches will show more connections to resolve the question on the father of Cora Belle.

After resolving one of my original four research questions, I have begun to create some new ones. The first of this group is looking for siblings of my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez in order to dig into Chilean records. I've built a Leeds Method chart using the DNA matches for my Mom and her two sisters, and have access to additional matches through uploading autosomal DNA results on to FTDNA. Now I need to sort through the data.

The next one involves isolating the Amado matches on my Mom's & aunts' results. I haven't really started this one, but the work above with the Leeds chart and expanding the pool of available matches also applies here.

I will be adding some other new research questions in 2025 once I receive the Big Y700 and mtDNA full sequence results. FamilyTree DNA's Million Mito Project looks super cool. 

December

 

Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Winter Landscape with Bird-trap, 1631.

Comparing estimates

 

FTDNA. myOrigins (v3) for BAJ. 

While awaiting the results on my Big Y700 test through FTDNA, I've also loaded my parents' autosomal DNA raw data from Ancestry on to FTDNA's platform. Primarily this is to seek more matches on either side, but an added benefit is seeing how their estimated ancestral origins compare with those on Ancestry and MyHeritage. We're still waiting on the promised update from MyHeritage, mentioned back in July but still not released. 

In the meantime, the map above shows the percentages from my Mom's results.

• Central Europe 35%
• Scandinavia 17%
• England, Wales, Scotland 13%
• Iberian Peninsula 16%
• Italian Peninsula 11%
• Americas (AmerIndian - Central & Southern Mexico) 7%
• Americas (AmerIndian - Northern Mexico) <1%
• East Slavic <1%
• Western Siberia <1%

Comparing the above with the latest from Ancestry, if we combine England, Wales & Scotland with Central Europe (48%), this aligns with AncestryDNA's latest update for my Mom with England & Northwestern Europe, combined with Scotland and Ireland (48%). If the Iberian and Italian are combined (27%), that's not too far off the latest result for Spain (33%) on Ancestry. The 7-8% Americas is somewhat close to the latest result from Ancestry for Indigenous Americas - Mexico (12%). MyHeritage has her Italian + Iberian (5.2 and 1.7%), much smaller than Mesoamerican + Andean (19.1%).  

My Dad's results show up as 100% England, Wales, Scotland, with <1% Druze. I wonder if the Druze result is an artifact from a more ancient line of the family, maybe a Crusader-era remnant. It's interesting to compare this with MyHeritage (below) and with the latest from Ancestry (Oct 2024). MyHeritage gives my Dad a .9% trace from Central Asia and oddly 6.9% Iberian. 

FTDNA. myOrigins (v3) for KDJ.

MyHeritage. Estimates for KDJ (pre-update v2).