Saturday, January 18, 2025

Marriage Bond

 

FamilySearch. Kentucky Marriage Bonds, 1828.

The record above is a marriage bond from Spencer County, Kentucky, featuring my 4th-great-grandparents Priscilla McKinley and Enoch Holsclaw. I don't think I've come across this one previously. They received the bond on 18 August 1828, and were married the following day. The FamilySearch Labs' search feature has uncovered some new-to-me records on Priscilla's side of the tree, and I've now been able to push back the McKinley family to her grandfather, my 6th-great-grandfather, Michael McKinley.

Rise Above

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Art by Shepard Fairey. Lisbon. 17 Oct 2023.

The shots above and below by Shepard Fairey were part of a larger exhibition that I saw when I was in Libson in October 2023 titled Urban Evolution. I've captured his art over the years in various places, and Sophia's recent shot from NYC earlier this month caught one of his murals.

This past week has felt heavy. We're about to get another blast from the Polar Vortex and the onward train of change in DC. Planning some future adventures has been helpful.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Art by Shepard Fairey. Lisbon.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Cantabria

 

Cantabria. Google Maps.

The ancestral home of the Campuzano family is Cantabria, an autonomous community in northern Spain. The namesake village of Campuzano is next to or part of Torrelavega, the second largest population center in Cantabria. The family mentioned in the García Carraffa volume was from Cuchia, located north of Torrelavega.

Campuzano, Spain.

Cuchia, and its surrounding beaches, looks like a place I need to add to my travel bucket list. There are archives for the church in Cuchia (posting here for later research), although these may be under the administration of the Diocese of Santander. I might have to pair a visit to Cantabria with a trip to neighboring Basque Country as I learn more about my Vasquez and Suastegui ancestors too.

Cuchia, Spain.

Monday, January 13, 2025

From the Enciclopedia Heráldica

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Los Angeles, 9 Jan 2025.

My last post described the thin paper used for the transcription on the Campuzano family. The pages were copied from a huge volume published beginning in 1919 by two brothers, Alberto and Arturo García Carraffa. The 88 volume work is titled Enciclopedia Heráldica Hispano-Americana (English language Wikipedia entry here; Spanish language here), featuring over 15,000 surnames in alphabetical order, A through U. A posthumous publication expanded the surnames through Z to 17,000. The transcription helpfully included the citation, along with the volume (Tomo Veintidos) featuring the entry for Campuzano.

After a bit of digging online, I found a digital scan of the volume on FamilySearch (Campuzano begins on page 131 of the volume, image 82). Whoever wrote the note only transcribed the first two pages of the section on the Campuzanos.

García Carraffa. P. 131 on FamilySearch.

The Campuzano family took their name from the town of Campuzano, next to Torrelavega in the northern Spanish province of Cantabria. This family came from Cuchia, on the coast north of Torrelavega, and west of Santander. We do not yet know if we are descended from this Campuzano family line, but if we are, there's a rich history to learn more about. The entry above mentions Antonio de Campuzano de la Riva, the first Count of Mansilla. The title is still in the Campuzano family today.

A Y-DNA test on a direct male Campuzano descendant of Vicente Antonio Campuzano should be able to tell us whether our line descends from this prominent Campuzano family. Another option, but not as precise, would be to transfer an existing autosomal test to FamilyTreeDNA. Over the holiday break, they had a special $10 rate on the autosomal test transfer unlock for FamilyFinder. This means it cost $10 to transfer a test taken at Ancestry to FamilyTreeDNA and receive a Y-DNA haplogroup result (without the holiday discount, it seems to be $20, still totally reasonable). This will still provide a Y-DNA haplogroup and matches. I did this for my Dad's test with Ancestry, before taking my own combined Big Y, mtDNA and FamilyFinder test. Either way, we still need more Y-DNA testers on our Campuzano line.

I have a feeling that we are connected to this line, and I'm looking forward to reading further into the Spanish records.