- Joined
- Nov 11, 2009
- Messages
- 8,247
- Reaction score
- 6,772
DNA Doe Project Case Update: Ventura County Jane Doe - Westlake Village, California (1980)
We have been diligently working on this case for over two years. Due to the lack of close matches and endogamy in the ancestral trees of her DNA cousins and complications related to tracing the migration of persons from Mexico to the United States we still haven’t identified her immediate family.
Our team has had some success in identifying common ancestors between Ventura County Jane Doe, and her DNA cousins. Although we have found connections, and possible surnames and geographic locations of interest, these DNA cousins are very distant, and therefore we still haven’t been able to reach her identity. This is where you can help! Please Share and upload and opt-in at GEDmatch.com and FTDNA.
Our previous update on this case focused on the following five regions of interest, from where different lines of her ancestry originate:
* Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico (The Mexican states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon)
*Central Mexico (The Mexican States of Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and San Luis Potosí),
* Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado,
* Indigenous California
* Guatemala
She may have also had a more distant connection to England, Ireland, and/or French Canada.
We believe that the father of her unborn child is from Choluteca, Honduras, and either he or one of his biological parents have the surname Baca,
One area where we have made significant progress is her ancestral connection to the Mexican state of Zacatecas (in our Central Mexico cluster). We strongly believe that one line of her ancestry originates from the small community of La Blanca, Bajio de la Tesorera (in a city now named General Pánfilo Natera). We believe that two of her direct ancestors are a couple named Ponciano Montellano (born about 1823) and Feliciana Rojas (born about 1824).
Ponciano and Feliciana had six daughters (Paula, Martina, Maria Refugio, Catarina, Albina, and Antonia) and one son (Gabriel). Several of their descendants have migrated to the United States, particularly in the El Paso Texas, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Southern California areas. Martina Montellano-Solis died in 1861 during childbirth of her only child - a daughter named Bernardina.
Some common surnames among other descendants of the Montellano family who have migrated to the United States are: Aleman, Alvarez (or Alvarado), Arizmendi, Betancourt, Campos, Cuevas, Hernandez, Lara, Lira, Ortiz, Parga, Payan, Ramirez, Salazar, Sustayta, and Villareal.
As of May 5, 2021 we have a couple of matches greater than 100 cM. Those matches have extremely endogamous families and are likely 4th cousins or more distant.
We have been diligently working on this case for over two years. Due to the lack of close matches and endogamy in the ancestral trees of her DNA cousins and complications related to tracing the migration of persons from Mexico to the United States we still haven’t identified her immediate family.
Our team has had some success in identifying common ancestors between Ventura County Jane Doe, and her DNA cousins. Although we have found connections, and possible surnames and geographic locations of interest, these DNA cousins are very distant, and therefore we still haven’t been able to reach her identity. This is where you can help! Please Share and upload and opt-in at GEDmatch.com and FTDNA.
Our previous update on this case focused on the following five regions of interest, from where different lines of her ancestry originate:
* Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico (The Mexican states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon)
*Central Mexico (The Mexican States of Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and San Luis Potosí),
* Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado,
* Indigenous California
* Guatemala
She may have also had a more distant connection to England, Ireland, and/or French Canada.
We believe that the father of her unborn child is from Choluteca, Honduras, and either he or one of his biological parents have the surname Baca,
One area where we have made significant progress is her ancestral connection to the Mexican state of Zacatecas (in our Central Mexico cluster). We strongly believe that one line of her ancestry originates from the small community of La Blanca, Bajio de la Tesorera (in a city now named General Pánfilo Natera). We believe that two of her direct ancestors are a couple named Ponciano Montellano (born about 1823) and Feliciana Rojas (born about 1824).
Ponciano and Feliciana had six daughters (Paula, Martina, Maria Refugio, Catarina, Albina, and Antonia) and one son (Gabriel). Several of their descendants have migrated to the United States, particularly in the El Paso Texas, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Southern California areas. Martina Montellano-Solis died in 1861 during childbirth of her only child - a daughter named Bernardina.
Some common surnames among other descendants of the Montellano family who have migrated to the United States are: Aleman, Alvarez (or Alvarado), Arizmendi, Betancourt, Campos, Cuevas, Hernandez, Lara, Lira, Ortiz, Parga, Payan, Ramirez, Salazar, Sustayta, and Villareal.
As of May 5, 2021 we have a couple of matches greater than 100 cM. Those matches have extremely endogamous families and are likely 4th cousins or more distant.
I mixed up my own pretty straightforward family tree trying to trace a known person. I can't imagine trying to keep everything straight for unknowns and maybes. You and everybody who tackles it has my deep respect.
