DNA testing:
This is a big issue now days.
The mash of DNA testing and traditional Ancestry/Genealogy research is something we have been doing for many years and they do not always mesh together.
DNA is as accurate as possible as it is the key to Life. A cookbook on How We are all assembled. It shows the Truth (as opposed to records sometimes People, or Ancestors wanted to omit) so first off the DNA does not lie. We see posts (on other sites) asking how it could be this or that — sure, mistakes happen once in a blue moon — but done properly, DNA results are irrefutable.
It is important to realize that traditional Ancestry Research, and DNA Ancestry research are two different things -two different “baskets” on said. And, they are usually are not interchangeable given affairs, adoptions, NPEs, and intentionally concealed (or no) traditional BMD records. DNA results do not lie, feel shame, or any of the other things We frail Human Beings do — so, if you compare a Traditional Ancestry over the last 200 years, with a DNA things probably would not match up (as the DNA would expose everything that was concealed or never entered into the traditional man made records) –as many “events” were concealed, swept under the rug, or otherwise “hidden from sight.” So, all We are trying to say is BE PREPARED when doing DNA testing –it will show that which was not wanted to see the light of day! NPE’s (Non-Paternal Events) would probably be the most common (but finding you have a relation that you never knew about is always a good thing)!
Unless your line is like the “Royal Family of England” (that has meticulously documented Ancestry down through the Centuries), and is (allegedly) well recorded — BUT they also were known to have children out of wedlock, which back then was a big “no no” and they could, as they controlled these BMD records,- do what they wanted!
When We “commoners” (as they called “everyday Folk”) do DNA testing, it lays bare that which people, even recently, tried to Hide or conceal, again, such as NPEs. DNA testing, done properly, does not lie. On the other hand, finding new Relatives is a good thing!
Men have yDNA.
Women have Mitochondrial, or mtDNA–
But both (everyone) has Autosomal (atDNA) —
So if your starting DNA testing use autosomal (atDNA) at first (as it is the best first option for finding lost Family connections in the past 7-10 Generations.
It is exciting if branches of Family, that were lost in the past, are reunited !
atDNA testing is the best suited for finding recent Ancestors from present roughly back 100 years. Most people (unless they had someone who liked Genealogy in their past Family and left cited records) don’t know more than their Grand Parents or Great Grand Parents – is common.
As for Irish, the Irish Famine, or Great Hunger(An Gorta Mor) from 1845-1850 (roughly) has left a terrible mark, and worse memories for the Irish Diaspora, down to this very day – mainly because it was man made Famine! So bad, that even American Indian’s sent “Maize” shipments to Help Ireland ! Think of that the next time you see an American Indian.
So We suggest you work the DNA, and traditional paper Ancestry or Genealogy somewhat separately until your VERY experienced (as the complexity of DNA is immense and the learning curve is quite steep. Most people do not have time to learn DNA. Trying to combine them (at first without great experience) can be daunting especially given the above warnings. More information is always better (till the facts change and make that prior assumption wrong). But, as always one must apply critical thinking throughout.
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The Families of the Sligo areas is of Particular interest as Our Ancestor’s Family hail from these area, generally South Sligo Achonry RC Diocese
Some Historical information (always good to know):
So, Included here (but not limited to) are the records from:(1) Village of Aclare (Irish: Áth an chláir, meaning “Ford of the plain”) and roughly 50 miles around it in every direction. Formerly, the village of Aclare was originally not part of the same-named Townland, but straddled the border of the adjacent townlands of Lislea and Carns. Later the borders of the Townland were extended to encompass the village. The village is situated on the Inagh (also spelt
The “Eignagh” river, is a tributary of the Moy River (that is West towards Mayo from Aclare, on the Aclare-Swinford Road, and Mayo/Sligo border.
The Aclare-Swinford Road (Unnamed Road or “Tulleague”), runs roughly East-West from Aclare, Sligo, to Swinford, Mayo. If leaving Aclare heading towards Swinford, Mayo, one passes over the Bridge and turns left, and the following Townlands’ (entrance roads) would pass by:
(2) Claddagh,
(3) Claddagh,
(4) Stonepark (goes to Knockbrack).
then it continues into Mayo, to Swinford, the next Townland entrances (roughly) being
(5) Carrowleambeg/Carrowliambeg, and eventually crossing the River Moy (nearDrumalooaun, Darhanagh, Co. Mayo) and continuing to Swinford, Mayo (Townlands not noted here).
—–the other direction leaving Aclare—-
Starting again in Aclare — taking the “High Road” (the opposite way from the above noted direction) from Aclare, going towards Tourlestrane (and then Tubberycurry), one passes through the areas of:
(6) Carns (which is essentially where Aclare is)
(7) Lislea,
(8) Banada,
(9) Tourlestrane.
We attempted to record most of the Ancestral Surnames from the above noted areas (South Sligo and parts of Mayo) and merged them with Ancestries from each noted Townlands into a database. This attempt to “track Ancestral Surnames through time” (as well as current technology can). This work is presently ongoing. Over time, We found that our Ancestors were intertwined with most other local Family Ancestors (through Surnames and inter-Marriage) in the area. The baseline for this is when Cromwell ‘s Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, and Petty’s Map of Ireland 1654-1656, which both were Major changes in the NorthWest of Ireland.
The Surnames We concentrated on are those common to South Sligo Families: including:
O’Hara,
Leonard,
Walsh,
Donnell
O’Donnell,
Fleming,
Ginty,
McInerney,
Gillian,
Howley,
Haran,
Murray,
Brennan,
Kilcoyne
(and others such as Murphy, and Frody) – and as each successive Generation came : Birth – (B), joined with other Families (wife changes Surname) – Marriage (M), and passed -Death (D), or BMDs (the mainstay of Ancestry research for Centuries) the Surname list were established (We had to have a baseline of a few so many one offs were not in the original project: “Kilmactigue Surnames 2007” as We back then titled it – now ten years later most are connected back over 150 years)! Most Families probably have no idea of such Surname Ancestry! Odd.y, We found most Surnames in the area were essentially static as the time passed.
Many were present in South Sligo when the Cromwell’s Conquest of Ireland, 1649-1653, (“To Hell or Connaught“) happened. Over the Generations (albeit at different residences/properties/farms/ areas) some patterns emerged (above and beyond known Emigration) and some are well known, such as Irish Naming patterns — We defined each Generation as 35 Years *(given Irish tendency then to Marry later in life). Some of Records make it possible to track a Families over the Generations, and even movements within Sligo.
Some records such as phone books, allow Us to compile comparisons of the Surnames in the Area to this very day! All this is very exciting, and We hope to host these databases here as soon as the details can be worked out.
The “records” here, generally speaking, are from various sources: including Civil Records, Church Records (BMD, and Confirmations), Land Records, Deeds, Wills, and often (before the advent of Computer Networks) Microfilm/Microfiche (LDS or Mormon Church), Official Ireland Census (and census substitutes) of 1901 and 1911 (presently online) and many, many, others, and with increasing computing power, and new testing (such as DNA) many things never thought possible are emerging.
FUTURE
The Irish Census of 1926, WAS approved for early release by (the then) Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan on 9 March 2012. and was tenatively said to be ready in 2017 — however, given the lack of movement since then nobody seems to knows IF the 1926 Ireland Census will be released before the originally scheduled (2027) release. Most have now resigned to waiting another Ten (10) Years.
PRESENT
The Good News is the many records are available today in addition to those above – such as Griffith’s Valuation of Tenements, Hearth Money Rolls, ect.. We then have multitudes of other small, private records (such as Rent record, and/or Leases), and other Tax or “Cess” Records. The former are mostly all still in Private Hands (Ownership), but some of the latter are in Public Hands (Ownership) waiting to be released.
In South Sligo, Gore-Booth Owned large areas of Land in the 1700-1800s. Later, the Irish National Land League, and Michael Davitt helped,during the Land War, to three R’s and abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on 26 October 1878 in Co. Mayo, then established in Castlebar, Mayo 1879 – and eventually through the Land Purchase Act, in 1903, roughly, returned Land “in fee”ownership to the Farmers/Occupants who worked the Land (essentially reversing what was taken centuries earlier).
More specifically the Sligo Townlands’ of Kilmacteige/Kilmactigue, (South Sligo), Stonepark, Claddagh, Knockbrack , then other side of Aclare, Lislea, Banada, Tourlestrane, Tubbercurry. In the 1800s most records were in Castleconnor, Sligo — For Mayo, includes Killasser, Creggan, Swineford, Foxford, Kiltimagh.
THE CENSUS IS (GENERALLY) THE STARTING POINT FOR ANYONE RESEARCHING SIMPLY BECAUSE OF EASE:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
Pre-1860, f the target of your search (Family, Child, Cousins) is NOT in the 1901/1911 Census, then your initial best going to Land Records, one is done by one Richard Griffith, a Dublin-born geologist: Griffiths Valuation of Tenements, who with many others, created the Primary Valuation of Ireland between 1847-1863.
GRIFFITHS_VALUATION_YEARS_gv-yearsofpublicationmap
It is not a census. It covers who owned what and who rented what, and assessed the value on which each identifiable ‘parcel’ of land and/or property, so they could be taxed appropiately.
Only the head of each household is identified. Family relationships and other personal information were not recorded.
For this reason, few women and no children are included. The very poorest ie those who lived on the verge of vagrancy in makeshift or temporary hovels were also excluded. Their numbers were small.
– See more at: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Griffiths-Valuation.html#sthash.XbAXyCVy.dpuf
—– Now on to the main Sections, after Brief Comment:
When you think about South Sligo, and Sligo in General, one must note O’ Conor Sligo, (Ó Conchobhair Sligigh ) the Lords of Lower Sligo (the main “ruler” in the 16th Century, roughly).
Records-Newspapers (and other miscellaneous public records):
Records, as well as daily newspapers, are also online at various sites as some of the areas available newspapers:
http://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligochampion/
Sat View (OrdServey) of Aclare and Surrounding area today:
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,541044,810039,10,0
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,540894,809212,9,0
The Research Methodology:
John Grenham describes the “traditional way” (pre computer) ofAncestry research: “…find a townland, identify the civil parish, work out the Catholic parish, check the diocese, check the dates, order the microfilm.”
How True ! Now days We end up using computer programs to search the paper records (many been transcribed or indexed), but the transition from paper records, to viewing these Paper records has it’s peculiarities (not to mention the completely missed records), and omissions — computers, like people that input or operate them, do miss things, miss translate, skip, and other issues *IF EVER IN DOUBT, ALWAYS CHECK THE SOURCEs)!
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The Irish History is complex, convoluted, and spans many “periods” as Ireland has been moved to, invaded, conquered, and many other actions, since Pre-History. An area being researched for One’s Ancestors’, One should make it their best effort to be somewhat familiar with Local, and Regional, History, as well as the overall Ireland History as it will impact on what Records were created. Generally speaking, unless your Ancestors were “rich”, the chances of pre-Famine records are slim to none — but that should not stop anyone from checking (We are always looking)!!