The first webinar in our Research Like a Pro webinar series was presented yesterday by Susan McKee, an expert in Irish genealogy, and a graduate of our Research Like a Pro study group in the fall of 2023. Born and raised in Dublin, Susan brings a unique perspective to Irish family research, combining her native understanding of Irish culture with professional genealogical expertise. Now residing in Seattle, she serves as a contributing writer for Irish...
When you hear the term endogamy, what communities come to mind? French Canadians, Puerto Ricians, Mennonites, Pacific Islanders, and Ashkenazi Jews are common examples. Some of these examples are from island peoples, so what about the Irish? Last time, I discussed the effect of a clearly endogamous community, Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ), on a relatively non-endogamous community, German, within my dad’s match list. My dad has more AJ matches with longer segments (greater than 20 cM),...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Rick Wilson. Rick joined us in Research Like a Pro Study Group 7 and is a skilled researcher and writer. In episode 198, he shared how Y-DNA and autosomal DNA pointed to John Wilson’s origins being in County Fermanagh, Ireland. In this episode he shares how historical context and additional documentary evidence aided his research. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Rick Wilson. Rick joined us in Research Like a Pro Study Group 7 and is a skilled researcher and writer. He shares his research to identify the origins of his 6th great grandfather, John Wilson. The Big Y-700 test was helpful in pointing to a specific county within Ireland. Then, Rick used autosomal DNA of a cousin two generations closer to John Wilson to...
Using both Y-DNA and autosomal DNA (at-DNA) in the previous two blog posts, the ancestral origin of John Wilson (1716-1799) appears to be in an area east of Enniskillen, which is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The purpose of the final blog post is to use documentary evidence to corroborate previous findings and use historical writings to provide rich context to John Wilson’s story of immigration to America. For the documentary portion...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about researching in Irish records. Jessica Morgan, AG, joins us again and shares her extensive experience researching Irish ancestors. We discuss the importance of historical context, the record scarcity in Ireland, and what is possible to find in the records that do remain. She also teaches us about Irish jurisdictions and the power of local history. Join us as we go over Irish record types and...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the essential questions to ask before you start researching your Irish immigrant ancestor in Ireland. The first questions have to do with learning about an Irish ancestor’s birth year range, year of immigration, friends and family, and county of origin. Finding these details will help you know where to focus once you begin researching in Ireland. Join our Irish research expert, Jessica Morgan, AG, as she...
In this series we explored how to research Irish ancestors and trace their origins in Ireland – from gathering information in America to consulting maps of Irish farmlands, I hope this has been informative in your quest to learn about your Irish roots. This last post in the series focuses on fleshing out your Irish ancestor’s story through local and contextual history. Once you’ve discovered the location of that coveted townland or house-plot for your...
In previous posts, we discussed research methods to determine where your ancestor came from in Ireland, and we examined available resources both in the U.S. and in Ireland. If you’ve discovered a placename associated with your ancestor, whether in U.S. or Irish records, you may ask yourself: where in Ireland is this? A lot of places in Ireland carry the same name: did your ancestor come from Ballymoney in County Antrim, or in County Cork?...
In this series we’ve discussed the important resources to consult for your Irish ancestor in America. At this point, you should hopefully be armed with some specifics about your ancestor, their Irish-born family, and an idea of what province, county, or parish they came from in Ireland. Now, we will cross the Atlantic and examine the resources you will use in Ireland to pinpoint your ancestral family. First, it’s crucial to provide some historical context...