DNA test done

Finally I decided to get a DNA test done. I had my reservations for a long time- around privacy, around 'unexpected outcomes' and what I might have to do about them... but in the end I went to a few lectures about DNA in genealogy and how it was a new tool that offered many benefits. And I went ahead and did a DNA test with Ancestry who have the biggest database of matches. Thanks to Michelle Patient and also to Fiona Brooker who delivered the lectures I attended, including such informative material. And also to the Feilding group of NZSG who organised the day-long workshop with Michelle that I attended, and to Auckland Libraries who had Fiona and Michelle speaking at their weekend genealogy expo. Interestingly, in both places, I seemed to be among the minority who hadn't had their DNA tested.

At one of the courses I went to, patientgenie talked about the importance of building a 'wide tree', so while I waited for my test kit to arrive from overseas, then make its journey to Dublin and through the testing process, I built a wide tree. The 'wideness', including as many siblings of my grandparents, grt-grandparents etc as I knew, was to show some instant benefits once I got my results and my DNA matches, and I recommend it. (Though I have to admit I built it quickly, and might have relied on a few too many Ancestry 'hints', so definitely have to re-check it all soon!!)

It came as quite a surprise to see how many DNA matches I had- 308 at fourth cousin level or closer. And though I was certain that my parents were truly my real DNA parents, I was glad to find matches in all lines of my tree that were what I had expected.

Some matches were easier to identify with family lines than others. Because I had built a good tree and linked it to my DNA, ThruLines even helped place quite a few matches in the relevant parts of the tree.

The first, and so far only, contact that has come from someone else, came from this 'wide' tree. Her husband was descended from a sibling of my 2X grt-grandfather- so our common ancestors are our 3X great-grandparents. That makes her husband my 4th cousin once removed, and we share 25cM and 3 segments of DNA. I was astounded to realise that distant cousins like that could still share enough DNA to show clear connections. She has done a lot of research on our family lines, and we were able to share info to build our knowledge about "Cousin Hilda" who had come from Jersey as a single woman to join Payn family here in New Zealand.

Cousin Hilda Payn

I looked at my DNA list and decided on a few people I would message. There were a couple of surnames I recognised as being likely 3rd cousins on the Riordan side in Christchurch. I have already had a reply from one. It turns out the circle has fully turned for him, and he has been living in Ireland for the last 20 years, not all that far from Ballylanders, where the Riordan farm was. (He is going to explore!)

I was lucky to have one maternal first cousin and one paternal first cousin who had tested. So by looking at shared matches with one or other of them, I could divide my matches down maternal/paternal lines quite easily.

I decided to go on a hunt for paternal Riordan matches that might have a link to Ballylanders. It had taken me almost a year to pinpoint the likely origin of our "Curraheen" as being Ballylanders, but I was still only about 98% sure I hadn't barked up a wrong genealogical tree of similar names. However, in the process of my long search, I had some familiarity with other local surnames. I messaged a few likely looking suspects. Bingo- the Creagh on the adjoining farm has quite a few DNA matches with us. An O'Donnell match replied and was able to helpfully push back my tree by one generation by telling me the common Quane ancestors we shared.

 This is info I got from Griffiths. I've drawn around farm #20, the Riordan one. You might just manage to see the Carheen fort in the top right corner of the farm. (Farms #11 and #12  are Quain ones.) Next to it are farms #18 and #19, which are Creagh farms. I wasn't surprised to find Creagh matches, and I feel I have now confirmed that Ballylanders is in fact our parish of origin.

So what next? I am delighted with my paternal finds so far, but in a sense they were easy enough, as I was able to bring all my genealogical knowledge about the family to examine the matches. It is a different story with my maternal Lalor line though. I know only that my Lalor 2x-grt-grandparents were John Lalor and Mary (maiden surname unknown,) and that they were from Co Kilkenny somewhere. It seems like I will have to be much more systematic when searching my matches for likely Lalor connections. I will plod away, and am hopeful that DNA will eventually help me through the Lalor brickwall!

Riordan- where is Curraheen?

Curraheen-Riordan connection
aka where exactly in Ireland did Patrick Riordan come from?

The New Zealand death entry for my great-grandfather Patrick Riordan in 1911 stated that he was born in “Curraheen”.

Now that various Irish records have become more freely available online, I have been dipping into the Catholic Parish registers. I had begun searching for Riordans in the Kildimo/Adare parish region in Co Limerick where there was a townland of Curraheen, not far from the River Shannon, but was not finding many likely looking names in this area. Also it seemed a bit distant from other known places for the family in Ballyhea (Malone), Charleville, Glenroe (O’Donnell) which were all further south near the border of Co Limerick and Co Cork.

To check whether I might have transcribed “Curraheen” incorrectly from the register in my original search (back in the early 90s), I paid for a digital image of Patrick’s death entry from the official RGO register. Definitely Curraheen. And his mother’s surname was definitely Quane.
Today I changed tack from searching Irish parish registers, and plugged ‘Riordan, Curraheen’ into Google.

Bingo! In the online 1829 tithe applotment books, I found a ‘widow Riordan’ living in Curraheen, in the parish of Ballylanders.(Also found a John Quane in Knockbrack, in the parish of Ballylanders, on the same page.)
(Ballinlanders was the spelling used in the applotment books, but Ballylanders was the spelling on the parish registers.)

A check on the parish map on the National Library of Ireland website showed that Ballylanders parish adjoins Glenroe parish, where Dean James Joseph O’Donnell, Patrick’s first cousin, came from.

 

So I returned to the National Library of Ireland website to look again at the Catholic Parish registers, this time looking for Ballylanders Parish. Unfortunately, the entries in the register of baptisms only start in 1849, and it seems that Patrick Riordan was born around 1847. But I soon found that I was finding plenty of familiar names in the register- lots of Quanes, and O’Donnells, as well as Riordans. On 16 Dec 1849 there was a “Bidy Riordan” who was a sponsor for a baptism. I wondered if this might be Patrick’s mother.

Then finally I found an entry that made it seem almost certain I was looking in the correct register. On June 4th 1850, Ellen, daughter of John Riordan and Bidy Quane, was baptised. One of the sponsors was Dan Quane. Ellen would seem to be a sister for Patrick Riordan, out great-grandfather.

It seems that I have quite likely found the “Curraheen’ that Patrick Riordan hails from, in the parish of Ballylanders, in the diocese of Cashel and Emily, Co Limerick. I have read that it is possible to trace births prior to 1849 in this parish but accessing the records is expensive. But I will search further in this online parish register later to see if I can discover other siblings for Patrick Riordan.

27 May 2017
Sidenote: Funnily enough, I have maternal ancestors (Heneberry/ Cronage) from the same diocese, just over the border in Co Tipperary, in Ballyporeen.