The Wonders of Social Media

Leaving work today, the crossing lady told me to visit the Family History Group of Bathurst's Facebook page so that I could see photos of my newly restored Curran's graves posted there. How amazing is it that we live in a world / time that's made it possible for such a chain of events to happen!

Graves sinking into each other. Photo from Family History Group of Bathurst's Facebook page.

According to the page, the graves had been sinking into each other.  A new plinth was built to stabilise the graves and place the headstones upon.  This work was done by volunteers.  These are the graves of my 3rd great grandparents & their son.  I can't begin to express how grateful I am to the person who told me about it (because I probably wouldn't know about it if she hadn't told me) & to the people who have restored the graves. :)

Restored graves on new plinth. Photo from Family History Group of Bathurst's Facebook page.

I'm looking forward to visiting these graves during the Christmas holidays.  I want to get a closer look at gravestone inscriptions & the design on the cross.

Ancestry DNA Ethnicity Results Vs Expected Ethnicity Results

I received my Ancestry DNA results a few days ago.  Some of the ethnicity results were surprising, especially in light of the information I have on my constructed family tree & the countries of origin of my ancestors.  I decided to compare my ancestors’ countries of origin to my Ancestry DNA ethnicity results.  I chose to look at my 3^rd great grandparents for this analysis because this generation was the most recent & ‘purest’ in terms of ethnicity; of my 32 3^rd great grandparents, 31 were of a single ethnicity, e.g. Irish, English, Prussian. Only one ancestor was mixed, the son of a Welsh father & and English mother.

3^rd Great Grandparents – Ethnicity / Country of Origin (based on constructed family tree)

Paternal Grandfather’s Side
Ahnentafel No.	Ancestor Surname	Country of Origin
32	CURRAN	IRE
33	McCANN	IRE
34	WHITELOCK	ENG
35	CARROLL	IRE
36	JONES	WLS / ENG
37	TELFORD	SCT
38	SWEENEY	IRE
39	McQUEEN/McQUAIN	IRE
Paternal Grandmother’s Side
40	RAE	IRE
41	ROBERTSON	SCT
42	GUYATT	ENG
43	BARTHOLOMEW	ENG
44	FERNANCE	ENG
45	JURD	ENG
46	BAILEY	ENG
47	FERNANCE	ENG
Maternal Grandfather’s Side
48	BARNES	ENG
49	HODGKINSON	ENG
50	WASS	ENG
51	BEECROFT	ENG
52	PHILP	ENG
53	HARVEY	ENG
54	BLANCH	ENG
55	BALCOMB	ENG
Maternal Grandmother’s Side
56	TREVILLIAN	ENG
57	WOOLCOCK	ENG
58	LUHRS	PRU
59	JOPPICH	PRU
60	LUHRS	PRU
61	JOPPICH	PRU
62	KALMS	PRU
63	VONTHEIN	PRU

Ethnicity Results - Ancestry DNA Vs Documented Country of Origins

Expected Ethnicity Results based on Constructed Family Tree:

Irish – 19%

European West – 19%

Great Britain (England) – 55%

Great Britain (including Scotland & Wales) – 62%

Ancestry DNA Ethnicity Results:

European – 98%

Ireland – 38%

Scandanavian – 26%

Europe West – 24%

Trace Regions

Europe East – 4%

Great Britain – 2%

The Irish portion of my DNA is easily explained.  However, I was surprised at the percentage, given that about 18% of my 3^rd great grandparents were Irish.  Although I guess approximately 62% of my 3^rd great grandparents on my paternal grandfather’s side were Irish.

European West would cover my Prussian / German heritage.  Almost half of my mother’s ancestry is Prussian, & ¾ of my 3^rd great grandparents on my maternal grandmother’s side are Prussian.

The Scandanavian section of my DNA was surprising, but early Scandanavians migrated to modern-day eastern Germany & Poland (which overlaps with European West).  Vikings also inhabited parts of Ireland in later centuries.

What surprised me even more was that only 2% of my DNA is from Great Britain.  More than 50% of my 3^rd great grandparents were English.  All of my 3^rd GG on my maternal grandfather’s side were English & ¾ of my 3^rd GG on my paternal grandmother’s side were English.

So, what conclusions can I draw from these results?  Overall the majority of the DNA passed on to me by my father was Irish, while at least half of the DNA passed on to me by my mother was western European (Prussian / German).  The next largest chunk of ethnicity is Scandanavian, which really could have originated from either side through Irish / Prussian descendancy.  Very little of their English DNA was passed down to me.

After reading Sharon Muffett’s post about her Ancestry DNA results on her blog gathering dust, & how she has converted these results to Family Tree DNA, my next step is to transfer my results to FTDNA & compare the ethnicity results from Ancestry DNA & Family Tree DNA.

Then, maybe, just maybe, I might be able to convince some relatives to have their DNA tested.

Mary McQuain - Founders & Survivors: Storylines / Mugshots Website

While researching Michael Sweeney on the TAHO website I came across the Founders & Survivors: Storylines website.  I didn't find much information on Michael Sweeney, but I did find a lot about his wife, Mary McQuain, who is my 3rd great grandmother.  One of the best parts of this website is the option to 'Make a Face', which allows you to create a face for your convict.  It works much like a police Indenti-kit,  It begins with a randomly-generated image, but has a series of options that lets you alter the features of the face to match the description listed on their convict indent (Tasmanian convict indents have detailed descriptions).  I had trouble saving my created face but I used a screen-capture program to save the image.

Thanks to the Mugshots section of this website I have been able to create the image below as well as access 'locations' for Mary - a timeline of where she was at certain points & who she was assigned to :)

Could this be what Mary McQuain looked like?

Worldwide Indexing Event

There are some interesting statistics about what was achieved during this event at https://fh.familysearch.org/system/files/team/ait/indexing/WWIE_Results_Infographic_2_EN.pdf?et_cid=50003502&et_rid=941981914&linkid=https%3a%2f%2ffh.familysearch.org%2fsystem%2ffiles%2fteam%2fait%2findexing%2fWWIE_Results_Infographic_2_EN.pdf&cid=em-1996.

So That's Why There Are 5 Johanns in One of my Families!

I've been catching up on my unread blogs on Feedly & came across an interesting article on German naming traditions.  The post was written by Diane Haddad for Ancestry Insider, Family Tree Magazine's blog.  This article explained why German families gave their children the same first names.

I know that some of my German ancestors named all of their sons Johann.  In one family there is a Johann Friedrich Erdmann, Johann Gottlob, Johann Carl Heinrich and Johann Carl Friedrich.  The feminine version, Johanne, was also very popular amongst my ancestors. In another family group there is Johanne Caroline, Johanne Salome & Johanne Auguste.  This is further confused by the fact that their brother is called Johann Christian, their mother Johanne Christiane & their father Johann Gottlieb!

Apparently German children were given two names.  Boys were commonly baptised as Johannes or Johann.  It is the second name, the Rufname, that they were known by.  So in my second family group example from above, the members of the family would be known as: Christiane (mum), Gottlieb (dad), Caroline, Salome & Auguste (sisters) & Christian (brother).  I wonder how that works with the other siblings though, as there are still some conflicts in this family group.  The other siblings are Caroline Christiane, Eleanore Ernestine, Marie Elisabeth, Ernest Gottlieb, Gottlieb Traugott, & Ernst Wilhelm - still results in more than one Christiane & Gottlieb.  I had just assumed that they were known by both names.  This naming tradition may help to explain why, generations later, family members where still known by their middle names, which I had thought was just a family 'quirk'.

Another tradition in German-speaking areas was to name children for one of their baptismal sponsors. The most common patterns used is similar to Scottish naming traditions.  Sons were named in the following order / pattern:

• First born, named after paternal grandfather
• Second born, named after maternal grandfather
• Third born, named after father of the child
• Fourth (& any further born), named after uncles of the child.

The same patterns applied to daughters - first born named after paternal grandmother, second born named after maternal grandmother, third born named after mother, fourth & successive named after aunts.  I will have to have a closer look at my ancestors to see if they followed this tradition, & then I might be able to have a guess at unknown parents & siblings!

Some Webpages I've Found Useful for Reading the Irish Catholic Parish Registers

Two websites that I have found helpful so far in reading the registers are:

Irish Genealogy Tool Kit Website, Latin in Irish Catholic Parish Registers - http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/latin-irish-parish-registers.html
This page has terms you are likely to come across when reading the birth, marriage & death registers.

From-Ireland.net: Begin tracing your Irish ancestry, Latin names in English
http://www.from-ireland.net/irish-names/latin-names-in-english/
This website has a list of Irish names written in Latin, to help you decipher the names you will come across.  Beneath this list there is also an explanation of the rules of Latin, e.g. :James son of James should read: Jacobus filius Jacobi"; male names that end in o add 'nis, Hugonis.

In saying this though, I couldn't actually find a death entry for my parish, so I don't know how helpful those tips are yet.

Also, Irish Catholic Church Registers: Bog Latin & Other Demons by James R Reilly at http://www.deliapublications.com/BogLatin.htm had a Sampler of Latin terms, given names & abbreviations found in Sacramental Registers was helpful.

National Library of Ireland's Roman Catholic Registers

Well, the Roman Catholic registers haven't been online for long but I've already made my first discovery!  Granted, I knew the parish, & the townland, & it was only a few pages into the microfilm, but I've managed to translate most of the entries.  Some of the other siblings will be just as easy to find, but some of the siblings were born before this register started in 1849.  Finding other Irish relatives won't be anywhere as easy because at best I have a county, & one I just have 'Ireland'.

Here is my first discovery:

5 Dec 1850 - Bap Hannam f Michaelis Curran + Anna Mulheron de Derryreel
Translated 5 Dec 1850 Baptism of Hannah, daughter of Michael Curran & Anna Mulheron of Derryreel.