The Massey DNA Connection

The Massey Cousins Meet

A few years ago my husband took a Y-DNA test for his Massey surname. There were no matches as the database of others who submitted was very small.

Hubs had previously connected with a woman who was also a Massey descendant. Annie knew her Massey ancestors back to the mid 1700s and my husband was convinced that his Massey line linked to hers.

But hubs only knew his Massey line back to William Massey born ca 1818 in Wicklow Ireland. He could not narrow his search to a more specific location nor could he find William's parents.

Hubs' suggested that his Massey connection have her father's Y-DNA tested.  She agreed and her father took the test.

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Ancestry.com has a good DNA testing database and so does Family Tree DNA Hubs used Family Tree DNA this time.

Annie's father who lives in England,  ordered the Y-DNA test.

The results arrived. Annie's father matched hubs on 25 markers - an exact match. The comparison chart showed that hubs and Jim (Annie's father) had a 94% chance of sharing a common ancestor within the last 12 generations.

This led to many excited email exchanges between hubs and Annie. Circumstantial evidence and clues had led hubs to believe his Massey origins were near Delgany and Templecarrig area of northern Wicklow in Ireland. Annie knew that her grandfather and his ancestors were born in Delgany and environs.

Hubs knew that the Delgany Parish records existed but could only be viewed at an archives in Ireland. He was already in contact with another woman who has ancestors in Delgany and she agreed to travel from her home in England to the archives to copy the parish records for him. Lo and behold there was a baptism of an unnamed son born in Delgany in 1818 to an Edward and Catherine Massey from Templecarrig. 

William Massey named his first born son Edward and his second born daughter Catherine so if he followed naming conventions this could be the right family (first born son after paternal grandfather, second born daughter after paternal grandmother) There were other clues in the Delgany Parish records and those combined with Annie's father's Y-DNA match further cemented the conclusions that hubs' Massey line originated near Delgany, Wicklow Ireland.

This month, we had the pleasure of meeting Annie and her parents! Her mom and dad were in Canada for a visit and arranged to meet in a city near us. We spent a delightful afternoon with hubs' new-found cousins and exchanged many genealogy stories. What a wonderful time we had.

Hubs upgraded to the 67 Marker Y-DNA test recently so fingers crossed that more exciting adventures and finds arise from this test.