DNA Sale!

St. Patrick’s Day Sale!

 AncestryDNA will be $40 less on sale for $59 plus tax and shipping

The St. Patrick’s Day Sale will start at midnight EST on Saturday, March 6th, and will end at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, March 17th.

 

If you haven't yet jumped on to the DNA journey, now's your time. DNA has many uses - you can connect with other cousins, you can discover your ethnic origins, and you can make new discoveries through DNA. I've personally solved a few mysteries, confirmed a very old family rumour, and found two surprise additions to the family tree, and discovered that hubby's great-grandfather was NOT the father of hubby's grandpa.

 

Over the years I've written about my DNA adventures - here are a few for you to read if you wish:

 

DNA Genealogy - Friend or Foe?

DNA Gave My Husband a Completely Different Great Grandfather

Understanding Your DNA Results: Comparison Charts

Update on DNA Testing for Native American Heritage

Familial DNA Testing Used to Solve Cold Cases 

The Massey DNA Connection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

The saying is that we all want to be Irish. Sadly that wasn't the sentiment when the Irish began arriving in full force during the Famine Years. There was a great deal of discrimination towards the Irish who were considered by many to be lazy drunks. What our early ancestors must have suffered under this unwarranted stereotype!

I'm proud of my Irish heritage and wish I could tell them that. John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston came from Fermanagh Ireland to the wilds of Upper Canada (present day Ontario) with three children - George about 5 years old, Thomas about 3 years old and my 2nd great grandmother Jane who was under 2 years old. The year was some time between Jane's birth in 1819 and the birth of their next child in Upper Canada in 1821. What a perilous journey that must have been!

Joseph McGinnis and his wife Frances (Fanny) Downey from Co. Down made the journey from famine stricken Ireland with their year old daughter Bridget (Delia) in 1846. Joseph and Fanny were barely 20 years old.

It must have been a nightmare voyage and I am sure that like most of the Irish who left Ireland during the Famine Years, they and their loved ones suffered greatly at home. Joseph and Fanny arrived in Ontario and settled near family who had arrived much earlier. They were my 2nd great grandparents. They were very poor Catholics and the land they settled on was more swamp than anything else.

So - I have three Irish great-great grandparents (Joseph, Fanny and Jane) and two Irish Great great great grandparents (John & Elizabeth). Out of that mix I get four Irish surnames: Greenlees, Johnstone, McGinnis & Downey.

My husband has many Irish surnames: Jackson & Moynahan from Tipperary, Hogan & Hayden (county not known), Kennedy & Maloney from Kerry, Massey from Wicklow, Montgomery & Graham & Johnson from Fermanagh. I don't know if hubs' Johnson and my Johnson are related. That would be fun to find out!



I hope this Irish blessing worked for all of our Irish ancestors! "May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you're dead."

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

Famine Emigration

In honour of St Patrick's Day, when tradition has it that we all want to be Irish, I shout out THANK YOU to my Irish ancestors who came from Ireland to Canada. 

John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston came from Fermanagh Ireland to the wilds of Upper Canada (present day Ontario) with three children - George about 5 years old, Thomas about 3 years old and my 2nd great grandmother Jane who was under 2 years old. The year was some time between Jane's birth in 1819 and the birth of their next child in Upper Canada in 1821. What a perilous journey that must have been!

Joseph McGinnis and his wife Frances (Fanny) Downey from Co. Down made the journey from famine stricken Ireland with their year old daughter Bridget (Delia) in 1846. They were both barely 20 years old.

It must have been a nightmare voyage and I am sure that like most of the Irish who left Ireland during the Famine Years, they and their loved ones suffered greatly at home. Joseph and Fanny arrived in Ontario and settled near family who had arrived much earlier. They were my 2nd great grandparents. They were very poor Catholics and the land they settled on was more swamp than anything else.

So - I have three Irish great-great grandparents (Joseph, Fanny and Jane) and two Irish Great great great grandparents (John & Elizabeth). Out of that mix I get four Irish surnames: Greenlees, Johnstone, McGinnis & Downey.

I hope this Irish blessing worked for them! "May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you're dead."

Wearing the Green on St. Patrick's Day!

DNA doesn't lie! Yes, I really have Irish blood! 

In honour of St Patrick's Day, when tradition has it that we all want to be Irish, I shout out THANK YOU to my Irish ancestors who came from Ireland to Canada. 

John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston came from Fermanagh Ireland to the wilds of Upper Canada (present day Ontario) with three children - George about 5 years old, Thomas about 3 years old and my 2nd great grandmother Jane who was under 2 years old. The year was some time between Jane's birth in 1819 and the birth of their next child in Upper Canada in 1821. What a perilous journey that must have been!

Joseph McGinnis and his wife Frances (Fanny) Downey from Co. Down made the journey from famine stricken Ireland with their year old daughter Bridget (Delia) in 1846. They were both barely 20 years old.

It must have been a nightmare voyage and I am sure that like most of the Irish who left Ireland during the Famine Years, they and their loved ones suffered greatly at home. Joseph and Fanny arrived in Ontario and settled near family who had arrived much earlier. They were my 2nd great grandparents. They were very poor Catholics and the land they settled on was more swamp than anything else.

So - I have three Irish great-great grandparents (Joseph, Fanny and Jane) and two Irish Great great great grandparents (John & Elizabeth). Out of that mix I get four Irish surnames: Greenlees, Johnstone, McGinnis & Downey.

I hope this Irish blessing worked for them! "May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you're dead."

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

In honour of St Patrick's Day, when tradition has it that we all want to be Irish, I really AM of Irish heritage. 50.2% according to my DNA results. (Well okay that's a combination of British and Irish but I'm going with it anyway)

John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston came from Fermanagh Ireland to the wilds of Upper Canada (present day Ontario) with three children - George about 5 years old, Thomas about 3 years old and my 2nd great grandmother Jane who was under 2 years old. The year was 1819. What a perilous journey that must have been!

Joseph McGinnis and his wife Frances (Fanny) Downey made the journey from famine stricken Co. Down Ireland with their year old daughter Bridget (Delia) in 1846. They were both barely 20 years old.

It must have been a nightmare voyage and I am sure that like most of the Irish who left Ireland during the Famine Years, they and their loved ones suffered greatly at home. Joseph and Fanny arrived in Ontario and settled near family who had arrived much earlier. They were my 2nd great grandparents and sadly I know nothing of their parents or origins other than learning last year that they came from the area of Katesbridge, Co. Down Ireland. They were very poor Catholics and the land they settled on was more swamp than anything else.

So - I have three Irish great-great grandparents (Joseph, Fanny and Jane) and two Irish Great great great grandparents (John & Elizabeth). Out of that mix I get four Irish surnames: Greenlees, Johnstone, McGinnis & Downey.

I hope this Irish blessing worked for them! "May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you're dead."

St. Patrick's Day Special on AncestryDNA Kits

Still haven't tested your DNA? Need more kits for family members? Great news! Ancestry is having a St. Patrick's Day special on DNA testing! 

(Not yet available for Canadians)

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my Irish "cousins". 

Yep, I'm Irish. With a maiden name of McGinnis there's no doubt. I'm happy to say that my DNA tests also confirm my heritage. 

It's not too late for you to search for your Irish ancestors for free today. Ancestry.com is offering Open access to the Irish Heritage Collection from March 13 to March 17, 2014

This collection features all things Irish: census records, births and baptisms, WWI casualties, marriage records, passenger lists just to name a few. Offer is only good until tonight at 11:59pm ET so better hurry.

Who are my Irish ancestors and when did they come to Canada?

My 2nd great-grandparents Joseph McGinnis and his wife Fanny Downey sailed from Ireland to Canada with their 1 year old daughter Delia in 1847. They are my only known Potato Famine ancestors.

My 3rd great-grandparents John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston came from Ireland with their 2 young boys, George and Thomas and my 2nd great grandmother Jane. They were well ahead of the Potato Famine and I've always been curious about what brought them here. 

So I have researched and verified 5 Irish ancestors but of course their lineage may go quite far back in Ireland and I'm sure I have many more! 

My Irish Greenlees Ancestors from Aghalurcher, Co. Fermanagh

Aghalurcher Church

Since it's St. Patrick's Day I thought I'd talk a little about two of my Irish ancestors. I don't have that many Irish in my ancestry but my maiden name (McGinnis) is Irish. Many of my readers know that I'm always looking for Joseph McGinnis and his wife Fanny Downey who came from Co. Down in 1846 and settled near Guelph Ontario Canada.

But today I want to share a bit about my Irish  3rd great grandparents John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston.

John and his wife came from Ireland to Ontario sometime between 1819 when their daughter Jane (my 2nd great grandmother) was born, and 1822.  Unfortunately ships passenger lists to Canada before 1865 did not have to be archived and so they are few and far between. So far I have not found any record of their arrival but Ontario was a very young settlement in those years and the courage they had to make the journey with three young children astounds me.

I know a lot about John and Elizabeth during their years in Ontario. But I've never known where in Ireland they lived. And then came great news from a fellow researcher and descendant.

Two years ago  their marriage record was discovered. This was the first clue I had of where in Ireland they came from. They married in 1814 in Galloon Parish, Clogher Diocese in Co. Fermanagh Ireland. Their marriage record found in the Parish Record books by another descendant (who very kindly sent it to me) reads:

 John Greenlees of P'h of Aghalurcher & Eliz'th Johnston of Drumy.

I can't begin to describe how it feels to have not only a county but an actual parish in Ireland after years of only knowing "Ireland" as their place of origin.

Today I treated myself to doing more searching for John and Elizabeth Greenlees, and to reading about Aghalurcher. I am not sure what "Drumy." stands for except perhaps Drummally? If anyone knows I'd love to hear from you.

 Nothing turned up for John or Elizabeth but I did get sidetracked looking for some of hubs' Irish ancestors - and had great success! I'll blog about that another day.

St. Patrick's Day: Win a Trip for Two to ireland!

Do you have Irish ancestors?

If yes, you are definitely going to be interested in the Ancestry.com St. Patricks Day promotion ending on Sunday, March 20th.

This promotion includes brand new Irish content just available on Ancestry.com, PLUS a sweepstakes for a trip for two to Ireland!

If you use the link "Get Started" in the graphic in this blog post, you will be taken to Ancestry and there you can enter the contest to win the trip for two to Ireland in their "True Irish Roots Sweepstakes"

Good luck in the sweepstakes! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day to my Irish Ancestors!

In honour of St Patrick's Day, when tradition has it that we all want to be Irish, I shout out THANK YOU to my Irish ancestors who came from Ireland to N. America.

John Greenlees and his wife Elizabeth Johnston came from Ireland to the wilds of Upper Canada (present day Ontario) with three children - George about 5 years old, Thomas about 3 years old and my 2nd great grandmother Jane who was under 2 years old. The year was some time between Jane's birth in 1819 and the birth of their next child in Upper Canada in 1821. What a perilous journey that must have been!

I wish I knew where in Ireland they came from but I don't. They made it possible for me to exist though so for that I thank them!

Joseph McGinnis and his wife Frances (Fanny) Downey made the journey from famine stricken Ireland with their year old daughter Bridget (Delia) in 1846. They were both barely 20 years old.

It must have been a nightmare voyage and I am sure that like most of the Irish who left Ireland during the Famine Years, they and their loved ones suffered greatly at home. Joseph and Fanny arrived in Ontario and settled near family who had arrived much earlier. They were my 2nd great grandparents and sadly I know nothing of their parents or origins other than learning last year that they came from the area of Katesbridge, Co. Down Ireland. They were very poor Catholics and the land they settled on was more swamp than anything else.

So - I have three Irish great-great grandparents (Joseph, Fanny and Jane) and two Irish Great great great grandparents (John & Elizabeth). Out of that mix I get four Irish surnames: Greenlees, Johnstone, McGinnis & Downey.

I hope this Irish blessing worked for them! "May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you're dead."