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93% Irish with almost all from Donegal: researching Waters, Devenney, Bonner, Devlin, Harkins, Ennis and Boyle

Hi all! My husband’s dna is mostly from Donegal so we plan to spend about 15 days in Ardara and Carrigart at the end of September. We have not made much progress in trying to find the proper links in his family tree.  Many of the USA documents only list relatives as being from Ireland or Northern Ireland with little more to go by. 

Sarah Devenney (or spelling variation) was born in Donegal 15 August 1852.  She arrived in Pennsylvania circa 1879.  She lived in Philadelphia all her life (we think) until her death on 15 October 1938.  Sarah and her husband John McCormick (1862-1923) bore 3 children : John B (1889-1955), Joseph Francis (1892-1918) and Helen Agnes (1893-1948.)

Sarah’s father may have been John Owen Devenney born about 1820 in Donegal, Ireland until circa 1870.  We believe he married Ellen Harkins(1823-1884) also from Donegal.  

We are also looking for information on the following:

John McCormick (1862-1923) my husband’s great grandfather born in Ireland and died in Philadelphia..

James Waters (1857-1932) my husband’s great grandfather born in Northern Ireland and died in Philadelphia..

Catherine Bonner wife of James Waters (circa 1854-1917) born in Ireland, married in Philadelphia and died in Philadelphia.

Catherine Devlin my husband’s 2nd great grandmother from Ireland. She married John McCormick (listed above) gave birth to a son, John (1862-1923) in Ireland.  He son died in Philadelphia in 1923.

Robert Shirley (circa 1832 - unknown) may have been born in Ireland or England  Eventually he lived in Philadelphia in 1870 as listed on the census. We believe he married Ellen Ennis (circa 1840-1887) She may have emigrated to the USA at about age 10, lived in Philadelphia bore 4 children (Louis J 1864-1910; Helena Gertrude 1864-1913; Sarah Elizabeth 1866-1957 and Robert 1868)  Ellen died in Philadelphia.

Charles and Frances Bonner - born in Ireland bore Catherine in circa 1854 - so naturally they were born prior to this year.

We are really stuck in our research since we have having a hard time locating information on the second great grandparents.

Joe’s DNA and tree are on Ancestry.  It is also on GEDmatch.  He has also done the Y DNA on Family Tree.  It makes it difficult for us novices to make the DNA a leaps without more names in common.

I’m hoping I can post the matches here. The format it difficult to follow up hoping the names will help. 

 Full Name,First Name,Middle Name,Last Name,Match Date,Markers Tested,Genetic Distance,Big Y STR Differences,Y-DNA Haplogroup,Paternal Country of Origin,Earliest Known

Joseph Girard McCarthy,Joseph,Girard,McCarthy,December 10 2020,1 to 111,Exact Match,Not Available,R-M269,Ireland,Tiege McCormac McCarthy Lord of Muskerry County Co,

Kelly Coleman,Kelly,,Coleman,December 10 2020,1 to 700,3 Steps,Not Available,R-FGC32225,Ireland,"Daniel Coleman, b. 1810, County Cork, Ireland",

Cameron Lee Cooley,Cameron Lee,,Cooley,December 10 2020,1 to 37,4 Steps,Not Available,R-M269,Unknown Origin,John Cooley and Annis Hardin,
Dominic  O'Grady,Dominic ,,O'Grady,December 10 2020,1 to 37,4 Steps,Not Available,R-M269,Ireland,

Daniel Graddy Co Kerry,
Dalton mines,Dalton,,mines,December 10 2020,1 to 37,4 Steps,Not Available,R-M269,Unknown Origin,,

Mr. Daniel Carey Coleman Sr.,Daniel,Carey,Coleman,December 10 2020,1 to 67,4 Steps,Not Available,R-M269,Ireland,"Daniel Coleman, b. 1839 and d. 1897",

Mr. Daniel James Coleman,Daniel,James,Coleman,December 10 2020,1 to 700,4 Steps,Not Available,R-FT85054,Ireland,Cornelius Coleman 1856-1898,
Mr. Daniel James Coleman,Daniel,James,Coleman,December 10 2020,1 to 700,4 Steps,Not Available,R-FT85054,Ireland,"Cornelius Coleman 1856-1898 b.Co.Cork,Ireland BigY",

Daryl Kevin Coleman,Daryl Kevin,,Coleman,December 10 2020,1 to 700,4 Steps,Not Available,R-FGC32224,United States,James Coleman b ~1800 GA d aft 1870 GA,

Mr. Thomas Craig Cooley,Thomas,Craig,Cooley,December 10 2020,1 to 700,4 Steps,Not Available,R-BY64491,Unknown Origin,Henry Preston Cooley (1872-1935),

Any thoughts or guidance here? It would be appreciated if you have any records or helpful information to share.. 

I will try to attach a photo of the matches.  

Kind regards,

Kathleen and Joe Coleman 

kathycarney100

12 replies

In addition, I did fill out a request to meet a volunteer in Donegal. When I tried to put in Ardara as a meeting location, the form would not accept the town.  I tried a second time with the same results. We are willing to travel to meet someone.

kathycarney100

Kathleen:

Thanks for trying to complete our trip form. You will need to show the civil parish for Ardara which is Killybegs Lower. The form will not accept a town name.

Co. Donegal is the most difficult parish to research if your relatives go back before the start of civil registration (1864). Many of the RC parishes in Co. Donegal do not have records back before 1860. I did try to find a baptismal record for Sarah on the subscription site Roots Ireland but was unsuccessful.

The Griffiths Valuation was completed in Co. Donegal around 1857. We don't know for sure if John Owen was leasing land at that time. I did look at the head of household listing for the county and there were ten John Devenney (or variant) records as follows:

Source Surname First Name Townland Parish County

Griffith Devanny John Roshin, South Templecrone Co. Donegal

Griffith Devanny John Cleenderry Templecrone Co. Donegal

Griffith Devanny John Carrowmullin Fahan Upper Co. Donegal

Griffith Devany John Meenderryowan Templecrone Co. Donegal

Griffith Devany John Rinnafarset Templecrone Co. Donegal

Griffith Devany John Mullanasole Drumhome Co. Donegal

Griffith Devany John Village Of Kilmacrenan Kilmacrenan Co. Donegal

Griffith Devany John Clougherachullion Inishkeel Co. Donegal

Griffith Devany John Cormullin Drumhome Co. Donegal

Griffith Devenny John Moneyhaughly Raymoghy Co. Donegal

 

Can you confirm that John Owen and Ellen stayed kin Ireland?

I will try to check out records and get back to you.

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Kathleen:

I'm still struggling to find records for your family. There is a Ancestry tree (Hartzell family Tree) which shows that the parents of John McCormick were Charles McCormick and Annie White. You have Catherine Bonner marrying John McCormick. You may want to review that tree.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Roger, 

Thank you for looking at all of this.  At one point we had the paid subscription to Ancestry for World use but since I had no way of knowing who was actually related, I found it difficult to navigate. 
 

Yes, we believe the John and Ellen Devenney stayed in Donegal.  Other than that, we know little.  I will check out the links your sent to see if anything rings a bell, but given we know so little I’m not feeling very positive about trying to make the connection.  I wish I understood the DNA links better! 😂

We are looking forward to our trip but I’m wondering if it is worth the effort when we are over there to try and learn more.  Many of the passenger manifests only list last names and so I’ve no way of knowing what the first name is and where they come from, other than Ireland.  
 

Do you have any other suggestions for us?

Kind regards,

Kathleen

kathycarney100

I found the following records on Ancestry but I am not sure if they belong to our John McCormick in the USA.  Scranton is a distance from Philadelphia although it is still the same state.  The death certificate is for Philadelphia and the naturalization papers were signed in Scranton.  Lots of the family all stayed in Philadelphia which makes me hesitant to think they are who I am looking for but the naturalization papers have some info that might help.Image removed.

kathycarney100

Do I need to go in and filling in another form for meeting with a volunteer?

kathycarney100

Kathleen:

Here is a link to the trip form  https://www.irelandxo.com/meet-and-greet if you did not successfully complete the form earlier. Not sure we have a volunteer in the Ardara area. I looked for death records for John and Ellen on the free site irishgenealogy.ie  but did not find any good leads. Civil registration of deaths started in 1864. Currently, we only have index records for 1864-1870 but full records from 1871-1972.

In my experience unless you know the exact area where your ancestors are from, it is very hard to do any meaningful research. I wanted to share a couple links for places to visit in Donegal but for some reason the system won't let me. I will try later.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Thanks so much Roger. So I’m new to your group. Should I ask to meet with a volunteer? We will be in Ireland for 6 weeks so we can meet anyone anywhere. I guess I was thinking a volunteer helps introduce us to the area where your relatives used to live. Correct? 
Any advice for us would be appreciated. 
kathleen 

kathycarney100

Kathleen:

You are correct! Our volunteers where available, are able to meet with visitors and show them where their ancestors lived. Sometimes they even find distant relatives.

  Here is an example of one recent July visit  https://www.irelandxo.com/success-story/boston-castle-county-cork   

In your situation as far as I can see, you don't know where in Co. Donegal your Devenny ancestors came from. I also suspect that the Bonner and Devlin ancestors also came from Donegal since those surnames are common in Donegal. 

Where are you visiting after Ardara?

Roger

Baltimore MD

 

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Roger, 

After Ardara we will go to Carrigart. Do you live in Maryland? We live in Strasburg PA. 

kathycarney100

Kathleen:

Yes, north of Baltimore. I know Strasburg is near Lancaster.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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