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Fagan/Fitzsimmons/McPartland/O'Brien - Irish Origins Unknown

Hi All,

I've been researching my ancestral Irish lines without luck for several years now and thought it might be worth a post here to see if anyone has some additional insight or advice. My four Irish-born 3xGGPsall lived in New York City from the mid-1800s. I'm not 100% positive, but it seems likely that they all married after arriving to the states as all of the children were born in New York, but I have not found any marriage records. I've found some church records for marriages of the second generation, but no birth records nor marriage records for the parents.

Fagan/ McPartland

3xGGF John (Henry?) Fagan - Born abt 1834 Ireland - Died abt 1889 in New York City - No parent info.

3xGGM Mary McPartland (maiden name not 100% certain) - Born abt 1830 Ireland - Death unknown. - No parent info.

Known Children: Catherine (~1858 NYC), John Henry (~1859 NYC), Michael Joseph (~1860 NYC), James (~1864 NYC)

DNA Evidence: One match has McPartland traced back to Virginia, Cavan. Fagan matches potentially to Dublin, Drogheda, and County Westmeath. YDNA/BigY testing onthe Fagan line resulted in no Fagan matches and suggests a Scottish origin further back before Ireland with matches to nameslike Hawthorne, Crawford, Gillespie, and Quinn. Closest BigY matches are Ennis and Bayham/Bayhan.

Fitzsimmons / O'Brien

3xGGF Michael Fitzsimmons - Born abt 1825 Ireland - Died abt 1876 in New York City - No parent info.

3xGGM Hannah E. O'Brien - Born abt 1842 Ireland - Died 1912 in Connecticut - Father on death certificate listed as Charles.

Known Children: Delia (~1858 NYC), Mary Louise (~1860 NYC), Margaret (~1864 NYC), Alice E (~1872 NYC), Helen/Nellie (~1878 NYC)

DNA Evidence: Fitzsimmons matchesin Cavan and Westmeath. O'Brien in Bohermeen/Kells inMeath, Dublin,and counties Clare, Cork, andTipperary.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

-Kevin Fagan

bestdception@g…

4 replies

Kevin:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I did search the subscription site Roots Ireland for Hannah O'Brien with father Charles and got no record. Also checked the free site www.irishgenealogy.ie which has Co. Kerry and some Co. Cork records plus Dublin city but again no record.

You are doing the right thing with your DNA testing and checking with your matches.

One of our volunteers has this site on his web site which shows by county where surnames were found based on Grifffiths Valuation data. http://www.swilson.info/sdist.php ;  

From experience, McPartland is usually a Leitrim name but there are some in Cavan which borders Leitrim. O'Brien is usually Cork/Tipperary/Waterford name but unfortunately is found in good numbers in other counties. Fagan is Westmeath/Meath/Dublin but also found in other counties..Fitzsimmons is found in counties on the east side and northeast side in Ulster.

All the best!

Roger McDonnell

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

An update on my work in case someone else may come along and find the information useful...

I feel that I have sufficiently tied the origin of my McPartland ancestor to Virginia, County Cavan through a combination of DNA and paper records.

#1 - Mary McPartland - I've finally found the obituary of this woman I believe to be my 3xGGM, Mary McPartland who died in 1862 in Manhattan, New York.  This obituary lists her as being a native of "Virginia, County Cavan".  One caveat:  the only document I have for my 2xGGF listing his mother's maiden name is his death certificate which lists her as a "McFarland", but that document is from 70 years after her death and obviously not provided by the son directly so I think it's easily possible that it wasn't 100% correct.  I'm still hopeful that a baptismal record for him will surface in New York City, but I do feel that I have enough other evidence to feel confident that she was actually a McPartland.

#2 - Anna McPartland - I found a DNA match of my father's kit to someone linking back to an Anna McPartland.  Further investigation found an obituary for her which also lists her place of birth as Virginia, Cavan.  I further identified two more DNA matches who descend through Anna.

#3 - John McPartland - Another DNA match of my father's kit.  I have found two DNA matches for descendants -- one of whose line remained in Ireland and one who is in the US.  Both trace back in paper records to Virginia, Cavan.  Paper records reveal that several of his children ended up in San Francisco.

Taking these three names, I found a family group in the Catholic baptism records from Virginia (Lurgan Parish) which suggests that all three are children of Myles Partland and Catherine Brien.  It seems like the family were butchers/victuallers associated with a "Green Street" which does not seem to exist anymore in Virginia according to my Google searches.

In any case... I have thus far identified seven DNA matches who can be traced back to the same family in Virginia, Cavan so I now feel confident about 1/4 of my Irish family origins which feels like a major victory.

Next up is the Fagan line.  Currently the DNA evidence seems to point to two clusters of Fagan/Fegans -- one in the north of Dublin and one in the south.  I will be doing further work to see if they might be one and the same or if there may be ties through one of my remaining lines (Fitzsimmons and O'Brien).

I would be happy for any feedback for what I've done so far -- positive or negative.  

bestdception@g…

Kevin:

Good work! I think you are on target. I wish some of my DNA matches had more info on their family in Ireland.

Roger

Castlemore RoscommonIrelandXO Volunteer

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