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JOHN HENRY MANN, b. 1784 - March 6, 1864 , USA

Hello. My name is Kim Mann. I live in the United States in northeast Georgia. My family has been trying to trace the Mann family roots back to Europe with very little success. Our oldest ancestor that we can confirm is John Henry Mann, born 1784 in Virginia, USA. He died March 6, 1864 in Elmore County, Alabama. He is buried in the Mann Family Cemetery in Elmore County. His wife was Rhoda Ellis Mann, born in North Carolina in 1789 and died August 24, 1879 in Elmore County, Alabama. They married around 1810-1811 in Putnam County, Georgia. They had 9 children.

This is as far back as we can verify our family history. We have no records that indicate who John Henrys parents or siblings were. We estimate that his father would have been born around 1750. Some people reference his father as being Daniel, born 1750, in Virginia and having died in Putnam County, Georgia. However, there are no recorded sources to confirm this.

Recently, my sister and I had our Ancestry DNA test. The results were interesting. My report revealed that I am 53 percent Scandinavian, 31 percent Irish, 6 percent Great Britain, 10 percent European. As I am a male member of our family, I decided that our ancestors could have come from Ireland. That would make sense based on the Scandinavian history of Ireland.

With this in mind, I am hoping that someone on irelandxo.com might be able to provide sources or info on the Mann family in Ireland. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Heres to finding lost family members.

Thanks,
Kim

IrelandXO member

4 replies

Kim,

I am not sure how much reliance should be placed on DNA testing for ethnicity. I think there’s a lot of room for error. I don’t think there’s any certain way of saying someone is Irish or British or European. Most of the people in these islands are descended from the same broadly Brythonic stock that moved up through the European mainland before crossing to Britain and later to Ireland, and given the amount of internal migration there has been around the islands over the past 5000 years, and which continues today at an accelerated pace, determining that they are distinctly separate categories seems fraught with difficulty. Or to put it another way, it’s nonsense. Likewise I wouldn’t hurry to assume that 53% Scandinavian ethnicity means your ancestors came from Ireland. Though the Vikings did undoubtedly visit Ireland, they didn’t stay very long in historical terms, nor did they ever populate the island in significant numbers. Their impact on the local gene pool appears to have been pretty limited.

Assuming you have no paper trail that enables you to trace back to Europe, I’d be inclined to use DNA for potential matches with others alive today, who do know their origins, to see if that can help find yours.

I looked at the 1901 Irish census. There were about 600 people in Ireland named Mann. The majority were Presbyterian or Church of Ireland, broadly indicating they are descendants of settlers from Scotland and England who came to Ireland in the 1600s.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

Hi Kim & Elwyn

There are a few Mann baptism records on www.rootsireland.ie/ 1750 + - 10 years but no Johns I'm afraid.

5 are from Wicklow & 3 from Antrim.

All are C of I except 2 from Antrim which are Presbyterian.

Col

ColCaffIrelandXO Volunteer

Elwyn and Col,

Sorry for the slow response. I've been rather ill lately and just now feeling well. 

Thanks for your responses. I know this is a long shot, but we're looking for anything that may help find a connection to the Mann family in the 16th, 17th and18th centuries in the US or Europe. Records are slim for those periods here in the US. It's a slow process since many records are not digitized yet. 

Thanks again for the comments. If you have any other ideas, please feel free to share. 

Regards,
Kim

IrelandXO member

Hi, i'm working on my history and John Henery Mann is my great great great grandfather. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find anthing on who his parents were either or his siblings. I know this post was awhile ago but if by any chance you still are connected to this site, I would love to find out what you have learned. My email is Hispatch@gmail.com. Thank You and hope to hear from you soon. 

hispatch@gmail.com

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