Looking to connect family information Margaret Friel

Thank you Roger. Your help is great and appreciated. Anything that helps is important since I have very little of her; likely because she left her family to go the US -where her siblings went to Canada. Margaret did stay in Philadelphia her whole life. I also have her death certificate but as you noticed no family listed other than husband name of Raymond, which is the line where I get my surname Griffin. Friel name has been hard since it's common and John as a first name doesn't help given it's also common.

What is good about her death certificate though is her date of birth. Hopefully that helps your connection at Clondavaddog and maybe your 1901 census is her because it's likely (but not certain) that it matches her age about that time.

Thank you Roger -and thank your connection to Clondavaddog in advance.

Steve Griffin

Seamus,

Thank you for your reply as well. Given Margaret's death certificate showing her year of birth is 1890, I'm really trying to secure her birth certificate and verify her mother's name (it is either Sweeney or Downey; both are unverified. I added Sweeney for now on Ancestry with a tag of unverified)- and of course connect to other Friel's as well. You mentioned a few great ways to connect further and hope this helps. Her siblings went to Canada and I did connect to a man where we share DNA; believed to be from my great grandfather's brother's line).

I am on Ancestry; I have a family tree and DNA from them. Tree (I'd venture to say it is 90% accurate with her mother as Downey, could be Downey?). Following my father's side, Griffin, you can follow the path to Margaret Friel and Raymond Griffin. I do see connections to Connacht and Donegal from Ancestry's tools, but just the Friel line can't connect me that strongly alone. I assume my father's line prior to Dublin would have been from northwestern Ireland at some point in time also. Mt Griffin brickwall is roughly 1776 Dublin. Ancestry's DNA tool connects me to over 200 people with Donegal and Connacht roots, specifically South Mayo. https://ancstry.me/2J8M7OY ;

I am also on Gedmatch, but tend to find their tools cumbersome myself. Here is my #T957338 They moved to a new system and recently generated a new kit #. I do match a woman with the Friel name and it looks she just did 23&me recently. 

I tend to use FTDNA much more because of their forums are vey active. I have tested through their Y500 to receive a terminal haplogroup as well - but it appears the haplogroup is very rare when compared to their database, which doesn't necessarily mean it is rare per se. My kit for FTDNA #863255

Thanks again Seamus and also to you Roger,

Steve

Seamus. When I go to gedmatch my first autosomal match is a Friel female. I emailed her and waiting to hear back hopefully.

Thank you Seamus - I will reach out to those with connections via GEDMATCH. They was this tends to work given Gedmatch uses autosomal DNA is that few, if any, DNA from woman (grandmother's, GGM, and so on) actually contribute to my y-DNA. Largely the only female influence on your y-line would by your paternal grandmother - whereas x/mtdna is different and comes directly from your mother. This mix (or DNA soup) is what is referred to as autosomal. When my Friel line doesn't neatly connect me to people via DNA, it only confirms that a great grandmother via your y-line ad very little to no impact on your DNA. 

Thank you Seamus - I will reach out to those with connections via GEDMATCH. How this tends to work given Gedmatch uses autosomal DNA, is that few, if any, DNA from women (grandmother's, GGM, and so on) actually contribute to my y-DNA. Largely the only female influence on your y-line would by your paternal grandmother - whereas x/mtdna is different and comes directly from your mother. This mix (or DNA soup) is what is referred to as autosomal. When my Friel line doesn't neatly connect me to people via DNA, it only confirms that a great grandmother via your y-line added very little to no impact on your DNA. 

Hi Steve,

Your dad and I have 14 shared segments with the highest being 8.3cm's. I have three Friel great-grandparents from County Donegal. I have a John Friel b. 1861, son of Bryan Friel. Nest, I have Bridget Friel b. 1962, daughter of Francis Friel. Finally, I have Catherine Friel b. 1844 daughter of James Friel. All great grandparents were in Gortnalaragh in the 1901 census. I also have a 2x great-grandmother Mary Sweeney who married Francis Friel. Lastly, I have a great aunt, Ellenor McGee who married Jim Sweeney from Fanad. 

I am also on the Donegal FB site. 

I'm on ancestry under username taemory and my gedmatch is BE7015543

Teresa Maughan Emory

Santa Rosa