Looking for Patrick Dunn (again)

This is a reply message for Roger McDonnell. Roger replied to my earlier message about my gr. grandfather, Patrick Dunn, but I am not very computer literate, and I don't know how to reply directly to him. I'm sure that I'm taking the long way to get in touch with Roger. Please advise any shortcuts.

Roger, I really enjoyed receiving your information on Patrick Dunn. I'm hoping that he is my gr. grandfather,but I have a feeling that Patrick Dunn is like John Smith here in America. There are a million of them! The only information that I have to use in researchingPatrick and his wife, Johanna Duggan, is from the cemetery stone, and I've always believed that that information is correct. Now, I'm not sure. The cemetery stone listed the birthdates and counties in Ireland. That's it. I have no written documentation and the only oral storiesthat were passed down was about panning for gold in California on his arrival, 1850, and returning to Ireland after serving in the Civil War for a bride, 1868. [Johanna Duggan lived in Tipperary, though, which I don't think is very close to Leighlinbridge. How did they meet or was the marriage 'arranged'?] I am really at a disadvantage when it comes to researching, but I'm doing my best and don't want to give up. I have been teaching myself the ins and outs of genealogy research for the past 15 years, plus I am technology-challenged, as evidenced above by not understanding how I can contact you directly rather than logging in each as a new contact each time with my questions. I'm 71 years old, and computers were coming in when I was leaving the business world to start a family. Writing letters and writing emails are about the extent of my technical knowledge.

Anyway, I can't quite remember how I narrowed down Leighlinbridge, which is to say that that information may be wrong. For some reason, though, I think it's correct. I feel that Patrick's birth year and immigrationdate of 1850 are correct. Until you mentionedthat Patrick may have left 4 siblings in Ireland, I wondered if he hadany siblings. Icame to the conclusion that Patrick traveled by himself and left all of his relatives in Ireland. I don't know Patrick's father's occupation or Patrick's occupation, but I imagine that passage was expensive so maybe passage for one person was all the family could afford. I know you mentioned the "Great Hunger", but we Irish Americans call it the "Potato Famine". Besides food, I'm sure money was scarce.

I had no idea that Patrick's birthday may not actually be correct, but maybe close to the date. I can see that an Irish Catholic family would like to lay claim to St. Patrick and March 17th. I live about20 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois, and St. Patrick's Day is a BIG deal here. Parades and (cold) green beer and green-clad people everywhere-- no matter their nationality. The tradition started in the 1950s with Mayor Daley dying the Chicago River a bright green, and it's continued to this day.

I have taken Ancestry.com's DNA test, but never heard of 'autosomal DNA testing'. Is it more detailed?

I am so happy to hear from you and am looking forward to any information that you may be able to uncover for me and my family. In case you'd like to use my email address, it's blnolan3@comcast.net. Thank you, Barbara Nolan