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Searching for McGuigan

I am looking for my McGuigan ancestors to connect me from the USA to Ireland. My father did a DNA test on Ancestry and we are 30% Irish which is his paternal grandmother,a McGuigan. She was born in the USA in Pennsylvania. Her name is Jane Lucretia McGuigan (b. April 22, 1857 and d. October 31, 1935 in York, Pennsylvania, USA). She married my great-grandfather, Francis Cloman Barton. Her father is William (or John) McGuigan. Her mother I believe is Ann Blaney (born November 6, 1816 in Maryland, USA and died June 30, 1883 in Chanceford Township, PA, USA. I cannot seem to get the Ireland connection but there has to be one more generation in the USA before the Ireland connection I would think.

According to Ancestry DNA our ancestors are from the Tyrone, Londonberry & Antrim, South Londonberry and East Antrim, and Tyrone areas.

Maybe someone out there can help me make the connection. Thanks in advance for your help.

Kathy Barton Trahan

kattra53@gmail.com

1 reply

Kathy,

You need to trace back through the US born relations, generation by generation, till you get to those who were born in Ireland. US censuses often say where a person was born. Birth, marriage and death records often have that information too, together with parent’s names.

McGuigan is a common name in Ireland. Looming at the 1901 census there were 1300 of them at least, of all denominations. So you need a specific individual, ideally with his/her parents names, and their denomination before you can search with any accuracy. Otherwise it’s a needle in haystack.

It’s perhaps also worth commenting that it looks as though your Irish born ancestors were probably born in the early to mid 1800s. Not every parish in Ireland has records for that period, so sometimes it can be hard going.

Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘IrelandXO Volunteer

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