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Looking for my McConnell family connection to Ireland

Donegal

Irish Connection: Henry McConnell Sr. was my 3rd Great Grandfather. Henry had a plot of land shared with an Archibald McConnell in Montague, Ontario Canada. Both McConnells were born in Ireland around 1800 and immigrated to Canada at about the same time. Recently, through DNA, I have located relatives that live in the Donegal region of Ireland. I am hoping to find a connection between the Canadian DNA ancestor links, and a common link in Ireland.

Henry was married to Ann Crawford, born in Scotland.  They had 8 children.  Henry McConnell Jr. was born in Ireland, around 1822.  The rest of the 8 children were all born in the Leeds, Ontario Canada region.  Henry's Son, John T McConnell married Johanna Brislan (originally from Scotland) in Canada in 1867. Eventually, they worked their way to Williamstown, in the Berkshire area of in Western Massachusetts. One of their children, Edward D. McConnell married Elizabeth Stuart. They had 11 children, one of whom was my grandfather, Earl Vincent McConnell. 

He died in 1875 in Lanark, Ontario, Canada, having lived a long life of 78 years.

bob_mcconnell@…

2 replies

I attach a link with details on the McConnell surname distribution within the county. It is a surname with many variants. 

https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=mcconnell

Have you tried to contact any of your Donegal DNA links? there may be one who can throw more might light on your matches. is there a specific region within the county where DNA matches are concentrated?  Unfortunately, I cannot locate a baptism or marriage record for Henry or any early Donegal Archibald records. In Ireland it is unusual to find records prior 1800, for some churches it was mid-19th century prior records were kept. 

Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots with County Donegal included than any other company which increases the chances of finding a match, if tested with another company, you might want to try them; you can transfer your results for free. After uploading your genetic file, they advise - you can unlock all Family Finder™ features, which include the Chromosome Browser, myOrigins®, and ancientOrigins for only $19. Hopefully, this will provide more matches that can be checked. Once you have results on Family Tree DNA you could also check-out joining the North of Ireland DNA Project:

 https://www.nifhs.org/dna/

I will try to assist if update the message board with more information

Marion, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘︎ 

Whelanmg, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘︎IrelandXO Volunteer

Thank you!. I have been quite frustrated, and stopped researching for a while, and just began my research again when I saw you note . Thank you for your efforts and your reply. I will look into your recommenations! Thank you again for your time and effort!

Bob McConnell

bob_mcconnell@…

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