Genealogy Jottings

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A couple of months ago, I joined a genealogy study group focusing on Irish research. As usual, one of the first pieces of advice was to begin by finding out what your other family members  know. An additional tip is to contact the oldest and sickest ones first.

I had thought this tactic would not help me because my grandmother never knew her Irish father. He did not acknowledge her or contribute to her support. She did not even know his identity. No one in my family had any information about him or his family.

We guessed that he was Irish because of ethnicity estimates when we tested our DNA. Through analyzing our matches, we learned who he was.

Then it occurred to me that our DNA matches are our relatives, too. They would have information about this man and his other family. I hesitated to contact them, because the situation with unwed parents is a bit delicate.

After mulling it over, I decided I had nothing to lose by sending a message through My Heritage to one of our close matches. He is a half second cousin of mine and had posted a private family tree. I asked for permission to view it and explained why I wanted to see it. I offered to exchange information.

This cousin could not have been any nicer. He replied with an invitation to join his family group. He expressed interest in trading information.

We have exchanged photos and family information over the past month. I was sorry to learn that he had no photos of our great grandfather, but I now know what my grandmother’s older half sister looked like. Perhaps these two women resembled him.

So far, this has been a rewarding correspondence for me. The old adage is true. Contact your family members, whether you know them or not, to see what information they might have.

This week I continued the search for information on Cornelius J. Ryan and his father Edmund/Edmond/Edward to see if I could locate a link between them and my second great-grandfather Daniel Ryan (1829-1863).

Edmund Ryan’s family settled in Putnam County, Illinois, next to LaSalle County where Daniel’s son Richard grew up. Richard Ryan knew Cornlius Ryan. It is not a stretch to surmise that they were cousins.

I want more information about Edmund and his family. I had already collected some census records and his FindAGrave page. I did not find a biographical sketch for him in the county history

The Genealogy Trails website for Illinois (https://genealogytrails.com/ill/) has links to several databases for Putnam County. One is a list of all burials in St. Francis Cemetery in Putnam.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at this list. It included a transcription of Edmund’s tombstone saying he was a native of the parish of Nicker in County Limerick. The FindAGrave site fails to mention this birthplace even though the name of the townland is the Holy Grail of Irish genealogy.

Daniel himself provides one other clue for a connection to this place.

He married at Kickapoo in 1851, and serveral Ryans are buried there. They were from Pallasgreen in the same area of Limerick as Edmund Ryan.

Now I need to do three things.

First, I should organize all my Ryan material and distill it into a chart of some kind. This means correlating everything I have on Edmund Ryan with the information on the Kickapoo Ryans.

Second, with this assembled information, I can look for records of the Nicker parish to see if brothers Edmund and Daniel Ryan were baptized there in 1827 and 1829.

Third, if I have a successful search, I should plan a trip to Ireland to look at this place.

The name C. J. Ryan was on a list of people in the newspaper death notice for my great-grandfather Ryan. C. J. was the only person who appeared to be related on the Ryan side of the family.

I continue to follow up on this clue as I search for my great-grandfather’s family.

I determined that C. J. was likely Cornelius J. Ryan of Nebraska. He lived for a long time at McCook but died at Omaha a few years after the death of my great-grandfather. Further research revealed that he had grown up in Illinois, as did my great-grandfather.

C.J.’s parents were Edmund/Edmond/Edward Ryan and Mary Real. This information presented an odd coincidence. This Edmund was too young to be the father of my great-grandfather father Daniel Ryan, yet his second marriage record says his parents were named Edmond and Mary as well. Perhaps Daniel Ryan and Edmund-father-of C. J. were brothers. If so, did Daniel’s parents Edmond and Mary have a son and daughter-in-law with the same names? Or did Daniel give a brother’s name instead of his father’s when he married?

Either way, I am working with the hypothesis that Cornelius and his father Edmund are related to my family. This week I went hunting for more information about them to see if I could find a connection between them and Daniel.

Here is what I found:

1. Cornelius’ sister Julia died at Grafton, Fillmore County, Nebraska in 1883. My great-grandfather lived in this community about that time. This tempts me to think that my great-grandfather settled there with his Ryan cousins.
2. Daniel Ryan enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 at Galva, Illinois. Cornelius’ family was living near the border of the adjacent Putnam County in 1870. If they lived so close together, again I am tempted to believe they were related.
3. My great-grandfather was born in Peoria County, IL in 1852. Cornelius lived in Peoria County in 1860. This is yet another clue of geographical proximity between people with the same surname.
4. Someone has posted a tree on Ancestry that looks a lot like it could be this family. It shows Edward Ryan with a son Cornelius who matches all the information I have collected about Edmund and Cornelius. The tree also includes a brother for Edward, named Daniel, born the same time as my Daniel. This family hails from Limerick. On this tree, Edmund/Edward and Daniel were brothers, and C. J. was Edward’s son.

I feel like I am on the right track. My Daniel died young in the Civil War, but Edmund/Edward lived until 1881. He must have left behind a lot more records for me to find. I think he and Cornelius are the key to finding a family for my Daniel.

The hunt for information on the family of my ancestor Daniel Ryan (1829-1863) continued this week. I tried three different research tactics:

1. I contacted my half second cousin, whom I have never met, to see if his family has any Ryan history. He had nothing to add to what I have already collected.
2. I searched for naturalization papers, assuming Daniel was an Irish immigrant during the potato famine. I do not know when he arrived. Beginning in the 1850s, he lived in several locations in Illinois including Kickapoo, Bloomington, Springfield, Galva. His first in-laws lived at Streator. I used the FamilySearch wiki to point me to naturalization databases but found no naturalizations for Daniel Ryan in any of these places. The closest was an 1860 naturalization in Livingston County just across the county line line from Streator. This seems like a long shot to be my Daniel. He was supposed to be living with his second wife Bridget in Springfield at that time although I have not found him on the U.S. census for 1860. She was living in her brother-in-law’s household with their son James that year.
3. I followed up on a clue from the 1925 Nebraska obituary for Daniel’s son Richard Ryan (1852-1925). It included a thank you to someone named C. J. Ryan. I assume he was a relative. Some sleuthing led me to his identity as Cornelius J. Ryan (1855-1927) who was the right age to be Daniel’s nephew and Richard’s cousin. I found Cornelius living in 1870 just south of Galva in Putnam County with his presumed parents, Edmond (b. abt. 1828) and Mary, and his sister Julia. This gives me two tantalizing connections to Daniel—his enlistment for the Civil War at nearby Galva, and his reported parents’ names Edmond and May when he married his second wife Bridget Murphy in 1854.

I have developed the hypothesis that Cornelius Ryan was in fact Daniel Ryan’s nephew. From that, I surmise that the Edmond Ryan of Putnam County was Daniel’s brother. Both were the children of the Edmond and May named in Daniel’s marriage record.

Since my Daniel died so young in the Civil War and left few footprints behind, more research on the Edmond of Putnam County might uncover additional records that would help determine whether my hypothesis is correct.

The other angle I found while doing the naturalization research was a connection between some Ryans in the Streator area, where Daniel’s son Richard lived with his mother’s family, and those Ryans who lived near Daniel’s one-time residence at Kickapoo. Was this group related to Daniel and to the Edmond Ryan family in Putnam County?

Although I have not yet proven a family for Daniel, it is too early to give up the search. I am encouraged to have clues remaining to be followed.

After joining the Irish special interest group at my local genealogical society this summer, I thought it best to do a little Irish research to see what more I can find about my Irish family.

I am seeking information on two Irish immigrants, Daniel Ryan (abt. 1829-1863) and his father-in-law, Thomas Lawless (1799-1870). This week I decided to look for naturalization papers for the two men.

Daniel presents a hard research case. He had a very common name, and he seemed to move around a lot. Thomas is easier because he had a more unusual name, and he immigrated with a large family that left behind many records.

I think I found the correct file for Thomas Lawless. After arriving in the U.S. in 1849 and living briefly near Peoria, Illinois, he settled permanently in LaSalle County, Illinois. I located a listing for his immigration file on Family Search, but the LaSalle County records are unavailable for viewing unless I travel to a Family History Center. Thomas became naturalized in either 1856 or 1858. The index offers two dates, and I need to see the file to sort this out.

As to Daniel, I do not know when he arrived in the U.S., nor do I know whether he was alone or traveling with others. I have not found him on any U.S. census record. I have is his marriage to my ancestor Jane Lawless at Peoria in 1851.

I found nearly a dozen naturalizations for men named Daniel Ryan in Illinois after that, but none were in Peoria.

After Jane died in 1853, Daniel married Bridget Murphy at Springfield in 1854. There was no one named Daniel Ryan naturalized in Sangamon County, either.

Daniel Ryan enlisted in the Civil War at Henry County in 1861, but again I found no naturalization record when i searched that county.

I did come across two possibilities in the area where Daniel’s father-in-law Thomas Lawless lived. Both records were from 1860. A Daniel Ryan was naturalized in LaSalle County that year, but this man’s census record for 1860 does not match my family. He was likely a different Daniel Ryan.

The other record is from adjacent Livingston County. The Lawlesses lived at Streator, a community on the border of LaSalle and Livingston Counties. My Daniel could have been there long enough to be naturalized, and perhaps he lived in Livingston County. Yet no Daniel Ryan appears on the 1860 U.S. census for that county. Why was this Daniel Ryan naturalized there if he did not live there? Was he my Daniel? Did my Daniel ever become naturalized?

Like everything else with Daniel Ryan, the search for a naturalization will not be easy. I can begin by visiting the Family History Center to look at the Livingston County file to see if it is the file I seek. I can pick up a copy of the file for Thomas Lawless at the same time.

Naturalization records are notoriously difficult to locate. Daniel Ryan’s case fits the profile.

I have joined the Special Interest Group for Irish research at my local genealogy club, the Highlands Ranch Genealogical Society. At our first meeting, the facilitator gave a Power Point presentation giving us a rundown of resources for Irish research.

Due to destruction of Irish records over the years, tracing Irish roots presents a real challenge. We learned that despite this difficulty, many resources do exist.

I looked at one of them this week.

The Family History Guide (https://www.thefhguide.com) provides a wealth of instructional information and links to good Irish genealogy websites. I had never heard of this site before.

They have specialized pages for different countries, and of course I chose Ireland. The page links you to the Family Search wiki  and Ancestry tutorials on Irish research. It goes on to provide links to pages and videos on Irish research strategies and tips. Finally, the page offers links to sites for Irish records, locations, surnames, and place names.

This site seems like a good starting place to make sure one does an exhaustive search for information on an ancestor.

Some of it will not be applicable to my own search for my ancestor Daniel Ryan (abt. 1829-1863). They tell you to begin with records your family saved and memories of your oldest living relatives. We did not know we had Ryan ancestors until a couple of years ago because my Irish great-grandfather was an absentee father. My grandmother did not even know his name. It took a DNA test to learn his identity.

I can skip those early steps in the usual genealogical research process and proceed to looking for all the American records I can find on Daniel Ryan. I still need 2 or 3:

1. Naturalization record. I do not know whether Daniel was ever naturalized. I do not know when he came to America, but he settled in Illinois. He lived at Peoria and Springfield, so I can start there.
2. Church record for Daniel Ryan’s marriage to Jane Lawless in Peoria in 1851. Last time I tried to find this, the Diocese of Peoria would not let me see this record. I need to check again to see if anything has changed.
3. Baptismal records for Daniel’s sons Richard and James. Richard’s is locked up in the Diocese of Peoria. I might be able to find James’ in the Diocese of Springfield.

With this plan in mind, and can begin again to see if I can figure out where Daniel’s home in Ireland was. That would be the key to tracing his family.

My local genealogical society in Highlands Ranch, Colorado continues to seek ways to engage its members. This year they are setting up some Special Interest Groups that will gather outside regular club meetings to work on topics that might not be of interest to all members.

One of these is an Irish study group. I decided to join. The first meeting is today at the Highlands Ranch Library.

A couple of years ago, I learned through DNA testing that my maternal great-grandfather was Irish. His name was Richard Ryan, and his parents immigrated from Ireland during the potato famine.

I have two lines of Irish ancestors to research:

1. Richard’s mother, Jane Lawless, came over with her family from County Louth. I have located baptism records there for her and her siblings. Her parents were Thomas Lawless and Bridget Hamill who were born about 1800.  I would like to learn more about their families and trace their lines back further.
2. Richard’s father was Daniel Ryan who was born in Ireland about 1829. I know nothing about his family. Other people named Ryan who are buried in the cemetery near where Jane and Daniel were married came from the diocese of Cashel & Emly in the Irish counties of Limerick and Tipperary.

DNA testing tell me I should have ancestry in County Cork. So where did Daniel Ryan come from? He has such a common name, and so far I have been unsuccessful in finding his origin in Ireland. Should I be looking in Limerick, Tipperary, or Cork?

I hope this study group can introduce me to some Irish research records and techniques. We will meet once a month until the end of the year, and I would like to uncover some new family information by then.

After a month of travel along the path of my Viking ancestors, I have returned home at last.

The highlight of our trip was a visit to L’anse aux Meadows, an archeological site in Newfoundland, Canada. We have long wanted to see this Norse settlement.

The Vikings began visiting there about a thousand years ago. It does not seem to have been a permanent community, and they stayed less than a century. They may have used it as a fishing village, or a place to repair boats. There is evidence of a blacksmith shop with a nearby iron-rich stream.

The husband-wife team of Helga Ingstad and Anne Stine Ingstad led the archeological excavations from 1960-1968. Their work revealed about 8 buildings, including a smelting hut and a carpentry workshop, that could have accommodated about 100 people. The structures were built with sod and had grass roofs.

The archeological dig also revealed remains of plants found only further south. The Vikings must have explored that direction from the base at L’anse aux Meadows.

The area once had trees, but now it is an open, grassy place. Game would have been plentiful in the summer months but scarce in winter. We do not know if the village was occupied year around.

Today, L’anse aux Meadows is a national historic site of Canada and a World Heritage Site. The excavations have been reburied, and are visibile as grassy mounds. Reconstructed buildings have been built nearby and are open for tourists to visit. There is also an interpretive center.

Most of the genealogy clubs take a break for the summer. Most years, I can get a lot of research done during that time. Not this year.

We will take a long trip soon that requires considerable preparation time. I also need to create a digital scrapbook for my DAR chapter. This eats into genealogy time.

My granddaughter offered to help me with the scrapbook. She came over for two afternoons, but that was not nearly enough time to create the book.

Now she is away at camp. I am trying to recall what I have learned from her to create additional pages. I am very slow.

I hope to finish more of it before I leave on vacation. Once we are all back home, perhaps my granddaughter can come over again to edit my work and make it look better.

She has some artistic talent while I do not. She also served on her school yearbook staff where she learned a trick or two about these things.

Meanwhile, no genealogy research is getting done this month.

My search for another Revolutionary War ancestor continues. So far, I have documented two: Gershom Hall, Private, Massachusetts militia; and Robert Kirkham, Private, Virginia militia who served at Boonesborough, KY. The other candidates in my family lines are much tougher to prove:

1. Dunbar. Benjamin Dunbar (1749-bef. 1779) was perhaps living during the early years of the War. His name is not on the DAR patriot list, and I do not know whether this Massachusetts man contributed to the independence effort in some way. The Dunbar family history has few details about him.
2. Reed. Caleb Reed (1756-abt. 1835) was the right age to enlist during the war. His brother Joshua did, and Joshua’s name appears on the DAR roster of known patriot ancestors. Caleb’s name does not. I have not found a record of military service for him prior to his move from Pennsylvania to Kentucky well after the Revolution. There he served as a Captain in the Kentucky militia. Did he serve the Revolutionary cause in some other way? Perhaps selling supplies to the troops or taking the oath of allegiance? The hunt for evidence continues.
3. Carter. Family lore tells me that John Carter (1790-1841) was the grandson of Levi Carter, Sr. whose name appears on the DAR patriot list. So far, I have found no evidence to prove John’s parentage. Other researchers disagree on whether John is descended from Levi or some other Carter. This was a numerous family in east Tennessee when John was born.
4. Templeton. John Carter’s wife was Mary/Polly Templeton (1792-1857). Her parentage, too, is uncertain. Some claim she was also a grandchild of Levi Carter, Sr. through her mother Susanna and Absalom Templeton, but that lineage would mean she was born 7 years before her parents’ marriage. I think that is unlikely. Others claim her father was Robert Templeton. A South Carolina man by that name appears on the DAR patriot list. He did have a daughter Mary, but there is good evidence that she was not the woman who married John Carter.

My search to document all these claims has begun with reviewing what others have already done. I have collected many family group sheets; read family and county histories; and reviewed the online family trees at Ancestry, Family Search, and My Heritage.

Nothing solid has turned up. Now I must formulate a research plan to dig for primary evidence that might lead me to another elusive Revolutionary War ancestor.