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In my recent post, I laid out the documentary evidence supporting a sibling relationship between Patrick McAndrew, my great-great-grandfather, and Ellen McAndrew Mulherin. The pair shared many connections besides a surname, including being godparents to each other's children, being neighbors on the same block in Scranton, Luzerne/Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, naming the majority of their children by the same names, witnessing wills, and much more.
1
Turning to DNA
I'm using my Ancestry DNA match list and that of my paternal uncle. Patrick McAndrew is my uncle's great-grandfather and my great-great grandfather. My uncle would have inherited more DNA from Patrick than I would—about 12.5% for him vs. 6.25% for me.2
Though my father, now deceased, never took a DNA test, I inherited McAndrew DNA through him. Using both my uncle's and my DNA increases the "coverage" of our ancestral DNA from this family.
What does the DNA evidence tell me so far?
- Between the two kits, I've identified 15 DNA matches who descend from Ellen McAndrew Mulherin via three different daughters:
- Catherine Mulherin, who married Theodore George, via two of their children3
- Margaret Mulherin, who married James Gallagher, via six of their children4
- Rose Ellen Mulherin, who married John Gallagher, via one of their children.5
- DNA is measured in centimorgans, abbreviated to cM. My uncle or I share between 11-34cM of DNA with our matches, in relationships ranging from 3rd cousin (3C) to 4th cousin once removed (4C1R).
- Using the Shared cM Project tool, I find that the shared DNA is within the expected range for the likely relationship of 3C to 4C1R. For example, I share 34cM with a match who is my 3C. The expected range of shared DNA for 3Cs is 0-234cM, with an average of 73. Though my 34cM might seem low, it is within the range for this relationship.
- The closer the amount of shared DNA is to the mean for a given relationship, the stronger the case for the proposed relationship is between the matches. The strongest cases are those where the shared DNA falls within one standard deviation of the mean for that relationship. For example, for my 3C who I share 34cM with, the mean is 73cM with a standard deviation of 43cM. As it turns out, this amount of shared DNA is very common for 3Cs as shown in this histogram from the Shared cM Project:
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| Of the 4,755 submissions reporting DNA shared for 3Cs, 1,311 shared
between 25-50cM with their 3C. My 34cM falls into this 25-50cM "bin" as
well.6 |
Ancestral Regions & JourneysAncestry DNA also reports Ancestral Regions and Ancestral Journeys for each tester.
Ancestral Region
- My uncle's primary ancestral region is Ireland—89%—with lesser amounts from other regions.7 My ancestral regions are 47% Ireland, 46% Central & Eastern Europe (from my mother), and much smaller amounts from other regions.8
- Twelve of the fifteen matches have Ireland as their primary ancestral region; the other three have Ireland as their second highest region with just a few percentage points separating the top two.
- Patrick McAndrew and Ellen McAndrew Mulherin both have an Irish birthplace in numerous records.9
Ancestral Journey
- All of the identified matches have Connacht, Ireland, as an Ancestral Journey. "A journey is a group of people who share DNA because their relatives recently lived in the same place at the same time. Journeys are usually much smaller than ancestral regions and they go back only about 50-300 years.”10
- Connacht, Ireland, located in the northwest of Ireland includes County Sligo and County Mayo, reputedly from where—according to family lore—some of our Irish forebears came. Scranton, home to both Patrick McAndrew and Ellen Mulherin, drew many Irish immigrants from these counties to work in the coal mines, canals, and other projects, particularly after the Irish famine.11
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| This graphic shows the regions in Ireland where the majority of my
Irish ancestors lived, including North Connacht, North Mayo, North East
Mayo & North West Sligo, and South West Mayo.12 |
- My uncle's identified matches not only have Connacht, Ireland as an Ancestral Journey, but also the New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania Settlers journey. Seen on a map, this journey is very close to the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area.13
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| My uncle's Ancestry DNA Journeys include "New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania Settlers," a region close to Scranton. |
These Ancestry-provided DNA reports show that all testers and matches in this project share identical ancestral regions and that their ancestors likely journeyed from the same region of Connacht within the past 300 years. And though I don't yet know the exact date of immigration for either Patrick or Ellen, I do know that Patrick McAndrew was present in the Providence area of Scranton by 1865 and that Ellen was present no later than 1862 when she married Cornelius Mulherin.14 Both dates are well within that 300-year ancestral journey window at 160 and 163 years respectively.
I've confirmed most of the parent/child links from Ellen Mulherin down to the DNA matches. The next step is to make sure that the matches' family trees do not contain other ancestral lines which might account for the DNA we share.
Another update soon.
Until next time...
© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2025. All rights reserved.
NOTES
1 Nancy Gilbride Casey, "Are Ellen Mulherin and Patrick McAndrew Siblings?" 28 May 2025, Leaves on the Tree (https://myleavesonthetree.blogspot.com/2025/05/are-ellen-mulherin-patrick-mcandrew.html : accessed 7 June 2025).
2 ISOGG Wiki (https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics : accessed 7 June 2025), "Average autosomal DNA shared by pairs of relatives, in percentages and centimorgan," table, relationships for 12.5% and 6.25% shared DNA.
3 Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Orphan's Court, Marriage License
Docket, License No. 21624, Theodore George and Katie Mulhern, 5 August
1903; imaged, Lackawanna Public Inquiries (https://www.lpa-homes.org/LPA_Public_Inquiries/Views/CAXMLW_Views/MRG460DW.aspx : accessed 8 May 2025); citing Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans Court, Scranton.
4 1900 U.S. Census, Lackawanna Co., Pennsylvania, population schedule,
E.D. 52, page 7B (penned), Scranton, Ward 2, family 120, James Gallagher
& Margaret Gallagher, married 18 years; database & images,
Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4115106_00196 : accessed 7 June 2025). Marriage date calculates to about 1882.
5 Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Orphan's Court, Marriage License
Docket, Vol. 9, p. 26, John Gallagher and Rose Mulhern, 25 April 1888;
imaged, Lackawanna Public Inquiries (https://www.lpa-homes.org/LPA_Public_Inquiries/Views/CAXMLW_Views/MRG460DW.aspx : accessed 15 May 2025); citing Marriages, Vol. 482, page 508, Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans Court, Scranton.
9 1870 U.S. census, Luzerne Co., Penn., population schedule, 3rd ward, Scranton, p. 35, dwelling 249, family 250, Patrick McAndrews; database and images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4278801_00139 : accessed 7 June 2025). Also, Board of Health of the City of Scranton, Return of a Death, Patrick
McAndrews, Death Certificates Vol. 30, 1892, Record of deaths, 1878-1905
in the City of Scranton, Pennsylvania, database with images,
FamilySearch (
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YG-P3TY-C :
accessed 7 June 2025); citing Bureau of Health, Scranton. Also,
1880 U.S. census, Lackawanna Co., Penn., population schedule, ED 54, p. 63C, line 33, dwelling 624, family 654, Ellen Mulhern in Neal Mulhern household; database and images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4244365-00709 : accessed 7 June 2025). Also, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health, Certificate of Death 118347 (stamped), Ellen Mulherin, 26 Nov. 1920; database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/41381_2421406260_0615-00371 : accessed 7 June 2025); citing Division of Vital Records, New Castle.
11 Jim Dolan, The Irish are Coming: Sligo to Scranton 1850-1900 (Sayre, Penn.: Clare Printing, 2008), 81; imaged, Lackawanna GenWeb
(https://www.lackawannapagenweb.com/history/index.html : accessed 7
June 2025). "The 1870 U.S. Census for Scranton identifies the county in
which some Irish were born. Of those shown, the majority certainly
belonged to Mayo, followed by Sligo."
14 Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for Pennsylvania, 1862-1866, microfilm publication M787, annual lists, 1865, roll 58, district 7, collection district 12, p. 49 (penned), Patrick McAndrews, Providence, miner; imaged, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1264/records/7534096 : accessed 7 June 2025; citing National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 58, Records of the Internal Revenue Service, 1791-2006, Washington, D.C. Also, B.S. Shuta, transcriber, Holy Rosary Catholic Church (Scranton,
Lackawanna, Pennsylvania), Combined Baptism and Marriages, 1860-1887, p.
200, Neal Mulherin and Ellen McAndrew marriage, 24 July 1862; transcribed from digital images,
"Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast
Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Well done! DNA is always my go to, pairing it with a paper trail. Love that you sited all of it in your blog. I do enough citing in research reports that I'm way too lazy/tapped out to do it for my blogs too. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Diane. Eventually all of this will end up in my report (to myself), so one way to figure out how to write it up and cite it. Thanks for reading and commenting.
DeleteThank you for explaining your thoughts about the DNA connections and matching them with what you've found on the paper trail side. DNA research is another tool in the genealogical toolbox. Brava!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading. The writing helps me make sense of all that I've discovered in my research. I'm glad to have a platform to do so.
DeleteIt's great that you are looking at these extra tools to support your hypothesis and even better that you're not finding any conflicts. You're making a very strong case.
ReplyDeleteIt is promising I think. More work to be done. Thanks for reading!
DeleteAlways a plus when the DNA supports the paper trail. Excellent post plotting out your DNA research methods.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Molly. I appreciate the support. DNA is tricky!
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