RootsChat.Com

Thanks again Hurworth

I have about 1400 matches on FTDNA, no close relatives and most seem to be US based - all over the place within the US. Only a minority of my distant matches seem to have trees but those that I have looked at have US born ancestors going back to the end of the 18th century or v early 19th century. Little trace of the millions of UK and Irish and European immigrants that flooded in to the US from the mid 19th century and later, which is when I believe my own non direct
Line relatives are most likely to have gone over ( and in a couple of cases I know that relatives emigrated to the US in the late 1800s).

Is this just a peculiarity of my matches or are there factors about US research which encourage people to identify with earlier settlers?

I was also wondering, after reading the above two posts, given the scale and mobility of the US population from the 19th century onwards, would intermarriage in the 17th century still be showing up in DNA tests in 2017? If the answer is positive maybe I need to be less sceptical about my distant matches' trees.

Thanks.

Thank you very much Sinann. I will follow that one up as he is the right age to be a possibility for Jeremiah's father. I found a younger Jeremiah born 1882 in Clonakilty in navy records a while ago, who may also be connected.

Appreciate your time and kindness.

Just to add to #5, once you have set up your account and have logged in, click on "Family Tree" and then I usually use "Find".

I am not an LDS member but have started to share my research through the family tree facility. My reasons for doing so were:
1) after several years research on some (not all) lines, I wanted to share at least the bare bones with others.
2) the LDS website is free, so people don't need a subscription to see it, and I can suggest they go there to see my tree with a good conscience.
3) the LDS maintain and update the software - I don't have to worry about it, or worry when my laptop dies or if I change operating systems etc.
4) there are ample facilities to add sources, notes and extra information. To be honest I didn't get the hang of the source tool to begin with so while I have sourced everything, I have often put this info in the notes section - might pay to check in case others have done this also. I am slowly going back & adding sources via the source tool.
5) there are facilities for contacts with other family members via the site, and as far as I can tell you can do this confidentially. I don't know for sure as no-one has contacted me and I haven't contacted anyone else.

There are some very tentative efforts.  Carole W is right - never believe anything without checking first.

It is a disadvantage that anyone else can change a tree, but so far that has only happened to me once, and I was alerted by the system. I went in and changed it back, leaving a polite and detailed explanation as to why the other person's change was not correct, providing sources. No further changes so far.


I absolutely understand that this would not suit everyone, especially if you like total control, or use tree software as a working research tool. The main record of my research is a series of word documents and  it suits me to be able to share the outline of that research via a freely accessible, well maintained site like www.familysearch.org 

I would be very pleased if the information I am sharing has helped/will help anyone else connected with the wider family.

Thanks Hallmark. I saw some references to the National Library site yesterday but could not get on to it, even after trying different browsers and devices. Will have another go.

Thanks also to Conahycalling. Yes I have tried Leary and other variants. At this stage I am still assuming Jeremiah's father was indeed Cornelius which narrows the field somewhat. I have previously gone through the candidates on familysearch and have had to eliminate them but will keep checking.

Thanks for your time.