Several years ago, when Y-DNA was pretty much all that was available to genealogists, my father agreed to be tested as my December holiday (a.k.a. Christmas for him, Hanukah for me) present to satisfy my curiosity. The fact that it was an easy present that wouldn't involve a trip to the mall in that month (especially that year, as my mother was sick enough that she died the third night of Hanukah) undoubtedly helped my sales pitch ;-)
Unfortunately, it didn't clear anything up where the paper trail is unclear or non-existent. Nor has more recent testing as the technology has improved.
Unlike many genealogists, I have my straight maternal line, with a surname change in every generation, much further back (in northeastern Massachusetts, back to a woman born in MA in the 1630s and her English mother) than I have my straight paternal line.
My documented paternal line ends with Francis McGee, who appears in Edinburgh, Scotland, when he marries Helen Cassidy in 1848. On a daughter's birth record, he says he was born in Donegal, Ireland, around 1822, while a census record says Fermanagh. When Francis dies in 1888, his daughter says her father's father's name was Bernard McGee on Francis's death certificate, but that is the only bit of evidence I have on anyone earlier than Francis.
I had hoped that the DNA test my father would link my line to other McGees.... but if you look at the McGee DNA project results, my line is all by its lonely self in group 2 :-(
When looking at the actual data, there's no one close. Looking at larger databases, the closest matches (which aren't that close ~ all are several steps away) are associated with surnames from northwestern Ireland, so the Donegal/Fermanagh birthplace seems reasonable.
More recently, as more comprehensive testing has become available, my brother was tested (at my request) at Ancestry, and I'm awaiting results for me from another company.
The Ancestry results for my brother have also not yielded any clues. All the possible matches show the same thing ~ distant (5th to 8th) cousins, and when I click for more details, all of them (with one exception) have a list of common colonial New England surnames but no overlapping pedigrees. I'm guessing that what is really happening is more distant relationships but several times over, given how there's a fair bit of pedigree collapse for families that go back to that time and place. For example, if someone has one line to the John Putnam and Priscilla Gould who settled in Salem Village (now Danvers), MA ~ I have this:
And, to top it off..... I'm also descended from Priscilla's brother Zaccheus and his wife at least three times. I've found 51 other couples (and 4 men) married after 1600 (the last married about 1800) where I'm descended from two or more of their children. Figure that must lead to some DNA distance confusion ;-)
One suggested cousin did have an overlapping tree, but the person hasn't responded to my inquiries ~ which isn't too big an issue, as it seems clear from what is already visible that I have much more on that family than he/she does.
More on the McGees (a bit of a repeat an encore presentation from a previous diary I did a couple years ago), 'cuz I don't have it in me to be short-winded for these diaries....and it gives me an excuse to put some more pictures in ;-)
I've got a fairly complete picture of Francis McGee and Helen Cassidy after their marriage at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Edinburgh, 1848. Despite having been poor Catholic costermongers (Francis was probably a famine immigrant who was likely too poor to pay for passage to the US so he went only as far as Scotland) in the tenements of Edinburgh, they did manage to leave trails in various records.
Francis was born in Ireland (Donegal or Fermanagh, depending on which record I believe) in the 1820s, while Helen was the daughter of Michael Cassidy and Mary Goodman, baptized at St. Mary’s, Edinburgh, in 1832.
St. Mary's, taken in 2004:
I’ve found them on the two censuses that were taken when they were married:
1851 census 685-1 Ed 3 p 6 (Lady Yester's)
231 Cowgate, Hasties Close.
Francis McGEE, head, 28, hawker costermonger, b Fermanagh, Ireland
Helen McGEE, wife, 20, hawker's wife, b Edinburgh, MLN
Margaret McGEE, daur, 1, ---------------b Edinburgh, MLN
1861 census 685-3 Ed 28 p 2 (Canongate)
341 Cowgate, Scotts Land.
Francis McKEE, head, 37, fishmonger, b Ireland
Ellen McKEE, wife, 27, fishmonger, b Edinburgh, Edin.
Ellen McKEE, daur, 11, --------------b Edinburgh, Edin.
Margaret McKEE, daur, 6, ---------b Edinburgh, Edin.
Edward McKEE, son, 3, -----------b Edinburgh, Edin.
(Daughters ages reversed on this return……)
I’ve found some details on several of their children, including my great-grandfather Peter, who was adopted out after his mother died and his older sister married and moved to Dundee. Peter, was born in December 1861 in White Horse Close, Edinburgh, was adopted by James Jamieson and Margaret {maiden surname Guthrie} of Leith when he was 6 or 7, so I'm guessing that happened when his older sister Margaret married in Feb 1868 and would have no longer been around to care for Peter.
White Horse Close (it was much grimmer 150 years ago....):
Helen died in 1862. Francis didn't die until 1888, when his daughter Margaret (living in Dundee at the time; she was born in 1849 - I have the baptism record from St. Mary's) was the informant on the death certificate.
In 1871, Peter is listed as a boarder with the family of James Jamieson and Margaret Guthrie.
Linden Cottage 3, Lasswade, Edinburgh, Midlothian
James Jamieson 50 boot/shoemaker Leith
Margaret Jamieson 51 Earlston
Robert G Jamieson 27 boot/shoemaker
Margaret Jamieson 18 paper mill wkr
Peter McGhee 9 boarder, scholar
Sarah S Richard 4 granddaughter
Thomas Moffat 1 nursing
In 1881, he's with the same family, listed as an adopted son.
Guthrie's Land, Old Sugarhouse Close, Leith
James Jamieson 60 Leith boot/shoemake
Margaret Jamieson 61 Earlston BER
Peter M Jamieson 20 Edinburgh adopted son sailmaker
Georgina D Jamieson 3 Loanhead adopted daughter
Robert Shepherd 40 boarder Greenock plater ship building yard
Janet Shepherd 37 boarder Leith
Hellen Newel 27 visitor Leith
Hellen Newel 1 visitor Glasgow
Peter McGee Jamieson with his wife (center of photo; he has a large mustache and has his arm around his wife Charlotte, who is wearing a good-sized hat; taken before Charlotte's death in 1909, but no other details known about date/place/occasion... ):
When Peter marries, he lists Francis McGee and Helen Norrie as his parents. For Helen Cassidy (his mother's actual name....), I had her parents' {Michael Cassidy and Mary Goodman} marriage in 1830 at St. Mary's RC church in Edinburgh, followed by the baptisms of Helen in 1832 and sister Jane in 1834. And then nothing until Helen marries Francis McGee in 1848.....
But I've had a couple (at least mini) breakthroughs over the years….
What happened to Francis between his wife’s death in 1862 and his death in 1888?
I've found a couple possibilities for Francis on 1871 and 1881 but no one who is definitely him. For example, in 1881, there's a lodger listed at 65 Grassmarket as Frank with no last name, occupation fish hawker, aged 57, born Ireland, that I'm guessing is highly likely to be him.
Helen Cassidy’s childhood…..
There are no further baptisms for the Cassidy family at St. Mary's, other than Helen in 1832 and her sister Jane in 1834, and I didn't see any the one chance I had to skim the Dundee RC records. I guessed that one of a couple possibilities happened:
a. they moved outside Scotland - maybe back to Ireland? And then back to Scotland with the famine in time for her to marry Francis in 1848in Edinburgh.
b. one or both parents died, leaving 9 yo Helen to get skipped in the 1841 census. I looked through many of the Helens (Ellens/Eleanors) born in the right time frame to see if Cassidy got completely mangled, or if there's a Helen with a last name that turns up in the various witnesses to family events.
So all speculation at this point but fresh eyes do sometimes see something new. So I reposted the query about where Helen might have been in 1841 for the census at the TalkingScot forum, where there are lots of sharp-eyed researchers, one of whom (Sarah) posted this:
How about this one... (similar structure to the last name, even if the actual letters are different, and certainly initial C could look like G). Since I'm just looking at the Ancestry transcription, I can't tell if Gettany is for real.
1841
Giles Street, South Leith, Midlothian
Beatrice Thomson, 50, born Midlothian, Washerwoman
Agnes Thomson, 20, born Midlothian, Dressmaker
James Hermanson, 20, born Midlothian, Glazier I
Peter Saunders, 22, born Midlothian, Labourer
Ellen Gettany, 8, born Midlothian
Do you know anything else about this family, e.g. what happened to Michael and Mary and if wee Jane survived?
I note that on the free surname search on SP there is exactly ONE occurrence of the surname Gettany. Guess where? 1841 census, of course. So perhaps that's how they actually wrote it. It does suggest, however, that this was not the standard spelling of whatever her name was!
I think there's a good chance it's her. Who knows who answered the questions for the enumeration. The people in the household probably knew her mostly by her first name. Speaking from a phonetic point of view, every consonant is in the correct place in the mouth, just pronounced in a slightly different way. (e.g. you put your tongue in exactly the same place for "d" and "n" but just let some air out through your nose for the latter). Well, I won't bore you with the details but I found it quite convincing!
To which I replied:
Believe me, the details wouldn't bore me one little (glances at MA in linguistics hanging on wall..... ) and I think it is highly likely it is her....but figured some thinking out loud was a good idea, in case I'm overlooking something or my eagerness has me making leaps that I shouldn't - in which case, I'd hope someone would pull me back to reality.....tracing the wrong person/line is so annoying.
I looked at the actual return at SP; it does look pretty much like Gettany (surprise, surprise) but I'm still wondering if it might be her..... location not that far off, age is right, she appears at first glance to be an 'extra'* in the household, and I can see someone misreading Cassidy as Gettany when recopying handwritten returns (especially at the end of a long day....). I thought I'd looked at all the girls with something approximating the right name -- and esp. all those whose family names started with C, K, and G -- but I seem to have missed this one somehow..... eyes do cross after a while, I guess.
So, now the inquisitiveness kicks in.... random placement with an unrelated family? Or some relatives I don't know about? So many questions, so little time, Edinburgh (and its archives) so far away...... Thanks for looking - the new/fresh eyes are much appreciated!
* A scenario I was kinda sorta expecting, as I've found no trace of later baptisms after her sister Jane in 1834, which leads me to believe that one or both of her parents died in the mid/late 1830s if the family otherwise stayed in Scotland, which seems likely, since Helen/Ellen/Eleanor/Norrie married there at the age of 16 (and marriage quite that young also seems to suggest she didn't have much family).
Then the next breakthrough: the Old Parochial Register deaths/burials have now been digitized and they've gone live at Scotlandspeople. The OPRs are the records from before 1855, when Scotland started doing civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths. The OPRs are basically the records of the established Church of Scotland (a.k.a. Presbyterian) and so one mostly actually gets baptisms, banns, and burials, rather than births, marriages, and deaths. Since it is the established church, many people (Catholics and Free Church adherents being the prime ‘culprits’) didn’t bother to register various events. The baptisms and marriages have been indexed and available for years, but indexing the burials was proving to be a bit harder, as many as listed as ‘a child of Mr. Cameron’ or ‘old widow McDonald.’
So I took a peek. Since I wasn’t at home when the records went on-line, I was working from memory, and I know the details of the Cassidy/McGee line pretty well, having gone over it lots. But they were Catholic, based on the records I'd found at St. Mary's. Was it worth trying?
Yup, it was. Occasionally one gets lucky!
There she was: Mary Goodman, age 29, wife of Michael Cassidy, buried 6 Sept 1835. So the theory that at least one of Helen's parents had died as the reason that I'd only found the two children's baptisms looks like it's true.
On Helen's name: she is also listed variously in assorted records as Eleanor and Ellen; her son called her Helen Norrie on his marriage record, so I wouldn't be surprised if she went by Norrie or Nora, either.
A wild speculation.....
One morning in January 1855, Francis and Helen have a daughter named Helen, and Francis toddles off from Hastie's Close, a small street of tenements in the Old Town of Edinburgh, where they are living, to comply with the new registration law. In Scottish genealogy, 1855 is the magic year for researchers. During this first year of required civil registration of births, deaths, and marriages, records required much more information than in later years.
What caught my eye on the registration of Helen’s birth: the next line, another child born the same day (although in the evening) as Helen and registered the same day, with the same witness to their father's marks. It's a James Callaghan, son of Thomas Callaghan and Mary McGhie, also resident in Hastie's Close. Aha, I think..... Any chance Mary is related to Francis? If not, it is quite the coincidence.
James's entry says his parents were married in 1844 in Dundee. Thomas, age 30 in 1855, was born in Co. Cavan, Ireland, while Mary was 38 and born in Donegal. James is her 4th child, with the previous three all deceased.
When I was in Scotland several years ago, I found their marriage record at the Catholic church in Dundee: 9 July 1844, witnessed by James Trainor and Mary Farrell.
Ancestry's 1851 census lists a Thomas aged 26 and Maria Kallican aged 25 at 89 Murraygate, Beattie Close, Dundee, on the 1851 census, with a son Thomas aged 1 that might well be them. Hurrah for census searches that don't require a last name!
But I can't find them in the death records or later census returns. Obviously, having registered James’s birth in 1855 means they were still alive when civil registration started. I've tried lots of combinations of spellings/Soundex/wildcards with no luck. Looked through the US census and various immigration records, just in case, on the off chance that they immigrated and I'd manage to find them amongst all the possible spellings.
And in my wilder moments, I wonder if James and Helen were actually twins, with Francis and Helen not able to handle them and letting his sister and her husband adopt one. And in the really wild moments, I figure maybe someday I'll track down a direct male descendant of James to compare his DNA to the test my dad had done as a present for me.
I think it is likely that there is some connection, as there seems to be some movement between Dundee & Edinburgh for both these families - plus there's a surname that turns up in baptismal and marriage witnesses for both that is a bit less common - McPhilips.
Yes, the twin thing is waaaaaay out there. But I'm sure you can see why I occured to me, despite the am/pm difference - one family with 3 babies who've died, the other with (possible) twins, a couple other living children, and little to no income.
Someday, maybe someone will get a DNA test done that will pop up in a database and fill my Irish lack of records black hole ~ or at least answer the McGee/Callaghan question for me ;-)