I am a great-great-grandson of Mary Holland, Until recently my family knew little about Mary other than her name,which was recorded on her the marriage and death certificates of my great-grandfather, Edward James Lee. It appears that Mary was born in about 1825; one source suggests that she had second name Anne. Mary was probably born in Ireland and emigrated to England, where she married Edward Lee (senior), who was said to have been a bricklayer by trade.Their son, Edward junior said that he had been born in "England", probably in 1855. He emigrated to Western Australia, arriving in/before the first week of January 1883.
After doing a genealogical DNA test in 2019, I discovered that my strongest DNA match at all was with a person I will call MW, from the United States, whose great-grandparents include Julia M. Holland, born in 1848 in Urlingford (recorded as something like "Erlengford" [sic] on a US census form). The size of my match with MW is consistent with a fourth cousin relationship or similar. In other words, it would seem likely that Mary was either an aunt, cousin, or half-sister of Julia Holland. Since I do not appear to share any other "ancestral surnames" in the last five generations with MW, it seems possible that Mary Holland had reasonably close relatives in the Urlingford area.
Smaller DNA matches between me and other people named Holland (or with Holland ancestors) from two adjoining parishes in Laois, namely Rathdowney and Durrow, suggest that either Mary, her father or paternal grandfather may have come from south-west Laois.
DNA matches with other people from the same part of Ireland suggest connections with the surnames Dwyer/Dwyre, Fleming/Flemming and Ryan, some from adjoining parts of County Tipperary. It's possible that one of these was the maiden name of Mary's mother.
(Note:the parishes listed for Mary are speculative and based on DNA matches with people with Holland ancestors from those parishes or adjoining parishes.)
