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Jim's tombstone

Hello, all. This is the tombstone of James Dixon (1731-1823), my 4th-great grandfather, who was - according to a history of Cayuga County, N.Y. - born in Ireland. That book attributed James' origin to a grandson. Beyond that, I can offer my own yDNA test which put me in the R-M269 haplogroup, one of the most common in western Europe and, apparently, especially common in Ireland.

According to James' tombstone, he died 3 Oct., 1823 "aged 92 years, 1 month and 18 days."  Subtraction yields a birth date of 16 Aug., 1731.

I have no direct information about James' religion, but presume that he was a Protestant of some variety. In Upstate New York, a son donated land for the construction of a Presbyterian church and a son-in-law was a Presbyterian deacon. A daughter and a daughter-in-law were baptized at a Congregational church. Based on my presumption that James was a Protestant, I wonder whether he didn't originate in one of the counties of northern Ireland.

So, that's what I have: James Dixon,  born 16 Aug., 1731, in Ireland, possibly northern Ireland. Is this enough to find his parents and birthplace?

Slightly Irish

Saturday 18th Mar 2023, 09:41PM

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  • Slightly Irish,

    The information you have provided does suggest Ulster-Scots ancestry. Most of the emigrants from Ireland in the 1700s were Presbyterians from Ulster. Having already moved once they were often more willing to try somewhere new.

    Researching in Ireland in the 1700s is very hard going due to the general lack of records. If you don’t know where they lived it’s a needle in a haystack. Ideally you need to know the person’s exact denomination and the townland or parish they lived in to have any chance of finding them, and even then there may not be any records for that location.

    Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. If you have already tested, you can transfer your results to them for no fee.

    The North of Ireland Family History Society is running an Ulster DNA project in conjunction with FTDNA.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

     

     

     

    Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Saturday 18th Mar 2023, 11:07PM

  • I plugged in “James Dixon” on RootsIreland and got these two results.  While the ages don’t match exactly, it is not uncommon that emigrants were not in touch with their exact birthdate.

     

    James Duckson

    Birth:     02-Dec-1731

     Baptism:             01-Dec-1731

    Parish/District:   ST. JOHN'S Co. Limerick

    Church of Ireland

    Father:  Davis Duckson   

    Mother:               Unknown

     

     

    Name:   James Dickson  

    Baptism:              11-Sep-1724

    Parish/District:   ARMAGH 1 Co. Armagh

    Presbyterian

    Father:  Philip Dickson    

    Mother:               Not Recorded

    Patricia

    Sunday 19th Mar 2023, 12:15AM

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