McCaffrey family Fermanagh

Leslie,

McCaffrey is a very common Fermanagh name. In the 1901 census there were about 460 of them in the county of which 34 were named Ann. (Not your Ann obviously but you’ll see how common the name was). Without a specific parish and/or parents names I see no realistic way of identifying the right family. (A number of trees on Ancestry have Anne as born 6th July 1859 in Fermanagh to parents John McCaffrey and Nancy Murray. However I can’t find a baptism that matches that nor the parents marriage. The trees have no citation as to where the information originates, so may not be totally reliable. Needs verified anyway, but you might want to contact tree owners).

Have you exhausted all US sources where her parents names might be recorded, eg naturalisation applications, marriage and death certificates?

Possibly DNA testing may be a way of matching with others who have additional information about where the family originate. Family Tree DNA reportedly has more people with Ulster roots than any other company. That obviously increases the chances of finding a match. You might want to try them or, 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 and can offer testing kits at a reduced price.  http://www.nifhs.org (Go to DNA project on the website).

RootsIreland shows the baptism of an Ann Macaffry on 28-Apr-1856 in the RC parish of Kinawly in Fermanagh. Address: Coragh. Parents Michael, Mary McManus. Witnesses: Edward McManus, Catherine Maglenan. I don't know if this is your Ann, but it might be a start.

Hi Elwyn and Patricia,

Thank you for the information.

My sister had done research in Massachusetts several years ago.  The records she found never listed Annie's parents, and her birthplace was only recorded as Ireland, no county or town.

My father, who died many years ago, talked very fondly of his Irish grandmother, and he knew she was from Fermanagh but that was about all we knew (or I can remember from all his stories)

I received a mesaage a few weeks ago from a DNA relative from a DNA testing site. They are from the O'Reilly family, origins Monaghan. My Lane ancesters are from Cork, so the only connection with the O'Reillys is most likely the McCaffreys.  It is a tangled web.

Leslie Lane

Hi Elwyn,

I took your advice and have joined the Ulster DNA project. Thank you for the suggestion, We'll see if it leads anywhere.

Leslie