Seeking info on Michael Kain, born 1818 in Drangon, possible name change

Hi there! Do you know a rough window of time when Michael emigrated to the US? Your story shares some similarities with the family lore around my 2nd great grandfather Patrick Kanan, though I tend to believe the stories that link him to Drangan Parish are just confusing him with the provable family history around our 4 other Irish lines (Kenney/Kenny, Cahil/Cahill, Smyth, & Quigly/Quigley) from that parish or neighboring parishes.

Patrick was born in approximately 1832 though, which is a sizable (but not impossible) age gap. Family lore says Patrick was pretty young, maybe around 14, if I recall the stories correctly. He was also supposed to have come over with at least 1 brother, but got separated immediately. He was in Ohio by 1860, but as he was illiterate and his surname spelling changes often, it's difficult to trace him reliably before he has a wife and children with him to help us identify him. Kanan would not have been his original Irish surname either, but it's the spelling his descendants settled on. I have not yet nailed down which name it came from; many phonetic options exist. 

Hi, just joined membership.  I was tracing family history that led me back to Patrick Kanan.  I believe from research he is my great, great grandfather.  My father was Edward Kanan, son of Paul Kanan, son of Thomas Kanan, son of Patrick Kanan from Drangan.  Just curious if you have found out any other info.  Thank you!

Maria

Hi Maria, 

That makes you my second cousin! I'm also the great granddaughter of Thomas Edward Kanan and 2nd great granddaughter of Patrick Kanan. I'm the granddaughter of Paul's younger brother Louis Kanan. I know a great deal about the Kanan family tree, but unfortunately nothing concrete that's any earlier than Patrick Kanan. One of my mother's double first cousins (a son of Paul & Louis's youngest brother William) did a Y-DNA test, but there are very few people on that Y line who have tested, and none of them have surnames remotely similar to Kanan, though they're certainly also Irish. There are many possible reasons for that. Y-DNA matches can go back many generations before a single patrilineal name was established, for one thing. Many of us have also done autosomal DNA tests, and that's helped us connect with many Kanan cousins, but they're likewise all descended from Patrick Kanan & Mary McGary's 15 children. I have an extensive tree on Ancestry.com. 

This is a single-use link, so hopefully you access it before anyone else does, but you're welcome to view our tree: 
http://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tools/tree/19391111/invitees/accept…

Happy researching! Have a great day,

Mary