McDevitt/Doherty from Donegal

Heather:

Without some additional information, it will be difficult to pinpoint where the McDevitts and Dohertys came from in Co. Donegal. Both names and in particular Doherty are very common in the county. I looked for civil birth index records for Sarah Doherty in 1868 and there were at least six records. Roots Ireland does not have a birth record for a Denis McDevitt for 1855 +- 5 years probably because Co. Donegal church records are generally not readily available for the mid1800s and earlier. Do you happen to know the first name of the half brother? If Denis named this son after his father, this might be a lead in looking at Griffiths Valuation records at least to narrow your search.

Roger McDonnell

Thanks!  The half brother was Joseph H Crawson.  He was mentioned in the obituary of one of Sarah and Dennis's son's as living in Florida.  He's a complete dead-end too.  Crawson could be the name of a step father or some other type of NPE?

I am also DNA tested at Ancestry.com, as well as have a tree, and I have a DNA match that seems to come from my McDevitt line.  His ancestor is John McDevitt born in Donegal around 1840, he thinks his McDevitt's hail from Meenmore East, Fintown, and Doocharry.  

I'm hoping that our Irish cousins from those who didn't leave, will test and help point the way.  Thanks again,  Heather 

Heather:

I looked at the 1858 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Co. Donegal and only one Joseph McDevitt came up. If Denis' first son was Joseph and he named him after his father and if his father was in Griffiths then possibly, it is the Joseph below. Lot of "ifs". By the way I grew up in Philadelphia and one of my sisters lives in West Chester.

Roger

Hi Heather

Not sure if this can add anything to go on,  My GG Grandfather Patrick Doherty was born near Buncrana Donegal,  his father was Owen, he married Ellen McGrillie and one of the witnesses was James McDevitt the wedding was in 1872.  Doherty is such a common name, however James McDevitt and your Dennis may have been friends and maybe Sarah was related to Patrick, the timing is around the right timeframe.

Do you have the name of Sarah Doherty's father or mother.

Jan

Hi Heather

I am tested at FTDNA, autosomnal and am awaiting my mtdna results.
Where can we see if we are related in any way? I'm new to this :)

Thanks!
Mari McDade

Mari:

You and Heather tested with different companies. You would both need to upload your data to www.gedmatch.com to compare your results.

We will try to alert Heather to your e-mail.

Roger McDonnell

Thanks so much Roger!!
:)

*I am tested at FTDNA (kit 286266/v3 upload), Ancestry, and 23andme.   I've got several Gedmatch kits: M102536, A449981, and M054852.  Since I wrote this original post, I got Dennis and Sarah's death certificates and Dennis' mom is Mary McGrander and his dad was Cornelius McDevitt.   Sarah's mom was Hannah Harkins and her dad was Charles, spelled Dougherty, on her death certificate.   Her immigration documents show Doherty but it was spelled multiple ways during her life.   They are still dead-ends for me after that but I got a DNA match to a Doherty/McDaid from Donegal, who also had McDevitt's in his family tree.   It seems like the McDevitt's, Doherty's, and McDaid's were pretty tight in Donegal is my impression.   

* edited for spelling

Hi Mari, Teresa,

You seem to have sent me a private message but I can't access it to save my life so I'll just post here.  When I click on the link, it says access denied!   Anyway, you listed a Gedmatch kit and asked about a 5.2cM segment on the 6th chromosome.   I can't replicate that with any of my kit's - are you comparing to my kit's for that?   Either way, 5.2cM if real, is a very distant match, probably at least 5 generations or more.   Likely untraceable with genealogy.   I say 'if real' because anything under 10cM has a pretty good chance of being an identical-by-state psuedo-match (as opposed to identical-by-decent, inherited).   You can read here for more about the differences: http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Identical_By_State

I hope this helps.  :)

Oops!
I was matching one to one on gedmatch.com. Yes, here is what I did:

Comparing Kit A963105 (Mari McDade) and A449981 (*Little bit Ancestry)
Minimum threshold size to be included in total = 700 SNPs
Mismatch-bunching Limit = 350 SNPs
Minimum segment cM to be included in total = 4.0 cM

I changed the bottom # from 7cm to 4cm

I was just saying that I am new to all of this and am waiting for my mtDNA results. I have autosomnal for now.
My
FTDNA kit# B13743.

Ah, ok. Yes, now I can see we share some small segments in common:

2 74040569 7 6780564 3.8 740
2 134307810 137368148 2.5 719
6 25623883 29500214 1.1 1739
6 95119906 100298936 3.2 821
6 152527972 155904798 5.2 988
11 44870258 5 5360988 2.0 918

My Irish comes from my mom's side and here's you to her:

6 25565230 28619996 1.2 1321
6 31190340 3 3033563 1.5 2253
7 83145536 87043599 2.1 760
10 57464110 61245326 3.0 782
12 33101819 39362321 1.2 717

The largest one, 5.2 cM, is not shared with my mom so if real, must be along a different lineage, from my English/Scottish American Colonial father's side. Either way, these segments are way too small to used for genealogy but are evidence that our ancestors came from the same Northern European gene pool.

MtDNA tends to be of limited use for genealogy because of it's narrow path of inheritance and age of the mutations (they are ancient.) I have FTDNA's full mitochondrial sequence, J1c3i from my Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors and I've got 3 perfect zero step matches, none I can trace to my genealogy. Even perfect matches can be from 22 or more generations to a common miotchondrial ancestor. I actually have a match at 23andme that is a mitochondrial match, his mom was my great grandma's sister, but I found him with autosomal DNA. Hopefully, though, you'll get lucky and find a genealogically relevant mitochondrial match. Good luck!

For all your help and time! :)

Hi, My ancester, james McDevitt was born in Raphoe, Donegal in 1795. I believe his parent were Patrick McDevitt and Nora Browne. I have been DNA  tested through 23ndme. I am not sure how to check if I am related,

James McDevitt's family mirgated to Australia after his daeth in 1843.

Regards

Caimein

I have not had DNA done & my research is old as I gave up on finding these folks years ago, but here is what I have.  My mother's maternal grandparents were both Farrens born in  Donegal. Bernard Farren, s/o John Farren & Sarah Mc Gorey married Ellen Farren d/o Phillip Farren and Bridget McKenna in Boston MA in 1869.  Ellen's older brother, Alexande,r stated on his application for citizenship that he was born In Culdaff in 1837.  Alexander's cemetery plot includes, in addition to himself and his mother, a young McDaid child and a Bridget McDEVITT, the 86 y.o. widow of William. She died 4 March 1893, and the record states that she was born in Ireland to Dennis & Bridget Farren.  In 1986 I wrote the parish priest in Culdaff, but he was unable to find any records for my families.  Spelling on many names was caprecious, as was that of DOHERTY, which was dominant in the community and appeared frequently as sponsor, wittness, godparent, etc..  Barbara

Hi Heathery, are you still researching McDevitta from the Fintown area? My family lived in Meenmore East up until the 1990s and I've traced my branch of the McDevitts back to the 1800s in this area.

Jon

Hi Heather,

Are you still researching McDevitts from the Fintown area? My family lived in Meenmore East up until the 1990s and I've traced my branch of the McDevitts back to the 1800s in this area.

Jon

Dear Heather,

I am a descendent of Patrick McDavitt/ McDevitt and Nora Brown. Their son, James  was born in Raphoe, Doneagl in 1795. My brother and I have tested with 23andme. I have also uploaded our results to Gedmatch amd My Heritage. If you give me your name on 23 and me I can see if we match or you can check us and let me know.

Regards 

Caimein

23andme names: Caimein Bowyer

                             Shaun Smith

I have just gone to Gedmatch and my brother and I match Mari Teresa  as 7.1 generations apart. I know it is many generations however I hope it leads to finding out more about the McDevits. I have traced back 6 generations so far.

Caimein