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I've been trying to work out the puzzle of my grandmother's family, because she was orphaned after immigrating to the U.S. in 1880.  Her name was Helen Coffey.  (She was Helen Walsh after being adopted. There were Walshes from Dromod at the time, and they appeared to settle in the same rural community west of Chicago, so I'm guessing perhaps they were friends of the family [or even relatives].)  In any case, her father was James Coffey of Coomavohir, and her mother was Elizabeth (Bessie) Lynch of Dooira.  I believe she had a baby sister who died shortly after arrival in NYC in 1880, as did her mother.  Her father is said to have made it to Illinois with Helen, but to have died shortly afterward. 

DNA has helped me identify some of the records that properly belong in the family history (there are so many "recycled" given names that it's dizzying).  The DNA matches helped me to figure out that the people with Doherty, Connor, Leary, and Doyle surnames married some of the relatives of my grandmother.  (The Lynch, Shea, Kelly names were recorded on record of Helen Coffey's marriage to Charles Michael Dooley in 1890, in Iowa.)

I haven't quite manage to make the "limbs" of Helen's family tree- the bits I've learned from DNA matches- link up to a single "trunk," just yet.  Honestly, I'm not sure why I keep trying, except that frustration often makes me even more stubborn than I typically am.   

Friday 14th Apr 2017, 08:55PM

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