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Am hoping to find someone with knowledge of my Burns family.  My g-g-grandmother, Ann Burns, was born in Roscommon about 1826.  I don't know when she left Ireland, but in 1851 she married John Hammill (from Louth) in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, New York. They purchased a homestead in Minnesota and were living there by 1860.  Their children were Mary M, Rose Anne, John and Alice Theresa.  I don't know if that indicates Ann's mother's name might have been Mary.  I know the odds are not in my favor since I have so little information, but I remain hopeful...

Angela

Friday 27th Feb 2015, 08:53PM

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  • Angela:

    I looked at the Roots Ireland indexes in Co. Roscommon and they had 10 Ann Burns (or variant spelling) baptismal records from 1824-1828. Three of the ten had a mother named Mary. Also, there were a good number of RC churches that did not have records back to 1826. It would really help to have her parents names to help narrow down the possibe records. I assume you have the death record for Ann and parents names are not shown. Did you find an obituary?

    Roger McDonnell

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Friday 27th Feb 2015, 11:28PM
  • Roger, thank you for checking.  Her death record does not have her parents' names and neither does the family Bible, it only says that she was from Roscommon.  Her marriage record in the RC Church in New York also does not indicate parents' names.  I haven't found an obituary for either Ann or John.  There's an obit for their son but it only says that they were from Ireland.  My 3rd cousin and I (both descendants of John and Ann) have done DNA testing in the hopes of finding a living descendant that might know more than we do.

    Angela

    Saturday 28th Feb 2015, 12:32AM
  • Angela:

    Thanks. DNA testing may be helpful. Not sure if you tested with Family Tree, Ancestry or 23 and Me. Make sure you also add your data to www.gedmatch.com. This is a site maintained by volunteers (although they do ask for donations) where people who tested with one company can accrete their data and match aginst people who tested with one of the other two companies.

    Roger

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Saturday 28th Feb 2015, 01:28AM
  • Roger, I've tested at all three and on gedmatch.  Tested my mom at 23andMe, a 3rd cousin at AncestryDNA and tranferred to FTdna, and a maternal uncle at FTdna.  Only my uncle is not on gedmach.

    Gedmatch is fantastic and all three DNA sites should follow their example, gedmatch has the best analysis tools by far.

    Thanks for your replies.  Am going to post a response to your Hammill comments also, am more optimistic that I can find them since I think we have a town name.

    Saturday 28th Feb 2015, 02:18AM

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