My great-great-grandparents emigrated first to England and then to Pittsburgh in the U.S. in the late 1840s. Their names are Daniel Ahearn, son of John Ahearn and Margaret nee Murphy, and Ellen Jordan, daughter of David Jordan and Bridget [family name unknown]. Their marriage record and the baptism records of their children born in Ireland all reference the townland Gortroche/Gurtroche. My hopes are to find out more about their family and parents' families from the early 1800s, and to connect with any cousins who share this heritage. Any ideas about how best to pursue this research are most welcome.
Jay Shock
Monday 17th Oct 2016, 12:27AMMessage Board Replies
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Jay:
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
I looked on Roots Ireland and could not find the marriage record or the baptismal records for the children. What parish did these events occur? The RC parish for Ballyhooly would be Castletownroche and records start in 1811
http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0031
I also looked at the 1852 Griffiths Valuation head of household listing for Ballyhooly parish. There was a Thomas Ahearn and Thomas Jordan in Gortroche. Not sure how they connect to the fatjers of Ellen and Daniel.
Roger McDonnell
Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
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Thanks, Roger
I have found their (Daniel and Ellen) marriage on 28 Feb 1843, Castletownroche. Daniel had a brother Thomas whose baptism was 1 Jul 1835, Castletownroche. He would be pretty young to be a head of household in 1852, so I hypothesize that that Thomas is Daniel's uncle.
Daniel's date of birth on his U.S. death certificate is 13 Sep 1816, which fits nicely into the sequence of his siblings' baptisms at Castletownroche. However, the relevant pages on NLI for that date are so light as to be illegible.
I can't find a baptism at Castletownroche for Ellen in the early 1820s, which later U.S. records suggest as the period of her birth. The Thomas Jordan that you point out in 1852 (and which I had not seen -- thanks) could seemingly be her brother or uncle.
I appreciate your delving into this.
Jay
Jay Shock
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Hello jay, I'm a descendant from Jordan's of for gortroche. I'm guessing the Thomas Jordan in 1851 valuation was probably David's brother. That Thomas Jordan married Elizabeth o keeffe1806-1861. They had son another Thomas c 1836-1898. He married an Ellen daly. I think they only had 2 daughters one of whom was Eliza 1875-1931. She married William O'riordan in 1899 and that is when William took over the Jordan farm. The farm is in Lackabeha, bartlemy or hollyhill bartlemy. It stayed with descendants until 2002 when the last O'riordan farming the land passed away unmarried. My grandmother was Hannah o Riordan daughter of William and Eliza. So I'm guessing I'm might be your 5th cousin!!
Liam
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That Thomas Jordan's wife Ellen daly was from holly hill/Lackabeha so that's how he ended moving from gortroche
Liam
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Hello Liam! It is fabulous good fortune (at least for me) that brings us together today. I had not looked at IrelandXO for at least a year or 2. But the site was recently featured in an article in the Irish Times, and so I decided that it might be time to re-visit. And you just posted earlier today. What wonderful timing!
I will take the information that you just shared, look at it in the context of what I've learned since I first posted, and compile it into a more complete picture. I visited Gortroche a little more than a year ago, and got some pretty helpful records, especially from the parish church.
In the meantime, do you have a DNA test that we could compare? I have an Ancestry kit (A950580) that is on GEDmatch/Genesis. I also uploaded my results to Family Tree DNA and MyHeritage, so they're there as well. And finally, I have one with LivingDNA, which purports to specialize in the British Isles, and especially Ireland. It would be interesting to see if we could add some DNA evidence to the idea that we're 5th cousins.
Best wishes, and thanks for reaching out
Jay
Jay Shock
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Hello jay, I only logged in yesterday for the first time, and just put in some ancestors names and addresses on message board search and hope to find something. I'm logged into my heritage but I've not done a dna test although I've been meaning to do so at some stage. From the little research I've done I don't know could they confirm 5th cousins though! That's a fairly long way out. Unfortunately the records don't show whether our prospective ancestors are related but it would seem likely as Jordan wouldn't have been a common name in the same townland in rural north cork. I'm living in Dungourney about 15 miles from Ballyhooly, so not too far away from gortroche. All my mothers family come from around bartlemy rathcormac and Ballyhooly area. It's great to find another probable cousin!
Liam
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Liam, I have a tree on MyHeritage as well, and will think about ways to exploit the relative rareness (if that's a word) of the Jordan surname. The first thing that comes to mind is to re-check the Tithe Applotment records, since they were recorded at a time that fits our prospective match.
Without getting overly technical, there's a good chance that a DNA test could identify us as 5th cousins. The matches are measured via a unit called centiMorgans, abbreviated cM. A typical range for 5th cousins is a match of 0-42 cM, with 7 cM generally considered the minimum match to be statistically reliable. So if you do get a test done, we can check that. The outer ring of long-ago matches seems to be 6th cousins, and of course the farther back you go, the lower the likelihood of getting a reliable match.
It will be a few days before I can dive into the Tithe records, but I'll let you know what I find.
Jay
Jay Shock
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I am looking for my great-great grandfather, John Jordan or Jordon, who I believe was a weaver in Gortroche. He was born around 1805 and was married to a Catherine, I think. They had a son Patrick, born about 1840. I am hoping to trace this family back into Ireland. I do know that the emigrated to Canada and were in Prince Edward County in Ontario by 1851.
I would greatly appreciate any help anyone could provide.
janyjo