Barretts, Joyces & Monaghans- a great combination!

Debra:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

I did a quick check of Roots Ireland for Catherine Monaghan marriages to a Barrett or Joyce in Mayo and got no record. The Belmullet RC parish records start in 1836 for marriages and 1841 for baptisms. Unfortunately, there is a gap in marriage records from 1845-1858 http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0742 which likely covers the period where your ancestors married. The Kilmore Erris and Kilcommon Erris records start around 1860.

I was also unsuccessful in finding baptismal records for any children of the two couples.

Have you considered autosomal DNA testing?

Roger McDonnell

Thank you for your attention to my post, so quickly. I also found that most of my information on my ancestors comes from after they left Ireland. The GG grandparents each had nine children once settled in America and are well accounted for on my family tree. It is the siblings of my GGgrandparents that I have no information for that intruige me now. And Anthony Barrett had two wives after Catherine died, Sarah Gaughan (1840-1872) and Mary Mooney(1835-1872), both from Ireland. I know nothing about  any of his three wives before they came to America.

Am I correct that many deaths during the famine years were not recorded?

About DNA , I have been trying for years to convince male members of my paternal line to get the test, and finally my cousin's brother agreed with a little persuasion last month, so I hope to arrive in Ireland with that information in hand. Can you direct me to a guide to how to utilize and interpret the results? I see that there is a Barrett DNA project at Family Tree. The overall graph is intimidating

And I am doing Irish language lessons on Duolingo!

Debra

I am attaching a file on my great grandparents Michael Barrett and Nellie Joyce Barrett. 

Debra

Debra:

Civil registration of deaths did not begin un til 1864. Most RC churches but not all did not record deaths prior to 1864. During the famine years particularly in hard-hit areas, there were mass graves and likely no records kept.

On DNA, there are actually three types of tests: Y-DNA, mtDNA and autosomal DNA. The Y-DNA test as you indicate can only be used by males but the mtDNA test (which tracks the strict maternal line) can be taken by both males and females. I have taken both tests and they go back 200 years or more and are not as useful as the autosomal test which you can take. The autosomal or Family Finder test tracks DNA on all your lines and identifies close matches as well as more distant matches.

Here is a link for more background https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/experts-handbook/

Roger

Will the autosomal test provide a haplogroup number? And will I be able to participate in things like the Barrett DNA project, using autosomal results?

Debra:

You only get haplogroup numbers from the Y-DNA and mtDNA tests.  Don't know the specifics about the Barrett DNA project but those projects usually rely on Y-DNA data.

Roger