http://www.irishgenealogical.com/find-more-irish-relatives-with-dna-testing-the-top-3-reasons-to-do-it-now.html Tips and Advice for Tracing Your Irish Ancestor History Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:38:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.irishgenealogical.com/find-more-irish-relatives-with-dna-testing-the-top-3-reasons-to-do-it-now.html/comment-page-1#comment-859 Garry Bryant Sun, 27 Mar 2011 09:23:42 +0000 http://www.irishgenealogical.com/?p=185#comment-859 DNA should be used when all else has been exhausted to find data. It is a tool in the genealogist's bag, not a magic wand. I volunteered at a national genealogical conference in 2002 and allowed by blood to be drawn. The terms were that I'd never find out the results for it was a theory of a genetics professor to see if DNA would be useful in genealogy. A few years went by and the prof. obtained success and was hired away from his university and with him his research. My family tradition was that the surname had originally been O'Bryan (O'Brien). Family came in the early 1830s to Canada being devout Catholics. 2nd great-grandfather ran away from home to avoid being a priest, dropped the "O'" and added a "t," and went to Colorado for the gold rush abt. 1861. Such is how Bryant became our surname. No paper or record existed that stated this was true. In May 2006, I got a phone call from an O'Brien I had emailed with since 1997. He told me that my 43 DNA markers and his were a match at 100%. He and I shared a common ancestor back in Ireland in the 8th to 10th generation. He had his lineage proven on paper back to 1760 (7th generation) in western County Clare. Mine was to the 6th generation. Unfortunately the Irish records don't exist to prove our line back further. But DNA helped verify a surname change and area in Ireland where my ancestors came from! DNA should be used when all else has been exhausted to find data. It is a tool in the genealogist’s bag, not a magic wand. I volunteered at a national genealogical conference in 2002 and allowed by blood to be drawn. The terms were that I’d never find out the results for it was a theory of a genetics professor to see if DNA would be useful in genealogy. A few years went by and the prof. obtained success and was hired away from his university and with him his research. My family tradition was that the surname had originally been O’Bryan (O’Brien). Family came in the early 1830s to Canada being devout Catholics. 2nd great-grandfather ran away from home to avoid being a priest, dropped the “O’” and added a “t,” and went to Colorado for the gold rush abt. 1861. Such is how Bryant became our surname. No paper or record existed that stated this was true. In May 2006, I got a phone call from an O’Brien I had emailed with since 1997. He told me that my 43 DNA markers and his were a match at 100%. He and I shared a common ancestor back in Ireland in the 8th to 10th generation. He had his lineage proven on paper back to 1760 (7th generation) in western County Clare. Mine was to the 6th generation. Unfortunately the Irish records don’t exist to prove our line back further. But DNA helped verify a surname change and area in Ireland where my ancestors came from!

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