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Category Archives: genealogy
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure #2
My brother, Ted, and I have made two trips together to Ireland to explore our Sweeney roots. Back in May 2016, we were off on Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure #1. We visited McPherson and Brennan cousins as well as … Continue reading
Connecting my Brennans back to Ireland – DNA makes it official
Even when I’m sure something is true, it’s always great to get verification. That happened recently with my Brennan family tree. How amazing to connect two families, separated by an ocean 180 years ago. My great great grandfather, Michael James … Continue reading
Posted in family, genealogy, ireland
Tagged ancestry, ancestry.com, brennan, genealogy, ireland
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A little DNA, time, and luck uncovered a new Sweeney connection
It took almost two years from the first DNA match email I received to reach a definitive connection between our Sweeney families. Alex O’Brien Feldman first emailed me in January of 2015 with an Ancestry.com autosomal DNA match. We quickly … Continue reading
Searching for a Sweeney link from Leitrim back to Donegal
My brother, Ted, and I made a trip to Ireland in May. We had fantastic visits with our McPherson and Brennan cousins, as well as our friends, the Clarkes. Gerry Clarke has been a great help in our family research … Continue reading
Exploring my Gaetz roots in Nova Scotia
In July, we had another combination vacation and family history trip. Is there any other kind of vacation? This time, I was exploring my Gaetz roots in Nova Scotia. My ancestor, Johann Martin Gaetz, arrived in 1751 as part of … Continue reading
A cornucopia of Irish cousins – my latest trip to Ireland
In March, I was lucky enough to take another trip to Ireland. Scheduled to be in Dublin for work on a Monday, I decided to arrive on Saturday morning and head west for a weekend of visiting. My first stop … Continue reading
My Gaetz family research
I have spent a lot of time tracing my Irish roots (Sweeney, Horan and Brennan). This culminated in a trip to Ireland where we met cousins and saw the old family cottages. Recently, I returned to researching my Gaetz line … Continue reading
My podcast interview on Irish Roots Cafe
In July, I was interviewed by Mike O’Laughlin of the Irish Roots Cafe for his Irish Families Worldwide podcast. The interview is about my family history tour to Ireland in May. It’s a longer version of my prior two blog … Continue reading
Our Irish Family History Tour
As I mentioned in my last blog entry, my sister and brother and I recently took our Irish family history tour. We visited the following townlands: Gubnaveagh, Leitrim – the birthplace of my grandfather, James Francis Sweeney (left at age … Continue reading
Thank you Gerry Clarke and Social Media
Our recent family history tour of Ireland was a great success. We visited the townlands and old cottages for the Sweeney, Horan, and Brennan ancestors. We knew where we were going with the Sweeney part of the trip. The Brennan … Continue reading