Comments on Yesterday's Post

Richard commented on 28/7/08 18:17:

Gerry, Good for Kevin. I too got his feeling about Cork and Kerry.

I am waiting for DNA test results. Haven't gotten Gloria to talk much about hers.

I joined a Sheehan DNA group.

Sheehan may be a name others gave us. Seems we may have been an Irish minority group.

Iowa may be the first place our Sheehan's and Carroll's first 'settled.'

I wouldn't mind some hints how I might more effectively cooperate with our search of our background

Does KPF have anything to do with fried chicken?

Gloria said 28/7/08 22:51...
Wow, this is cool.

I met a woman when I was in Israel. She lives in the City of David with her husband. She is from County Kerry and said it was very beautiful.

I will share my DNA results with Richard, after I find them. Basically, the maternal DNA had no mutations that were not fast acting. It is subtype H, maternal. The lineage to date is from the Iberian Peninsula. That is a all the test told me. It would have been better had I had some mutations. Oh well,

Thanks for the info and I wish cousin or 2nd cousin Kevin the best of luck.

Hey, guys, thanks for posting your comments. Richard, I understand 'the feeling' - had the same 'feeling' when Cousin Harald sent a photo of a particular neighborhood in Nesodden. We later discovered it was the neighborhood and the very house our great grandparents Karl and Karen lived in.

This also happened in Burlington when Ron and I met our Cousin ME [a CARROLL descendant and our 3rd cousin [that's 3rd cousin once removed for Glor and Deb]] for the first time. I found ME using the Internet and writing letters to several individuals. We decided for an eye-to-eye meeting and we decided to meet in Burlington so we could prowl around and see where our ancestors lived for over fifty years.

Anyway, while the four of us [ME and hubby & Ron and I] were on the way to the cemetery to pay our respects we found ourselves going through a neighbor hood when I knew we were on very street our great grandparent and grandparent lived. We stopped the car and got out and ME asked the kid in the yard if his Mom was home and could we speak with her. Well, as it turns out the gal was as generous as could be when she told us she had in her possession the title search for the house in her safe and would we like to see it. We left that day with over 76 pages of that title search photographed. Once the film was processed and prints made many, many interesting facts were revealed and open a whole new can of worms.

While there is no indication that Martin and family immigrated to any other locale in America, however there is some indication that William SHEEHAN may have migrated to Iowa from elsewhere.

Both Martin & family and William SHEEHAN arrived in Iowa during the mid-to late 1850's.

And, before you inquire about their military duty during the War Between the States, I'll tell you there is no evidence indicating that. Rather records show that Wm. was a hostler and teamster during that period with Martin, as usual for him, no occupation listed.

Cousin Kevin your relationship:

**to Richard, Gerry, Gary and Dorian and Cousin ME:

1st Cousin once removed, half 6th Cousin 4 times removed and 8th Cousin once removed

**to Glor and Deb:

1st Cousin, half 6th Cousin 3 times removed and half 8th Cousin

The reason for the multiple cousin relationships is of course inter-marriage of cousins some place along the line. Not to worry - the occurred more than a century or two ago.

RENEWED INTEREST IN OUR CARROLL GENEALOGY

Well, gee, aren’t hand-knitted sox just what you expected to see on my genealogy blog? Have got to be awake more often when I post.

Anyway to get back on track, here some genealogy!

Received an e-mail from Cousin Kevin this week that has prompted me to post, and I have to say it’s about time I did.

Kevin has given his permission to post his e-mail so that I may respond here, via my blog, to give all our SHEEHAN/CARROLL cousins can participate in this renewed interest.

Portions of Kevin’s e-mail messages:

" . . . . . . . . . . .You probably have seen this information but I will send it along just in case something is new or useful. If we can find a town or village that our ancestors are from in Ireland I will go there and do what ever research is feasible . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . I have spent many hours searching for family connections on line, looking at a great variety of sites, from vital records to passenger lists to random searches, I have found Carrolls and Sheehans in nearly every county in Ireland and over half the world. Unfortunately my searches have not been systematic, I lack the knowledge to organize and keep track of sites and searches . . . . . . .

. . . . . I was intrigued to find Carrolls in Iowa at about the same time as our ancestors, there must be some record that lists their town or village of origin. I do want to go back to Ireland with this knowledge to reclaim our rightful position or at least know where our blood is from. The O'Carrolls were high Kings in ancient Ireland, we must share some of that blood, in Ireland there was a merger of social classes due to the English persecution. Most Irish Catholics share the blood of Kings and peasants. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .I hope we find more information soon. If I had the funds, I would search every parish in Ireland until I found our ancestors. While traveling the border area of West Cork and Kerry I have had the strongest sense that I was very near that place that I have been searching for. This first happened in 1970 and then again in 2007. I knew the back roads while traveling at night even though I had never been there and I am not usually gifted with a great sense of direction. My sense of blood and spirit are strong and Ireland has drawn me all my life.
I think we we are close to finding the missing information. . . . ."

Cousin Kevin’s current interest in the point of emigration of Martin CARROLL and wife Margaret so that we can better get an idea from which County in Ireland our CARROLL and SHEEHAN lines originate.

My search began by confirming the link from our parents to grandparents to our great-grandparents to establish a firm and confirmed connection. As you may already know I accomplished by searching as many public documents, church documents, etc., as was possible. Some of the ways I accomplished this:
-The Internet,
-written correspondence,
-hiring of several genealogists,
-in-person visits to Historic and Genealogical Society’s libraries, as well as pubic libraries,
-viewed LDS Family History Library records,
-in-person visits to known family neighborhoods and gravesites,
-telephone conversations fellow CARROLL/SHEEHAN descendants.

Kevin forwarded the following solid suggestions he received from a fellow CARROLL surname genealogist:

KFP wrote: ". . . . . . . I think you are asking me how to find out where your Carrolls originated from in Ireland, correct?
First off - have you contacted all relatives whether you know them or not, the older the better, for any old info./ pictures/ records on your Carrolls? - they may have that one clue you need.
Do you have. . . . . . .
-Obits for Martin and wife Margaret?
-Were their children also born in Ireland and who did the girls marry? The obits for this family (including their children) may indicate where they were born,
- death certificates usually list where they were born.
-Sometimes the cemetery records will have info. on where they are from too.
-I looked Martin up on the original census records that ancestry has and I also looked at genweb
-Naturalization Index and Declaration of Intent.
-Tax records
-Probate Records - Wills - Martin Carroll may have left a will. . . . . . ."

During my years of researching I’ve taken advantage all of KFPs suggestions has made and have come up with so many answers and at the same time a multitude more questions. [This is the way of genealogy.]

However, new researchers may uncover just the info we need to further our story.

Kevin, you say that every County has both SHEEHANs and CARROLLs listed as inhabitants, Using a valuable research tool - The Householder’s Index - I’ve found that to be true even on Parish levels [both church and civil]. Nearly impossible to vector our surname to any one County, let alone Parish, with our current knowledge.

Let me get this much posted before so that I may gather some data to blog that may be of interest.

BROTHERS, COUSINS, I VALUE YOUR COMMENTS SO FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR COMMENTS TO MY BLOG SO THAT WE ALL CAN SHARE OUR THOUGHTS ON THIS SUBJECT.