Considering James Flanagan

 

Could the ancestor of a DNA match lead us to the answer we've been seeking about Anna Flanagan Malloy, my father-in-law's great-grandmother? All I know about her Irish origin so far is that her brother William claimed Catholic parish Ballyagran in County Limerick as his native home, and that she received a farewell letter near that spot when her husband sailed for America.

As it turns out, the DNA match I'm considering claims an ancestor by the name of James Flanagan. That ancestor shows up in two baptismal records from that same parish of Ballyagran. In each of the baptisms, James is named as the child's father (in Latin, as Jacobo), along with Elizabeth Hanrahan as the child's mother. 

The older of the two children, a son whom they named James, was baptized on November 7, 1864. Following that birth, their daughter Anna was baptized at the same church on July 14, 1867.

It was interesting to look at the actual handwritten record, specifically to view the names of the godparents. While I'm having trouble deciphering the handwritten entry for son James' sponsors, the names of Anna's godparents nearly jumped right out at me: Ellen Gorman and William Lee. While I can see that the Gorman (or O'Gorman) surname figures in this DNA match's family tree in later generations, what I was keen to notice was the mention of someone with the surname Lee.

Lee, as you may remember, was the married name of another Flanagan relative who eventually migrated from County Limerick to Chicago in the United States. Johanna Flanagan Lee was mentioned as niece of William Flanagan, whose sister Anna was my father-in-law's great-grandmother. While I still don't know who Johanna Flanagan's parents were, it is encouraging to even find mention of another Lee family member in the vicinity of our Flanagans' origin.

Up to the point of the Great Hunger—the cause of so many making their exit from their Irish homeland—tradition had it that godparents were selected based on their relationship to the parents of the child being baptized. Thus, a child's sponsors would be either the sibling or the sibling-in-law of either parent. After the famine years, the tradition wasn't as tightly adhered to, so one can't be sure that William Lee had to be an in-law of James Flanagan or Elizabeth Hanrahan. But I'll certainly keep that possibility in mind as we look through more records in pursuit of this possible Flanagan family connection. 

Probing the Possibilities

 

When it comes to playing the genetic genealogy "what if" game, fortunately there are now some useful tools to help us probe relationship possibilities between specific DNA matches. As we focus on the possible connection between Anna Flanagan Malloy's descendant (my husband, the willing DNA test subject) and a DNA tester descended from someone named James Flanagan, there are indeed a few relationship possibilities—but there are also a few roadblocks standing between us and an answer.

Let's break down the few facts already known in this case. First, despite not yet knowing the relationship between the two test-takers, we can at least affirm that they share seventeen centiMorgans. Granted, that is not a very large amount of genetic material shared between them, but it does tell us something. If we plug that amount into the interactive updated beta version of Blaine Bettinger's Shared centiMorgan Project at DNA Painter, we see some encouraging news: there is a 23% relationship probability that the two subjects in question could be third cousins, once removed. 

For now, I'll provide a brief overview of the descendancy chart provided by the DNA match's own tree posted at Ancestry.com. This person's ancestral connection, James Flanagan, was listed with a birth year of 1814—quite close to our Anna's own supposed year of birth in 1812. According to that same match's family tree, there are two additional generations between that original James and the DNA match, whereas in our case, there are three additional generations.

In other words, comparing the two DNA matches' trees, it looks like the relationship for the two matches would be third cousins, once removed. That level of relationship, according to the Shared centiMorgan Project, would be statistically supported at the 17 cM level—an encouraging sign.

What if, instead, Anna and James Flanagan were not siblings but, say, cousins? Even a fourth cousin once removed relationship would be supported by statistical analysis, with a 15% probability. 

There are some other promising signs. One is that the property in question, that lot listed as 7f in the Valuation Office records for Capananty Townland in County Limerick, was eventually passed from William Flanagan to someone named James Flanagan. And a note in the property records indicated that the property in question was in probate by 1939—one year after that same DNA match's ancestor James Flanagan had died.

Granted, we always need to double check any family trees we find online, to prove the record for ourselves. Since there are a few details in this review which cause me some doubt, that is exactly what we'll need to do next. 

Nothing to Write Home About

 

When it comes to the grunt work of searching for family history documentation, face it: there's nothing to write home about. Grinding through records, page by page—yes, even in this high tech, easy search age—can be, well, a grind. I don't talk about it much, but this tedious searching does keep rolling on, day by day, in the background.

With today's biweekly count, it is easy to see that looking for signs of the Flanagan family in County Limerick adds up to more searching than finding. Last month's research adventure, trying to figure out my mother-in-law's ancestor Simon Rinehart, generated far more documents—and thus, individuals added to her tree—than what we'll see for this month.

Granted, I've continued the search for Rinehart ancestors in the background, despite July's stated goal of moving to my father-in-law's Flanagans; it's just that the routine of adding descendants for those Rinehart matches also belongs to the category of "nothing to write home about." However, that effort did manage to add most of the 232 new individuals included in my in-laws' family tree now. I suspect, once faced with the Flanagan brick wall, that even that halfway decent progress report will come close to a dead stand-still. We'll see in the next two weeks.

Still, my in-laws' tree now has 40,847 individuals recorded. The search is on to see whether any of those will generate notifications of DNA matches, my main goal for adding descendants to each collateral line. I have seen a couple new DNA matches linked, via Ancestry.com's ThruLines tool, to Simon Rinehart's line, thanks to continuing the grunt work following last month's research goal.

Now that I'll be working on the ancestral roots of one Flanagan DNA match during the remainder of this month, perhaps that will generate additional searches for descendants. That, however, is only dependent on whether I can find documentation for the right James Flanagan, the ancestor said to have come from the same townland in County Limerick—Cappananty—as William Flanagan and his sister Anna.

In turn, that means grinding through some digitized microfilmed records. Don't count on seeing any handy hints pop up. This will take some old-fashioned research legwork through documents originating in Ireland. Thankfully, I can now add James Flanagan using Ancestry.com's ProTools option to build him into my already-set-up Flanagan network. Tools can make the job progress so much more smoothly, and I have high hopes that there will be documents to add to this Flanagan network, soon.

Genealogy Gets the Spa Treatment

 

Are you a member of The Club? You know, the one that costs $5K per year for exclusive services for the "most passionate" of genealogy researchers. If you haven't yet heard of it, well, neither had I—until last weekend when the buzz exploded onto several of the genealogy blogs I follow. Curious, I had to take a look. After all, I'd consider myself among the most passionate about genealogical research, not to mention the services which help provide the material needed to find answers about my family's roots.

Apparently, one segment of the genealogy community will soon be getting the spa treatment. For a price.

My first clue about the launch of Ancestry.com's "Club 1890" came in the form of a blog post from outside my own country: Canadian blogger John Reid, mentioning on Anglo-Celtic Connections about an analysis of the offering, posted by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. Curious, I Googled this new offering to find out more.

As it turns out, Club 1890 had been announced at this year's RootsTech. In addition, Thomas MacEntee, long known to the genealogy community, had posted about the Ancestry offering in his blog, Genealogy Bargains, back in March, shortly after Ancestry's announcement. He has since come out with an in-depth analysis of this development in the genealogy world, posted on his blog just yesterday.

At the same time, he also distributed an article to those in the genealogy community, especially those involved in continuing the work of nonprofit genealogical societies. This emailed article provided suggestions for how genealogical societies could market their own contributions to the world of family history research in the wake of Ancestry's product launch, such as providing affordable alternatives to those wishing to learn how to find their own family's roots—at a far more accessible price point.

Whether Ancestry's new "Club" meets your every research need at precisely the right price, or you are among the vociferous many experiencing negative reactions to this product announcement, it is important to be aware of the developing changes in the world of genealogy—in other word, in the world of the genealogy community. Whether you spring for the price or not, the impact of this new product on the genealogy community may indeed affect you.   

Playing the "What If" Game

 

When DNA testing presents us with a possible family relationship—but doesn't explain how those two people are connected—it's time to start playing the "What If" game. Now's the time to look more closely at collateral lines connected to that brick wall ancestor. In fact, it might be appropriate to take a deep dive into that someone else's family tree—not just reviewing what a DNA match might presume is the family tree, but going so far as to do our own work in building that family tree.

In the case of my father-in-law's great-grandmother, Anna Flanagan Malloy, that is exactly the tempting point where I'm standing now. I can't find any record of her parents' names, but I do have some other information. As far as collateral lines go, I already know that when Anna migrated from County Limerick, Ireland, to Chicago in the United States, at some point she was joined by her brother William. A further collateral line springs from another, as yet unnamed, Flanagan brother whose daughter Johanna also ended up in Chicago. And now, to add to the possibilities of collateral lines, I have a DNA match whose Flanagan ancestor also hails from that same townland in County Limerick—Cappananty—who was known as James Flanagan.

Before I start searching for documentation to confirm or reject this James Flanagan as a possible family connection, let's run down the property record paper trail that I discovered during my trip to Ireland a decade ago. While I wrote about my research in the Valuation Office in Dublin at the time I had found the records—I'll provide the links in this synopsis—I'll just give a quick overview here.

Basically, records used in Ireland for property taxation came in big ledgers with each resident's name in the left column. As the years moved on and changes to residences occurred, the original resident's name was lined out, and—with changes marked in a different color ink—the new resident's name was entered. Thus, going through the property ledgers provides us a house history, so to speak, as the property changed hands.

Back in 2014, I provided the photo of the ledger page where I had found a Catherine Flanagan listed, living in the same property identified as 7f that had been labeled William Flanagan's place on Griffith's Valuation in 1853. Keep in mind, that property would have been within the boundaries of the Catholic parish Ballyagran, which our William, himself, had stated was his native home.

Following the trail of that property labeled 7f through the years, here is the progression of residents' names:

• 1853: William Flanagan
• 1855: Catherine Flanagan
• 1866: Catherine's name lined out, James Flanagan entered, labeled "68."
• 1906: Property now listed as owned by James Flanagan
• 1939: Property in probate (possible date of death for James?)
• 1941: Ledger entry states property "in ruins" with tax only for land, not structures

My "What If" question: what if Catherine Flanagan were William's mother? And what if James Flanagan were a brother to William? Or what if Catherine were a sister to William and James? Or mother to James? 

There could be all sorts of permutations to that "What If" game, and a thousand ways the unsuspecting genealogist could be led down the wrong branch of the family tree. Despite the risks, though, it warrants a closer look at any documentation we can find on this James Flanagan and his family—including the results found among those DNA matches who tie my father-in-law's line to the descendants of one James Flanagan of Cappananty. 

The Gift of Collateral Lines

 

Genealogy is a process of pushing backward through the years, one generation at a time. Eventually, we run into a brick wall that impedes our research progress. Then what? 

I've found one approach to making an end run around those brick walls is to research an ancestor's collateral lines—those brothers and sisters who might have been more fortunate to have their life's story captured by documentation. Using that research technique has been more than just another process; for me, collateral lines have often become a research gift.

With this current puzzle about my father-in-law's great-grandmother Anna Flanagan Malloy and the siblings who traveled with her from County Limerick in Ireland to, ultimately, Chicago, one key collateral line has been Anna's brother William. He was the one who made sure to leave behind a record—carved in stone, no less—of his origin in Parish "Ballygran." Once I took the search for the Flanagan family to that very parish in Ireland, I couldn't help but notice the entry in one 1841 record book signed, in a very clear hand, as Jacobus Flanagan, pastor of Ballygran.

It is in that same parish, whether you spell it precisely as Ballygran or Ballyagran, where the ancestors of one DNA match also happened to live. The ancestor, named James Flanagan—yes, that name, too, would be Jacobus in Latin—may have been born about the same time as Anna and William.

What is further interesting is to see how the names of the next generation echo those of the families of the Flanagan relatives who left Ireland for Chicago. While traditional Irish naming patterns may have been forsaken by those emigrants who left Ireland far behind, those who remained on the home turf were more likely to keep up a tradition which, in turn, could help solve our puzzle—with an added boost from genetic genealogy.

A further point to consider is to trace the changing hands of the property we had found, whose resident was, in 1853, listed as William Flanagan. As a first step in delving into this question about possible collateral lines, we'll take some time tomorrow to review my discoveries from that Ireland trip over ten years ago.

The Lay of the Land

 

It may seem an abrupt jump to leave Chicago and head straight to Ireland in our quest to discover more about the extended Flanagan family of my father-in-law's roots, but there is a method to this meandering: eventually, I hope to explore some collateral lines. To do this, though, we first need to zero in on the lay of the land, back where William Flanagan and his sister Anna, deserted wife of Stephen Malloy, once lived.

Though there were many key Irish documents destroyed in political struggles of the early 1900s, there are enough left us which, combined with that precious saved personal letter to Anna, may point us in the right direction for research in the Flanagans' Irish homeland.

Stephen's letter to Anna, for instance, was addressed in care of a man named John Mason in the townland of Cappanihane. If we pull up records from Griffith's Valuation, which was completed in County Limerick in 1853, we can see, first, a John Mason listed as the holder of several plots of land in that same townland. More helpful to us, though, is the entry above that listing on the same page, where William Flanagan himself is listed on land in the townland just to the west, known as Cappananty (see line entry 7f).

In the property valuation, William's property is listed as a house, office, and garden. It is doubtful the edifice was of much value; driving by the location during our visit to Ireland, of what little we saw still standing in that area, all were modest—and decrepit—structures. But what is beautiful about that discovery is that, if you fast forward through time by visiting the Valuation Office in Dublin to consult the property records from that time onward, you can see one occupier's name lined out and replaced by another, then another, over the course of time.

The first line which replaces William Flanagan's name was that of someone named Catherine. After that point, the next name was lined out and replaced by yet another name as the property changed hands again.

Is this mention in Griffith's Valuation naming our own William Flanagan? I can't yet be sure. However, what is curious about that progression of names seen in the valuation records is that it is echoed by the ancestors named by some of my husband's DNA matches. While we have yet to figure out the Flanagan DNA connection, it may be worth our while to revisit this puzzle once again.