For some years I have been working on demonstrating/documenting a match for my McHale ancestors to Kilmeena. My ggg-grandfather Patrick McHale was born in Mayo about 1816 and married Mary Allan in Annaghdown, Galway, in 1841. They had two daughters baptized in Galway in the early 1840's and then emigrated to New Brunswick, Canada. During the time taht they were in the vicinity of Galway City they are connected to several other McHale families who were baptizing children there and serving as sponsors to each other. This appears to be a cluster of brothers: James (b abt 1805), Richard (b abt 1820), John (abt 1821-1885). Of these possible brothers, John also made his way to New Brunswick and eventually to Hubbard, Trumbull County, Ohio, where he is buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery. On his tombstone it lists his origin as Kilmeena. This is in large part the basis for my understanding that my McHales were from Kilmeena.
In researching the McHale families of Kilmeena I have seen stories that suggested a direct relationship to the family of Archbishop John MacHale of Tuam. I have also found that the distribution of the name combination "Richard" and "McHale" (based on baptism and marriage records) is somewhat common in Kilmeena McHale families but is generally more common further north and east - for example near Addergoole (ie Lahardane) and further north and east. I also found that in the tithe applotment records there is not much presence of McHales in the area of Kilmeena in the 1820's-1830's. This led me to wonder if the McHales did not really arrive into Kilmeena until about that time or shortly before. This seemed consistent with the idea that the family had arrived to Kilmeena from Lahardane.
I recently received the results of my genealogical DNA test and I am finding DNA matches with individuals from McHale families originally from around Lahardane who emigrated to the area of Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, in the 19th century - and possibly later. This suggests to me two possibilities: 1) My family is actually not from Kilmeena at all, but instead from Lahardane. 2) My family is in fact from Kilmeena but has deeper roots going back to Lahardane (which supports the theory above).
It would be very interesting for me to compare DNA tests with individuals descended from McHales known ot be from Kilmeena (or closely associated families). This might both solve the problem of my family's origins but also possibly demonstrate DNA evidence for the connection between the Kilmeena McHales and Lahardane / Archbishop John MacHale.
Not sure where this question leads - but if anyone reading this is aware of DNA testing in the McHale family, etc. that would be very interesting to me.
Patrick Murphy
Chicago, IL
padraigm
Wednesday 13th Jun 2018, 01:40PMMessage Board Replies
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Hello,
Following up on my post of yesterday:
I contacted an individual who is a descendant of the McHale family of Rosmindle, Kilmeena. He and I have corresponded a number of times over the years but we have never been able to establish a link between our families through documentation. I asked if he had ever taken a DNA test and he had. Our results match at a relationship of 5th-8th cousins. This is similar to the match that I have to descendants of McHales from Lahardane. To me this suggests both that my family is likely descended from Kilmeena, which agrees with documentation I have collected, but it also suggests that the McHales, or some of the McHales, of Kilmeena may in fact descend from the McHales of Lahardane. That would agree with some accounts I have seen based on family stories and memories.
I asked my contact descended from Rosmindle McHales to compare his results to the individuals from Lahardane. I have not heard a response yet. If his results show a similar match that would be very interesting.
Patrick Murphy
Chicago, IL
padraigm
Thursday 14th Jun 2018, 06:21PM