Brennan - Ryan Somewhere In Kilkenny County

Hi, KJ.  I have a great-grandmother, Bridget Purcell, who may also have been born in Kilkenny (I'm still searching the parish registers there),   I have no known Ryan or Brennan connections, but I compared our GEDMatch kits (mine is T780556) and we have a total of 25.8 cm of shared DNA, in small segments on six chromosomes.  One segment is 5.3 cm in length, which probably indicates a not-too-distant connection, but probably before the time when a paper trail could be established.  I've already searched most of the parishes, but I'll keep an eye out for your ancestors if they show up in the parishes I have not yet searched.

I enter all of my genealogical info at the FamilySearch site, so I searched for John Brennan there, and it appears that you (if you are Kevin Brennan) entered a basic record for him as ID number M7YF-3FD back in 2013​.  I'm not sure whether you noticed, but someone else created what appears to be a duplicate record for him at LTYJ-4QV last year​, and it has a lot more information than your record (though nothing more about his birth).  You may want to merge those records in order to eliminate the confusion.  In fact, there are several other John Brennan records in FamilySearch in or near that year, and you may want to check them all out, because people sometimes get part of the info wrong (including first names, I've found in two cases in my own family), and one of the other records might also be connected to your family.

Thanks kevin45sfl.  Yes I am Kevin Brennan - followed your advise on Family Search and merged.my John Brennan M7YF-3FD record with my 2nd cousin's John Brennan LTYJ-4QV record.  We have exchanged info in the past.  Your DNA info is interesting - Thanks for keeping my search in mind as you look for your family. I am planning to do a Family Tree Y-111 DNA test to see if I can get any Brennan matches in Ireland.

Kevin, I have been searching for my ancestor Michael Brennan, born c.1806 in Kilkenny.  I recently found him (I hope) in Findmypast.com.au  in "Hue & Cry Index 1797-1810, Directories & Local Histories"           Details - Michael Brennan was born 19 October 1806 at Ennesteague, Kilkenny,, Ireland.

THe parish is now called Instiogue or something similar. You might like to look at Hue & Cry.

Joan Hickey, Auckland NZ

That's interesting, Joan.  As part of my search for one particular great-grandmother (Bridget Purcell), I just recently searched the parish register for Inistioge (that's how it's spelled these days - the Irish form being Inis Tíog), although my search was in the 1840 time frame, when she was born.   In case you ddn't  know, Inistioge has been used as a setting for several movies over the years, probably the best known being Circle of Friends,  Also, in the 1930's, there was a program where students in Ireland went out and interviewed people about the history of their area.  Some interviews were conducted in Irish and some in English.  There appear to be several records for Inistioge which you can check out at this link:

https://www.duchas.ie/en/plc/27231

Hello Kevin. I have been researching the BRENNAN surname from Kilkenny for many years. As you know, due to lack of records or lack of info on the records makes it very hard to track them down. I have noticed your Ged match kit number and compared it with mine - being A591425. By comparing with the set SNP and segment cM size no segments showed up. So - I lowered the SNP to 400 and the cM to 3 which gave us 1 matching segment - then by lowering the SNP to 300 it gave 12 matching segments. I am still not too savvy with Gedmatchand the terminology so I am in the hope that you could enlighten me on this... I think - we may be connected but a few generations further back... Would be great to hear from you to hear what your thoughts are on this. Thank you and regards. Rosie Brennan.

I'm no expert, Rose, but from what I've been told by people who know more than I do, when doing a comparison of DNA results, if one lowers the number of SNP's and/or the minimum cM length much below the defaults, the results are considered less reliable, and can be "background noise", in the sense that most people of Irish ancestry are related to one another if one goes far enough back (there have apparently not been as many invaders as the legands tell us), so small matches are almost inevitable if one lowers the threshholds enough. 

With so many matching segments, though, we're probably distantly related, but from before the point where a paper trail can be established.  I just noticed that I said before that I have no known Brennan relatives, and have realized that that's untrue.  Half of my ancestry lies in eastern County Mayo (my mother's parents both grew up there).  Brennan's are not uncommon there, and there have been several marriages of them with my family.  From what I've read, though, there are four different Brennan "clans" in ireland, and the one in Galway and Mayo is not thought to be related to the one in Kilkenny.

Hello Kevin, I see that you began this post a few years ago but I am hoping that you get updates to your thread. I also am a Brennan and have been looking for years for anything on my great great grandfather Thomas J. Brennan. I compared our Gedmatch numbers and we hit on four different segments. Mine is NY8356493   I too heard that he came from Kilkenny, but had nothing to back it up with. It’s a very very common name, and without having parent or sibling names it’s acutally impossible I feel.  Hoping that maybe this could be a small break through for both of us.

Hi, Lisa.  I looked on GEDMatch at the DNA segments which we share, and there may be a Kilkenny connection, but they also fall within longer segments which I share with some of my Mayo relatives, so our connection might lie there instead.

Would you by any chance have a tree on ancestry.com?  I literally have been searching for what seems like forever for Thomas’wereabouts. He arrived in Pa..married my GG grandmother in 1877  she and two children were on the census of 1880 but he was not, Never tried looking in Canada.  You would be more than welcome to view mine.

Hello to you all on this group page.. Firstly I would like to express my sincere apologies to Kevin45 for not acknowledging your reply with a Thank You. I can only think that at that time I was in the middle of selling and buying a new property and it clearly went out of my head. I always make a point of saying thanks as I for one know how much it's appreciated. 

Secondly - now that my dna data is back on Gedmatch I've done another check through with all your kit numbers. So here goes - with KJBRENNAN I only lowered the cM size down to 6 - largest segment 6.3. Estimated number of generations 7.6. With kevin45 I went down to 5 - largest segment 5.4. With LisaB I went as low as possible - think it was 3 but no DNA matching at all.   
 

Has anybody used Roots Ireland for records? I have found it invaluable. Also, many moons ago a book was published by a Thomas Brennan titled 'The Brennans of Idough'. I managed to get a loan of a copy from my library..it's a fantastic informative read.   
 

I too would just love to know the clan/nickname of my Brennans, that would open up a lot of info. 
 

By the way, I was born in London, both parents from Kilkenny. Up until lockdown I would visit Ireland at least 3 times a year as my 1st cousin on my mums side lives at mums home farm which is just north of Castlecomer. I just love going there and as soon as this travel ban is lifted I know where I'll be heading. It would be great for us to keep in touch with any new bits of info and if there is anything you would like me to check out please do ask, I'd be delighted to do so.    
 

One more thing - the Brennans beginnings were of Castlecomer, in times of trouble or their lands being seized they headed off mainly to larger towns to seek work if nothing local was available..So,- you will find them spread out.. I too have Cork connections but they are O'Neils.     
 

All for now. Rosie Brennan.
 

Hello..it's Rosie here. Looks like a reply was posted but the text is not showing. Don't want to miss out on any news so please do try again. Thank you...