Just wanted to extend a bit of a belated welcome here to The Wild Geese. Hope you've had the opportunity to look around the site to see what's on offer. Of course, there is even more to come. It's a great little burgeoning community with loads of interesting folks enjoying the discussion of all-things-Irish.
Hope to hear more about your own Irish connections here in the days ahead. I see you've done DNA research into your family line ... I have as well.
Still trying to figure out the ethnic origins of the family of my Great Grandma Hester (nee Mann) Wilkie. She looked "black Irish," and everything seemed to point in that direction, but documentary finds in the last two years have just added a bunch more question marks.
There's no doubt as to my 3x Great Grandpa Edward Mullen having come from County Carlow when he immigrated to Philadelphia in July 1816. I'm just having a devil of a time trying to go further back in that line or connect with living descendants of his two sons who settled in Ohio. Dad was mostly raised by Edward's granddaughter Sally (nee Mullen) Gast, and her influence on the family continues through her humor, folksy sayings, and absolute family loyalty. Digging into the tales of those Mullens has been a 30+ year quest for me, and the stories of how they all helped one another get by have shaped my personal values.
As for the Wilkerson connection on Mom's side, that is not aided by absence of my 3x Great Grandpa's given name. I don't know for certain, but it's likely that he came from and returned to the Belfast area after his wife died in about 1815. Their daughter Peggy was raised by her Copeland relatives in North Carolina; Peggy's red-haired twin returned to Ireland with their father.
George Gast Stradtman, Jr.
Do you have any idea what their Y-DNA haplotype is? "My" Manns fall within R1b, apparently.
Jul 12, 2013
Ryan O'Rourke
Hi, George.
Just wanted to extend a bit of a belated welcome here to The Wild Geese. Hope you've had the opportunity to look around the site to see what's on offer. Of course, there is even more to come. It's a great little burgeoning community with loads of interesting folks enjoying the discussion of all-things-Irish.
Hope to hear more about your own Irish connections here in the days ahead. I see you've done DNA research into your family line ... I have as well.
Thanks, George ... and welcome aboard!
~ Ryan
Jul 22, 2013
George Gast Stradtman, Jr.
Still trying to figure out the ethnic origins of the family of my Great Grandma Hester (nee Mann) Wilkie. She looked "black Irish," and everything seemed to point in that direction, but documentary finds in the last two years have just added a bunch more question marks.
There's no doubt as to my 3x Great Grandpa Edward Mullen having come from County Carlow when he immigrated to Philadelphia in July 1816. I'm just having a devil of a time trying to go further back in that line or connect with living descendants of his two sons who settled in Ohio. Dad was mostly raised by Edward's granddaughter Sally (nee Mullen) Gast, and her influence on the family continues through her humor, folksy sayings, and absolute family loyalty. Digging into the tales of those Mullens has been a 30+ year quest for me, and the stories of how they all helped one another get by have shaped my personal values.
As for the Wilkerson connection on Mom's side, that is not aided by absence of my 3x Great Grandpa's given name. I don't know for certain, but it's likely that he came from and returned to the Belfast area after his wife died in about 1815. Their daughter Peggy was raised by her Copeland relatives in North Carolina; Peggy's red-haired twin returned to Ireland with their father.
Jul 22, 2013