Am I Really Irish?

While celebrating St. Patrick's Day yesterday at work by dressing up all in green, I was asked if I was Irish, as LeMaster didn't strike a co-worker as a particularly Irish name.  I've been working on my genealogy off and on for years, and have identified a few Irish ancestors - though some were actually Scots-Irish.

My DNA results for ethnicity from Ancestry did show 17% Irish.  

Irish Ancestors :

[unknown] Gary : My paternal 4th-great grandfather, an as yet unknown man, was reported as being born in Ireland by my 3rd-great grandmother on the 1880 census.  Rachel Gary was born March 25, 1816 in Fairfield County, Ohio.  This is the only paternal Irish line that I'm aware of at the moment.

Martha McPheeters : Martha was my maternal 7th-great grandmother, the daughter of William McPheeters and Rebecca Thompson.  Martha was born in Ireland. She married Samuel Downey in Pennsylvania and died 1801 in Clark County, Kentucky. She was the mother of at least ten children: Ann, Betsey, Isabella, Margaret, Martha, Rebecca, Samuel, William, Mary and Janet.

Peter Swafford : Peter was my maternal 7th-great grandfather.  According to my database he was born circa 1740 in Dublin, Ireland and died in Greenville, South Carolina.  He married Rennie Howard and was the father of eight children.

Rennie Howard : Rennie was my maternal 7th-great grandmother, the wife of Peter Swafford.  According to my database, she was born circa 1745 in Dublin, Ireland and died in South Carolina.  She was the mother of eight children: Jacob, Isaac, William, Paul, Abraham, Aaron, John and Thomas.

Elizabeth Hedge : Elizabeth was my maternal 7th-great grandmother, the wife of David Crockett.  According to my database, she was born 1730 in Ireland and died August 1777 in Hawkins County, North Carolina.  She was the mother of at least three children: William, John and Alexander.

William Wardlaw : William was my maternal 7th-great grandfather, the son of Robert Wardlaw.  According to my database, he was born circa 1700 in either Scotland or Ireland.  He married Jane Harper and died in 1762 in Augusta County, Virginia.  He was the father of seven children : James, John, Hugh, Joseph, Robert, William and Margaret.

Joshua Hadley : Joshua was my maternal 8th-great grandfather, the son of Simon and Ruth Hadley.  Joshua was born March 6, 1703 in Kings County, Ireland.  He married Patience Brown in 1735 and died after 1760 in Cane Creek, North Carolina.  He was the father of nine children: Mary, Jeremiah, Joshua, Joseph, Deborah, Hannah, Catherine, Lydia and Simon.

William Millikan : William was my maternal 8th-great grandfather.  According to my database, he was born circa 1720 in Ireland.  He married in 1740 Chester County, Pennsylvania to Jane White.  He was the father of ten children: Abigail, Sarah, David, Mary, William, Benjamin, Hannah, Alexander, Martha and Samuel.

William McPheeters : William was my maternal 8th-great grandfather.  According to my database, he was born between 1687 and 1691 in Ireland and died in 1773 in Augusta County, Virginia.  He married Rebecca Thompson and was the father of eight children: Martha, Anne, Mary, John, David, Janett, Samuel and William.

Willam McPheeters : William was my maternal 9th-great grandfather.  He was born circa 1662 in Scotland.  He married Janet McClellan and died circa 1699 in Ireland.  

Simon Hadley : Simon was my maternal 9th-great grandfather, the son of Simon Hadley.  According to my database, Simon was born 1677 in Ireland and died 1756 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  He was married to Ruth [surname unknown] and the father of eight children.

Ruth [surname unknown]: Ruth was my maternal 9th-great grandmother, the wife of Simon Hadley.  According to my database, she was born in 1677 in Ireland and died December 8, 1750 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  She was the mother of eight children : Joseph, Deborah, Joshua, Simon, Hannah, Ruth, Catherine and Ann.

John Allen : John was my maternal 9th-great grandfather, the son of John Allen.  According to my database, John was born August 3, 1694 in Ireland.  He married Amy Cox in March 1719 in Chester County, Pennsylvania and died September 16, 1771 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  He was the father of nine children : John, Rebecca, Amy, Elizabeth, William, Joseph, Mary, Phebe and Benjamin.

Simon Hadley : Simon was my maternal 10th-great grandfather.  According to my database, he was born 1640 in Ireland and died circa 1711.  He married Katherine Talbot and was the father of at least four children : John, Elizabeth, Jane and Simon.

Thomas Dixon : Thomas was my maternal 10th-great grandfather, the husband of Rose.  All I have in my database is that he was born before 1635 in Ireland and died after 1680 in New Castle County, Delaware. 

Rose [unknown surname] : Rose was my maternal 10th-great grandmother, the wife of Thomas Dixon.  All I have in my database is that she was born before 1641 in Ireland and died after 1671 in Delaware.  She was the mother of at least three children: William, Dinah and Rose.

Looking over these names, I realize I have a lot more research to do on these lines to fill in the gaps in the research.

DNA : Wardlaw Connection

Researcher Amanda contacted me because she saw my Gedcom file at Gedmatch.com contained a set of common ancestors with her - William Wardlaw and Jane Harper.  They happen to be my maternal 7th-great grandparents.

William born circa 1700 in Scotland or Ireland immigrated to America and ended up in Augusta County, Virginia.  Jane Harper's birth and death dates are unknown to me.  I show they were the parents of seven children : James, John,  Hugh, Joseph, Robert, William and Margaret.  They were the generation that fought in the Revolutionary War.

My line comes through Robert born circa 1745 Augusta County, Virginia who settled in Brown County, Ohio. He married circa 1768 to Janet Downey.  Amanda's line comes through Hugh Wardlaw born circa 1740 who settled in Abbeville District, South Carolina.  He married Elizabeth Coulter.

Taking the information from our kits at Gedmatch, I did the one-to-one match comparison.

The results show that we have no matching DNA.  This can mean a number of things:

1. My paper trail genealogy from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper is wrong.
2. Amanda's paper trail genealogy from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper is wrong.
3. Not enough DNA from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper was passed down to me.
4. Not enough DNA from William Wardlaw and Jane Harper was passed down to Amanda.

I've posted at one of the FB groups for DNA genealogy to get opinions of those more seasoned in the DNA genealogy game.  So far, it appears that anyone of the options above could be the case.

How secure am I in the paper trail genealogy?  Not as secure as I should be. The early generation comes from a compiled Wardlaw genealogy.  Robert Wardlaw becomes Wardlow when he gets into Ohio.  There is a 45 year gap between William's supposed birth and Roberts.  Could there be another generation in between?  Very possible.

Either way, more research will need to be done on this line to see if it is valid.

Surname Saturday : Wardlow / Wardlaw

The WARDLOW / WARDLOW surname is in my maternal line.  The origins of the surname is Scottish.  The surname switches from Wardlaw to Wardlow in my line about the early 1800s in Brown County, Ohio.


Stories and history :


Ahnentafel # 97 : Anna Wardlow (1816-1893).  Anna was born April 23, 1816 in Brown County, Ohio.  She married John Wright (1814-1890) on September 9, 1834 in Brown County, Ohio.  John was born November 4, 1814 in Pleasant Township, Clermont (now Brown) County, Ohio.  They raised 6 children in Brown County, Ohio.  John died June 10, 1890 in Brown County, Ohio.  Anna died October 4, 1893 in Brown County, Ohio.  Both are buried in Wardlow Cemetery # 2, Washington Township, Brown County, Ohio.


Ahnentafel # 194 : Samuel Wardlaw (1773-1848). Samuel was born November 23, 1773 in Augusta County, Virginia.  He married Elizabeth Nesbit (c1776-aft1850) before 1800 in Rockbridge County, Virginia.  Elizabeth was born circa 1776 in Virginia.  They raised a family of 9 children in Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio.  Elizabeth died after the 1850 census, probably Brown County, Ohio.  Samuel died May 8, 1848 in Brown County, Ohio.


Ahnentafel # 388 : Robert Wardlaw (c1745-1820).  Robert was born circa 1745 in Augusta County, Virginia.  He married Janet Downey (c1750-1817) circa 1786.  Robert served in  Capt. John Tate's Rockbridge County, Virginia Militia during the Revolutionary War. They raised 8 children in Augusta County, Virginia; Harrison County, Kentucky and Brown County, Ohio.  Janet died October 4, 1817 in Brown County, Ohio.  Robert died August 3, 1820 in Brown County, Ohio.


Ahnentafel # 776 : William Wardlaw (c1700-1762).  William was born circa 1700 in either Scotland or Ireland.   He married Jane Harper  (unk-unk) between 1728 and 1730.  They were the parents of at least 7 children.  William died in 1762 in Augusta County, Virginia.


Ahnentafel # 1552 : Robert Wardlaw (c1670-unk).  Robert was born circa 1670 near Glascow, Scotland.  Nothing further known.







Surname Saturday – create a post in which you discuss a surname and mention its origins, its geographical location(s) and how it fits into your genealogy research. Surname Saturday is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.