Hello -
I am only able to trace my direct male line back to my ancestor, James Welch, who was born in Ireland around 1831. He ended up in Circleville, Ohio in the early 1850's but I've never found a ships log which indicates where he arrived or where he sailed from. The fact that his name was common makes searching difficult. James married Ellen Kane (Cain/Cane/Kain etc) and I think she may have been from County Clare. I can't find any confirmation of brothers, sisters, cousins or other relatives in Circleville, although I find plenty of Welch, Welsh and Walsh surnames (no link has been found despite endless searching).
James ended up fighting in the civil war and was wounded in Gettysburg in 1863. His pension file, which I ordered from the government, is huge - over 400 pages. There are some documents which indicate that he was from County Kerry (these are actually part of his military service file). Two 1913 obituaries exist, one of which says he was born in County Clare. There are some other factual mistakes in one of the obits, so I'm not sure I can hang my hat on that he was from Clare or Kerry, or somewhere else entirely. There was also some family lore that he was born on "Welsh Island" of of Wales. All other documents list Ireland as his home so I think that the Welsh Island story is likely incorrect. I've even searched the town of "Walsh Island" in County Offally with no luck. I have a lead in Kerry, but it could be nothing. I haven't been able to turn anything up in Clare as searching records there is very difficult.
I've had amazing luck using DNA to research my Italian heritage and have even broken through some pretty serious brickwalls using DNA. I have lots and lots of matches on all markers except for 111 (no matches there). In e-mailing people, I can find no link. I have no common surnames in any of my Y-chromosome matches. I've confimed one ancestor on family finder, but it's from a different line. I match no Welch surnames on the rest of family finder.
Since I'm pretty sure James was from Ireland, what I really need is a large pool of Irish DNA to compare to. Are there any other websites with large European databases to compare to? I'm on ysearch but I have very few matches and nothing with a Welch/Welsh/Walsh surname. I'm really coming up with nothing and hope that DNA may be able to help me break through my brickwall. In the meantime I will continue to search for paper records here and abroad. I'm finding Irish family history to be very very difficult!
Many thanks for reading my message and any advice would be much appreciated.
very best wishes,
KCW
I am only able to trace my direct male line back to my ancestor, James Welch, who was born in Ireland around 1831. He ended up in Circleville, Ohio in the early 1850's but I've never found a ships log which indicates where he arrived or where he sailed from. The fact that his name was common makes searching difficult. James married Ellen Kane (Cain/Cane/Kain etc) and I think she may have been from County Clare. I can't find any confirmation of brothers, sisters, cousins or other relatives in Circleville, although I find plenty of Welch, Welsh and Walsh surnames (no link has been found despite endless searching).
James ended up fighting in the civil war and was wounded in Gettysburg in 1863. His pension file, which I ordered from the government, is huge - over 400 pages. There are some documents which indicate that he was from County Kerry (these are actually part of his military service file). Two 1913 obituaries exist, one of which says he was born in County Clare. There are some other factual mistakes in one of the obits, so I'm not sure I can hang my hat on that he was from Clare or Kerry, or somewhere else entirely. There was also some family lore that he was born on "Welsh Island" of of Wales. All other documents list Ireland as his home so I think that the Welsh Island story is likely incorrect. I've even searched the town of "Walsh Island" in County Offally with no luck. I have a lead in Kerry, but it could be nothing. I haven't been able to turn anything up in Clare as searching records there is very difficult.
I've had amazing luck using DNA to research my Italian heritage and have even broken through some pretty serious brickwalls using DNA. I have lots and lots of matches on all markers except for 111 (no matches there). In e-mailing people, I can find no link. I have no common surnames in any of my Y-chromosome matches. I've confimed one ancestor on family finder, but it's from a different line. I match no Welch surnames on the rest of family finder.
Since I'm pretty sure James was from Ireland, what I really need is a large pool of Irish DNA to compare to. Are there any other websites with large European databases to compare to? I'm on ysearch but I have very few matches and nothing with a Welch/Welsh/Walsh surname. I'm really coming up with nothing and hope that DNA may be able to help me break through my brickwall. In the meantime I will continue to search for paper records here and abroad. I'm finding Irish family history to be very very difficult!
Many thanks for reading my message and any advice would be much appreciated.
very best wishes,
KCW
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