Last month, I visited County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland to discover more about my Wilson ancestry. I’m still on a high having exceeded my ancestry travel goals. I met my Wilson cousins who still farm the same land from 400 years ago. I visited 17th century castles, 18th century estates, and ate like a king. IContinue reading “Ancestry Travel Debrief: My Visit to Northern Ireland”
Tag Archives: Derryhillagh
Ancestry Travel: Preparing to Visit Northern Ireland
Have you ever wanted to visit the ancestral homeland for one of your ancestors? Not sure where or how to begin? Engaging in ancestry travel, or what the industry also calls heritage travel, can be daunting. For one, it can be expensive. It also takes years of genealogy and DNA research to identify the actualContinue reading “Ancestry Travel: Preparing to Visit Northern Ireland”
Identifying John Wilson’s Irish Origins, Part 3: Documentary Evidence & Conclusions
Using both Y-DNA and autosomal DNA (at-DNA) in the previous two blog posts, the ancestral origin of John Wilson (1716-1799) appears to be in an area east of Enniskillen, which is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The purpose of the final blog post is to use documentary evidence to corroborate previous findingsContinue reading “Identifying John Wilson’s Irish Origins, Part 3: Documentary Evidence & Conclusions”
Identifying John Wilson’s Irish Origins, Part 1: Y-DNA Analysis
Have you been fortunate enough to trace one of your American ancestors back to the 1700s but found no records indicating where in Europe they originated? Oh, and what if you are “lucky” enough for this ancestor to have a common or occupationally derived surname, such as Smith or Miller, providing no clues as toContinue reading “Identifying John Wilson’s Irish Origins, Part 1: Y-DNA Analysis”