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Hi,

I have some new information that may help with work on the Bryson/McConnell connections.

Rev. Magill of Antrim recorded the McConnell family in his notebook.
This lists 9 children born to Mecum McConnell and Ellen Craig of Ballyvoy.
Sixth child was Anne who married James Bryson of Ballyvoy.
Eighth child was Ellen  - no marriage given but this would be because Rev. Magill was writing this in mid 1830s and Ellen didn't marry Robert Bryson until 1838.

So this confirms Ellen and Anne as sisters which was queried earlier in this thread.

For info the other children in family were:
1. Martha b.1786, married Thomas Service March 1825
2. Mary - married Robert Mackay (her second husband)
3. John - married Margaret McConnell
4. William - married Sarah Gawin (probably should be Gawn)
5. Mecum
7. Margaret - married James Semple
9. Samuel

As Martha was born 1786 and death certificate places Ellen as born around 1808 this seems to be the range of these births though Samuel could be c1810 as they do seem to be in a defined order.

Now that there is a larger McConnell family, DNA can be used to link branches together. I am already aware of someone on Family Tree DNA descended from Ellen who has Semple, Service and Mackay matches.

Y-DNA does exactly what you are looking for. If you have a male tester then you can test them and find out origins through a Big Y test. It will give you matches, dates of common ancestors with each match, notable connections, ancient connections, migration patterns and a long list of lineage defining mutations that can indeed reveal ancestral locations.

I have personally used Big Y tests a number of times to confirm origins and it provides links to Scotland for Northern Irish lines. I know one line originated in Loudon, Ayrshire, another in the western Hebrides (3 islands specifically) and one of my friends has recently discovered a confirmed link to a specific clan with a long lineage.

Many of my Y-DNA matches are in the 1600-1800 period which is exactly what you are looking for when you are trying to extend family trees backwards beyond the reach of autosomal DNA and paper records.

Y-DNA has come on a long way in the last few years. Big Y tests millions of popints in your DNA and the interpretation of the data is much improved and scientifically validated.

Hi Jo,

I have just noticed your post regarding your DNA test and will send you a private message regarding that.

I have now got a DNA match which would suggest that my Mary Taggart (who married William McDowell) is indeed the child of Andrew Taggart and Sarah Wilson. In order to be totally sure of this it would be great to hear if any other descendants of this family have tested. If anyone has taken a test please feel free to send me a private message and we can compare results.

Thanks!