The O'BRIEN and HAYES Families of Ruan Parish

[SteffersPDX]

I am hoping that you are still seeking details of the O'Brien and Hayes family in the parish of Ruan Co Clare Ireland. The family name continues in the townland of Bealnalicka.

Yes! I am still looking. I haven't been on this site for quite some time. A long time ago, I corresponded with a gentleman in Bealnalicka. His name was also Terrence O'Brien. He has since passed. Are there still other O'Brien's there?

Stephanie

[Pleski]

Would anyone in this thread know anything about a James O'Brien and Susan Ryan from the same area as the Terence O'Brien and Bridget Ryan discussed above?

James O'Brien and Susan Ryan had two twin boys Martin and Michael born about 1846.  The two boys also left for Australia when they were about 18, I assume because of the famine.   They settled near the same town as Terence O'Brien's family, a place called Sunbury in Australia.

My mother, who is the great grandaughter of James O'Brien and Susan Ryan, grew up with Terence O'brien's grandchildren.  She says all the O'briens were all related from Clare connections, but she doesn't know how. 

[Sooheen]

There are O’Brien’s still living in Bealnalicka Ruan. There are up to 3 families with that name living in this townland. The following address will give you access to the online census record for the 1911 census for the Bealnalicka townland.
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Clare/Ruan/Bealnalicka/
You would need to get in touch with a direct family member to find out the descendants of your ancestors as I do not know which family line you come from.

[Pleski]

Thank you Sooheen. I'll have a look. 

[RobertCasey]

Hi - As you probably already know, the surname O'Brien originated from King Brian Boru around 1,000 years ago. However, only a small percentage of O'Briens are actual descendants of King Brian Boru. I am one of the admins of the R-L226 haplogroup FTDNA projects (where we track YDNA results). O'Briens and O'Brien surname variants dominate L226. Out of 522 testers at 67 markers, 63 of these testers are O'Brien and variants. One of the testers is Sir Conor O'Brien who is the official title holder for the O'Brien surname. For the last 40 generations from King Brian Boru, his title has been passed down each generation and had to be proven in order qualify for his title as the male descendant of King Brian Boru. We know that the YSNP branch Y5610 indicates that your line is a direct descendant of the King Brian Boru. We now also know there are around five other O'Brien lines that are not direct descendants of Brian Boru as well.

By testing 67 markers at FTDNA, you would be able to determine which O'Brien line that you connect to. By contacting your YDNA matches, you could exchange genealogical information to try make a genealogical connection. Dennis O'Brien (from Australia), Dennis Wright (New Zealand) and myself (Robert Casey of Austin, TX USA) are the admins and gave YDNA presentations of our L226 project at last November's Genetic Genealogy Ireland conference. Dennis' presentation was on the royal O'Brien line and Sir Conor O'Brien was there to comment his testing results. Here is a very nice YouTube video on the YDNA project for the Dal Cais O'Brien line:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp-1bfxaXYs&t=1538s

[Janobrien]

My husband an O’Brien has had his DNA test done by Ancestry. Is there any way we can cross reference his with others mentioned. ?

[RobertCasey]

Ancestry.com is primarily an atDNA test - but it does have a very minimal YSNP test. Have you been assigned any YSNP branch ? I believe it does include R-L21 which is distant ancestor of R-L226. But R-L21 is around one-third of all people with English speaking origins - not exactly very precise.

To dive into YDNA, you really have to order the 67 YSTR marker test from FTDNA. With this test, you may get very lucky and match L226 pattern which includes many O'Brien testers. There are several different genetic clusters of O'Briens under L226, but the line that is descended from King Brian Boru is shown below (which includes Sir Conor O'Brien - royal title holder of the O'Brien surname and direct male descendant of King Brian Boru):

http://www.rcasey.net/DNA/R_L226/Haplotrees/L226_Home.pdf#Page=49