Sullivan/O'Sullivan

  • 602 members
Administrators
  • Kathleen Kerwin
  • Shanna Jones
Co-Administrators
  • Gerald OConnell
  • James Kane
  • John Brazil
  • Judith Sullivan Hoffman
  • Ronald Howie
  • Russell Sullivan
  • Timothy Carmain

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Joe Sullivan Joe Sullivan has a question!
June 6 @ 6:29pm
“ I will try to make this succinct: I am hoping someone can give me an idea of which direction to steer in my genetic genealogical search. I have been trying for almost 25 years to find the town land of origin in Ireland of my husband's 2-g-grandfather, James Sullivan. James seems to have materialized a full-grown man in New York City in the 1860's, where he resided between censuses but married and had two sons and an unknown child. The family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where they resided through both the 1870 census and the 1880 census and where James stayed put long enough to get his name in the City Directory a number of times. More children were born, two died and were buried, and James POOF! vanished into thin air before 1887, when his widow and most of the children moved back to New York City. James's widow, some of his children, some of his children-in-law, and many of his grandchildren are buried in two mass graves in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, along with two women who were born Sullivans, their husbands, and their progeny, and the baby of yet another lady born a Sullivan who lost only one child before leaving the area. These women may have been James' sisters, or they may have been his cousins. I have tracked all the families and proved genetic matches with the descendants of James' children and with the children of at least one of the nee-Sullivan ladies buried in the mass graves. Having bashed my head against the brick wall for decades and still come no closer to jumping the pond, I thought that I could turn to DNA for a little guidance. My husband took the Y-DNA test at 111 markers. I knew that we would be lucky if we got 20 or 30 matches, and that there was always the possibility of mis-attributed parentage. But hey, if we got 30 matches, and 25 of them were, say, O'Rileys from County Clare, that would still help in trying to find our James Sullivan's town land of origin, right? So here is my problem: so far, my husband has a total, (counting the five that have come in so far today), of 7,565 matches on the Y-DNA. He averages three to seven new matches every day. So far as proving a help in determining Irish county of origin or surname – at 111 markers, he has 237 matches, 1 at genetic distance of 4 (not a Sullivan), 3 at genetic distance of 5 (with three different surnames), and 18 at genetic distance of 6, with 17 different surnames. I know that if you shoot the Y-DNA back too far you go past the common use of surnames, so okay, the progenitors of the lines were prolific in multiple directions. But – at 67 markers he has 1,320 matches, 1 of which is a genetic distance of 0, (another brick wall who materialized in the United States fully grown and who had a totally different surname), 6 at genetic distance of 1, represented by no less than 6 different surnames, and 57 at genetic distance of 2, with 40 different surnames (but also the first one named Sullivan – origin unknown). At 37 markers, he has 1,528 matches, 4 with a genetic distance of 0, each with a totally different surname. He has 87 matches at genetic distance of 1, represented by about 70 different surnames; four Sullivans, which would be something, except two have no trees at all, one of the remaining Sullivans sprouted in Detroit, and the other in North Carolina. I won't even bother you with the 25 and 12 marker results. So far as trying to sift the origins of the possessors all these multiple surnames in hopes of at least localizing the part of Ireland our James Sullivan may have come from, after weeding out all the matches who have no trees at all or “trees” consisting of “Private” and his parents, “Private” and “Private”, I am left with results of origins from New York to Carmarthen, Wales, “Ireland”, Bantry, Kerry, “Most Likely Cork”, Belfast, Australia, Iowa, Texas ,and back to “probably Ireland”. What I am saying is that, far from helping me close in on a likely area of origin in Ireland for our James Sullivan, so far the Y-DNA has been of absolutely no help at all. We aren't even sure any more if our Sullivan is “Sullivan”, although we have a few hundred other possible surnames to pick from if he wasn't. Does anyone have any idea as to whether or not I can use the Y-DNA to any sort of advantage in finding the town land “our” Sullivans came from, or should I just ignore all the Y-DNA entirely unless I decide to pay attention to where the forebears were about 500 B.C.? ”
2 Comments
Russell Sullivan
June 9 @ 6:47pm
I was in Ardea in March (family trip). Well worth the drive. Keep plugging along. You might be the one who answers all our questions.
Terrence Sullivan
June 10 @ 12:08pm
The wife and I drove close to there a couple of weeks ago.
Joe Sullivan
June 13 @ 8:58am
Just upgraded to the Big Y...
Russell Sullivan
June 13 @ 12:14pm
Great, I hope it provides clarity. I look forward to seeing the results.
L Brent Sullivan L Brent Sullivan
June 7 @ 5:54pm
.
Judith Sullivan-Hoffman Judith Sullivan-Hoffman
June 6 @ 11:59am
Upgrade update.....I was hoping that Dad's (Jim Sullivan) Big Y 700 - kit B71565 , would be processed by now. Something happened at the lab while processing the upgrade from Y 111 and we have been sent a new test. When Dad and I see each other next, we will do his new test, hopefully sooner than later. Dads haplotype before processing the Big Y was Z16519, now it is sitting at Z16518.
Kevin Sullivan
June 6 @ 2:01pm
Hi Judith, I upgraded from Big Y 500 to Big Y 700. And I too was sent a new kit. Hopefully we will both get our test results back soon !!
Terrence Sullivan
June 6 @ 4:00pm
New kit here as well
Judith Sullivan-Hoffman
June 6 @ 4:00pm
Fingers crossed.
Evelyn Trujillo Evelyn Trujillo
April 14 @ 10:58am
Hi Everyone - Just joined the group. I have a block wall I have never been able to get past, my 7th great grandfather, Darby Sullivan. I'm not sure where he was born, but he lived in Hyde Precinct
Evelyn Trujillo
April 14 @ 11:02am
Sorry hit the button too soon lol. Darby was in Bath, ND in late 1600's early 1700's. He had two daughters, Mary and Margaret. Mary married my 6 great grandfather David Lee and Margaret married Thomas D evane. There is thought he was bor
Evelyn Trujillo
April 14 @ 11:07am
Dang it, anyhow some people think Darby was born in Barbados but I don't know about that, I'm hoping to find some DNA matches. My German is A547802 and my brother's is T582474. Anybody have info on this line? Thanks!
Evelyn Trujillo
April 14 @ 11:25am
There must be serious autocorrect happening on my tablet! Darby was in Bath, North Carolina and my "German" was meant to be Gedmatch.....
James Sullivan
April 29 @ 2:35pm
There was a Darby Sullivan on Eastern Shore of MD at that same timeline. Could they be the same?
Gary Sullivan Gary Sullivan
April 6 @ 10:30pm
Some of my matches seem to reflect the surnames of my female ancestors: O’Sullivan MacCauley Culver Reehill (O’Reilly) Daly Cronin Shanahan
Andrew Sullivan
April 14 @ 3:35pm
Gary, There are some who say that my Timothy Sullivan Ireland 1823, Rossnacaheragh townland was born a Twohig (or Touhig) and took his wife's Cath Sullivan's surname. I visited the area about two years ago and only found disbelief. Also I did not find any Twohig's in the area according to Griffiths. I know anything is possible. If I can just get one of the claimed Twohig's to take a Y test, I think things would be clearer.
John Sullivan
April 20 @ 10:10pm
Gary, where is your line from? I also have Cronin and Shanahan in my line. Bridget Cronin was my GG Gram, and Annie Marie Shanahan was my G Gram. They were both from West Durrus, around the Sheepshead Peninsula. My kit is B291072, sully7133 on ancestry, and A116075 on gedmatch.
Gary Sullivan
April 27 @ 11:09am
Hi John, My family is from Glengarriff.
William Sullivan William Sullivan
April 14 @ 10:49am
The male Sullivans that have been tested all trace back to County Cavan. The spelling of the name in the 1800s was Sorahan/Sorohan/Soraghan/Soroghan. Anyone else have the spelling? The Townland most lived in is called Denbawn/Dennbane.
Russell Sullivan
April 23 @ 8:19am
Soroghan (and its various spellings) is an Anglicized version of Ó Soracháin -- an Ulster name (of which County Cavan is a part). Some English speakers mistook (it is believed) the name for Ó Súilleabháin, thereby incorrectly translating it to O'Sullivan/Sullivan. You might want to explore that history and see if you are part of that line.
Cleo Hogan Cleo Hogan
April 4 @ 7:22pm
My Uncle Hogan did his test for the Hogan project but we also have many Sullivan matches come up. Would anyone know why a Hogan is matching so many Sullivans?
2 Comments
Russell Sullivan
April 4 @ 8:32pm
So, the short of it is this: matches with different surnames happen for several reasons: an NPE (non-paternal event), name change when migrating for political/social/religious reasons. Or (and this may the case here) your exact matches are only as recent as before surnames were adopted. Look at it this way, 12 marker tests only give you information up to the time in history before surnames were adopted. An example: the original Sullivan was an historic leader in one of the areas in Ireland. His two sons also became leaders. Due to the nature of how the Irish language works, their descendants adopted surnames based on their first names. So, one of those brothers' names was Cartheigh (Carthy). His son would refer to himself as let's say Sean Mhac Cartheigh (John, Carthy's son). In this situation, Sean's descendants will match his brother's descendants on the paternal line (who are mostly O'Sullivans). If the test you are comparing doesn't test enough markers, they will show up as exact matches, even though they have a different surname.
Kevin Sullivan
April 5 @ 9:44am
What is your kit number? We have a couple of Hogan's on the results page.
Cleo Hogan
April 5 @ 3:07pm
88394
Cleo Hogan
April 5 @ 7:07pm
thanks for the input. Maybe someday I will figure it out.
Crystal Jeffreys Crystal Jeffreys
February 8 @ 5:53am
Are there any other descendants from Owen Sullivan b. 10 MAY 1802 Davidson County, Tennessee, USA d. 28 DEC 1878 • Dickson County, Tennessee, USA
21 Comments
Jeffrey Sullivan
March 28 @ 3:42pm
Hi Leland. If you submitted a Y-DNA kit, your haplogroup is shown in the upper right-hand corner of your main page. You may also view your haplogroup by selecting DNA Results from the column on the far left of this page; a new page will open; click Classic Chart, locate your test kit, and you will see your haplogroup. Next, contact co-administrator James Kane, and he will inform you as to which SNP tests would benefit your situation. Good luck!
Russell Sullivan
March 29 @ 9:35pm
UPDATE: Decided to upgrade to Big Y 700. I don't have an estimate yet on completion.
Jeffrey Sullivan
April 1 @ 11:16pm
Thanks for the update, Russell. Your results should be fascinating for all Sullivan descendants who had ancestors that -- like yours -- spent time in the Duplin County, NC area.
Russell Sullivan
April 2 @ 12:43pm
UPDATE: My Big Y 700 is estimated to be completed late May, early June.
Ann Cush Ann Cush has a question!
April 1 @ 2:47pm
“ My mothers mother was a combination Harrington-Sullivan. I did do my mothers test. She is kit 197442 Ann Cush. I am wondering what other test she could have. I did not do Family Finder would that help me find relatives? ”
Terrence Sullivan
April 1 @ 4:56pm
Yes it would. It is really good for finding 2 to 3rd cousins
Norma Healy Norma Healy
April 1 @ 9:29am
Hello, I am researching Sullivan/O'Sullivans from West Limerick, My Maternal Grandmother was Mary Sullivan, She married Timothy/Tadgh McCarthy, also from West Limerick
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