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2025 Heritage Week Talk - Project Update
The Tribes of Ui Maine Project Update will be part of a series of genealogy and local history talks given as part of National Heritage Week at the Courthouse, the Square, Ballygar on 24th August 2024.
Talk 1 @ 3 PM: Tribes of Uí Maine Project Update
Pat Glennon will present an update on the research of the Tribes of Uí Maine Project which is using Y-DNA to explore the origins and early ancestry of the tribes and surnames of the region.
One year on, the Project is approaching 200 members. The talk will explore some preliminary findings and ongoing research on the various surnames and tribes.
Free DNA kits will be available for those interested in joining the Project
Talk 2 @ 4 PM: The Lohan Project and the Finding of Lindsay
Professional genealogist and founder of Irish Kinship, David Lohan, will present research on the Lohan-Logan ancestry research group and on his discovery of Hollywood actress, Lindsay Lohan’s ancestral links to the region.
David combines traditional archival investigation with modern DNA analysis to explore the genealogy and history of Irish families. He is administrator of the Lohan, Logan, and Allied Families ancestry research group.
Talk 3 @ 5 PM: Ballygar TY Family History Project
The final talk will be given by our co-admin Martin Curley on the Ballygar TY Family History Project which explores the ancestry of the area and it’s diaspora. The talk will present an overview on the Project and explore future possibilities.
Martin is a genealogist and a Family History and Local Heritage consultant who carries out extensive work with regional schools and community groups. The TY Project has grown out of his work with Ballygar Transition Year students.
Martin is also the administrator of the East Galway Genealogy and DNA Facebook group which is reaching out to our diaspora using DNA and local research to help them find their home parish and family:
facebook.com/groups/eastgalwaygenealogy
Walk to Castlekelly
Weather permitting, the event will conclude with a walk to the site of Aghrane castle (Castlekelly), seat of the local O'Kellys of Uí Maine and then back to Ballygar where all are invited to chat and socialise in Pat & Carmel Gilmore's Martin's Bar.
12 May 2025
The Project surname list has been temporarily adapted in order to send out Project Join Invitations to Y-DNA testers who bear surnames that are exclusively associated with the region, or which have principal concentrations in the region on the 1901 Census maps.
Some of our Project names have multiple origins in various regions of the country (e.g. Kelly, Leonard, Morgan, etc.) so recruitment of these surnames will be concentrated on those testers with ancestry from the region.
The next Project update will be an online presentation in the coming weeks and preparations are underway for a live talk and recruitment event in the region during National Heritage Week in August.
30 December 2024
Project Quarterly Update - December 2024
The Project’s first quarterly update is now available to watch on YouTube.
This is a general progress update and a broad overview of the composition of the Project so far.
To view the update, use the link below:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PneXe9v9diM
Thank you all for your continued participation in the Project.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.
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26 November 2024
New publication
Archeologist Daniel Curley launched his new book in Ballinasloe tonight:
‘The Uí Chellaig lords of Uí Maine and Tír Maine: An archaeological and landscape exploration of a later medieval inland Gaelic lordship’
This has developed out of his PHD research.
I received the book from a pre-order a couple of weeks back and it is exceptional; incredibly well researched and beautifully presented, with lots of new insights from primary fieldwork.
The study is focused on the later medieval period but the introductory chapters also give a good overview of the historical context from which the O’Kelly cenn áiteanna (lordly centres) and castles emerged.
Without historic context, DNA is just a series of numbers and letters on a page.
We are very fortunate to have such research being focused on Uí Maine at the moment and hopefully this Project can capitalise on it and bring its own insights about the O’Kellys and all the tribes of Uí Maine.
Daniel’s research will undoubtedly inform our interpretations of the genetic history of the region as we move forward and enrich our understanding of the Kingdom.
Best of luck to Daniel with the publication.
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Project Update
With respect to the Tribes of Uí Maine Project, the first quarterly update is forthcoming which will discuss some initial insights from the first round of joiners and local testers.
7 September 2024
Recordings of the Talk launching the Project are now online:
Tribes of Ui Maine Y-DNA Project – Presentation PART 1 – The Tribes
Part 1 gives a general introduction to Y-DNA and the Tribes of Ui Maine Project before examining some genetic groupings or Haplogroups associated with some of the Tribes.
After giving an overview of the Tribes of the territory, the focus in this part of the talk falls on Haplogroups associated with three of the Tribes and the surnames that emerged from them
- Kelly of Ui Maine
- Mannion and Ward of the Sogain
- Madden and Colohan of Sil Anmchada
As the Project progresses, future research presentations will focus on other lineages and Tribes of Ui Maine.
Tribes of Ui Maine Y-DNA Project – Presentation - Part 2 – Glennon Case Study
Part Two of a Talk uses insights from the Glennon Y-DNA Project to demonstrate how we can break through genealogical brick walls of the early 1800s to learn more about our earlier ancestry and the history of our surnames down through the centuries.
Using a Case study of the Roscommon and Galway Glennons, the presentation shows how we can combine Y-DNA branching with traditional land records to track the re-distribution of the a regional surname group during the Cromwellian Transplantations of the mid-seventeenth century.
JOIN THE PROJECT
To join the Project, return to the home screen and click ‘JOIN’ in the top right corner.
You will need to have a Y-DNA kit with FTDNA or purchase one. A Y-37 test is a good start.
10 August 2024
Talk introducing the Tribes of Uí Maine Project
The talk will be given in two locations during Heritage Week in August 2024 at:
Athleague Community Centre at 7:30 PM on Sunday 18th August
https://www.heritageweek.ie/event-listings/tribes-of-u%C3%AD-maine-project
Ballinasloe Library at 6:00 PM on Tuesday 20th August. This will launch their Art and Heritage Exhibition
https://www.heritageweek.ie/event-listings/tribes-of-u%C3%AD-maine-project-2
A link to a recording of the talk will be uploaded thereafter.
Talk introducing
the Tribes of Uí Maine Project
The talk will explore the genetic and genealogical heritage of the region of
south Roscommon, east Galway, the Clare borderlands and Lusmagh parish, Co.
Offaly. This territory composed the medieval Kingdom of Uí Maine, whose Tribes
gave rise to many of the most common surnames of the region today, and some of
the most endangered ones.
The talk will discuss the genealogical networks laid down in the medieval
Annals and explore how Y-DNA can enhance our understanding of the connections
between the surnames of the region.
Using insights from the Glennon DNA Project, the presentation will demonstrate
how Y-DNA can be used, in conjunction with traditional documentary research, to
trace the origins and history of an entire regional surname group. In
particular, the research gives new insights into how Y-DNA can shine new light
on the impact of the Cromwellian transplantations on the tenants who went
unrecorded in the Down Survey of the 1650s.
The research is relevant to genealogists and local historians across the region
interested in understanding the fate of their ancestors and mapping their
micro-migrations down through the centuries since the dawn of the surname era.
The new Tribes of Uí Maine Project will seek to engage individuals, communities
and local heritage groups from across the region in this research to recover
glimpses of a past largely forgotten.