Identifying the mtDNA and Y-DNA of my ancestors

As part of my quest to discover more about my ancestors, I am looking for suitable candidates to undertake Y-DNA and mtDNA testing for me. So far, I’ve had the following tests taken but am looking to extend all of my ancestral lines! This post is intended to document my progress and will be updated as new haplogroups are discovered.

mtDNA

  • Murphy-Cassidy-Sweeney line (my maternal line) – I was able to undertake this test myself in 2011. The line currently extends back from myself, to my 3rd great grandmother from Rathclooney, County Clare. The image below shows our mtDNA line from me, up to Mary Sweeney Cassidy. Our mtDNA Haplogroup was J1c5, but in 2025 was upgraded to J1c5n1 which was said to have been formed about 900AD. We need more descendants on this line to undertake mtDNA testing to help bring this date forward into a closer genealogical timeframe.
My maternal mtDNA line – starting with me

Joan Patricia Roberts descendants (1930s – 2010s) DNA confirmed
  Mona Veronica Murphy descendants (29 Aug 1892 – 03 Apr 1973) DNA confirmed
    Rebecca Mary Gertrude Cassidy descendants (29 Jun 1852 – 04 Jan 1931) DNA confirmed
      Mary Sweeney descendants (abt 1816 – 11 Mar 1896) DNA confirmed

  • Elizabeth Richards 1823 (on my paternal side) –    I was able to ascertain the mtDNA of my 3rd great grandmother Elizabeth Richards (who married John Coat) by testing Corinne in 2017, a descendant of Elizabeth’s sister Selina. We share Susanna Richards as our mtDNA ancestor, whose line extends back to Somerset, England. Susanna Richards married John Richards, they had different parents and don’t appear to be close cousins – we hope by knowing the mtDNA of Susanna we can better identify more of her family given Richards is such a common name in the area. Her mtDNA Haplogroup is Ub4.

Susanna Richards descendants (29 Apr 1802 – 18 Dec 1879) DNA confirmed
  Elizabeth Coggan descendants (abt 1765 – 25 Dec 1806) DNA confirmed
    Mary Bosgrove descendants (abt 1739 – abt 1800) [confident]
      Betty Shearman descendants (bef 1719 – ) [confident]

  • Margaret Ellard 1853 (on my paternal side) –    I was able to ascertain the mtDNA of my 2nd great grandmother Margaret Ellard (who married Frederick Griffin) by testing my 3rd cousin Sharon in 2016. Our great grandmothers Ada and Edith were sisters, daughters of Frederick and Margaret. Her mtDNA Haplogroup is H1e1a.

Mary Elizabeth Brotherton descendants (abt 09 Jun 1810 – 13 Nov 1889) DNA confirmed
  Mary Elizabeth Elstone descendants (abt 1788 – 22 Dec 1853) [confident]
    Charlotte Elstone descendants (bef 1768 – )
      Elizabeth Scott descendants (bef 1748 – )

Priorities for additional mtDNA testing

Help me complete the chart at the end of this post – if you are descended from any of the missing mt-DNA test ancestors please contact me. They are listed in priority order but all lines are important! Of course, I would be willing to pay for the tests of suitable candidates. Please contact me using the contact form if you can help with any of these projects.

My priority ancestors for mtDNA tests are shown below, we are looking for males or females who carry the mtDNA of these ancestors. Living males whose matrilineal line (mothers, mothers, mother etc) leads back to the ancestor are eligible, but generally as males don’t pass on mtDNA more eligible testers are likely to be female.

  1. Descendants of Elizabeth Bateman (Kennedy) – married James Murphy (of Wexford) in Windsor NSW 1844;
  2. Descendants of Catherine Britton c1768 – married Stephen Cassidy, Fermanagh, Ireland. Unfortunately, we are not yet aware of any daughters who could have passed on Catherine’s mtDNA . We hope this changes in time.
  3. Descendants of Abigail Paice born 1845 Droxford, Hampshire, England, or her mother Harriet Parker.
  4. Descendants of Mary Lee born 1816 in Lilbourne, Northamptonshire, England who married William Laundon. Her daughter Ann, the mother of Edward Roberts/Baker/Dye has no eligible mtDNA descendants.
  5. Descendants of Mary Ann Bradley or her mother Mary Ann Hines born 1840 Kent, England.
  6. Descendants of Maria Elisabeth Wohling, born 1817 in Tucheim, Prussia.
  7. Descendants of Amy Hewlett born 1787 in Somerset – married Marmaduke Coat in 1813. However, first we need to confirm she is John Coats mother!

Y-DNA

  • Coat line (on my paternal side) – Thanks to the generosity of two of my male COAT cousins, Robert and Peter who first tested in 2012 and 2017, I have been able to find out more about my fathers paternal line. We have been able to ascertain the paternal haplogroup of the Coat line through Big Y testing as R-S22869.
My paternal COAT Y-DNA line – starting with my father John Coat

Lenard Coat descendants (08 Jul 1901 – 30 Aug 1979) DNA confirmed
  Charles Coat descendants (18 May 1862 – 11 Nov 1937) DNA confirmed
    John Coat descendants (abt 1826 – 01 May 1907) DNA confirmed

  • Roberts line (on my maternal side) – Mum’s brother Barry took the Y-DNA test for me in 2012 and for many years we had no matches at all. We still only have one match, other than my 2nd cousin Greg who later also tested to confirm our line. We have since discovered through autosomal testing that Edward Roberts Baker b1869, Mums grandfather, was not a Roberts or a Baker after all, but probably a Dye! We have been able to ascertain the paternal haplogroup of the Roberts/Dye line through Big Y testing as R-BY160942.
My maternal ROBERTS/DYE Y-DNA line – starting with my first tester, Barry Phillip Edward Roberts

Edward Arthur Roberts MM descendants (27 Mar 1893 – 01 Jul 1966) DNA confirmed
  Edward Roberts descendants (7 Aug 1869 – 16 Mar 1954) DNA confirmed
    Edmund Dye descendants (22 Sep 1844 – 29 Jan 1880) DNA confirmed
      Edmund Dye descendants (1817 – ) DNA confirmed
        Edmund Dye descendants (1790 – 1871) [confident]
          John Dye descendants (bef 1762 – ) [confident]

  • Cassidy line (on my maternal side) – I was able to ascertain the Y-DNA of my 3rd great grandfather Thomas Cassidy c1800 by testing Des, my 3rd cousin, in 2012. We share the ancestors of Thomas Cassidy and his wife Mary Sweeney. I was particularly keen to be able to trace Thomas back to Ireland and our Y-DNA testing has confirmed that he came from Fermanagh, Ireland. The paternal haplogroup of the Cassidy line identified by Big Y testing is I-FT193932.

Stephen Cassidy descendants (aft 1760 – aft 1830) DNA confirmed
  Y-DNA Cassidy descendants (bef 1740 – ) DNA confirmed
    Fermanagh DNA Cassidy descendants (bef 1720 – ) [confident]

  • Sweeney line (on my maternal side) – once again, I was very keen to be able to connect back to Ireland on our Sweeney line. I was able to ascertain the Y-DNA of my 4th great grandfather John Sweeney c1795 of Rathclooney County Clare by testing Torin, my 3rd cousin, in 2016. Autosomal DNA testing had confirmed our relationship, we share John as an ancestor, descending from children with his wife Johanna Hanrahan/Enright – Terence and Mary. We have had limited matches to date on the Y-DNA test, with no other known suitable descendants from John and Johanna so we were stuck in a ‘watch and wait’ scenario. However, a few years ago we discovered that John had married again after Johanna died. We are now looking for a suitable Y-DNA candidate from one of the 3 male children of John and his second wife Honor Murphy. The paternal haplogroup of the Sweeney line identified by testing 37 markers is R-M269. We hope to upgrade this test to a Big Y once we have confirmed the connection between male descendants from both Johanna and Norah.

Daniel Sweeney descendants (bef 1775 – ) [uncertain]
  Roe Swyny descendants (bef 1754 – abt 1801) [confident]

Priorities for additional Y-DNA testing
Help me complete the chart below – if you are descended from any of the missing Y-DNA test ancestors please contact me. They are listed in priority order but all lines are important! Of course, I would be willing to pay for the tests of suitable candidates. Please contact me using the contact form if you can help with any of these projects.

My priority ancestors for Y-DNA tests are shown below, we are looking for males who are still carrying the relevant surname or where that surname is on their patrilineal line:

  1. Descendants of the Dye family of Kent England, including Edmund Dye 1791 (married Philadelphia Yowell), or John Dye c1768 (married Ann King) are needed for testing to confirm conclusions about the Roberts-Dye line;
  2. Descendants of the Murphy family of Glenbrien Wexford in Ireland, including James Murphy 1810 (married Elizabeth Bateman), or Maurice Murphy bef 1775 (married Margaret (Peggy) Sinnott). We would love to be able to get back to Ireland for this family line;
  3. Descendants of John Sweeney c1795 of Rathclooney County Clare and his second wife Honor Murphy are needed to find a second Y-DNA tester to confirm the Sweeney family line.
  4. Descendants of Samuel Bradley c1821 or his father John Bradley who is currently a brick wall.
  5. Descendants of Johann Friedrich Wilhelm NOLL, born 1844 in Tucheim, Prussia.
  6. Descendants of Frederick Griffin or his father James Griffin born 1824 in Cambridgeshire, England.

***************

Do you know more about the families mentioned in this post? If you are connected to any of them (particularly if you have DNA tested) I would love to hear from you. It’s the power of DNA that can help us breakthrough our brick walls!

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me via the contact form on this blog or by private message via Ancestry, Wikitree or Facebook.

***************