Reuniting the Britton family, our ‘unnamed’ Patriarch

It’s been a long journey since I first started researching my Britton ancestors in about 2006. I met my fellow Britton researcher Ruth online in 2009 striking up a friendship across the world where we have collaborated for over a decade. We have always felt that all the Brittons born in Fermanagh Ireland in mid-late 1700’s were related but lacked a paper trail to be able to confirm it. I did my first DNA test in 2010, followed by Ruth in 2014. It has been through autosomal DNA testing that we have finally been able to make some breakthroughs!

I first wrote about my 2nd great grandmother Catherine Britton in 2017 when we were able to confirm relationships between my ancestor Thomas Cassidy who came to Australia as a convict in 1830 and his brother James Cassidy who emigrated to the US sometime before 1840 or possibly as early as 1828. We had several DNA matches with other cousins suggesting relationships to possible siblings in Fermanagh, Ireland but lacked DNA confirmation (refer previous blog post).

The only documented information we had about Catherine’s father (who I am calling our ‘Unnamed’ Britton Patriarch – 52Ancestors #7) is a reference from a book about the ecclesiastical life of Father Philip Cassidy. When speaking about Catherine (the grandmother of Father Cassidy) it says ”.. her father was an Anglican clergyman who was a military chaplain for the garrison at Fermanagh in the North of Ireland.’’ (Source: Life of Father Philip Cassidy, PP Archdeacon, Benedictine Monks, Arcadia, NSW, Fr Peter Charles Klein SYD). Searches for more specific information have proved fruitless, although we do know that Ruth’s family were prominent members of the Church of Ireland at Boho and later lived in Tullyholvin townland. The Cassidy’s were also from Boho parish, but were Roman Catholics who lived in nearby Gortgall before being evicted from their land in 1826. Catherine and Stephen’s marriage was known as a ‘mixed marriage‘ and no doubt led to difficulties with relationships between the two families.

Tullyholvin Lower is also the home of the historic Linnet Inn. When my husband and I visited Inn the back in 2011 we were thinking my Cassidy’s may have gathered there but had no idea that Ruth’s Britton ancestors were former owners of the Inn. James Britton, the third son of James Britton and Mary Laird (Catherine’s nephew), was the first Britton owner at Tullyholvin Lower and established the public house, then known as ‘The Britton Inn’. The Inn was very different in the early days, more like a small bar. Now that we know these Brittons were also my relations, we were very disappointed that our return visit this year was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 travel restrictions. If only the walls had ears and could tell us more!

DSCN4391 — Linnet Inn, Boho Fermanagh 2011

‘The Ribbon Informer’ was written in 1874 by Peter Magennis (1817-1910). It is an account of events that are said to have taken place in Fermanagh, starting in 1826 relating to ‘ribbonism’, in particular the informer Dominic Noone. It is believed to be mostly facts with some fictitious characters. The Ribbonmen were an agrarian secret society, their objective to prevent landlords from changing or evicting their tenants. There has been some suggestion that Stephen Cassidy (Catherines husband) may have been the leader of the local group of Ribbonmen (see previous blog post). Given Ribbonmen opposed ‘Orangeism‘ (the ideology of the Protestant Orange Order) there would have been tensions between the Britton and Cassidy families.

In the Magennis ‘Ribbon Informer’ story, the local innkeeper named John Egan, is described as a ‘seneschal of the local court‘, ‘of this village‘, ‘not a papist‘ and an ‘Orangeman who respected decency‘. Could this inn have been ‘The Britton Inn’ and a reference to one of our Britton cousins? They were certainly occupying land at Tullyholvin by 1825. It is perhaps unlikely that it could be a reference to the James Britton who established the public house, as this was some time later. Did they run another inn in the area before the one at Tullyholvin Lower?

When did Catherine and her family arrive in Ireland? Perhaps they came from Scotland in the 1600’s as part of the Plantation of Ulster? We know members of the Britton family were recorded as sidemen in the Church of Ireland at Boho in the 1700’s. Tithe records also suggest there were other Brittons living in nearby townlands including Aghaherrish, Lesky, Farnaconnell and Tober.

In 1879 Magennis wrote another story called ‘The Treasurer’ which was about the Cassidy’s. It was serialised and published in the Lisbarrow Gazette. The events in both of these Magennis stories occurred within his lifetime so he may have been personally acquainted with both the Britton and Cassidy families.

Known Family

This was my Britton Tree in 2017 constructed from paper records. We knew Catherine had a brother named Thomas identified from newspaper accounts in 1828. Thomas Britton had at least two children, a boy and a girl and lived in a ‘snug little farm‘ at Mullaghdun, in the next house but one from James and Catherine McCourt. Little else is known about them.

By the time of Griffiths Valuation in 1864 the land in Tullyholvin Upper which included a forge, was owned by William Britton (eldest son of James Britton and Mary Laird), the forge occupied by Bernard Magee. A reference from Magennis’ ‘The Treasurer’ suggests that circa 1826 there were two forges in the town. The busiest one run by an ‘orangeman‘, described as a ‘wag‘ and a ‘newsmonger’, ‘whose nephew had papist sympathies‘. Could this be another reference to a connection between the Britton and Cassidy families? In 1826 the forge was more likely to have been operated by Williams’ father, grandfather, or perhaps even an uncle?

Other Britton families occupied land in nearby Lesky townland between Tullyholvin and where the Cassidy’s had previously resided in Gortgall. Mullaghdun however is in the Civil Parish of Cleenish, just south of Gortgall.

Potential siblings

Paper records identified a number of other ‘likely’ siblings of Catherine living in Boho Fermanagh (or nearby) in the late 18th century. Their ages are only estimates based on their marriage dates, so they could be much older. Based on this information, it is possible there were at least seven children.

Thomas	Bet 1780-1800	Believed to be married with a son and a daughter in 1829.
John	Bef 1785 m Mary Hamilton	At least 7-10 children, descendants in Australia and Ireland.
William	Bef 1786	At least one known son Noble Britton.
Catherine	Bef 1788 m Stephen Cassidy	At least 4 sons, descendants in the US and Australia.
James	Bef 1788 m Mary Laird	At least 11 children, with descendants in UK and Canada.
George	Abt 1794 m Catherine Laird	At least 8 children, descendants in the US.
Margery	Bef 1800 m William Elliot	At least one son Robert Britton Elliot with some descendants in Australia.

Autosomal Testing

Thanks to DNA we now believe we have confirmed the connections between some of these siblings and it is highly likely that over time more will follow.

We have now identified many Britton DNA test takers who have well documented pedigrees back to several of these children. Unfortunately, a number who have only tested at AncestryDNA cannot be included in this study, as we are unable to compare chromosomes, which is necessary to confirm ancestry back this many generations. However, we do now have 29 kits where we can undertake chromosome analysis, this includes data at GEDmatch (the preferred comparison platform), FamilyTreeDNA and My Heritage. Descendants of test takers, who may have also taken DNA tests, have not been included in this analysis.

As part of the analysis process it was necessary to compare the DNA results of all testers looking for matches on a common chromosome, in the same segment area, for at least 3 descendants from different family lines. Where this occurs, it suggests the group all share a common ancestor. This process is referred to as ‘triangulation‘.

The table below shows details of the identified triangulated groups, comparing matches by sibling group. The ‘cousinship‘ of the siblings descendants are considered ‘DNA confirmed’ if they meet the triangulation test. Where there are only two people matching on the same chromosome and same segment area, it is considered that these may be an ’emerging groups’ (EG’s). In these cases, another match is required to confirm the shared segment came from the same ancestor. The relationships for those in an EG can only be classed as ‘DNA tentative’ as the segment match has not been confirmed by triangulation. The DNA cousins whose matches appear in the table below are also shown in the ‘DNA Connected’ pedigree later in this post.

The table above shows the likely four siblings we have identified so far, Catherine, James, John and George. The analysis also suggests a genetic link to Jane Britten, she married Henry Brooks in Fermanagh and emigrated to the US in about 1819. Based on her age she could either be the oldest child of our ‘Unnamed‘ Patriarch Britton or his sister.

The DNA of our Patriarch Britton

By mapping each of these chromosome groups we are slowly building the genetic profile of our ‘Unnamed’ Patriarch Britton ancestor. The following chart shows the segments we believe descendants have inherited from ‘Unnamed’ Patriarch Britton (or his wife). The legend indicates the family lines whose matches have been used in the mapping process.

Click on the following link to view an expanded image of this chromosome map at ”DNA Painter”.

These segments are scattered across the world in Australia, Ireland, England, Israel and the USA as you can see in the pedigree below. We also believe there are descendants in Scotland but there’s no confirmed genetic evidence of that – yet!

For the purpose of this chromosome map, other ‘potential‘ segments have also been shown to help with the ongoing analysis process. ‘Triangulated’ and ‘Emerging’ groups are as described previously. We have also included ‘Shared Ancestor’ segments – these segments potentially include Britton DNA. ‘Shared Ancestor’ segments are those where the split between an ancestral couple has not yet been determined, so the segment may belong to the Britton ancestors’ spouse. For more detail about the Triangulated and Emerging Groups and Shared Ancestor segments associated with this research, please click here.

Our ‘DNA Connected’ Britton Family Tree – as at June 2020.

The following chart outlines our Britton ‘DNA’ family tree developed from the DNA evidence discussed above. It is not a complete tree, there are many more descendants. Only DNA testers that have a confirmed ‘Britton’ DNA segment have been included.

To see the full sized image, please click here.

Ruth and I have been collaborators across the globe since 2009. We are ‘double’ cousins being related on both my paternal and maternal sides, yet we share no DNA. Thanks to all our DNA cousins we have been able to prove our genetic links on both our common lines. It was wonderful to finally meet in Enniskillen in 2017, the home of our shared Britton ancestors. With your help, we hope to enjoy many more exciting discoveries in the future!

Ruth and Veronica, Northern Ireland – July 2017

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NOTES: Ancestors referred to in this post can be viewed on Wikitree, please click on the relevant link to access their profile. Sources for the paper trail and DNA confirmations (where they exist) are referenced there. Source material associated with the Cassidy family can be accessed here.

For the purposes of this study, only the closest DNA tested descendant in any direct line is included. Children are excluded as the DNA they inherit is less than the parent and does not add value to the analysis.

We have recently initiated a project ‘Brittons of Ireland’ at FamilyTreeDNA that we hope in time will identify more potential cousins. We encourage anyone with Britton/Britten/Brittain ancestors from Ireland who have had their autosomal DNA tested to join. If you tested at another company it is free to transfer your results to FTDNA, so please join us!

We also have established a Facebook group Brittons of Fermanagh, if you have information you would like to share.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via this blog or via private message at Wikitree or Facebook if you can help us with this research, or are interested in further information.

The Cassidy Matriarch – Mary Sweeney

The prompt for 52 Ancestors challenge for Week 3 2018 is ‘Longevity’. I struggled to think which ancestor I could choose, after trawling through my tree of over 6000 people I could not find anyone who lived to be 100 or even 90. I have chosen to tell the story of my 2nd great grandmother Mary Sweeney, also known as Mary Cassidy, who lived just short of 80 years, a woman who had a tough life from start to finish, a strong woman who outlived all but three of her 12 children (52Ancestors #5).

Mary Sweeney, photo restored by M. Dann 2015

Arrival in Australia

On 22 January 1839 Mary emigrated to Australia aboard the Roxburgh Castle with brother Terence as a bounty immigrant. Mary was brought out by a Mr Marshall, her occupation listed as a housemaid or children’s maid, age 20. Her character certified as very good, by persons in County Clare. Bodily health, strength and probable usefulness also stated as good. Roman Catholic and able to read. C O’Gorman, curate of County Clare, has certified her baptism indicating the year as 1817. Mary and Terence arrived in Sydney on 26th May 1839.

It took some time to determine the exact place of origin for Mary and Terence, but some clues were left throughout her life. Both arrival records state their parents names as John and Johanna Sweeney from County Clare.

Whilst Mary’s record states she is a native of Clare, Terence’s record indicates he is from Clones, County Clare. This is not a valid place name for Clare and was suspected to perhaps be Clooney, a townland and civil parish in Clare. Family stories suggest Mary used to proudly proclaim she was a native of Ennis, County Clare.

It was the birth certificate of her daughter Margaret in 1859 that provided more information. In this record Mary states her place of birth as Moresk, Co Clare, Ireland and that she was married in 1840 at Prospect. It is believed that this is Moyriesk, a townland in County Clare. Moyreisk townland is just over a square mile in size, and nearly all of it is located in Doora civil parish, with 77 acres in Clooney civil parish which aligns with the stated native place of Terence. Mary gave this information herself so is more likely to be accurate.

Irish Records

With some help from the Clare Heritage Organisation and the newly released Roman Catholic registers it appears that Mary was born in about 1816 and baptised on 21st May 1816 at Clooney, Clare, Ireland. The daughter of John Sweeney of Rathclooney and Joan Enright. Her sponsor at the time of baptism was noted as Catherine McNamara.

Mary’s mother may have died shortly after her birth, as her father remarried on 30 April 1820. A woman by the name of Honor MURPHY, the marriage registered at Tulla, Clare, Ireland. Mary would have only been about four years of age at this time. Parish baptism registers only started in Clooney in about 1816 and there are no other baptisms registered to John and Johanna (Joan), but there may well have been other siblings born before 1816. This would explain why no baptism record can be found for her brother Terence. Being approximately 3 years older, it is presumed he was a full brother.

Prior to her emigration to Australia conditions in Ireland were tough, with widespread hunger throughout the country in 1838. Her father John and his new wife Honor went on to have at least another 8 children by 1839, half siblings to Mary and Terence. No doubt a difficult time for all the family and not surprising that Terence and Mary who were by then aged 23 and 20 decided to take advantage of the colonial bounty system and emigrate to Australia.

Spouse and Family

Soon after arriving in the colony of New South Wales in 1839 Mary must have taken up with Thomas CASSIDY, a convict from Fermanagh Ireland who had been transported for life, but by that time had obtained his ticket of leave after serving as an overseer and constable. The couple had their first child together in April 1841, John was given a private baptism at St Patricks Church Parramatta, he is listed as illegitimate and the record states his name as John CASSIDY or John SWEENEY probably to reflect that the couple were not married at this time. We know that when Thomas was transported in 1830 that he had a wife and two children still living in Ireland so it is presumed he was still not free to marry.

Was the marriage date in the birth record of Margaret in 1859 just stated to account for having their first child in 1841, or was there really a marriage? My uncle, Laurie Roberts, tried unsuccessfully to find a marriage as long ago as 1955.

Mary and Thomas went on to have twelve children together. The family bible gives more information about their children. It is not known who completed this page and some of the information may have been recorded by different people. One child is not listed, the female twin of Patrick Thomas who died at birth in 1843.

The family lived at Prospect, near Parramatta and the couple worked as farmers. In a book written by Fr Peter Klein (about their grandson Phillip Cassidy) Mary is described as a ‘strongly built woman with fairer and wavy hair’.

Mary and Thomas had three children who died as infants, the female twin of Patrick Thomas in 1843, Austin at 7 days old in 1850 and Edward at 4 days old in 1851. Her husband Thomas later died in 1862, aged about 62, after a long and painful illness. He is buried in St Patricks Cathedral. Mary was left a widow with 8 children to care for, although her eldest John was by this time about 21 and probably a great help to his mother.

It must have been heartbreaking when her son Phillip William died just 2 years later in 1864 at the young age of nine years. His older sister Anna Maria following soon after in 1866, aged only 19. Both are buried in St Patricks with their father.

Mary Cassidy – Farmer and Grazier

In 1871 Mary applied for and was granted a freehold lease of 140 acres of land in Glenn Innes, County of Gough, Parish of Beardy Plains.

The Glenn Innes area is rich in Celtic History, the original settlers were Scots, but many people of Irish descent followed. Like many other Celtic families she made the trek north, close to 600 kilometres – quite an effort in those days. The rent was set at 13s 2d per annum. The property was known as Shannonvale.

Having lost her husband in 1862 it was no doubt a tough move at age 54 to take up farming on her own. However, six of Marys seven surviving children also made the move later marrying there or in nearby towns. Patrick Thomas was the only exception, he married in Liverpool but did later move to Glen Innes to be near his family. Mary and her family worked hard and had success, continuing to acquire more property. It appears she never married and remained independent throughout her life.

Glen Innes Examiner and General Advertiser (NSW : 1874 – 1908), Wednesday 28 April 1875, page 2

Free Selection. — The following selections were made at the local Land Office, on Thursday — Donald M’Master, 100 acres, county of Gough, parish of “Waterloo, adjoining former conditional purchase of 100 acres. Mary Cassidy (widow), 160 acres, county of Gough, parish of Beardy Plains, adjoining former conditional purchase of 100 acres.

Mary had to endure tough times as well. It was not that long after the move north that she lost her son Patrick in 1879 aged 34. Some time later in 1887 daughter Mary Clancy aged 39, eldest son John in 1888 aged 47 and youngest daughter Margaret Collopy in 1893 aged only 33. All have elaborate headstones in Glenn Innes Cemetery, with the exception of Margaret who is buried in Rookwood Cemetery. All headstones are annotated that they have been erected by their ‘affectionate mother’ suggesting Mary may have been reasonably affluent by that time, probably due to her successful farming endeavours.

On 11 Mar 1896 Mary died aged about 80 years from anasarca (an accumulation of fluid in the body due to heart failure) and gastritis. She is buried in the Cassidy family plot at Glen Innes with her children. Her death certificate lists her occupation as ‘Farmer’, a comment that wasn’t lost on the various feminists in our family who were very proud of the fact that she had her own occupation and was so independent.

Mary was survived by only three of her children, Eliza BICKLEY who died in 1919, Terence who died in 1930 and lastly my great grandmother Rebecca MURPHY who died in 1931.

In 1987, 90 years after her death, I visited Mary’s grave at Glenn Innes with my son and Aunt and Uncle, Margaret and Lionel GILBERT. The hair was quite wild in those days!

NSW probate papers indicate that at the time of her death in 1896 Mary’s estate was valued at 951 pounds, consisting of 940 pounds of real estate and 10 head of cattle, described as a ‘farmer and grazier’. The real estate by this time consisted of 510 acres of freehold land valued at 780 pounds as well as lands and a cottage situated in Hunter Street, Glenn Innes valued at 160 pounds. Much more significant holdings than when she first made the move in 1871.

In 2016 my husband and I visited the area known as Shannon Vale, the conditions today probably quite different than they were in Mary’s time, but no doubt it has always been rich and beautiful grazing land. We discovered what appeared to be the Shannon Vale property but it is a much larger station today (over 3000 acres).

DNA Analysis

It wouldn’t be fitting if I didn’t mention what we have found through DNA analysis in this post. As I have mentioned in previous posts we now have a number of Mary’s descendants DNA tested.

Autosomal DNA Testing

It was wonderful back in 2016 to connect with my fourth cousin Torin who lives in the United States. He is a descendant of Mary’s brother Terence, his great great grandson. It was though our DNA matches that we were able to confirm we were all descended from a common ancestor using a technique called triangulation. There are two segment areas on chromosome 12 where Torin currently shares DNA with multiple descendants of Mary. This suggests these segments have been inherited from the same shared ancestor, in this case from one of their parents John Sweeney or Johanna Enright. At this point we don’t know which, or it could be a combination of both. It has also been confirmed that all testers all match each other in these same segment areas, which is the key test to prove a triangulated segment.

mtDNA Testing

Mary is on my direct maternal line, so from the full sequence mitochondrial DNA test I took at Family Tree DNA we know that Marys mtdna is most likely Haplogroup J. People bearing haplogroup J settled in Europe from the Near East during the late Paleolithic and Meliolithic periods. Our sub clade J1c5 is aged between 8,300 and 13,000 years.

So far all I only have nine full sequence matches. All of them are at a genetic distance of 3, which is not considered close enough to be of genealogical significance, our connection could be up to 1000 years ago! They all lead to Ireland though, so that is promising. Hopefully 2018 will bring closer matches to help further expand the line.

Descendants of Mary who inherited her mtdna should also belong to the J1c5 haplogroup. You can see other known descendants (who are on Wikitree) in the DNA Descendants View at Wikitree by clicking here.

Y DNA testing

Mary being female doesn’t carry the Y chromosome but our match with Torin was doubly pleasing as he carries the Sweeney Y DNA, being in the direct paternal line. We hope that in the future we will be able to make more discoveries regarding Mary and Terences father John Sweeney, but that will be the subject of a later post.

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As always, if you can help me further expand my research please do not hesitate to contact me via this blog, or by private message via Wikitree.

Stephen Cassidy or ‘Captain Rock’? My 3rd Great Grandfather.

The Australian Context

My fascination for the Cassidy’s probably stems from the fact I was always told told by my grandmother Mona Murphy Roberts that I was like her mother Rebecca. She used to say I was the only one of her grandchildren that could sing the Irish songs, even though my mother used to protest that I was the least Irish of all her grandchildren. When I started doing family history in earnest in 2006 I was very surprised to find that I was actually a fourth generation Australian on my mothers side! My grandmother and all her relations used to proudly say that they were Irish. Well they were, but their ancestors had been in Australia since the early 1800’s! My great grandmother Rebecca Cassidy was born in Australia in 1852, she reputedly rode sidesaddle and was considered the finest horsewoman in the New England district. That wasn’t a skill I inherited but it could explain my canny luck with the horses!

It was always said in Mum’s family that the Cassidy’s were holier than the Pope. The Murphy side, were supposedly the black sheep and scallywags! Not surprising as Rebeccas first cousin Phillip Cassidy (1848-1922) was recognised as the first ‘Australian Born’ ordained priest (aka Brother Melitus). He reached the status of Venerable Archdeacon (from what I’ve read, that is only two levels away from being made a saint!). His work with the Australian Indigenous population in the small town of Moyura in Southern New South Wales was particularly of note. There were many others who took up religious professions on the Cassidy side of the family, including Phillips sister Catherine – the first ‘Australia Born’ postulant of the Good Samaritans, who designed the ceiling of the Rosebank Chapel at Five Dock.

CASSIDY Phillip Catholic Weekley 1922 — Phillip Cassidy

Who would have thought they were of convict stock! It was through the association of Rebecca and Phillip that we were first able to trace the family connection, their fathers Thomas and Phillip being brothers. My third cousin Marnie, a Cassidy descendant, later sourced a book written by Father Peter Klein about the ecclesiastical life of Father Phillip Cassidy. In the first chapter he talks about the Cassidy’s roots in Ireland and suggests they came to Australia as early farming pioneers. In reality they were convicts, now proudly referred to in Australia as ‘Australia Royalty’.

Crime and Punishment

The Cassidy brothers, Thomas, Phillip and Edward were convicted and transported for life, for reputedly throwing a horse over the precipice at Cullaigh, Belmore Mountain, Fermanagh.

Screenshot 2017-06-27 15.29.19 — Courtesy Boho Heritage Organisation

They were sent to Australia on board the Hercules II in 1830. Whilst their father Stephen was also charged, he obtained a reprieve on account of his age and newspaper reports suggest he was to be imprisoned for 2 years, whilst his 3 sons were transported for life. It seems odd that he was not transported along with his sons, as many persons of advanced years were. What became of him remains a mystery.

In about 1874 Peter Magennis wrote a story that included information about Stephen that was published in the Lisbellaw Gazette 1879-89 called ‘The Treasurer, A Story of the Great Irish Famine’. This series was kindly given to me by local historian Seamus MacAnnaidh in 2009. Whilst the work is a mix of fact and fiction Magennis indicates Stephen was probably over 70 years of age in 1835, so he may have been born as early as 1765, he also says Stephen had a large family. Stephen is described as a senarchy (sennachie) which is understood to mean ‘one occupied in the study of traditional history, genealogy and legend’. Magennis suggests he was the best senarchy and historian in the country.

Secret Societies?

We don’t know much about Stephen Cassidy (52Ancestors#2). In Father Kleins book it says he was based with the military at the garrison in Fermanagh in the North of Ireland and was referred to as ‘an outstanding young catholic captain‘. We now know that Stephen was from Boho, near Enniskillen and lived in the townland of Gortgall, where there is a nearby village called Garrison. As a Catholic, it seems unlikely that Stephen would have been a captain in the British Army and it is more likely that the term ‘captain’ may have been a nickname.

The 1820’s were a turbulent time in Ireland with many disputes between landlords and tenants. Protestants and Catholics. The Cassidys had been evicted from their land in 1826. Catholic Emancipation being finally gained by 1829.

500px-CASSIDY_-_A_collection_of_source_material-10

A number of newspaper references suggest that Stephens landlord Reverend Andrew Clarke wanted the Cassidy’s ‘out of the country’ (the inference being transportation) and that there had been previous litigation between the Cassidys and Clarke. It was also implied that the local prosecutor Henry Fausett may have been offered money to prosecute the Cassidy’s.

One newspaper article in 1828 reports that Stephen and his son Thomas (my second great grandfather) were charged with making threats and menacing James McCourt of Upper Gortgall, near Garrison on 7th April 1828. McCourt was the new tenant now residing on their old land, having lived there for about a year. The evidence suggests that McCourt believed the intruders to be the Cassidy’s, also stating there were references to the murder of Dominic Noone and that the intruder making the threats referred to himself as ‘Captain Rock’, known to be the leader of the local group of Ribbonmen. The Ribbonmen were an agrarian secret society, their objective to prevent landlords from changing or evicting their tenants. Whilst McCourt stated he didn’t see the intruders he said he had previously chased ‘Captain Rock’ and knew his voice. The court returned a verdict of not guilty for both Stephen and Thomas, but could this be the reason Stephen was known as the outstanding young ‘Captain’? There is a lot more information about the Ribbonmen and the murder of Dominic Noone at Derrygonnelly in Peter Magennis’ earlier book ‘The Ribbon Informer”, but Stephen Cassidy is not mentioned by name in that account.

Later in July 1829, around the time of Orangeman’s Day there was an incident that is well known in Irish sectarian history, known as the Macken Fight. The persons involved in the incident were tried on the same day as the Cassidy brothers and also transported to Australia on the Hercules II in 1830. Whilst our Cassidy’s were not named as being involved, there was a Hugh CASSIDY named in some reports but he was not among those finally charged and I have yet to identify him.

It was somewhere between 9-12 September 1829 when the horse owned by Andrew Whaley (a protestant tenant) was driven off the lands of Upper Gortgall, near Moyleat, Belmore Mountain into the precipice. References differ about the date but most suggest it was the night before the Enniskillen Fair, probably 10 September. The Cassidys were charged, the Belfast News reporting on 22nd Sep 1829 the exact location of incident on Upper Gortgall lands and the effects on the horse. The report also suggested there had been many ‘degradations’ over the last few years since the Cassidy’s were ejected from their lands. Thomas may have been living at Tobradan by this time. At the trial, Stephen refers to Andy Flanagan, concerned about what had happened to him. I have been unable to determine whether there is any significance in this comment?

Could the events at Macken and the charges against the Cassidys be linked? The Cassidys continued to claim their innocence over the horse incident. If Stephen was involved with the Ribbonmen and was their leader it does seem probable that he may also have been connected to the events at Macken. Was Reverend Andrew Clarke instrumental in bringing into play his desire to see the Cassidy’s deported?

Where Stephen was imprisioned remains a mystery. I have been unable to source any relevant gaol records, or find a death record. However, given his age Stephen would have died before civil registration was introduced in Ireland.

The ‘extended’ Cassidy Family

Stephen was married to Catherine Britton, the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, who had abandoned her faith and become a Catholic when she married Stephen, which at the time would have been known as a ‘mixed’ marriage. To date, we know the couple had at least three sons, but it is suspected that the family would have had many more children as Peter Magennis also suggests.

Several other potential family members Cassidy’s have been identified during this research. Could they be connected to our family? If anyone out there has information to share, I would love to hear from you.

Pat Carron was uncle to Andrew and Catherine Cassidy. He was transported on Hercules II in 1830 for his involvement at Macken, he may be the same person who was involved at Inismore riot in 1824.
James Keenan was also transported in 1830 on Hercules II for his involvement at Macken. His wife was named Mary Cassidy, they had a daughter Ann, both of whom remained in Ireland due to Marys ill health.
Patrick Cassidy born c1790, m Mary McCaffery The Derrygonnelly Cassidy article by Janet Cassidy-Strop, outlines more detail. The geographic closeness of Patrick is of particular interest as well as the suggestion of the family’s involvement in Ribbonism.
Hugh Cassidy involved in the events at Macken. Hugh Cassidy born 1827 is too young to be the Hugh Cassidy suggested as being involved in the events at Macken, but perhaps his father Owen Cassidy born abt 1788, also from Derrygonnelly, may have had a brother Hugh? Could Owen be connected to Patrick? Or, perhaps our Stephen might also have another son or brother named Hugh?
Stephens son Thomas Cassidy was also said to have left a wife in Ireland with two daughters. No application was made for her to join him in Australia so perhaps she may have died soon after Thomas’ transportation?
John Cassidy is listed in Griffiths Valuation in 1859 at Tobradan where Thomas Cassidy previously rented lands before his transportation. John is married to a Mary Maguire, whose father is probably named Patrick. They have a son Owen, who married Margaret Wynne. Also living in Tobradan townland at that time is another James Keenan.
There are also number connections to the McManus family, including several involved at Macken, however it is quite a common name.

The Y-DNA story

In late 2010 I became interested in DNA testing soon afterwards I began looking for a male CASSIDY to help me confirm the CASSIDY line back to Ireland. Enter Des Cassidy my third cousin! He did an autosomal test for me in 2012. I soon followed that up with a Y-DNA test in 2013, looking for our extended Cassidy line back in Ireland. We had no Y-DNA matches for the first two years – none at all, not even at 12 markers! It wasn’t until 2014 that we got our very first Y-DNA match, we had to upgrade to 67 markers to finally get it! A Cassidy from the USA who listed his oldest known ancestor as Patrick, that’s all, no years, no locations and uncontactable. How frustrating!

By 2016 Oliver Cassidy from Ireland tested, his ancestor Owen lived at Coolarkan a short distance from Stephen at Gortgall and we thought perhaps they may have been brothers. Oliver matched both Des and our US Cassidy at 67 markers and whilst the matches suggest a patrilineal relationship, it is more likely that Stephen and Owen were cousins when you look at the genetic distances of the two matches. With the help of another US Cassidy descendant Don, a 4th cousin once removed, we were able to trace the ancestors of our mysterious match, identifying his oldest ancestor as James Cassidy 1861-1840 from Derryrealt Cavan, very close to the border of Fermanagh. I suspect James was the son of the Thomas Cassidy from Drumcask, Cavan who was listed in Griffiths Valuation in 1859, his wife Mary McManus. As can be seen on the map below, the places where all three ancestors lived is quite close, particularly Owen and Stephen, with Thomas not too far away at 25 kilometres.

Autosomal DNA

It was autosomal DNA tests that gave us the breakthrough we were looking for to confirm our relationships back to Stephen. Des’ initial autosomal test confirmed the relationship of our family back to Thomas and Mary Cassidy our Australian convict ancestor, but it wasn’t until early this year that we managed to get back to Ireland.

Earlier in the year we confirmed the relationship of our family back through another son of the Cassidy family, James. An X chromosome match with my US cousin Don, enabled us to confirm Stephens wife as being Catherine ‘Kitty’ Britton. To read more about how we identified Kitty through DNA and our relationship through her son James, please refer to my earlier blog post, by clicking here. It’s a long story and for another post, but I have long wondered whether this James is actually Edward, one of the three brothers transported to Australia, who escaped the colony in 1833 and was said to have gone to the United States.

Leaving that aside, we now have autosomal results from descendants of Thomas, Phillip and James that confirm the three brothers are all from the same family. We have no less than five triangulated segments and two more on the way! Chromosomes 1, 4 and 21 are the only ones that triangulates all three brothers, but we are close on the others as you can see. These segments must be coming from the ancestral couple of Stephen Cassidy and Catherine Britton. It might take some time to unravel which segments belong to which side of the family but its a great start!

Whilst I am currently aware of 13 DNA testers whose ancestry can be traced back to Stephen and his wife Catherine there must be more out there. We know the brothers had at least 33 children between them, potentially more if we could identify more siblings. Unfortunately so far, the descendants of Stephen do not share any autosomal DNA with either of our Y-DNA matches, but that is not surprising given that those genetic relationships may be much further back in time. However, you never know what new tests might reveal. If you have tested your DNA and think you might be related to this family, please let me know. I would love to compare results, but results need to be uploaded to GEDmatch for comparison. The chart below outlines our new possible family, taking into account ‘possible’ relationships based on Y-DNA testings!

The Clan Gathering – July 2017

It was a great thrill on our trip to Ireland in July this year to actually stand on the spot near Eagles Knoll on Belmore Mountain where the horse was reputedly thrown from the precipice after my many years of researching the Cassidy story. Special thanks must go to the efforts of a lot of people from the Boho Heritage Organisation, especially my ‘predicted’ 4th cousin once removed cousin Oliver Cassidy. It was a delight to finally meet Oliver and his family. It doesn’t look like much of a precipice in this photo, but take a look at the surprise BBC coverage of the event here.

At the Cassidy Clan Gathering I was appointed to the Executive Committee as the DNA officer. I hope to be able to assist members to connect with other Cassidy’s around the world. If you are a Cassidy and have tested your DNA please join our Facebook group.

Our newly formed Cassidy ‘cousin’ Clan – Oliver, Magdalan, Des, Donna and Veronica

You can read more about the Clan Gathering at both the Cassidy Clan website and in my private travel blog rayver33 – Here and There. If you need access, just ask.

As always, if you can help me expand my research please do not hesitate to contact me via this blog or via private message at Wikitree.

References

Belfast Newsletter, 6 April 1830. Indicates transportation for life. Identical article in Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet, 6 Apr 1830, p4. Identical article in Impartial Reporter, Apr 1830.
Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet, 31 July 1828, p1.
Excerpt from Rituals and riots: sectarian violence and political culture in Ulster, 1784-1886 By Sean Farrell.
Belfast News 22nd Sep 1829, p4.
Most of the sources for my Cassidy research have been published on Wikitree and can be found here.

Meet Catherine ‘Kitty’ Britton, thanks to the X chromosome.

It is very true that DNA is just one tool in the genealogists basket, but it is wonderful when it can come together and help to validate theories established by traditional research. Confirming the identity of Catherine Britton as my maternal 3rd great grandmother has been one of my goals for about 10 years. Her name has now been confirmed thanks to DNA testing and my first ancestor to be confirmed using the X chromosome (52Ancestors#1).

I started seriously researching my family history in about 2006. One of the first exciting discoveries I had was finding out that Thomas Cassidy (my maternal 2nd great grandfather) was a convict transported to Australia on Hercules II in 1830, along with his two brothers Phillip and Edward for throwing their landlords horse off a cliff! Their father Stephen was also imprisoned. Edward escaped from the colony in 1833 but both Thomas and Phillip had families and died in Australia – but more about the Cassidy’s in another post! This is about their mother, now known to be Catherine, or Kitty Britton.

Traditional Genealogy

Both the death certificates of sons Thomas and Phillip who died in Australia list their mothers name as ‘Unknown Britton’. After exhaustive searching I was unable to find any records in Australia that indicated her first name. There are no parents names on the convict indents but they do indicate their native place as being Fermanagh, Ireland. Thomas’ death certificate suggested he was from Bow, Fermanagh, which we subsequently identified as being the small hamlet and Civil Parish of Boho, near Enniskillen.

It was my 3rd cousin Marnie who first alerted me to a possible marriage record on the IGI. The record had been submitted by a member of the LDS church in the US by a woman by the name of Mary Fear (now deceased). This record indicated a marriage between Stephen CASSIDY and Catherine BRITTEN in Ennis, Killeen, Ireland in 1809. Could this be them? At the time we had thought this may have been a reference to Ennis in County Clare. Clare and Fermanagh are not next door to each other, so could it be a different couple? The record suggested Catherine was born in abt 1788. At the time I had no way to contact Mary to find out more information. Thomas and Phillip were born before 1809.

It seemed a long shot, these US Cassidy’s descended from a James Cassidy and Margaret McElroy presumably who emigrated from Ireland before 1828. At the time of this discovery, my aunt Mary ROBERTS (now deceased) was very keen to have these connections confirmed, she was thrilled with the fact they had named one of their descendants Jefferson Davis Horan, having long been a supporter of the Southern cause. A pity she couldn’t be here to celebrate.

It was Marnie again who turned up the only document we have that tells us a bit about the family’s history in Ireland. It is actually a book written about the ecclesiastical life of Father Phillip Cassidy (Catherines grandson) who was the 1st Australian born ordained priest. The first chapter talks about the Cassidy’s roots in Ireland, this is what he says about their mother, who we now know is Catherine:

”She renounced the church at the beginning of the 19th century which her forefathers had followed for over 200 years, and returned to the church of her earlier ancestors, to the Holy Catholic faith and married an outstanding young catholic captain Stephen Cassidy. Her father was an Anglican clergyman who was a military chaplain for the garrison at Fermanagh in the North of Ireland.’’(Source: Fr Peter Charles Klein SYD, Life of Father Philip Cassidy, PP Archdeacon, Benedictine Monks, Arcadia, NSW, Fr Peter Charles Klein SYD).

Brittons of Boho, Fermanagh

Armed with this information I tried to find records in Ireland of Britton’s who were clergymen. It was then I first made contact with Ruth, an avid Britton researcher in the UK who has become one of my ongoing correspondents, as we agonise over these Brittons. Her Britton family were indeed clergymen in the Church of Ireland and were from Tullyholvin, a townland also in the Civil Parish of Boho. Ruth’s oldest known Britton ancestor is James Britton/Britain, who married Mary Laird, born abt 1788. Could he be a brother of Catherine? We only know Catherine had a brother named Thomas. In 1828 Thomas Britton was living at nearby Mullaghdun Townland about 3 and a half miles from the Cassidy family, he was married had only one son and at least one daughter. It would not be surprising if the family was much larger.

Some time after this I met Don online who was a descendant of the US James CASSIDY (believed to be the son of Catherine Britton and Stephen Cassidy). Don told me of a relation who he understood had a family bible which he was hoping to inspect. It turned out this was Mary Fear the person who had originally submitted the IGi record. Shortly afterward in 2010 I stumbled upon the email address for Mary Fear on the internet, so I quickly wrote to her about the family bible. Mary kindly copied the bible pages for me even though she was very unfamiliar with scanning, it showed the births, deaths and marriages of the family. Mary told me the bible pages had been given to her by her aunt, Hortense Horan, prior to her death.

From my observation it looked as if someone had later tried to make sense of the some of the information and added to it after it had been originally recorded, particularly for the later entries. However what was clear was that the parents of James, were recorded as Stephen Cassidy and Catherine/Kitty Britton, and indicated that James married Margaret (Granny) McElroy in Enniskillen, Ireland.

It seems likely that the IGI record for Catherine Brittens birth was estimated based on this record. If James was born in 1810, then a marriage in 1809 and a birth date for Catherine of 1788 suggests she would have been at least 21. So it is plausible that the marriage could have been much earlier, and consequently her birth date also much earlier too. Her husband Stephen was not transported due to his age in 1830, so perhaps both could have been much older, or not.

DNA testing

About this time I became interested in DNA testing and tried to encourage all my Cassidy/Britton contacts to have theirs tested too, hoping to solve this mystery or at least confirm a connection. It was early days and I didn’t have much joy there.

We made our first visit to Enniskillen in 2011, examining the headstones in both the Roman Catholic and the Church of Ireland cemeteries at Boho looking for clues, we found some headstones for other Britton’s, could they be connected to our family?

Fast forward to 2014, Ruth agreed to do a DNA test for me. We had by now several of my family members tested and we hoped we would get a match. Alas no, not to any of my direct family anyway but she did have a very large match on chromosome 17 with my second cousin John. The segment range 62.2 – 75.3, segment length 32.9cMs. Whilst it may include an old population segment (Identical by population – IBP), which could explain the size, I believe well over half of the match to be an ‘identical by descent’ (IBD) segment.

John and Ruth would be 4th cousins once removed if Catherine and James Britton were siblings, so a match this large might be considered unusual. There are however multiple people who triangulate in this same segment area, and whilst we cannot definitively confirm a connection the segment is shaping up to possibly being a Britton segment, or at least one from Fermanagh. At least two others have links with the name Britten or Fermanagh, the known ancestors in this triangulated group are shown below.

If anyone has more information on how these families might connect please let me know. I live in hope I might get more responses from others who also triangulate on this segment.

Hugh Weir b1725 Enniskillen, m Margaret
Jane Britten bef 1768 m Henry Brooks
Catherine Britton bef 1788 m Stephen Cassidy
James Britton bef 1788 m Mary Laird

Using visual phasing techniques for my mother and her two siblings, then John and his uncle, we have established that my mother and her brothers all inherited the same DNA from the same maternal ancestor on these segments on chromosome 17. Their first cousin Michael (Johns uncle) also appears to have inherited the same segment as the Roberts siblings. So John may have inherited this segment from the opposite maternal grandparent (to that of the Roberts siblings and Michael).

Unfortunately, we have no other confirmed matches on chromosome 17 to give us more clues about which grandparent gave them the segment, so the question remains – is Johns segment the Britton line, or is it a segment belonging to his mothers paternal side?

Details of the triangulated groups can be found here.

The X chromosome

In studying Ruth’s matches one day I discovered that she and I had an X match. Funnily enough Ruth and I are possibly related on two lines, she is also a 4th cousin once removed to me on my paternal side, shared ancestors Thomas Ellard and Elizabeth Risley. However when I checked our possible X DNA ancestors, neither Ellard/Risley or unknown Britton could have contributed to her X-dna, so this match was probably just ‘identical by chance’ (IBC). So once again, we have nothing to confirm!

Imagine my surprise, when recently Don’s name popped up in my AncestryDNA matches! How exciting, he matched me and my mother. After he uploaded his results to GEDmatch I was very quick to examine how he matched all our known Cassidy/Britton connections. He had quite good size matches with my mother and one of her brothers Barry and their 1st cousin Michael, however none of them triangulated. Don and Mum (and her brothers) would be 3rd cousins twice removed so we needed triangulation to confirm the relationships.

As I was getting dismayed, I suddenly remembered I hadn’t looked at the matches on the X chromosome. Hallelujah! We have a triangulated segment, between Don and two cousins, Michael and Mums brother (another John), different descent lines, triangulated between locations 99.7-115.4, about 14cMs.

The two other cousins who match Don follow a similar X inheritance path, just on their maternal side, both being male. The following image is my X chromosome inheritance path, but the X inheritance paths for both cousins follow the same ancestral lines back from Rebecca, and descend from different children.

At last, we have confirmation that the US and Australian families are connected and finally our “Unknown’ Britton has a first name, Catherine or perhaps ‘Kitty’ Britton!! But, we still haven’t managed to connect her to other Brittons in Fermanagh by DNA, that is still works in progress.

Onward and upward

When we visited Boho in 2011, my husband and I went to ‘The Linnet Inn’ and had a Guiness to toast my Cassidy ancestors, thinking they would have gathered in this very same place. It was many years later that I found out the original owners of this wonderful establishment were none other than Ruth’s Tullyholvin Brittons! Could there be a Britton ancestral connection to this place for us as well? I hope to be having another visit here when several of Catherine’s descendants will be meeting in Enniskillen for the 2017 Cassidy Clan Gathering!

DSCN4392 — Having a quiet drink at the Linnet Inn, 2011

By now Ruth and I have amassed a possible family for our Catherine and her James. We can’t confirm it yet, we need your help. Anyone descended from the Britton/Britten/Britain families of Fermanagh, please consider DNA testing. It is our strong belief that most of the Brittons in the area were related.

For a list of Catherine’s known descendants please click here.

Here is a list of the other possible family members, please contact me if you have any further information about them, their ancestors and/or descendants:-

• Catherine Britton bef 1788 m Stephen Cassidy, at least 4 sons

• Thomas Britton bef 1780? – married with son and daughter

• James Britton bef 1788 m Mary Laird, at least 11 children. Descendants in UK and Canada.

• John Britton bef 1785 m Mary Hamilton, at least 7-10 children (one DNA match so far, but not triangulated). Some descendants in Australia.

• William Britton bef 1786, at least one son Noble Britton

• Margery Britton bef 1800 m William Elliot, at least one son Robert Britton Elliot. Some descendants in Australia.

2004_0629_025114AA — Ruth in Boho Fermanagh, 2004

The X Ancestors of Catherine

One final point of interest is in relation to Catherine parents. In examining other potential matches on the X chromosome, it may suggest that either Catherines paternal grandmother or more likely her mothers family, may have had German ancestry. Baden Wuttenberg being a common location. The Brittons may well have come from Scotland or England during the Plantation of Ulster, but could her mothers family be German Palatines? Time will tell…….perhaps we will discover more when we visit Enniskillen again later this year!

Postscript….

After writing this article I had another discovery. I’ve been staring at an ‘anonymous’ predicted 3rd cousin match at 23andMe listing the surname Cassidy, for several months. I was recently finally transitioned to the ‘new’ 23andMe experience, which allowed us to contact anonymous matches, which we couldn’t do on the ‘old’ experience. I quickly made contact and found this person was indeed another descendant of Catherine Britton, from her son Phillip! Remarkably she matches my mother and I on the same segments on Chromosome 1 as we match Don. I long to be able to get her onto GEDmatch to make sure she matches Don, then we would have another confirmed triangulated segment!

Finally in closing, it is with great sadness I have to report that Michael Stevens, my mothers first cousin referred to in this post, passed away in the last week after a long illness. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time. However, his DNA sample lives on and we hope in time it will provide many more clues for his descendants and extended cousins on their journeys to discover more about their ancestral origins.

Michael Stevens 1937 – 2017, circa mid 1960’s