My maternal 2nd great grandmother Mary Sweeney emigrated to Australia in 1839 on Roxburgh Castle, together with her brother Terence. This project is aimed at discovering the ancestry of their parents John Sweeney and his first wife Joan or Johanna.

It is unclear whether Johanna’s maiden name was Hanrahan or Enright. John married secondly Honor Murphy in 1820.

Whilst John Sweeney lived in Rathclooney, his parents Daniel Sweeney and a female MacNamara originated from Moyriesk, both townlands in County Clare, Ireland. Daniel’s father Roe Sweeny was also ‘of Moriesk’ a gentleman, with a handsome fortune.

If you have tested your DNA and have ancestors from Moyriesk or Rathclooney in County Clare, please join our FamilyTreeDNA Project. If you have tested your autosomal DNA a different company (such as AncestryDNA or 23andMe), you can transfer your results to FTDNA for free.

Members must be able to trace their lineage back to one of these townlands or the parishes of Clooney, Doora, Drumcliff, Kilraghtis, Quin, Tulla or Ruan. Members will not be accepted unless they provide the name, estimated dates and location for their oldest known ancestor from the region.

READ MORE: Participating in the FTDNA project.