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Old 02-24-2019, 10:04 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,575,621 times
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I have been able to research a bit of my mother's great grandparents, pinpointing their homeland and connecting to a few of their distant relatives.

However, I am frustrated with the search of my mother's maternal great-grandfather. I have connected to two active members of ancestry who are listed as 3rd-5th cousins and we've pinpointed we are related through this one line. Both of the ladies I have connected to have extensive trees and I have dug through them a dozen times and cannot find anything about this guy.

His name, as my records indicate is Fredrick McCullough born in Ireland in 1875 and passed away in Cook County, Chicago in 1925. I have found censuses for 1900, 1910 and 1920 with arrival dates of anywhere from 1860 to 1891. All of these censuses are in the Chicago area. I also see McCullagh in some documents.

I have DNA matches that connect me to his wife, Ulrika Wilhelmina Anderson Granberg (1878-1938).

There is a Cook County Marriage record for the two of them dated 1898. His death certificate shows his father being Robert and his mother being Nellie (?).

He had four children, Fredrick (1899/1900-1970), Mabel (1902-?), Ruth (1904-1994) who is my great grandmother, and Ruby (1914-?). Per birth certificate for Fredrick my great-grandfather has a birth place of Canada listed. This blows my mind because everything I have thought is that he is Irish. I have found some descendents of these children but they don't have any new information about the family beyond our shared great-grandfather.

The trees I have found that have shared DNA with (connected to the above mentioned connections) all have people that are all over the United States, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Arkansas, Kentucky, etc. The rest of my mother's family have records that confirm that they arrived in the United States between about 1840-1870ish so the idea that Fred may have long historic North American roots just feels out of the ordinary, but looking at all these DNA matches that have people all over the place dating back to the 1700s is intriguing.

Are there any specific websites or searches you all can suggest to track this guy down? Or anyone up for a quick search? There's a few Fred McCulloughs that come up born about the same time in both Ireland and Canada but I can't quite make any solid connections.
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Old 02-25-2019, 10:23 PM
 
3,021 posts, read 5,812,036 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
I have been able to research a bit of my mother's great grandparents, pinpointing their homeland and connecting to a few of their distant relatives.

However, I am frustrated with the search of my mother's maternal great-grandfather. I have connected to two active members of ancestry who are listed as 3rd-5th cousins and we've pinpointed we are related through this one line. Both of the ladies I have connected to have extensive trees and I have dug through them a dozen times and cannot find anything about this guy.

His name, as my records indicate is Fredrick McCullough born in Ireland in 1875 and passed away in Cook County, Chicago in 1925. I have found censuses for 1900, 1910 and 1920 with arrival dates of anywhere from 1860 to 1891. All of these censuses are in the Chicago area. I also see McCullagh in some documents.

I have DNA matches that connect me to his wife, Ulrika Wilhelmina Anderson Granberg (1878-1938).

There is a Cook County Marriage record for the two of them dated 1898. His death certificate shows his father being Robert and his mother being Nellie (?).

He had four children, Fredrick (1899/1900-1970), Mabel (1902-?), Ruth (1904-1994) who is my great grandmother, and Ruby (1914-?). Per birth certificate for Fredrick my great-grandfather has a birth place of Canada listed. This blows my mind because everything I have thought is that he is Irish. I have found some descendents of these children but they don't have any new information about the family beyond our shared great-grandfather.

The trees I have found that have shared DNA with (connected to the above mentioned connections) all have people that are all over the United States, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Arkansas, Kentucky, etc. The rest of my mother's family have records that confirm that they arrived in the United States between about 1840-1870ish so the idea that Fred may have long historic North American roots just feels out of the ordinary, but looking at all these DNA matches that have people all over the place dating back to the 1700s is intriguing.

Are there any specific websites or searches you all can suggest to track this guy down? Or anyone up for a quick search? There's a few Fred McCulloughs that come up born about the same time in both Ireland and Canada but I can't quite make any solid connections.



Being born in Canada does not preclude him being of Irish ancestry.


Do not assume that other people's trees are accurate.
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Old 02-26-2019, 10:45 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,575,621 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daliowa View Post
Being born in Canada does not preclude him being of Irish ancestry.


Do not assume that other people's trees are accurate.
On the birth certificate for the other family member it says birth place "Canada" not his ethnicity. I completely agree he could be a first generation Canadian born to Irish parents making him Canadian-Irish and immigrating to the United States. I completely agree on the trees. The two people I am talking to have been highly reliable and have done lots of their own research and have not relied on random trees to bulk up their own tree. I've found plenty of that and am very cautious, especially since my tree is about 9k people right now and I know many of my first tidbits are way off via a MyHeritage consistency check.
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Old 02-26-2019, 09:02 PM
 
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Have you found his record of arrival to the U.S.?


Did he naturalize in the U.S.?
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Old 02-26-2019, 09:13 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,575,621 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daliowa View Post
Have you found his record of arrival to the U.S.?


Did he naturalize in the U.S.?
These are all unknowns. I've searched the Cook County Genealogical records and can only find the marriage record and birth certificates.
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Old 05-16-2019, 06:47 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,575,621 times
Reputation: 5701
Okay. This guy is a bit less mysterious then before. My birth date was a bit off. I don't have a death date as of now as he's got a common name and I connected him to another person with the same name.

So, I have a great-great grandfather, Frederich McCullagh, born in Tyrone, Ireland in 1872 to a George McCullagh (born 1846) and an Eliza Martha McReynolds (born 1842 with a last name of McCandless in a few records). His family immigrated to Canada sometime between his youngest siblings birth in 1872 and then his marriage to my great-great grandmother in 1899. I have a Margaret (1869-1950, stayed in Canada), Harry (1869-1919, headed west to Montana), Catherine (1870-1937 with no additional documents connecting right now), Robert (1871 and no additional documents), Elizabeth (1874 no additional documents), Sarah (1875 no additional documents), Jenny/Fanny (1878, settled in Michigan)and a William with no dates (not sure if he's connected or not, just added him from another tree...) Many of George's descendants have switched the spelling of their name to the more standard McCullough making things even more confusing. FamilySearch records show cities of birth as Cookstown and Stewartstown

I'm unsure if he bypassed Canada and headed straight to Chicago, but per a few records, as stated, he listed Canada as birth place/home at some point. I have no death date, but did find a California death record that matches his name in California. I'm unsure if this is him, though, since after his wife's death in 1938 he kind of disappears.

I think I've gotten a far ways into researching, but now I want to know more about George and his family. Per records it shows he was a farmer and that's as far as I go. I have connected to a 5th-8th cousin who is determined to find out how we are related, and I'd love to do the same, but now I have another wall. So, my question is, where should I go to search for more info on my Chicago ancestor and does anyone have any good tips on Tyrone, Ireland research?
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Old 05-17-2019, 09:06 AM
 
Location: NJ
23,789 posts, read 33,241,911 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
Okay. This guy is a bit less mysterious then before. My birth date was a bit off. I don't have a death date as of now as he's got a common name and I connected him to another person with the same name.

So, I have a great-great grandfather, Frederich McCullagh, born in Tyrone, Ireland in 1872 to a George McCullagh (born 1846) and an Eliza Martha McReynolds (born 1842 with a last name of McCandless in a few records). His family immigrated to Canada sometime between his youngest siblings birth in 1872 and then his marriage to my great-great grandmother in 1899. I have a Margaret (1869-1950, stayed in Canada), Harry (1869-1919, headed west to Montana), Catherine (1870-1937 with no additional documents connecting right now), Robert (1871 and no additional documents), Elizabeth (1874 no additional documents), Sarah (1875 no additional documents), Jenny/Fanny (1878, settled in Michigan)and a William with no dates (not sure if he's connected or not, just added him from another tree...) Many of George's descendants have switched the spelling of their name to the more standard McCullough making things even more confusing. FamilySearch records show cities of birth as Cookstown and Stewartstown

I'm unsure if he bypassed Canada and headed straight to Chicago, but per a few records, as stated, he listed Canada as birth place/home at some point. I have no death date, but did find a California death record that matches his name in California. I'm unsure if this is him, though, since after his wife's death in 1938 he kind of disappears.

I think I've gotten a far ways into researching, but now I want to know more about George and his family. Per records it shows he was a farmer and that's as far as I go. I have connected to a 5th-8th cousin who is determined to find out how we are related, and I'd love to do the same, but now I have another wall. So, my question is, where should I go to search for more info on my Chicago ancestor and does anyone have any good tips on Tyrone, Ireland research?
Are you on all of the DNA sites? Ancestry, FTDNA, My Heritage, GEDmatch Genesis and 23 and me? That is your best bet. I love My Heritage because you can see who lives in what country.

Do you have your mothers DNA?

Last would be to join the Irish DNA FB group if you haven't already. That will match you with others in GEDmatch that are in the group.

Edit Another suggestion, do you see Ancestry Thrulines or the one on My Heritage? My Heritage works for me but Thru lines doesn't. You have to have a public tree for it to work which I just found out this morning. I ask because my son's 4th cousin that I work with has a public tree, his picked up a match to my son's 4th great grandfather's wife's family that we both needed. I was then able to build on the tree he got

Last edited by Roselvr; 05-17-2019 at 09:23 AM..
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Old 05-17-2019, 09:53 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,575,621 times
Reputation: 5701
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roselvr View Post
Are you on all of the DNA sites? Ancestry, FTDNA, My Heritage, GEDmatch Genesis and 23 and me? That is your best bet. I love My Heritage because you can see who lives in what country.

Do you have your mothers DNA?

Last would be to join the Irish DNA FB group if you haven't already. That will match you with others in GEDmatch that are in the group.

Edit Another suggestion, do you see Ancestry Thrulines or the one on My Heritage? My Heritage works for me but Thru lines doesn't. You have to have a public tree for it to work which I just found out this morning. I ask because my son's 4th cousin that I work with has a public tree, his picked up a match to my son's 4th great grandfather's wife's family that we both needed. I was then able to build on the tree he got
On all of them except 23 and Me. My sister is on there, though. My mom's DNA has helped the most in connecting the dots. ThruLines has helped connect some dots as well. I've asked my mom's cousin to do an Ancestry DNA test but she pushes back with "I don't have time..." girl. SPit in a tube and put i in the mail for me...) I have no Theory of Relativity on MyHeritage which is a bummer. (For any of the family members that I have DNA for). I have found a great Czech facebook group but haven't found on similar to that within the Irish community.
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Old 05-17-2019, 11:59 AM
 
Location: NJ
23,789 posts, read 33,241,911 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
On all of them except 23 and Me. My sister is on there, though. My mom's DNA has helped the most in connecting the dots. ThruLines has helped connect some dots as well. I've asked my mom's cousin to do an Ancestry DNA test but she pushes back with "I don't have time..." girl. SPit in a tube and put i in the mail for me...) I have no Theory of Relativity on MyHeritage which is a bummer. (For any of the family members that I have DNA for). I have found a great Czech facebook group but haven't found on similar to that within the Irish community.
Irish DNA FB group link

Hopefully my heritage's version will catch up to your samples. I have a few there.

Have you sent your moms cousin the kit? It takes 2 seconds to spit in it. Maybe you need to go there to have her do it that way. She may be intimidated by it. It looks like you need a lot of spit until you realize how small the space is. Took months to get my uncle to finally spit in it and send to me. I thought I'd have to fly to Hungary to help him or post in a group to ask someone to help him. I even had Hungarian directions and a video

Last edited by Roselvr; 05-17-2019 at 12:14 PM..
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Old 05-22-2019, 10:24 AM
 
16,212 posts, read 10,741,279 times
Reputation: 8437
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
Okay. This guy is a bit less mysterious then before. My birth date was a bit off. I don't have a death date as of now as he's got a common name and I connected him to another person with the same name.

So, I have a great-great grandfather, Frederich McCullagh, born in Tyrone, Ireland in 1872 to a George McCullagh (born 1846) and an Eliza Martha McReynolds (born 1842 with a last name of McCandless in a few records). His family immigrated to Canada sometime between his youngest siblings birth in 1872 and then his marriage to my great-great grandmother in 1899. I have a Margaret (1869-1950, stayed in Canada), Harry (1869-1919, headed west to Montana), Catherine (1870-1937 with no additional documents connecting right now), Robert (1871 and no additional documents), Elizabeth (1874 no additional documents), Sarah (1875 no additional documents), Jenny/Fanny (1878, settled in Michigan)and a William with no dates (not sure if he's connected or not, just added him from another tree...) Many of George's descendants have switched the spelling of their name to the more standard McCullough making things even more confusing. FamilySearch records show cities of birth as Cookstown and Stewartstown

I'm unsure if he bypassed Canada and headed straight to Chicago, but per a few records, as stated, he listed Canada as birth place/home at some point. I have no death date, but did find a California death record that matches his name in California. I'm unsure if this is him, though, since after his wife's death in 1938 he kind of disappears.

I think I've gotten a far ways into researching, but now I want to know more about George and his family. Per records it shows he was a farmer and that's as far as I go. I have connected to a 5th-8th cousin who is determined to find out how we are related, and I'd love to do the same, but now I have another wall. So, my question is, where should I go to search for more info on my Chicago ancestor and does anyone have any good tips on Tyrone, Ireland research?

If you are certain about the Canadian family listed above being yours, have you reviewed any Canadian records for the siblings?



Depending on the area they lived, they may have a lot of information on them. Not sure if you have a World ancestry subscription or not. I don't and so I use Family Search and some other Canadian based websites to do the little bit of research I've done on my family lines that lived in Canada.



Below are some links to sites I use. I always research all brothers/sisters and build out their family lines to try to "capture" more DNA matches and see how we are related. I recently did finally crack a brick line doing this as well with a name that I was uncertain was related to me but I found someone who is listed as my dad's 3rd cousin who is related on this line via someone who would place them as a 3rd cousin.



Canadian Genealogy:


Family Search (Canadian databases on Family Search)
Canadian Censuses - Library and Archives of Canada (has images that are not on Family Search for some years)
Canadiana (has various records including parish/church records and other genealogical information - I found baptismal and marriage records for ancestors in Ontario and Quebec using this site)





I also was going to suggest the Irish DNA group that Roselvr suggested. It is a good group and they often will tag you if you are a match to the registry.
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