I haven’t posted for a little while. It is not for a lack of genealogy related pursuits; just a lack of Czech related genealogy pursuits!
For the past two months I have been working as hard as I can to solve the mystery of my husband’s 5th great grandfather’s village of origin in Ireland. Patrick McQueen. He immigrated during an early wave of Irish immigration ~1829 to Glengarry, Ontario, Canada. Then, ~1839 he immigrated one mile over the border, to a little hamlet called Westville in Franklin County, New York.
After seeking out all the records I could find online (there were a lot! Franklin County probate records are online at familysearch.org) I started contacting others. I got in contact with a descendant from a different branch of the McQueen tree, and she sent me a large box full of deeds, wills, mortgages, maps, and a handwritten genealogy on an old piece of paper written by an unknown author. These records were fantastic.
I also spent a lot of time reading newspapers at the Northern New York Newspapers website. I was able to find many fascinating stories about the McQueen family, and the families into which the children married. It was fun, because I found obituaries for nearly every person of interest.
Every person, that is, besides Patrick McQueen.
I decided to call Danny’s Grandpa McQueen, and see if there was anything that he knew that I was missing. He put me in contact with his cousin’s daughter, who has been researching the McQueen family for 20 years. She plans on using this research to apply to become a board certified genealogist! That is wonderful!
She found a record with a village of origin, but unfortunately it could be one of a dozen places in Ireland. We don’t even know if it’s a parish, town land, or other jurisdiction.
We decided to get Grandpa McQueen to take a yDNA test. This is for his direct paternal line, after all. Perhaps it will finally solve the mystery as to the McQueen village of origin in Ireland.
One sad(ish) thing about this is that I will probably put my McQueen research on hold for a while. I can’t really collaborate with this distant cousin, because she wants to use the research for her BCG portfolio. You can’t get help on this document. I’m happy that I found her; I can help her by giving her some of these documents that I have. And now I don’t have to duplicate years and years of research! I will push “pause” on this research problem for a while. It will take time to get the DNA results in. It will take more time to get a BCG portfolio prepared and sent in.
In the mean time, I will have more time for Czech research!
Did you ever find out where Patrick came from?! I am his great great granddaughter, Kathryn McQueen Barnes (via George H. McQueen, George W. McQueen and then George W. McQueen). If you didn't find out, could you put me in contact with the cousin who seems to have done some searching?