Mr. Tierney, I presume?

It's hard to imagine a world where surnames were not a part of everyday life. Today we rely on last names to identify ourselves and easily refer to others. But when you look at the full span of history, it was not that long ago that surnames came into use. And, interestingly enough, the Irish were probably one of the first to use them.

According to researchers Brian McEvoy and Daniel Bradley at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College in Dublin:

"Ireland has one of the oldest systems of patrilineal hereditary surnames in the world. While paternally inherited hereditary surnames are the norm right across Europe, early medieval Ireland was probably the first culture to adopt their usage, with some appearing in the early 10th century AD."

I've been working on my family's history since I was an adolescent, and I intend to continue for many more years. Chances are, however, that I'll probably not be able to work back in my family tree to anywhere near the 10th century. (I was thrilled a year or so ago to finally trace the Tierney family back to the time of the Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century.)

Enter genetic genealogy. No, DNA won't give me the joy that I've received when I've found a photo of an ancestor, or discovered an ancestor's previously unknown given name on a document, but it can provide information about deeper family heritage in ways that were not possible just short years ago.

According to an article on Genetics & Genealogy by By Thomas H. Roderick, PhD of the Center for Human Genetics:

"By adding DNA analysis to our armamentarium of genealogical tools, we...are adding a new approach that can verify or deny established genealogical lines, provide through similar DNA findings hypotheses for where and when lines may be related and thus new areas in location and time to use the standard genealogical tools, provide understandings of relationships prior to the historical record and to provide insights into our Y-line [patrilineal] and M line [matrilineal] ethnic heritage."

The Y-line that Roderick mentioned is the family tree of the father of the father of the father...and so on. This is also referred to as patrilineal DNA. It turns out that each male has a Y chromosome identical to that of his father, and his father's father, and his father's father's father, back through all ancestral generations on what is called the "Y line".

A simple cheek swab test can provide information about your patrilineal family tree many generations back, particularly with regard to where the family originated. It can also provide you with connections to other descendants of the same family line that are living today - distant cousins who share the same heritage. This information can be shared with others through a Y-DNA surname project.

Because of the nature of patrilineal genetics, you must be male to test Y-line DNA. (The other type of frequently used DNA test is matrilineal or mitochondrial DNA, otherwise known as mtDNA. For more information see the Ireland Heritage mtDNA project.)

Take a look at the frequently asked questions section (under the For Newbies tab on the left sidebar) on the International Society of Genetic Genealogy website for more information about how DNA testing works and what information it can provide.

If your name is Mr. Tierney, and you are interested in learning more about your family's genetic heritage, you may be interested in the Tierney Surname Y-DNA Project. For more information, go to the Tierney Clans Society website or access the project directly at Family Tree DNA .

Similar projects are available for other Irish surnames (not to mention surnames of other backgrounds). You can find more information on some Irish surname projects at Irish Heritage DNA Project and the Ireland Heritage Y-DNA Project Family Tree DNA, although the list is by no means exhaustive. (Tierney and Kennedy, for example, surnames for which I know that there are projects available, are not listed on Irish Heritage.)

It's exciting to be researching family history now that technology is aiding us in so many amazing ways, including the area of genetics. Genealogy has never been as easy or as rewarding.

This post was created as part of the Carnival of Genealogy on genetics. See The Genetic Genealogist for more entries and information about genetic genealogy.

A little Ó Tighearnaigh history for you

Above is the coat of arms of the Ó Tighearnaigh family (anglicized to Tierney). According to Irish Families: Their Names, Arms & Origins by Edward MacLysaght (1957), this coat of arms has a long history. It was confirmed in 1748 to a County Limerick branch of the Tierney family. The patent of that date for the coat of arms states that the family was a "long user thereof".

The name Tierney originated from the Gaelic word tighearna, meaning "lord". Different branches of the Tierney family appear to be quite widespread throughout Ireland, although it is most common in Galway, Limerick and Tipperary, where our branch of the family lived.

In fact, the Ó Tighearnaighs, according to MacLysaght, were "undoubtedly firmly established as a territorial family, if not an indigenous sept, in Upper Ormond, for in the Ormond Deeds Fearnan O'Tyernie (i.e. O'Tierney's country) is several times mentioned." See more information on the records in the Ormond Deeds at the Tierney Clan Society webpage on the subject.

Ó Tighearnaigh - the name looks so much prettier written in Gaelic, don't you think? I've always been pretty good at spelling, but these Gaelic spellings are a bit more challenging. If I'm serious about researching my family's Irish history, I'll have to dedicate more time to working on my Gaelic...

(Note: the current edition of MacLysaght's book is pictured above. The link to purchase the book is on the Related Reading sidebar.)

Shedding some new light on the subject

I've added some new features to the sidebar of A Light That Shines Again. If you are a regular reader and don't scroll down the page each time past the most recent post, you might want to take some time to do so now.

If you don't want to miss a new post, don't miss:

• The opportunity to subscribe to new posts via email


• The opportunity to subscribe to new posts in a reader (RSS feed is the term, if you want to get fancy)


• The opportunity to bookmark this site (Heard of del.icio.us?)

Also take a look at:

• The new Family Surnames list (this should make it easier for new readers to quickly determine whether or not they have a connection to our family)

If you want to learn more:

• Check out the Related Reading sidebar, with links to books of interest about Ireland, the famine, Irish emigration, Boston, Irish genealogy, etc.

I'm glad to see that many of you are enjoying A Light That Shines Again. If you are a regular reader and you are enjoying this blog, please drop me an email if you get a chance. I'd like to hear your comments and suggestions.

In the meantime, here's an Irish blessing for you...

May you always have work for your hands to do. May your pockets hold always a coin or two. May the sun shine bright on your windowpane. May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend always be near you, and may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

"The hill remains..."

From the fields of Tipperary to the crowded streets of Boston's North End, Patrick Tierney's two worlds were different yet very much the same. The struggle for daily bread was a part of every day of his short 63-year life.

Probably looking toward a better life, he and his family moved around 1895 to the town of Quincy (along with many other Irish immigrant families).

Quincy, Massachusetts (pronounced Quin-zee, if you want to say it like a native) is seven miles southeast of downtown Boston. Known as the home of John & Abigail Adams (John was our nation's 2nd president) and their son John Quincy (our 6th president), the "city of presidents" gave way to the city of the Irish: Patrick and his family among them.

The Seal of City of Quincy includes these dates:

1625: Settlement at Mount Wollaston by Captain Wollaston.
1640: Separation from Boston "to be a town called Braintree."
1792: Incorporation of the North Precinct of Braintree as the Town of Quincy.
1888: Incorporation of the Town of Quincy as the City of Quincy.

The Manet on the seal is explained as follows:
"The hill remains, connecting the present with the past,
The city remains, continuous in its history and development,
The free spirit of it remains,
The fame of it remains, and will remain forever."

The move to Quincy was a good one for the Tierney family. Although they lost Patrick only about five years after their move to Quincy, the family resided there for many years, finding work in the famed Fore River Shipyard and in other local Quincy industries.

Patrick's two daughters, Margaret and Betty, both were still living in Quincy at the time of their deaths in 1963 and 1964, when the city of Quincy was thriving.

There may still be Tierney family descendants living in the area. If you are one or you know of one, please let me know.

As I mentioned here, the last of the homes of the Patrick & Catherine Tierney family in Quincy is still standing. Although no longer in possession of the family, it is good to know that a place where our family members spent so much of their lives is still there "...connecting the present with the past...".