My Irish Genealogy & DNA

10/04/2026

I have been short on new data in recent months, but I could provide something for Page 48 of this month! The final framework is place for the O'NEILL DNA project.

20/03/2026

We have enough Big-Y DNA data now to support the C16th split between lines that became O'NEILL & O'MAHONEY, as recorded in various Irish Annals. We can now also show that the & O'NEILL lines (from Filem Mor O'NEILL, s/o Sean) also subsequently split through Patrick, s/o Sean, who settled first in , and then descendants moved to . These adopted the O'NEIL spelling variant. We know that there are 3 other sons of Sean that are not yet accounted for.

If you have West Cork origins and look to connect to the now established framework, you can take your Big-Y test with . Let me know if you are doing so.

20/03/2026

The death has occurred of Thomas (Tommy) O'Donovan of Clonakilty, Cork Ireland, on 18/03/2026. You can view the full death notice and add your condolences here.

19/03/2026

For users on , there are a couple of new things to note.

1. Some will find new ethnicity results.
2. Since they have gone "full genome" children of known "older" testers are producing some segments that are significantly larger than their parents, which could indicate increased accuracy (the parents segments not having been fully mapped). Due to size of the family projects involved, this does not appear to be segments from their parents spouse. One to watch for.

03/02/2026

Note to DNA testers - Time to think about logging back in to your various accounts as the post-Christmas kit results are starting to come in. After a quiet few weeks, there's defo an upsurge in matches now. February/March is usually the biggest months for matching. 🧬

17/01/2026

If anyone read my piece in they may have noted an error. When writing I meant to refer to a Shakespearean quote, but was thinking about Richard III at the time. Shakespeare was never my strong suit!

25/12/2025

27/11/2025

https://blog.myheritage.com/2025/10/myheritage-upgrades-its-dna-tests-to-whole-genome-sequencing/
This for new testers only.

The MyHeritage DNA test has been upgraded to use Whole Genome Sequencing, the most comprehensive method for reading DNA available today.

12/11/2025

Pre-holiday offers

31/10/2025

It is been announced locally, that Paddy Meade, the newsagent will be closing down in .
Patrick "Paddy" MEADE (1940-2020) was born in in 1940. He was my wife's 5th cousin.

Paddy's mother was Mary Margaret O'NEILL (1917) of , d/o Felix O'NEILL of Ardkitt East. Felix's father was Felix O'NEILL (1842-1922) born in Derrimilleen s/o Peter, which was recently demonstrated to be connected to my ongoing O'NEILL DNA study.