Beautiful Shores

  Y-DNA Testing  My father, Noel Cavanagh, submitted a Y-700 DNA test to FamilyTreeDNA in July 2019. Dad's most distant male-line ancestor is Thomas Keveny, born c1797, a native of County Sligo, Ireland.   Thomas arrived in NSW, Australia in 1822 on the vessel "Southworth."  In 1823 his wife and child were recorded as being of the parish of Emlaghfad near Ballymote. The reference includes the detail that they were known to Rev. F. Boland and Michael McDonnough, who would have acted as referees. Thomas had a brother Francis Keveny, born c1806, who was also recorded as being a native of Sligo. Their names are spelled in various ways on different records - Keveny, Keveney, Kaveney, Cavanagh, Cavanaugh, Kavanagh, Cavenagh DNA results Dad's haplogroup result is  R-FT149229, which is a branch extending from R-M269. To date, there are no Y-DNA matches who also have an Autosomal DNA match, and no useful or close Y-DNA matches. There is the possibility that a non-Ke...

  Way back in May 1994- I spent 4 days driving around Ireland.  A day in the town of Ballymote was included, based upon a clue as to the origins of my 3 rd  great grandfather, Thomas Cavanagh. Thomas was tried at Sligo in March 1821 under the name of "Thomas Kaveny", and sentenced to 7 years for the crime of “house robbery.” He was a native of Sligo, his calling was a reaper, and he was described as aged 25, 5’ 6” tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fair and freckled complexion.  Thomas arrived in Sydney on the 15 March 1822, on the ship “Southworth”. Just prior to a planned visit to the UK, a distant cousin had told me in a brief phone conversation that she had found a request for Thomas to have his wife Mary, who was from a place called Emlaghfad, to be sent to join him in Australia.   Emlaghfad and Kilmorgan was a Roman Catholic parish in Sligo, and the parish has been re-named as Ballymote since my visit there.  Ballymote is an ancient market to...