I have a bit of a conundrum with my great great great grandfather David Hall. He was born about 1800 most likely in Cavan, or Monaghan, Ireland. He married about 1820 to Margaret Pritchard and they had about thirteen children.
But who were his parents?
There
are a few challenges unravelling this.
·
There
is at least one other David Hall born around the same time and in the general
area.
·
The
family is likely an Ulster Plantation family – because let’s face it, Hall is
not a very Irish surname. They lived in the same area for generations, went to
the same Presbyterian churches and intermarried A LOT.
· David’s daughter Anne, my great great grandmother, married another Hall. Just a coincidence? A cousin or second cousin?
William Hall, Anne’s husband was the son of Samuel Hall and Sarah Bailey. We knew this, as well as who Anne’s parents were from their death certificates in New Zealand. For a long time that was the extent of our knowledge.
Then
along came DNA and the discovery that other branches of Samuel’s tree had also
come to New Zealand. Surely people at the time knew one another and the family
connection – but overtime the knowledge was lost.
Contacting other DNA testers in an endeavour to unravel the Irish branch of our tree, research all seemed to point to Samuel’s parents being William Hall 1769-1833 and Arabella Reilly.
Certainly, there are a lot of DNA matches where you can see the connections to each other through Samuel’s siblings. Researchers had found records for the children of William and Arabella – at least seven – including a David.
We have DNA matches to William’s family including descendants of his aunts and uncles (Samuel’s siblings), so it seemed quite resolved there. We also had good matches with Anne’s family going back into the past a little further and following her mother’s maternal line. For most of the descendants of William and Anne everything made sense, they should have matches to both families. But then some of Anne’s siblings’ descendants appeared to have matches to William's family!
The only way I can see this being possible is if “my” David Hall born about 1800 and died on 26 February 1883 at Coppenagh Mills is the son of William and Arabella Hall, born in 1797 at Lattacapple. This would mean that my great great grandparents William and Anne were first cousins. Or is it just an endogamy effect living in the same community for so long?
What
do you think? Do you have a David Hall in your tree too? Is he this guy, or
another one altogether? Please contact me if you think you can help.
