Yippee!!!!

Ancestry.com announced that it is offering free access to all U.S. Census records dating from 1790-1940! The free access starts now and ends at midnight September 3^rd. This is a great opportunity for you to take a peak for free!

In addition to browsing your family’s census records, you can try out their Time Machine. Make a few selections and discover what life was like in 1940.

Start your search and join the fun at:  http://www.ancestry.com.

My Brilliant Idea

The Dooley Family research is moving along at a nice pace. Internet research has yielded some baptismal records for the children of William Dooley and Mary Egan. Family Search has digitized the records; which are quite easy to view and eliminate much legwork . The Dooley children were baptized at Holy Family Church located at 1080 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago.  I don’t read Latin, but I believe the church records were written in Latin. This deduction comes, of course, from my wild guess.

Here is Stephen Arthur Clement Dooley’s baptismal record found in Holy Family Church’s record book. I do not know where the original record book is located, but it is fun to see a copy of the actual record itself.

Please click on the record for a larger view and use out your magnifying glass to read the record that is located towards the bottom of the page. You will see that Steven was baptized Arthur. The church made an added note about his marriage to Elizabeth Marino at St. Viator’s Church.

“Illinois, Chicago, Catholic Church Records, 1833-1928,” Holy Family (Chicago) images, Family Search (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 Aug 2012), Dooley, Stephen baptism and marriage.

Today, as I was walking my dog, I came up with a brilliant idea of having the Dooley Family attend Mass at Holy Family Church. It would be a memorable way for the descendants to go back to their familial and religious roots.

The Luck of the Irish

I have an organizational problem. My husband thinks a new desk with lots of storage space will solve my problem but I don’t think so.  Information about Dooley ancestors and descendants continues to pour in; which means a mountain of information covers my desk and surrounding spaces.  I find it difficult to organize on a beautiful summer day. 

A number of years ago, I purchased a small Irish charm for each of my children.  One charm seems to have survived as I found it sitting on my son’s nightstand recently. He apparently felt the need for a little luck. I am borrowing it for I need luck too!

DNA Testing Opportunities

In my efforts to reach out to Dooley ancestors and descendants, I have begun studying various DNA testing opportunities. 

I first reached out to my cousin, Elaine Dollen Clark. We collaborate in our search for our shared Dollen ancestors. Ancestry.com was and continues to  offer DNA testing to its subscribers for a fee of $99.

In order to conduct DNA testing relating to the Dollen surname, we needed to find a willing male Dollen test subject. Elaine had just the brother and he agreed to take DNA test. The results came back today and gave leads into both the paternal and maternal lines. We expected results for the Dollen (paternal) surname and were very surprised to learn about their Flynn maternal ancestors. Elaine received the data today and is in the process of sharing the information with me.

The results arrived on exactly the same day I considered using DNA testing for the Dooley family. I was reviewing two other genetic testing companies: 23andme and Family Tree DNA.

23andMe was the preferred DNA testing company for television program, “Finding Your Roots,” with Henry Louis Gates Jr. It offers chromosome painting. Autosomes are colored for different ethnic groups:  European (Blue), African (Green) and Native American (Orange).

23and Me has over 150,000 members. As a member, we can learn about the Dooley ancestry composition, genetic relatives, lineages and ours Neanderthal percentage!

The subscription free cost runs $299.

Family Tree DNA offers a variety of testing options. Keeping Uncle Dave’s wish to meet his Irish relatives in mind, I began looking at the Y-DNA testing.  This is for “men only” opportunity provides information going back either 8 or 6 generations and has a Family Finder feature helps connect possible relatives. What really caught my eye was the Surname Project. There is a Dooley Surname Group that is eighty-eight members strong.

I will take a good long look at the Dollen results, before making my decision.

The Black Irish

My husband is familiar with an Irish fellow. When discussing the Dooley heritage, this born and bread Irishman suggested that the Dooley family most likely came from the Counties of Galway or Mayo. He came to this conclusion based on the Dooley’s dark features.. In 1588 the Spanish Armada sank off the west coast of Ireland. Shipwreck survivors married into Irish families and produced offspring with dark features.

While there are many theories about the Black Irish, this is one Irish fellow’s opinion. To read more about the Black Irish, you many visit Irish Central at http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/Who-were-the-Black-Irish-92376439.html?page=1

This is an unofficial vote for the Counties of Galway and Mayo!

Irish Times

The hunt was on for Kyle J. Betit’s article, “The Irish In Chicago.” A Google Search almost hit the mark. Kyle Betit’s article was written for the Irish At Home and Abroad periodical published in Salt Lake City. I couldn’t find the article, but I did find lots of other interesting information at IrishTimes.com.  

Irish Times.com offers a subscription for Irish ancestor research. A subscription can give you research aids, but not copies of original records. The subscription pricing is based on units. Search requests vary in unit price. For the time being I will book mark IrishTimes.com as I am not sure if this is what I need.

There was a teaser, of course. A surname search offered a free count of households by county. I am looking for Dooley households in my target counties of Galway, Mayo and Westmeath. I will check all the counties in the spirit of thoroughness. Additionally, I will need to check Dooley spelling variations that include: Dooly, Dowley and Dowly. Omitted counties means that there were no reported Dooley households.

Dooley Households of Ireland

County                                    Dooley Households

Carlow (1852-53)                         10

Clare (1855)                                    1

Cork (1851-53)                            26

Galway  (1855)                            82

Kerry (1852)                                   3

Kildare (1851)                                8

Kilkenny (1849-50)                      89

Limerick (1851-52)                      26

Longford (1854)                             2

Mayo (1856-57)                             8

Meath (1854)                                 3

Offaly (King’s) (1855)                  89

Tipperary (1851)                           47

Waterford (1848-51)                     30

Westmeath (1854)                         6

Wexford (1853)                            16

Wicklow (1852-53)                        1                                               

The County Cork caught my eye for the simple reason that Ellen Dooley nee Hart’s death certificate reported a birthplace of Cork, Ireland.  In 1851-53 there were 68 Hart households along with 26 Dooley households. Perhaps there is a connection.

Dooly Households of Ireland

Carlow (1852-53)                          1

Clare (1855)                                10

Cork (1851-53)                           22

Dublin (1848-51)                          4

Galway (1855)                            17

Kildare (1851)                               1

Kilkenny (1849-50)                     40

Limerick (1851-52)                     24

Longford (1854)                            4

Meath (1855)                                2

Roscommon (1857-58)                11

Tipperary (1851)                          30

Westmeath (1854)                        4

Wexford (1853)                            10

Dowley Households of Ireland

Limerick (1851-52)                        1

Dowly Households -  None reported.

This information was found at IrishTimes.com (http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/index.htm : accessed 9 August 2012).

Irish Origins

Uncle Dave Dooley dreams of locating his Irish Roots. It has become my job to help him realize his dream. Uncle Dave believes his family origins lie in Westmeath, Ireland. But do they really?

Loretto Szucs wrote a nice book, Chicago & Cook County; A Guide to Research.  It is a great book that guides a researcher through the vast resources that Chicago has to offer. I looked to his “Ethnic Resources” chapter to learn about the Irish of Chicago. The source of his information comes from an article, “The Irish in Chicago,” written by Kyle J. Betit and Thomas M. Cook.

The Potato Famine of the 1840s was the reason many Irish Catholics left home and arrived in Chicago. According to Mr. Szucs, the Irish settled in three specific locations in Chicago each with it’s own Catholic Parish.

1.  The West side between Halsted and the Chicago River from Lake Street south to Harrison (St.Patrick's)

2.  The North side from Market Street to Indiana; which is now Grand Avenue. (Holy Name)

3.  The Southside along the south branch of the Chicago River. (St. Bridget’s)

A second wave of Irish Catholic immigrants arrived in the 1880s. This group of

immigrants originated from the counties of Mayo and Galway.  [1]

It is this 1880 group of Irish Catholic immigrants that our Dooley ancestors

belonged. The 1900 U.S. Census reports that William Dooley immigrated in the year

1886. Based on what I have learned thus far, if William Dooley arrived in

Chicago in 1886, he may have originated in the counties of Westmeath, Mayo or

Galway. I have my Irish starting point.

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[1]

Loretto Dennis Szucs, Chicago & Cook Count: A Guide to Research (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1996), 265-266.