This weekend a simple statement about Irish research, “weddings usually take place in the bride’s home parish,” sent me down a rabbit hole. The only way to tell you about it is to start at the beginning.

About 10 years ago my Christmas gift to my husband Bill was a Y-DNA kit, an early step in our search for his Irish ancestors. There were no immediate breakthroughs, and we later joined FamilyTreeDNA’s Hickey (surname) Project.

In October 2016 we received an email message from a co-administrator of the CTS4466 Project who was assisting the Hickey Project. Here’s part of the text:
“In reviewing your STR matches, I noticed a distinct lack of Hickeys... I think it is more than possible that you descend from other than a Hickey line. Your close matches are the Gilliams, who are members of the CTS4466 Project. If you would like to pursue this, we can resolve the issue inexpensively with SNP testing. I realize this is a potentially sensitive issue, perhaps challenging long-standing beliefs. So you may wish to let it lie.”

My reaction – well, the word “astonished” would be descriptive. Bill didn’t have much of a reaction at all and wasn’t particularly interested in pursuing it. Of course I could not ignore the new development. We completed the recommended SNP testing but with no definitive results as far as the Gilliam connection.

The top two matches on FTDNA’s Y-DNA report are men named Gilliam, with a genetic distance of 2. According to FTDNA that means Bill has a 46.69% likelihood of sharing a common ancestor with them in the last four generations. Both of those Gilliams trace their ancestry to Virginia in the 1700s. Bill’s Hickey ancestors were in Ireland until the 1840s so the mutual ancestor goes back further.

I’ve subsequently uploaded Bill’s DNA to Gedmatch where I’ve been able to confirm other family connections through Autosomal DNA. No progress on the Y-DNA side. I’ve also reached out to the Gilliam matches to ask about ancestors in Ireland. No response. I’ve looked back on public Gilliam family trees and find no clues.

My Hickey family research goes back as far as an 1810 marriage record for Bill's great-great grandparents, James Hickey and Margaret O'Dwyer of Cahernahallia, County Tipperary. Their son Patrick, who married in Wisconsin in 1857, would become Bill’s great-grandfather.

All indicators point to the non-paternity event occurring in Ireland, or even earlier. Before now I hadn’t given consideration beyond Cahernahallia, home of the O’Dwyer clan. More later.