How a DNA match led to finding Agnes's older brother, Thomas Cahill. Or is it Carroll?
Thomas John Cahill was born on 26 August 1866 at Black Creek (near Singleton), NSW. He's the eight of the eleven children of James Cahill and his wife, Eliza Dunn. Agnes was the next child born. Cahill family historians have been searching for Thomas for years. In May 2018, twelve trees on ancestry.com.au showed Thomas but none included any details of Thomas's life after his birth. We did think that Thomas was alive at the time of his mother's death in 1890 as he's recorded on Eliza's death certificate as "living" and aged 25.
Genetic genealogy is a tool that I'm using more and more in my family history research. In August 2017, "ER" reported as a match to me and other "Cahill/Dunn cousins" at AncestryDNA. ER's predicted relationship to me was 4th cousin ie predicted that we shared 3rd great-grandparents. I messaged "ER" a number of times but, as is too often the case, no response. "ER" did have a small tree and, when all else fails, you use what's there, build a tree and see where it takes you!
Up and down rabbit holes until a search on the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages register revealed that Isabell Mary Baldwin had married Michael Patrick Carroll in 1936 in Lismore, NSW. Back to ancestry.com.au to see what I could find about the family of Isabell and Michael including looking at other people's trees. I hit gold! "PaulV_AUS" had a tree showing Thomas John Carroll was the father of Michael. Thomas was shown as born in 1863 in East Maitland to James Carroll and Elizabeth Dunn. Surely this was Thomas John Cahill, our missing many times great uncle!!!
This breakthrough tree also shows the need to check and double check everything you find. It shows a 1863 birth registration for Thomas - "NSW BDM# 1722/1863". A quick search of the register shows that this is for Thomas Carroll born in 1863 in Sydney to James and Mary - not our Thomas J Cahill (NSW BDM 13343/1866).
A "Carroll" family historian had purchased the 1907 marriage transcript for Thomas Carroll and Emily Williams (also known as Hookeywin) and Thomas Carroll's 1931 death registration. Within 2 days, I also had both transcripts. On the marriage transcript, Thomas Cahill is shown as a 44 year old bachelor born in Maitland to James Carroll (deceased) and Elizabeth Dunn (deceased). Thomas is shown as a labourer.
While I'm still researching the family of Thomas and Emily, I'm reasonably confident that Emily was mother to twelve children and Thomas was the father to, at least, the last six children. One child, Thomas J, died as a child and another, James F, died as a infant. To this point, I've been unable to locate a birth registration for Elizabeth. She was the last of the children to die in 2001.
By August 2022, I had six AncestryDNA match with descendants of Thomas and Emily.
Thomas died on 25 March 1931 at the State Hospital and Home in Lidcombe, NSW. The informant on his death registration is Albert Lord who was the senior clerk at the hospital. As is often the case in such situation, the information is "patchy". Thomas's age has been altered from 74 to 67 - he was 64. He's shown as born at West Maitland to Joseph Carroll and (unnamed) Dunn. His wife is shown as Emily Williams but there's only one child of the marriage recorded - George aged 33. Thomas is buried Rookwood Catholic Cemetery.
There's still more of the story of Thomas and his family to be uncovered but it's good to have reunited him with his birth family.
Genetic genealogy is a tool that I'm using more and more in my family history research. In August 2017, "ER" reported as a match to me and other "Cahill/Dunn cousins" at AncestryDNA. ER's predicted relationship to me was 4th cousin ie predicted that we shared 3rd great-grandparents. I messaged "ER" a number of times but, as is too often the case, no response. "ER" did have a small tree and, when all else fails, you use what's there, build a tree and see where it takes you!
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| ER's tree on ancestry.com.au |
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| Thomas John Carroll in PaulV_AUS's tree |
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| An incorrect and correct birth registration |
While I'm still researching the family of Thomas and Emily, I'm reasonably confident that Emily was mother to twelve children and Thomas was the father to, at least, the last six children. One child, Thomas J, died as a child and another, James F, died as a infant. To this point, I've been unable to locate a birth registration for Elizabeth. She was the last of the children to die in 2001.
By August 2022, I had six AncestryDNA match with descendants of Thomas and Emily.
Thomas died on 25 March 1931 at the State Hospital and Home in Lidcombe, NSW. The informant on his death registration is Albert Lord who was the senior clerk at the hospital. As is often the case in such situation, the information is "patchy". Thomas's age has been altered from 74 to 67 - he was 64. He's shown as born at West Maitland to Joseph Carroll and (unnamed) Dunn. His wife is shown as Emily Williams but there's only one child of the marriage recorded - George aged 33. Thomas is buried Rookwood Catholic Cemetery.
There's still more of the story of Thomas and his family to be uncovered but it's good to have reunited him with his birth family.
