Munster Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Ancestry’s ethnicity inheritance

Mom is surely Parent 1

Ancestry.com recently sent me something called an ethnicity inheritance.

This is very interesting to me. “Ancestry® developed a technology called SideView™ to sort this out using DNA matches. Because a match is usually related to you through only one parent, your matches can help us ‘organize’ the DNA you share with them.

“SideView™ technology powers your ethnicity inheritance—the portions of each region you inherited from each parent. This enables us to provide your ethnicity inheritance without testing your parents (though we don’t know which parent is which).”

I would not be going out on a limb to assume Parent 1 is my mother. Her European ancestry is about half and the vast majority of my Irish heritage. Whereas my father is less than one-third European.

This could, of course, get into great debates, long litigated, about “What is race?” In America, race is less biology – designations such as quadroons and octoroons notwithstanding – but sociology. My mother, though quite fair, identified as a black woman, as did her parents and grandparents. Her great-grandfather fought in the Civil War in the 26th New York Infantry (Colored).

Those folks from Munster, County Cork I’m related to are more likely related to the Yates, Williams, and Archer families, rather than the Walker, Patterson, and Cone tribes.

Like many people, my family was told that on my mother’s side, we were indigenous North American. well, maybe a ways back. But my father’s side showed no measurable connection.

Redux?

I might have told this story before, in which case I’m telling it again. My parents could not rent an apartment in Binghamton, NY in the 1950s because they were perceived as a mixed couple, engaged in [horrors] miscegenation! For reasons, they couldn’t buy a place either. My parents finally bought a home in Johnson City; I lent them part of the downpayment since my college costs, in those days, were pretty cheap and I had a Regents scholarship.

I’m hoping the ethnicity inheritance discovery will somehow help me in my genealogical journey.

27% Irish, from County Cork

World’s 1st St. Patrick’s Day parade was in 1762 in NYC

As I’ve noted, I’m 27% Irish, a plurality in my makeup. My daughter is 21% Irish. I don’t have access to my wife’s DNA test presently, but I surmise she’s 15% Irish, give or take. Moreover, at least some of my ancestry is rooted in Munster, County Cork.

So I was VERY tempted to go on the 2022 Dave Koz cruise. It has an impressive musical lineup, including the niece, Rebecca Jade, who must be part Irish as well.

Moreover, the Royal Caribbean cruise starts in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and is traveling to Cork (Cobh), Ireland as well as Holyhead, Wales; Glasgow (Greenock), Scotland; Dover (London), England; then back to Amsterdam. Two tours, May 13 to May 20, and May 20 to May 27. But at two grand for double occupancy, plus airfare, this is a bit dear, as my grandma Williams would say. Worth it, I imagine.

And I’m not sure I’d want to go that long without seeing my daughter in her senior year of high school, or my wife. Also, I suppose I’m wary of cruises; less about COVID, since RC “requires all guests and crew to be 100% vaccinated with no exceptions.” But perhaps more about other cruise debacles in recent years.

Also, while I’ve FINALLY requested a new passport, I haven’t received it yet.

Census stuff

The Census Bureau regularly issues out these seasonal packets in two series. “Profile America’s Facts for Features… provides statistics related to observances and holidays such as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (May), The Fourth of July (July 4), Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), and Veterans Day (Nov. 11).”

For Irish-American Heritage Month and St. Patrick’s Day:

“Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration for all things Irish. The world’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade occurred on March 17, 1762, in New York City, featuring Irish soldiers serving in the English military. This parade became an annual event, with President Truman attending in 1948. Congress proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1995, and the President issues a proclamation commemorating the occasion each year.”

Check out stats at the link.

Am I one of the Irish of Munster, Ireland?

Interesting that none of the other parts of my genealogy specify below the region, but my Scot-Irish roots identifies Munster.

The last time I got results from my Ancestry DNA test, I showed to be 19% from Ireland or Scotland 19%. But then there was a specific reference to a place called Munster, Ireland.

The Wikipedia notes that Munster is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south west of the island. “In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a ‘king of over-kings’ (Irish: rí ruirech).

“Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into counties for administrative and judicial purposes.”

The test also suggests a possible connection to Cork, its largest city. Cork County is the southernmost entity of the state.

There is a Munster Irish group. “To meet the project goals, we limit membership to males with one of the surnames (or variants thereof) listed below and EITHER a most distant paternal ancestor identified as having been born [there], OR a Y-DNA haplotype similar to those described under ‘The Ancestral Haplotypes of Munster’ on the Results page.”

Well, I don’t know about the latter criteria. I should work on one of those Y-DNA tests eventually. But Green IS on of the surnames listed as having “been identified as in use in Munster in pre-Norman times in various ancient works.’

Interesting that none of the other parts of my genealogy specify below the region:
Cameroon, Congo, & Southern Bantu Peoples 26%
Benin/Togo 22%
England, Wales & Northwestern Europe 20%

From this I infer that there are other people in the database from Munster with similar traits as I have. I find the slow peeling of the layers of my genealogy fascinating.

So Roger O Green can legitimately celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not one for green beer, so I’ll have to find other ways to celebrate.