President's Message

Welcome to the Summer Edition of the MGS Newsletter.

We all had a great time on May 8 at Pinstripes in the SoNo mall!

Joan Killian Gallagher resigned from the MGS Board of Directors in April this year. The Killian Homeplace Family History Centre in County Longford, Ireland has just been taking up too much of her time. She continues as an active member of MGS. More about the Killian Homeplace can be found on her Member Page on the MGS website.

We are still looking for new Board members. If you are interested in joining this active group or would just like to come alongside and see what we’re doing, let me know. We have lots of planning to do for the coming year and can use all the help we can get!

Tell us how we can serve you this summer. What would you like help learning? Do you want small group format? Hands on teaching? And don’t forget to put next fall’s lectures on your calendar. More to come on this.

As always, send us an email with questions or suggestions: mgsvolunteer@gmail.com

Sara Zagrodzky

Upcoming Events

Toni McKeen

Saturday, October 4, 2025, at Darien Library

• 1:00 pm - Social
• 2:00 pm - "Italian Naming Traditions." Presented by Toni McKeen

Italians have traditionally been very specific about how they choose the names for their babies. This lecture will discuss what these important traditions are, as well as the importance of "Onomastico" (Name Day) traditions. Also covered is how those names were "Americanized" when they came to America, helping us to locate them in censuses records, the special problems of finding them in immigration records, and then how Italian birth documents are registered and filed in Italy.

Toni has been doing genealogy research on her own extensive Italian family, her husband’s Irish family and son in law’s German family for the last 30+ years. She has over 20 years of experience in teaching and over 30 years as a researcher. She is highly motivated and energetic with extensive teaching skills with well-organized lesson plans. She is a member of several genealogical organizations and is Chairman of the Newtown Genealogy Club, Newtown, 2013-2015, 2020 - present. Toni has traveled to Italy multiple times to research her ancestry and obtain documents in Amalfi, Sicily, and Calabria. She is a popular lecturer in the New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut areas. and at various genealogy organizations. Her training from her research background while earning her degrees in biology helped her to establish organized systems and charts for recording family information for herself and her students, often a problem for most researchers. Toni is on a mission to expose as many people as possible to the fun, excitement, and importance of tracing their own genealogy. She believes documenting your family history is important for yourself and for future generations, even if they are not interested or have the time now.

Future Presentation Dates

Saturday, November 1, 2025

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Saturday, April 11, 2026

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Bring Family History Alive

By Pamela Shea

Marian B. Wood

On April 5 this year, at Darien Library, Marian B. Wood gave us fresh ideas for documenting our family history stories in engaging, practical, bite-sized projects that can be shared with relatives and posted on genealogy websites for the sake of future generations. We learned why and how to narrow our focus to one ancestor, family, occasion, heirloom, photo, or place. Like a sprint rather than a marathon, each project takes a short time and gives you flexibility to be creative in spotlighting a specific aspect of family history to share with relatives now. The presentation included how-to examples of projects such as:

• brief ancestor bios and booklets
• heirloom background stories
• ancestor coloring books
• full-size and smaller photo books
• audio/video-based family history

Born in the Bronx but transplanted to New England, Marian has been tracing her family tree since 1998. Her genealogy book, available at Darien library, is: Planning a Future for Your Family's Past. "Without our ancestors, we wouldn't be here--so it's important to honor their memory by preserving and sharing family history."

French Canadian Genealogy

By Pamela Shea

On March 1 this year at Darien Library, Jolene Mullen discussed French Canadian genealogy. Mullen is a professional genealogist and genealogical speaker specializing in lineage research and New England records.

Here are some things Jolene said to keep in mind about French Canadian genealogy:

• Many words have a male and a female version so for instance, if it’s Saint, it would be male like Saint John and if it’s Sainte, it would be female such as Saint Agnes. Women kept their maiden names throughout their lives!
• Don’t forget the FAN club – Friends, Associates and Neighbors. People didn’t immigrate alone they immigrated and live near other family members or friends.
• In family stories there is usually some truth, but also distortion.
• If you see a big age gap between a husband and a wife, that’s most likely the second wife.
• It was not uncommon for laborers to be enumerated twice - once with their family and again where they were working.
• Canadian census records typically did not note Native Canadian heritage.

Many Loyalists fled to Canada in the 1700s when the British lost the American Revolutionary war then returned in the 1800s to the US looking for work. in 1775 to 1783 the Moses Hazen regiment participated in the Revolutionary War. Many Canadians were trying to get the English out of Canada and so they fought against the British and their descendants are eligible for the DAR. Eventually, America ran out of money and started offering New York land as a bounty to the New York soldiers. Many soldiers didn’t actually live on the land, but rather sold it to others. She suggested using Fold3 military records to find these soldiers. So, the moral is just because you’ve got French Canadian ancestors doesn’t mean they weren’t a part of the American Revolution.

The king of France realized that French soldiers wouldn’t stay in Canada because they didn’t have a family there so he send women over to Canada to become wives and build families with the soldiers. They went over on several different ships between 1663 and 1673. A total of 768 women were sent with a dowry which they kept it did not go to their husband.

The king sent a group of 768 women to Canada as potential wives for the soldiers. He was hoping to create a more permanent military force. The women went over on a ship and the first stop was Quebec. There they would go to the convent and the nuns would supervise the girls and teach them to keep house and sew. Then each week they would have a coffee and the soldiers would come and meet the women and if a romance struck up, and the woman accepted, the nuns would oversee the marriage. The woman MGS Presentation 3-1-2025 French Canadian Genealogy Notes got to take her dowry and keep her dowry during the marriage. Then the ship would move onto the next port all the way down to Montreal. A list of these women can be found online.

An earlier group of women between the ages of 12-45 were sent to Canada between 1634 and 1662. They were called the Filles a Marier. She didn’t provide details of that event.

Another very interesting topic that she covered were Dit names. It turns out that they are a descriptive name to help differentiate between families that have the same surname. So, for instance, if there were many different Smith families in a town, they would have a dit name of Smith by the river; Smith on the point; Smith with white hair to differentiate them one from the other. This was quite a revelation for me because I had always thought that they were surnames and people had two surnames.

Here are some of the resources she mentioned during the lecture:

• PRDH ~ Programme de Recherche en Demographie Historique at www.prdhigd. com.
• Drouin Collection at genealogiequebec.com
• Tanquay Collection there were some errors found in the original collection, so make sure you double check the supplement from 1957 to correct errors.
• The Moses Hazen Regiment during the American Revolutionary War had a lot of Canadian soldiers. Fold3 has military records which cover that regiment.
• The Balloting Book on Family Search
• The Journal of Françoise Baby Gabriel Taschereau, and Jenkins Williams.
• King’s daughters 1663 to 1673 ~ 768 women were sent to Canada with a dowry.
• Filles a Marier 1634 to 1662 ~ 262 women from 1634 to 1662 sent to Canada
• Woonsocket RI Library
• Cindy’s List
• Ancestry Card Catalogue

Genealogy of Pope Leo XIV

By Peter Biggins

Around noon Darien time on May 8, Robert Francis Prevost became Pope Leo XIV. Four hours later, MGS Facebook had a new post from from an MGS volunteer and former Board member, Mary Lavins:

I log into Findagave almost daily to research someone or manage a memorial I've created. Curious about the new Pope announced today, Robert Francis Prevost, from Illinois. Looks like his dad's memorial has already been "updated." Much joy in that family, no doubt.

Husband of Mildred Agnes Martinez. Father of Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost), and two other sons, John and Louis.

He was a WWII Navy veteran and a school superintendent. Both he and wife Mildred, a librarian, received their education degrees at DePaul University in 1949. They raised their family in Dolton, IL and attended church, and the boys the school affiliated with, St. Mary of the Assumption Parish.

On May 8, DePaul University in Chicago issued a press release about the new Pope:

His parents, Mildred Martínez Prevost and Louis M. Prevost, were DePaul alumni: His mother earned a BS in education in 1947 and completed substantial master's level education courses at DePaul, and his father graduated with an MA in education in 1949.

My father grew up a few blocks from DePaul. Sheffield Square Apartments, part of DePaul University since 1994, were built by my grandparents Leslie and Emily Biggins in 1925. And my third cousin, once removed, was Rev. John P. Minogue, President of DePaul University in Chicago from 1993 to 2004. See: Sheffield Square Apartments at DePaul University

The Pope's brother said the Pope was a White Sox fan. This is consistent with being a South sider. The new Pope was from Dolton, a suburb on the South side of Chicago. The home of the White Sox is on the South side. On May 19, a new landmark was created at the home of the White Sox — Section 140, Row 19, Seat 2. That's where the future Pope sat for Game 1 of the 2005 World Series.

But, I was a Cub fan. The home of the Cubs is on the North side. I grew up in a suburb on the North side of Chicago from 1948 to 1972 and went to school in the city on the North side from 1953 to 1962.

Then I heard that that the Pope's mother Mildred was a Cub fan. That piqued my interest. Maybe she was a North sider. Maybe I could find some connection to the Pope through his mother.

I decided to check the U.S. census. Mildred was married and living in Dolton in the 1950 census. (Mildred had married Louis Prevost in 1949.) But, she was living with her family of origin on the near North side in the 1920, 1930, and 1940 census.

Then, right there in front of me, I found a connection I could brag about: In the 1930 census, Mildred, 18, and her mother were living at 881 Rush Street. I went to school at 835 Rush Street from 1953 to 1956 - Quigley Preparatory Seminary. So, we were both Cub fans, and we were both connected to the 800 block of Rush Street.

Census for Joseph and Louise Martinez Household

In the 1950 census, Mildred, 37, was married to Louis Prevost, 29, a public school principal. They were living in Dolton, just south of Chicago. They had no children. Louis had served in the Armed Forces in World War II. His mother and father were born in France.

Mildred's mother Louise had died in 1945 and was buried in All Saints Cemetery in DesPlaines, a suburb on the North side of Chicago.

Pope Leo XIV and his two older brothers were all born in the first half of the 1950s and should show up in the 1960 census for Dolton, on the South side of Chicago, when it is made public in 2032. I was a census taker in 1960 . . . but in Rogers Park on the far North side of Chicago.

The Many Uses of Y-DNA

By Peter Biggins

You can use Y-chromosome DNA to help build-out the family tree of paternal lineages from modern times back into medieval times. Y-DNA can connect you to ancient peoples and people around the world and Adam.

In July 2008, I had my Y chromosome DNA tested at the request of Daniela Maneta, a professional genealogist. She started the Biggins DNA Project to learn more about her ancestor Eleanor Biggins who was born in 1798 in Middlesex, England. Daniela found my web page on Biggins/Beggan Irish Roots on the Internet and asked me to have my Y-DNA tested. I was skeptical because of the cost and doubtful that I would learn anything. But my wife Marilyn encouraged me to do it. I did it. I learned a lot, but I am not sure that Daniela did.

Testing. Only males have a Y chromosome. Y-chromosome DNA is inherited male to male like surnames. Family Tree DNA is the major Y-DNA tester and has public results pages for surnames and DNA types.

Family Tree DNA is by far the best place to test Y-DNA. Family Tree DNA was founded by Bennett Greenspan in Houston, Texas, in May 2000. It has the world’s largest database of Y-DNA testers. Their website is at: familytreedna.com

The best test is Big Y-700, which costs about $400 on sale. Sales have occurred in March (RootsTech), April (25th is DNA Day), June, August, November, December. There are lesser tests that you can upgrade from later. The DNA sample is stored in the FTDNA lab, so you can easily upgrade your testing level. But it costs more to do it in steps.

Don't do DNA testing if you are concerned about being caught if you commit a crime.

The two swabs and scraper tubes in the FTDNA Kit.

Y-chromosome DNA goes back male to male like traditional surnames.

Test yourself if you are a male, and any male relative whose ancestry you want to learn more about: husband, father, brother, uncle, cousin, second cousin, third cousin, etc.

Testing Results. Once you order a test, you will be given a kit number and a Home page to log onto. It usually takes a couple months to get your results. Results show up on your Home page and the results pages of the projects you join. Your DNA sample is stored in FTDNA's lab, so you can easily upgrade your testing level.

There are two kinds of Y-DNA testing results on a Home page:

• Discover Haplogroups
• Y-DNA Matches

Discover Haplogroups. Family Tree DNA introduced Discover in 2022. It contains a variety of pages that tell you different things about your Y-DNA haplogroup, or mutation. My Discover tells me the following.

Some pages available in Discover.

More pages available in Discover.

• Haplogroup Story tells me I have inherited a mutation that they have named R-BY3164, that it arose in an ancestor around 1400 AD, and that 7 testers who have done Big Y-700 have it.
• Country Frequency says that 6 of the 7 say their ancestors are from Ireland.
• Notable Connections says I have to go back to 2400 BC to find a mutation that I share with a notable person: baseball player Wade Boggs. (My maternal grandfather only has to go back to 900 BC to find a common ancestor with outlaw Jesse James.)
• Migration Map shows my ancestry back through Ireland, England, Germany, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Iran, Oman, Yemen, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.
  
  
• Ancestral Path provides details on the Migration map. It shows me where I branch off from the many groups that populate different parts of the World. It lists 46 mutation steps from R-BY3164 back to Adam.
• Suggested Projects suggests I join the Clan Colla project and the Biggins project. (It doesn't know that I joined those projects a long time ago and administer them.)
• Scientific Details gives me a probability plot for the estimated birth date of 1400 AD for my R-BY3164 haplogroup. The mean is 1377 AD. The 95% confidence level is 1088 - 1592 AD.
• Compare allows me to compare my R-BY3164 at 1400 AD to that of a friend or family member and see the common ancestral haplogroup. If I insert the haplogroup of my wife's father, R-FT79210 at 1150 AD, I can see our common ancestral haplogroup of P-312 at 2900 BC.

Y-DNA Matches. This link on a Home page lists the testers whose Y-DNA is closest to mine based on a low number of unshared Markers. Markers are predictors of haplogroups. For me they list 13 testers with whom I have 10 or less unshared out of 111 markers. They list 116 testers with whom I have 7 or less unshared out of 67 markers. They provide the tester's name, email, earliest known ancestor's name and place of origin, and haplogroup. Testers are not limited to those who have done Big Y-700. So, I can see the 5 Biggins/Beggan/Beagan/Little testers who have not done Big Y-700, as well as those who have.

Join Projects. Projects compare your results with other testers. They are administered by volunteers who put testers in subgroups, summarize results, and are available by email to answer questions. There are three kinds of projects:

• Surname projects. If there is none for your surname, consider starting one. These projects have testers with the same or similar surnames, broken down into subgroups with different kinds of Y-DNA.
• Geographical projects, broken down into subgroups with different kinds of Y-DNA.
• Haplogroup project. These projects are for men with similar Y-DNA, regardless of surname or geography. They are the most valuable projects.

Below is an excerpt from Results Overview for the MGS project.

Join the MGS Project. And don't forget to join the Middlesex Genealogical Society Project. MGS sponsors the MGS project at Family Tree DNA for members, relatives, and others who have had their Y-DNA tested at Family Tree DNA. The goal of the project is to share DNA information with other members, help members understand their testing results, and suggest avenues for further testing. To log onto the MGS project, go to: familytreedna.com/groups/middlesex-gen-soc/about

Excerpt from Results Overview for the MGS Project

Extend Your Family Tree. Y-DNA can can sometimes help extend a family tree back a few generations. Five testers have provided the Y-DNA of five of the 16 great great grandfathers on the family tree of my wife and myself. The testers other than my self are first, second, and third cousins of my wife and myself. These tests have all been worthwhile, as shown below, but none has extended our family tree by finding a greater great grandfather.

Learn the Origin of a Surname. Y-DNA can sometimes identify when a surname was first adopted. I am part of a group of 12 men with the name of Biggins, Beggan, Beagan, and Little (beag is the Irish word for little). We share a unique Y-DNA mutation named R-BY3164. It is estimated to have occurred in a man born around 1400 AD. Ancestors of the 12 testers tend to be from southern Ulster. My ancestor comes from Drumgill in County Cavan, which is in southern Ulster.

Discover Allied Surnames These 12 Biggins/Beggan testers share a mutation named R-FT14481 with men named McDonald, McAuley. McGuire, and Larkin. This mutation occurred in a man born around 750 AD. These testers, in turn, share a mutation named R-S953 with men named Østerud, Connolly, Boylan, O'Hara, Reilly, King, and Martin. This mutation occurred in a man born around 500 AD. Ancestors of testers tend to be from Ulster.

Discover a Clan. In some cases, Y-DNA can connect us with a clan that our ancestors came from in the last one or two thousand years. This has happened for two members of the Middlesex Genealogical Society: John Clarkin and myself. We share the Y-DNA (mutation R-Z3008) of men with 20 surnames that ancient pedigrees trace back to The Three Collas. The surnames are: McDonald, McMahon, McKenna, Connolly, Duffy, McGuire, Monaghan, Hughes, McQuillan, Boylan, Hart, Kelly, MacDougall, Higgins, McArdle, Cooley, Neal, Larkin, Carroll, and Devine. The Three Collas were warriors from England who went to Ulster in Ireland to fight against the Ulaid in the 5th century. John and I go back to two different Colla brothers. John goes back to Colla Crioch. I go back to Colla Uais.

Connect with Ancient Peoples. Y-DNA can connect us with an ancient people or language groups. My R-Z3008 is Celtic. It descends from R-P312, a mutation that occurred in a man born around 2900 BC in Southern Germany and populated France, Spain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Galatia.

If you test the Y-DNA of several ancestors, you can see their ancient common ancestor. I have tested the Y-DNA of five great great grandfathers of my wife and myself. Their common ancestor is R-L151, ancestor of Saxons and Celts, who was born in 3050 BC in Ukraine.

Y-DNA testing has identified the deep ancestry of five of the 16 great great grandfathers on the family tree of my wife and myself. All five go back to one common ancestor who was born in Ukraine around the year 3000 BC. From this ancestor descended both the Saxons and the Celts.

Y-DNA Tree Back to R-L151 in Ukraine

All human male lineages can be traced back to a single common ancestor in Africa who lived around 230,000 years ago, nicknamed Y-Adam. For those who have tested Big Y-700, Family Tree DNA shows the estimated migration route from Y-Adam to your ancestral Y-DNA. They use ancient DNA from archaeological remains.

From "Adam" in Nigeria, to R in Asia, to R-L151 in Ukraine, to Europe

Source: R-L151 Migration.

All Y-DNA testers receive a map like this from Family Tree DNA.

Y-DNA We Share with People Around the World. Y-DNA shows us where we branch off from the many groups that populate different parts of the World: Siberians, Japanese, Australian Aborigines, Romani, Indian, Israeli, Chinese, Korean, Native Americans, Vikings, etc. I have 46 mutation steps in my Y-DNA. Below are people around the world who share my Y-DNA at some of those steps.

• Africans (Y-Adam): A-PR2921, 232000 BC, Nigeria, step 1
• Southern Europeans, and East Asians: CT-M168, 64000 BC, Western Ethiopia, step 6
• Native Americans, Siberians, Japanese, and Australian Aborigines: CF-P143, 63000 BC, Northern Ethiopia, step 7
• Romani and Khmers: GHIJK-F1329, 46000 BC, Southern Iran, step 9
• South Asians on the Indian subcontinent: HIJK-PF3494, 46000 BC, Southern Iran, step 10
• Arabs and Israelites: IJK-L15, 45000 BC, Southern Iran, step 11
• Chinese, Koreans, and other Southeast Asians: K-M526, 43000 BC, Bangladesh, step 13
• Eskimos, Navajos, Apaches, Aztecs, Incas: P-P226, 30000 BC, Eastern Mongolia, step 19
• Vikings in Scandinavia: R-M173, 20000 BC, Eastern Kazakhstan, step 21
• Saxons and Celts: R-L151, 3050 BC, Ukraine, step 31

From "Adam" in Nigeria Around the World

Source: A-PR2921.

We all belong to the same human family.

If you would like to learn more about DNA testing, see our MGS Presentations of November 18, 2017, "Understanding DNA in Genealogy" and October 6, 2018, "Y-DNA and Genealogy." Or, contact Peter Biggins at: pabiggin@optonline.net or 203-655-3694.