62½% Irish     25% German     12½% Swiss 

Gen 1940                  Gen 1910                Gen 1880                Gen 1850                Gen 1820

Given names of immigrants are in italics

Patrick and Bridget Biggins → Hugh and Ann Cusack Beggan

DNA below

James and Bridget McNally

Dominick and Anne Walsh Foy → Thomas and Mary Tracy Foy

William and Bridget O'Malley Stanton

Wilhelm and Bernardina Heller Drüecke → Johann and Elisabeth Bitter Drücke

DNA below

Franz and Regina Green Berles → Adam & Theresa Knoche Berles

John and Mary Schickell Schmitt → John Adam and Maria Eva Schumm Schickell

William and Theresa Fassnacht Koch → Leonhard and Maria Anna Hauck Fassnacht

Thomas and Mary Carroll Carroll

DNA below

John and Catherine Condon Higgins

Unknown Starke

Petro and Maria Alleman Wittenmeier

Unknown Kenny

Unknown Hartigan

Daniel and Eliza Young McDonald

DNA below

James and Mary Murray Flannery → James and Catherine Grady Flannery

Y Chromosome DNA

Earlier DNA Branches

Analysis of the Tree

Generations. My tree has five generations: my wife and I, our 4 parents, our 8 grandparents, our 16 great grandparents, and our 32 great great grandparents. That's a total of 62 individuals in 31 families. This is generally as far back as my research goes. Information for some Irish great great grandparents is incomplete. And, information is available for some German “three-greats” who are excluded in this analysis.

Birth Years. The five generations, starting with the great greats, were born roughly every 30 years. I call them Gen 1820, Gen 1850, Gen 1880, Gen 1910, and Gen 1940. The actual average birth years are: 1818, 1845, 1878, 1909, and 1940.

Countries of Origin. The 32 great great grandparents from the 1820 generation were all born in Europe: 20 were Irish, 8 were German, and 4 were Swiss (German-speaking). Our children, therefore, are 5/8ths Irish, 1/4th German, and 1/8th Swiss. Ireland was actually ruled by England. Germany was separate Kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, and Württemberg, and the Electorate of Mainz (later added to the Grand Duchy of Baden).

Surnames. There are 16 Irish surnames: Biggins/Beggan, Carroll (2), Condon, Flannery, Foy, Hartigan, Higgins, Kenny, McDonald, McNally, Murray, O'Malley, Stanton, Walsh, Young. There are 8 German surnames: Berles, Drüeke, Fassnacht, Green, Heller, Koch, Schickell, Schmitt. There are 3 Swiss surnames: Alleman, Starke, Wittenmeier. That's 27 out of 32 surnames. There are 5 great great grandmothers whose birth surnames we don't know: 4 Irish and 1 Swiss.

Homes in Europe. Thus far, only three specific homes have been found in Europe where our ancestors lived. The first is the Foy farm in the townland of Derreennascooba in County Mayo, Ireland. The second is the Beggan farm in the townland of Drumgill in County Cavan, Ireland. The third is the Druecke house in Ostentrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. All three were found as a result of travel to the places.

Immigration to America. There were no American restrictions on European immigrants when members of the family tree immigrated. The first ancestors arrived in America in the early 1830s. The last arrived in 1880. (There was no Statue of Liberty until 1886.). There were 28 immigrants out of the 62 individuals on the family tree. They are in Gen 1850 and Gen 1820, except one Carroll, who is in Gen 1880. They left Europe from the ports of Antwerp, Bremen, Hamburg, LeHavre, and Liverpool. These were the major European ports of departure in the nineteenth century. They came on sailing ships before 1870 and steamships thereafter. Most arrived at the port of New York (Castle Garden after 1855). Some arrived in Baltimore.

The earliest immigrants left from Bremen in 1834. They were the Schickells from the Kingdom of Bavaria. Their family of six first had to travel 235 miles by horse and wagon to the port. At 20 miles per day, that would take 12 days. They sold the horse and took the wagon with them to America. They left from Bremen on the sailing ship Johannes and arrived in Baltimore two months later. After 80 days in Baltimore, they traveled by horse and wagon 420 miles to Tiffin, Ohio, stopping for 14 days in Pittsburgh.

The last immigrants left from Cobh in 1880. They were were the Carroll family of Ballyneety, County Limerick. Their family of nine left from Queenstown, County Cork on the steamship Parthia. (In 1912, the Titanic left Queenstown on it fatal voyage. In 1920, the town name was changed to Cobh.) They arrived in Castle Garden. The voyage took two weeks. They went on to Chicago, probably by train.

The steamship Parthia was four times as long as the sailing ship Johannes. The Parthia took two weeks to cross the Atlantic. The Johannes took two months.

Homes in America. The families made homes primarily in three general areas: Chicago, Illinois; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Green County, Wisconsin. Some initially lived a few years in seven areas the eastern United States: Tiffin, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; Harlem, Albany, White Hall, and Nunda, New York; and somewhere in Vermont. One settled initially in Ontario, Canada. The earlier generations lived on farms or in cities. The later generations lived in suburbs.

Family Histories. It has been possible to write histories for 26 of the 31 families. The 5 unwritten families are in Gen 1820.

Life Expectancy. The lifespan for 27 males ranged from 41 to 88 years. The mean of 67.8 compares with the 74.2 for Americans in 2020. The lifespan for 26 females ranged from 27 to 91 years. The mean of 70.2 compares with 79.9 for Americans in 2020. My maternal grandmother Rose Smith Drueke was 91 when she died. Her mother Christine Koch Smith was 27.

Family Size. The families in the five generations had 1 to 10 children, with a mean of 4.6. There is no apparent trend. If Gen 1970 were included, its family size would be 2 or 3.

Religion. All the families in the five generations are Roman Catholic. One couple married after their first child was born. Another couple separated late in life , but were buried next to each other.

Occupation. The breadwinners in the five generations had a variety occupations: builder, carpenter, consultant, farmer, gold miner, grocer, harness maker, laborer, wholesale liquor dealer, locksmith, manufacturer, musician, policeman, railway mail clerk, ropemaker. salesman, saloon keeper, slater, and undertaker. One ancestor went to the California Gold Rush in 1849. One was a sergeant the Civil War. One had two brothers who were regimental band leaders in the Civil War. One worked on the transcontinental railroad and was present at the Golden Spike Ceremony in 1869. One was a lieutenant in WWII.

Education. The first known high school graduates were in Gen 1880. The first college graduates were in Gen 1910. The first post graduates were in Gen 1940.

Deep Ancestry. Y-chromosome DNA testing has identified the deep ancestry of four of the 16 great great grandfathers: Biggins/Beggan from Ulster in Ireland has the DNA of The Three Collas who emigrated to Ulster from England in the 4th century. McDonald from Ireland has the DNA of Cenel Moain who lived in Ulster in the 7th century. Carroll from County Limerick in Ireland has the DNA of Breassal Breac who lived in Ossory in the 2nd century. Drueke from Old Saxony in Germany has Saxon DNA found in England.

All four go back to one common ancestor who was born with a mutation called R-L151 in roughly 3000 BC in Ukraine. This common ancestor later split into Saxon and Celtic mutations. The Saxon mutation is called R-U106 and occurred in roughly 2950 BC in Poland. Drueke has the Saxon mutation. The Celtic mutation is called R-P312 and occurred in roughly 2800 BC in Southern Germany. Biggins, McDonald, and Carroll have the Celtic mutation. Biggins and McDonald share a later mutation called R-L21 that occurred in roughly 2600 BC in Southern England.