The Ballycarry DNA Project

Do you have any ancestors from Ballycarry or do you know anyone who does? If so then we would love you to get involved in our research project.

Ballycarry is an historic County Antrim village with strong Scottish connections and has a number of families that have lived in the district for many generations. We wish to explore the connections between people who are the descendants of whose who lived in Ballycarry in the past to identify if the families living side-by-side were indeed related to each other. This will allow individuals living today to identify that they are related to each other (and others who have taken tests) and to build up a picture of relationships in the past that will explain their connections. In many instances these connections go back beyond paper records and effectively ‘recreate’ a family tree where one no longer exists.

In order to carry out this project we intend to DNA test individuals who can establish their connections to people who lived in the Ballycarry (Parish of Templecorran) in the 1800s. Doing this will help us to explore links between the testers and other people who have already taken a DNA test. By testing people from a specific area it is anticipated that many connections will be identified and confirmed as the tests can give meaningful information back to each person’s 5x great grandparents (usually at least to the mid 1700s).

Using current family history sources, volunteers within the Family History Society are constructing family trees based on available sources such as the 1901 and 1911 census, Griffiths Valuation and birth, marriage and death records. The community will then be involved in a public event on Tuesday 8 October 2019. DNA volunteers will be sought at this meeting. We will also gather known information on the family history of the DNA volunteers and compare it to the database of information which is being compiled by the Family History Society. In this way we will ensure that the only people tested will be people who we have reason to believe are directly descended from the Templecorran area in the 1800s. The information gained from each test will be compared and the strength of connections found will be compiled in a report which will collate and evaluate what has been found. Publicity will be gained through the Family History Society and results disseminated through public presentations.

This exciting project will allow individuals around the world to identify that they have ancestors from Ballycarry. This will have benefits for tourism, increase community cohesiveness and continue to benefit generations to come as information is identified and retained.

The Launch Event of the Ballycarry DNA Project was held  in Ballycarry Community Hall on Tuesday 8 October 2019.

Ballycarry DNA Project of FamilyTreeDNA

Support the Ballycarry DNA Project

Go to the General Fund Group Contribution page on the FamilyTreeDNA website for details.
Select the  NORTH OF IRELAND project.