McNeilands or Knilands?
On Wednesday, I had an excited phone call from my cousin Darlene about a DNA match and tree in Ancestry.com. I decided to also look in FamilySearch, where I spent a few hours of quality time identifying sources and merging duplicate records.
Why are we excited? My 2GGM was Jane McNeilands (we have never seen how she spelled the name), married to Andrew Buchanan. Up to this point, I do not remember Knilands ever coming up as a variation of McNeilands, But Rebecca Knilands who married James Forbis is called "Rebecca Neilands" in one of the original sources.
The earliest records we have for Jane are the christenings of some of her children in the Church of Ireland in Castlederg. This was during 1815-1824, when she was living in Learmore townland, which borders on Magherakeel, where some of the Knilands lived. There was also an 1808 document referring to Robert Knilands of Mourne Beg, Termonamongan and a 1910 pension application by Fanny Knielands of Creeduff townland. The Irish Townland Map became "my new best friend." (These townlands are typically less than a square mile in area, so they are highly specific.)
A search of the 1901 Census of Ireland found various Kniland families in County Tyrone, all located between Castlederg and Killeter, so probably all related.
The relationship of the DNA match to Darlene is estimated by AncestryDNA as "5th to 8th cousin". This is at the limits for autosomal DNA, so it may not be reliable. (8 cM across 2 segments) But the fact that the small townlands are adjacent and that the names are variations of the same surname seems to indicate that it is not just a random match.
I believe that my 2GGM is a member of this Knilands family. I would appreciate knowing of any further advances by any Knilands researchers. After many years with absolutely no progress on our McNeilands/Knilands line, this is looking positive.
So it seems like a breakthrough, that may lead to further break-throughs.
Bill
blog: http://billbuchanan.blogspot.com
site: http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/
posted by Bill Buchanan | 11:48 AM
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