Stories Of My Irish Families

Irish Native/Planter Stories

Sunday 20 October 2019

Splitting the Humphries/Hume Lineage (Family Tree / DNA)  *Updated 17-FEB-2020

Well, DNA has finally started to show something - really something. And it's exploding.

On my Father's Maternal side, we descend down from a South Western English "Humphries" family and an Irish Co. Kerry "Hume" family.

This story is based from Thomas Gregory Humphries & Sara Susannah Hume
Thomas and Sara are my 2 x Great Grandparents and they were based in the South side of Sydney.

Thomas was born in Westbury-On-Trym, Gloucestershire in 1856. Possibly in Clifton itself.
In today's standards, Westbury-On-Trym is classified as a part of the City of Bristol, but back in the days of the mid 1800's, I think it was known as Gloucester(shire).
Thomas migrated to Sydney, Australia between 1871 and 1881.

Sara was born in Sydney in 1862, to Irish born Parents - John Hume and Susan Hickson (aka Susanna/Susannah). John was from Killiney, Co Kerry and Susan was from Killorglin, Co. Kerry.

Susan Hickson arrived in Australia on 8th of June 1853, she was 22 years old and was on the Immigrant vessel "Australia". It was technically on the later side of the Earl Grey Scheme, but was of the same premise, a scheme that allowed young Irish girls to survive in another country and her travels to Australia, was from the ramifications of the great famine.
John came to Australia in 1855, he was 30 years old and was on the Immigrant vessel "Golden Era".
In an interesting case, Susan was noted on John's Immigrant Form, as the "Sponsor" for him and the form listed John as a cousin to Susan. (*Note: No proof yet as being actual cousins, but being open minded about it). Susan actually paid £5, for John's emigration to Australia.
John has been noted, to be a part of the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) in Ireland. It is also noted that documentation shows, John Hume was in contact or known to Magistrate/J.P named Hickson.
When John arrived in Sydney, I believe that he may have had a job lined up as Policeman, which  may have been organised via Susan. However, this is not proven yet, but a strong hypothesis exists.

Susan Hickson is a daughter of Richard Hickson and Mary Ann Carter from Killorglin (For more details, the Hickson's are very well referenced here in this blog : Here & Here)

So, combining those details, with DNA, we get the following :

** As a note to this story, early genetic research into this link, shows an equal sided story, but as time went on (in the last 3-4 months), it has shown that DNA is showing a very very strong link to Co. Kerry. A very overwhelming story. Genetics so far, has now shown a base of around 80-90% Co Kerry to 10-20% Gloucestershire **

10 months ago, a multitude of DNA matches started appearing, via Ancestry and FTDNA.
In that time, an unknown close cousin appeared on GEDMatch, but then I found the same match on FTDNA. The close cousin matched myself, my Father and my Aunt. But it also matched a good bunch of matches related to this Humphries/Hume family tree.  Lets call this new match "H-H"

It was here, where I discovered how the matching on Ancestry worked, simply by how each match "related" to H-H and to others in the group of matches. It was here I seen a pattern.
The pattern included a consistent Southern English or Irish Co. Kerry placements of matches.
Another pattern was different in other DNA matches, because they were descendants off the Humphries-Hume marriage (A combined English/Irish)

  • Group 1 - Irish links to Co. Kerry (Killorglin/Killiney as a base)
  • Group 2 - English links to South West England (Gloucestershire as a base)
  • Group 3 - Both English and Irish (Combined DNA from the Humphries / Hume marriage)
The chart, is to show how I split my Australian Humphries/Hume marriage into it's DNA prospective.
This is based on matches via Ancestry (about 4 months ago). It is a chart made up of multiple groups and putting them all together.
(I have blurred out the names for privacy reasons)


Now using the above 3 groups, this is where H-H comes in. Contact was made with H-H and it was found that they shared an adoptee story. DNA was their only way of knowing where they come from.
So here's me, working out how we are related to H-H and the story gets harder, because there is an adoption in the works. Ohh boy, this is going to get complicated.....
After a few weeks of working with H-H's DNA matches, it kept hitting the same thing.

H-H was heavily linked with a majority of Group 3 matches and the DNA shared (cM's) between my 3 kits. It suggested that H-H was most possibly a descendant from the Humphries / Hume marriage.
To confirm it beyond reasonable doubt, a 2nd Cousin to myself, who shared the Humphries / Hume lineage, also matched H-H.

Having established this Group 3 story, I then played off H-H's story, between Groups 1 & 2, to identify what area was dominant to their story (and thus help me to identify either English or Irish).
I used a GEDMatch feature, to help assist in a story, on which group H-H matched more than the other. GEDMatch showed that H-H had a majority of an Irish connections, that had very high % of being placed to Co. Kerry.
To again, prove beyond doubt, everytime I used a Group 2 match, there was no DNA shared or implied upon. I tested this over a multitude of matches to rule this story - in or out.

I then went back to Ancestry again and rechecked the shared matches, to see if there was any other underlying story, that I hadn't picked up. 3 other matches came up, all had tie ins with Group 1 matches and never matched anyone from Group 2.

Surnames that seem to tie into this story are : Blennerhassett, Talbot, O'Neill, Enright, Hickson, Groves, McElligot and Peevers. The Co. Kerry Enright name, is possibly connected to the Sydney Enright's (Sydney Enright's share DNA under the Hume/Humphries group of matches).
3 pockets of areas that were apparent with the above surnames: Dingle Peninsula, Listowel and Tralee (Eastern Side of the Township within 3-5 Km's).

A recent discovery has come to light, in the past week (Jan 2020). A DNA tester with the surname Huggard has appeared on my Father's kit - distant, but it's there. This tester is also associated with the Kerry Hickson/Hume story - They share a match (surname Neill) that is also based in the Co. Kerry grouping.
It sheds light and adds weight, that Richard Hickson (of Killorglin) is the son of Charles Hickson and Anne Huggard (albeit, this is a very strong hypothesis via DNA results). A few people that have trees, also show this connection as well. However, the Huggard name, seems to have also intermingled with various generations, and has now added a twist of which line the Huggard name is coming through.

(*) A few days ago, I had enough confidence to update my Ancestry "Tree", to reflect this newly founded Charles Hickson / Anne Huggard marriage. I wanted to see if "Thrulines" would give me an indication if it was indeed somewhat correct. Even though it's still just an indication at the moment, "Thrulines" does show enough of a connection via Anne Hickson - daughter of Charles & Anne.

Anne Hickson - sibling of my Richard, has indeed shown 14 descendants having DNA matching my Father and partly myself (as of 17th Feb), to show that the connection is most likely valid, between Charles Hickson & Anne Huggard. Majority of these matches can also show a Kerry connection, minimising the error rate of "Names to Places".



Now, the Tralee connection has very strong ties to the Blennerhassett family of Gortatlea, Ballyseedy.
The direct name of Blennerhassett is not a DNA match to myself as such, but a multitude of these interconnected matches, share a link or can show a family tree linking to Arthur Blennerhassett and Emily Williams. Why we are connecting to these 2 people, I don't know as of yet.
The places that these matches link to, is Gortatlea / BallyMcElligot, Ballyseedy and very recent discovery (Nov 19), was found at Poulawaddra (Peevers surname).
Here is a page with valuable info, regarding the family of the Blennerhassett's. It is where I am trying to identify what the connection maybe. The Gortatlea / BallyMcElligott PDF highlights Arthur Blennerhassett & Emily Williams.
Reading into this story, there is an involvement of this lineage having "Farmlands" in the town of Killiney. This is very close to the John Hume story I know of (as above) and wonder if there was a marriage/entanglement of a Blennerhassett through John's family instead of the Hickson line?
This whole story, is connected to the Group 1 DNA Matches and that also ties in with H-H's story.

So, to take it to another level and make matters a little more confusing, a Blennerhassett named DNA match, shares a link to my Paternal side (via my Aunt's DNA kit). 3 x DNA matches who are very closely related to my 1st Gen "Australian Born" Fitzgerald, also link with this Blennerhassett story. Hinting that there maybe some sort of Paternal Fitzgerald link, to this family of the Blennerhassett's.

History of the Blennerhassett's, show they were granted / settled on and mixed in with the Fitzgerald Lands of Co. Kerry, via ramifications of the Elizabethan Plantation era (post 1580).
This Fitzgerald lineage, is of my understanding, to be of the Dingle Knight lineage.
DNA via Ancestry, has only shown a dominance to my Paternal Fitzgerald's via Cork connections, not Kerry as yet. However, I'm keeping an open mind about it.

The other quirky thing is, there are some hints of genetic mixing of Blennerhassett "Palatinate" names with my DNA. The "German Palatinate" story, includes a group of people who were religiously persecuted around the 1700's and they were forced, to leave their country and settle where they were allowed to - usually in an area that was more predominantly based with Protestant's.
The surname "Switzer" has an interesting tie to this story. However, Miller and Myer are 2 really dominant names that myself and my Father share, but I haven't found a link to this Co. Kerry story.

This is where I'm up to, at the moment. It is probably why I show up on Ancestry's "Ethnicity" page, showing a Cork and Kerry dominant story. I knew about the Cork story, but not so much of the Kerry one. Very empowering.










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by Stories Of My Irish Families Sunday, October 20, 2019 No comments

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