Research Tips

McConnell Genealogy

Research Tips

I have had the most success with the following websites:

1. Ancestry: www.ancestry.com- this is an especially good place for census information. Their public genealogies are a good way to find what other researchers have found. However, this is a starting point. Your genealogy should ideally be based on links to original source documents.

2. Family Search Labs: http://www.labs.familysearch.org. This is an excellent free resource. Sometimes I find that a search for census information using this index finds information the Ancestry indexes did not find. Also this site links to a lot of sources previously not easily available, like many state indexes. The Ohio death index and the West Virginia death index from this site have given me some excellent information.

3. The LDS site at: www.familysearch.org. This is especially good for marriage information and the IGI is a useful source of clues. There are links to other researchers' genealogies. You need to be wary, especially if you see a lot of information with almost no details, since some researchers appear to have just made things up based on guesses.

4. Many states provide good indexes, many of which were compiled as WPA work programs during the depression. Both Indiana and Illinois have land indexes. Illinois has some court records. Indiana and Illinois have good marriage indexes, for example. Indiana recently put up a digital genealogy research site that I have just started to explore: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/

5. Land records are very useful: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/

6. The Find A Grave site: www.findagrave.com is free and excellent. Many users are attaching extensive amounts of information to the tombstone entries.

A change over recent years has been the use of DNA. So far McConnell DNA results show that most southern McConnells and about 25% of U.S. McConnells have Somerled DNA (as defined on the Clan Donald USA DNA project site) which closely matches Somerled DNA of those who are descended from Alexander McConnell, the person who died near Octorara Creek in Chester County, PA in 1729. It is likely, based on DNA results, that Alexander McConnell had brothers who settled in North Carolina.

See the Clan Donald USA DNA Project at: http://dna-project.clan-donald-usa.org/

How To Search For McConnells

1) McConnell is spelled a wide variety of ways, so you should use the Soundex option when searching for information about McConnells. A Soundex relies on the phonetic sound from a variety of spellings.

2) The name McConnell is commonly listed either with a space "MC CONNELL" or without the space. So when you search, remember to always search for both "McConnell" and "Connell". With most search engines, if you search only one of these ways, you will miss about half of the available entries.

3) Remember the second l is frequently left off of McConnel (sic) names, so in places with no Soundex, always check for "McConnel". If you forget to look for "McConnel" you will miss about a fourth of the available entries.

If you don't follow these suggestions, the ancestor you miss may be yours!

The McConnell/McDonald DNA Project

So far DNA results show that most southern McConnells have Somerled DNA (as defined on the Clan Donald USA site) which closely matches Somerled DNA of those who are descended from Alexander McConnell, the person who died near Octorara Creek in Chester County, PA in 1729. I am descended from Alexander and I can see my DNA closely matches that of DNA from descendants in North Carolina. So there is clearly a link. It may be that a descendant of Alexander moved to North Carolina or Alexander McConnell had brothers who settled in North Carolina.

www.nara.gov/genealogy

When you hit a brick wall...

If you have a male McConnell in your family, you should consider DNA. By now, with 56 samples to compare against, DNA is known for a large percentage of McConnell families in the U.S. So even if you can't find or do not have a link to who you are related to, you will more easily see a link if you know that certain families have a common DNA.

Does anyone out there know how to find the Robert McConnell who was in charge of artillery in the Revolutionary War? If so, please contact the author of this website.