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James Kelly of Canty Bay

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Kelly

Kelly Report 1 Apr 2023 18:50

I follow the line of the Kelly's of Canty Bay - North Berwick .
They were a long line of fishermen.

It is said they come from Ireland. I'd love to know which part of Ireland.

My Ancestor James Kelly Circa 1774 Married Janet Whitecross.

I would like to find out all I can on this couple, as my DNA shows the Kelly's to be irish not Scottish

nameslessone

nameslessone Report 1 Apr 2023 19:39

It is extremely difficult to find someone from Ireland without having a clue of where they cam3 from. DNA matches should lead you to an area.

Have you done any reasearch?

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 2 Apr 2023 10:34

Connected - very loosely

https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1401415

nameslessone

nameslessone Report 2 Apr 2023 12:51

There seems to be a lot on the internet about the similarity of Irish and Scots dna. Might be worth taking a look.

Kelly

Kelly Report 3 Apr 2023 18:37

Hi there I have a DNA test done as a gift through Ancestry. I don't understand the results.

But I knew Mum was Irish and had taken 5 generations on Dads family back to North Berwick. Yet Dads is showing more irish than scottish.

I have found an old book stating the Kelly's came to North Berwick from Buckhaven Fife just across the water, but there has to be an Irish connection.

My dads side were golf professionals and fishermen

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 3 Apr 2023 18:41

You need to do the research. That’s the only way to get answers.

Good luck

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 3 Apr 2023 19:14

Kelly -

Online records only go back so far, and the Irish connection may be from much longer ago .

In any case, Irish records are notoriously patchy.
I suspect you'll never find the answer you hope for.

nameslessone

nameslessone Report 3 Apr 2023 20:15

Don’t forget that Ancestry can only work on the data they have, that is why they update the ethnicity amounts one has every year. Over the years I have had some bigs changes.
It can be quite difficult to sort the Scots and Irish DNA - there was a lot of movement back and forth over time.

Kelly is like,to be a nightmare name to research but unless your father has/had his DNA tested you don’t know whether his irish inheritance is actually from his father or his mother.