Welcome Faolain Cousins! introduce yourself

[MikeWhalen]

Welcome cousins!
If your here, it must be because you think, or know, there is a Y-line link to our large clan of Irish male ancestors.
There are many variations of our surname, some of the more common in our surname project are: Whelan, Whalen, Phelan, Phalen, Whelin, Whealen, Fallin, Whelehan, Wheelehan, Wheeler. There are also some other Irish surnames that were considered synonymous with Whalen, like Hyland.

Then there are our 'NPE' families, who have different surnames but match one of the dozen or so Whalen/Phalen dna grouping's we have. NPE's are of course a rather common occurrence back in the days of poverty, war and no medical treatments. There were many name changes via adoption, apprenticing ( a particular Irish tradition), being orphaned, marital affairs and a smaller percentage from more sinister goings on.

We hope you will introduce yourself, tell us a bit about your journey here, let us know your triumphs and frustrations, ask or give advice and generally check in to this sub forum as a central communication hub for all us 'son of the wolf'.

You can start your own topic, or post within one already started. We have several different bunch's of info in the main thread, back when we did not have a separate sub forum for our ancient histories, stories, modern dna tests/results and any other interesting tidbits you'd like to share.



Francis is the original Whalen/Phalen DNA surname project administrator and she lives in Australia. I came on board several years ago as a co-administrator and live in Canada. Francis is particularly good at working the test data and keeping things organized. I'm not sure what I'm good at besides blathering on about various subjects.

So don't be shy, announce yourself cousins, even if you did it on one of the other boards, cause with computers, its hard to keep all the info intact and in one place forever. We hope that Anthrogenica, with the kind support of its owners, moderators and administrators, will be the permanent central clearing house for us Whalens, Phalens, Whealehans and such!

best regards

Mike Whalen

[Leophelan]

Hi my name is Leo Phelan
Firstly I am gob smacked to find you talking about a subject that has intrigued me most of my adult life, often wondered about knowing more though our dad had limited knowledge because the Irish didn't talk much about the old country.
Our family arrived in Australia in 1911 from Moycarky Tipperary farmers my great grand father Michael only lasted a couple of years in Australia then returned to the farm he left in Moycarky his wife Bridget returned to Ireland some 25 years later to retire leaving my grandfather to sow the seed sort of speak.
I am keen to get to know more, you have done an amazing job in your endeavours for our name sake I will be sharing with our clan for all to see your amazing work we want to have a reunion of the phelan clan here next year.
I am keen to get my dad now 87 to do a DNA as he is the elder of our clan here in Australia I have been back to Ireland in 2013 and reconnected with our clan in tipperary and keen to know more
Thanks for your time
Leo Phelan

[MikeWhalen]

Leo
on behalf of myself and my co admin Francis (who is also an Aussie), welcome to the Whalen/Phelan sub forum.

Its great you not only have info on your Irish roots, but now have actual present day connections...man are you lucky!!
I (and many other Irish of the diaspora) have little info and no contacts in Ireland and my one hope is someday, a 'Whalen' cousin of mine will get DNA tested, match well with me and know alot more about the family history than I do!!

For obvious reasons, I strongly support getting tested, just so you know, there are a few 'tricks' to it all that can help you decide what to get and who gets tested. Y DNA, which shows your fathers fathers fathers line is of course the core of our DNA surname group and its how we find genuine matches that where lost to history. As long as the testee is a direct son in the line, it does not matter much who gets tested as for the Y line, it should not matter...it tests STR's

But, there are other tests, that test autosomal dna for instance, and it can be a big deal who gets that tested...usually, the older the generation the better, as it tells not only the fathers and mothers line, but all the other lines that contribute to your dna package-so the older generation (like your dad) has info in his dna that the younger generations dont have...these tests test the SNP's

There is alot more that than, I just simplified it to a great extent, and while I have been tested for all this stuff, I am best on the y dna and deep y related family SNP markers
Francis is really good at the science and numbers so she is probably of more use there....this forum is excellent for asking questions, there are lots of experts here...also check out some of the older threads cause I guarantee if you have a question, someone else has had the same one!

have you looked at the FTdna website for the actual results of the Y dna testing for our surname? The link is at the bottom of my post, you can see all the different groups guys dna have fit in too, as would yours if you got tested

best of luck

Mike