Billy Maher Road in Tennessee

From DNA research on Ancestry, I've known for a while that I match several of the descendants of a William Maher who died in Tennessee. I actually share quite a bit of DNA with his descendants. On MyHeritage, I match one of his descendants as "extended family". Our predicted relationship is 2nd cousin 2x removed. We share 126cM and 4 segments. William Maher (aka Billy) was her great-grandfather. According to his death certificate, he was born in 1835, no month or day given, and died in 1927. His parents are listed as "unknown". The death certificate was completed by his son, Thomas, of Bartlett Tennessee. Billy's place of birth is only given as Tipperary. He did, however, have a street in Bartlett, TN named after him and he is a legend in those parts.

In 2016, the local newspaper (The Bartlett Express) published a little historical article about the "fiesty" Billy.

According to this, he came to the USA in 1849, which would've made him 14 at the time. The article also states he came to the USA with a brother (who worked on the NY Pennsylvania Railroad) and a sister. That he got into a fight in New York and fled to Mississippi. He married in 1883 in Mississippi, and they moved to Tennessee in 1887. 

As you know, stories like these generally have some truths in them but are usually wrong on many of the facts. It is simply the way human minds work, and how stories are passed along. Think about some of the stories in your own family.  The story says nothing about his parents, nor does it give the names of his brother and sister. A search of the records from Ellis Island for all Mahers who came to this country from 1848 - 1849 gives us 367 individuals. The closest is a William Maher who was 16 at the time (born in 1832) and came over in 1848. Nothing else is close. That individual came over with a girl named Anne Maher who was 14 at the time.  The boy is listed as a "cattledealer" and the girl as a "dressmaker".

In the US Federal census for 1900, he gives his birthday as Dec 1865 and says he has been in the US for 51 years (which would put him at an arrival in 1849).

Okay, but what about this fight that sent him fleeing first to Mississippi. Well a search of newspaper in New York City turned up one story about a William Maher and a fight, and it is a big one. I can absolutely understand him fleeing.  The event happened in 1869 in a bar room. There is a twist to the entire thing, however (would probably make for a good movie actually). Billy was arrested and sent to jail, but if you read the articles below carefully, you will learn that it was a setup. The man who Billy injured in the fight was a James Nelson aka Bully Nelson or "the 8th Ward Man-Eater".  And this James claimed he didn't know if he was going to recover from the injuries. He did, however, and was back on the streets bullying people in 1870. Clips from the various news stories are below. You can make up your own mind ;)

This was from 1870

I know that Billy Maher of Tennessee is a close relative of Ellen. Was he her brother? Or an Uncle? That much shared DNA could reasonably have the following relationships:

We definitely know we can rule some of these possibilities out. This is the chart of my matches relationships and mine

We can not possibly be 2nd cousins 2x removed, because we can not be second cousins based on relationships.  We also can not be 1st cousins in anyway removed or not removed. If Billy was Ellen's brother, then my DNA match and I would be 3rd cousins. Just straight up 3rd cousins (26% likelihood of that) If Billy was Ellen's half brother, then we would be half 3rd cousins (11% chance of that). If Billy was Ellen's Uncle, then my match and I would be 3rd cousins 1x removed (3C1R) (11% chance of that as well).  

As you can see, we share an unusually high amount of DNA for the possible relationships. What we know is that either Ellen and Billy shared at least one parent, or Billy was Ellen's uncle. But, that's all we know. Either his father's name was Patrick or Patrick Maher was his brother.  But that's no so simple. 

There is a William Maher baptized on Dec 11, 1835 in Ballycahill Parish born to a William Maher and a Jude Fogarty. That is the only William Maher born in December 1835. There is one born in 1834 in Boherlahan to a Patrick Maher and a Mary Conner and one in 1836 to a James Maher and Ellen Fitzgerald of Drangan. 

William Maher had 4 sons: William Joseph 1886, Thomas Patrick 1888 (he died in 1889), Thomas Francis 1890 and John Michael 1899.