Do you have Cosgrave / Cosgrove (or variant surnames) ancestry?  If so, please read on….

Did you know that there is a Cosgrove (and variants) One Name Study, with related Y-DNA project and Facebook page? All are open to the public, and there are no membership fees, so why not join many others researching this surname. 

The Cosgrove One-Name Study is focussed on the Cosgrove surname and its variant spellings, regardless of geographical origin.  The greater the number of people that participate, the more we will all learn about this surname.

The Cosgrove Surname Project (DNA Project) is open to males with the Cosgrove surname (or variants) in their paternal line who have taken a Y-DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA, helping to contribute to our understanding of the origins and migration of our Cosgrave surname.

The Cosgrove Surname Project Facebook Group is a forum for anybody with Cosgrove (or variants) ancestry, male or female. Why not join and tell us about your interest in the surname.

My Cosgrave ancestors lived in Malone, just outside of Belfast, County Antrim from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s, when James Steele Cosgrave (my great grandfather) left Ireland for New Zealand in 1864.  His elder brother, Alexander, had died a few years earlier, leaving no males in Ireland to pass on the Cosgrave surname, although there are many male descendants in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

In 2017 I took a Y-DNA test at FamilyTreeDNA, hoping to find other Cosgraves with whom I share DNA, but my closest matches all had European-sounding surnames, and not a Cosgrave in sight.  Then last month, a new match appeared, with the surname Cosgrove, and whose ancestors came from Dundonald, County Down, which is only about 10 miles from Malone.  Imagine my excitement!

Unfortunately our most recent common ancestor is just beyond readily available records, so we cannot identify who that common ancestor might be.  And this is where I need your help.

If you are a male Cosgrave (or variant spelling), with Northern Ireland ancestry, or if you are a female with Northern Ireland ancestry, and have a Cosgrave brother or paternal uncle, great uncle, etc., I would love to hear from you (see bottom of the screen), and hopefully I can convince you (or your male relative) to take a Y-DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA. 

The more people who test, the more we will all learn about our place in the overall ancestral male tree of life.