Simon, Hurd, Dolan, and Related Families

Welcome!

This website traces the genealogies of several family groups. You can access them by using the search function to the left or by clicking on one of the links below (which will go to the person in a new tab in your browser). Once you are at an individual record, you can navigate to the person's descendants or ancestors by clicking on the appropriate tab at the top of the individual record. Here are the families on this site:

• The Simon family of Willebadessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany and its descendants in America. In addition to the short-cut button at the top of this screen, you may want to access the family by starting with either--
  

  • Levin Gregor Benedikt Simon (1712-1771), the earliest known ancestor of the Simons on this website, or
  
  
  • Bernard Simon (1858-1948), who emigrated to Baltimore and is the ancestor of the largest group of Levin's descendants in America.

• The Gibmeyer family, starting with Frederick Gibmeyer, who was born Johann Henrich Gibbemeyer in Hagen am Teutoburger Wald, Germany, in 1814. He emigrated to Baltimore in the late 1830s. The Gibbemeyer family had lived for several centuries in Hagen, and took their name from a large farm that they owned, the Gibbehoff, which was located near the center of town. The Gibbehoff is memorialized by a street of that name today in Hagen.

• The Schütte and Zarnitz families of Baltimore, Maryland, which intermarried into the Gibmeyer and Simon families, respectively.

• The Barcant family of Trinidad and Tobago, beginning with Jean Pierre Auguste Barcant, who came to Trinidad from France in the early 1800s.

• The Krogh family of Trinidad, which is part of a more extensive Krogh family originating in Denmark. This family may be viewed starting with Robert Joseph Krogh (1904-1980), a noted physician in San Fernando, Trinidad. The Krogh family in Trinidad married into an extensive network of French creole families, including the following:
  

  • The d'Abadie family, which originated in southwest France, and whose members emigrated to Trinidad in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
  
  
  • The Sellier family, which first settled in other islands of the Caribbean colonized by France (Saint-Christophe, Guadeloupe, Carriacou, and Saint-Martin) and whose members came to Trinidad in the late 1700s.
  
  
  • The de Verteuil family, descended from Michel Julien, the Chevalier de Verteuil. He was a member of the British forces that captured Trinidad in 1797 and subsequently settled in Trinidad. A reasonably complete genealogy of the de Verteuil family is on this site, and a second chart of the Trinidad branch of the de Verteuils (dating from 1970) is also viewable.

• Several Hurd families from Kent County, Delaware, and Caroline County, Maryland:


• The descendants of William Hurd (died 1799), who first appears in public records in 1776 in Caroline County, Maryland, near what is Greensboro, Maryland, today. His descendants farmed on both sides of the Delaware/Maryland state line.


• The descendants of George Hurd (ca. 1767-after 1840), who first appears in the records of Kent County, Delaware around 1800. This Hurd family appears to have resided mostly in Delaware.


• The descendants of Thomas Hurd (ca. 1826-1867) and Rachel Foreacres, who resided in Kent County, Delaware. This Thomas Hurd may have been a grandson of George Hurd, but the connection is speculative at this point.


• The descendants of Daniel Hurd (ca. 1822-after 1880) and his wife Miriam.


• The descendants of Robert B. Hurd (1856-1918) and Lucy Snyder. This Hurd family originated in northeastern Pennsylvania and moved to Delaware in the 1800s.
  


• The Clark family of Kent County, Delaware, and Caroline County, Maryland, beginning with John Clark (1787-1870).


• Several Dolan families in Termonamongan Parish, in the vicinity of Killeter in western County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Termonamongan Parish has a rich and conflicted history, which I have written about separately here.
  
  The Dolan (Ó Dobhailén) sept of Clan Comman originated among the Uí Maine in Connacht, in western Ireland. The earliest recorded instances of the name occur in the twelfth century in Clonmacnowen, County Galway, and Athlone, County Roscommon. The sept migrated northeast into County Fermanagh (where Dolans were ereneghs in Belcoo, Clanawley Barony) and eventually County Tyrone. A Daniel O'Dolan is listed as living in Tattycor Townland, Parish of Dromore, County Tyrone in 1665. This account from surname researchers in Ireland is generally supported by research that suggests that the common ancestor for Dolans lived in the borderland between County Cavan and County Leitrim.
  
  Dolans have likely lived in Termonamongan Parish for centuries. A townland in Termonamongan Parish--Golandun Dolan--bears the family name. Due to the lack of written vital records before the 1860s, though, it is not clear exactly how the various Dolan family groupings in the area relate to one another. There are four major family groupings in the parish with descendants still living in County Tyrone today. They are shown below. Thirteen other Dolan families or family groupings that lived in Termonamongan Parish can be found by going to this supplementary page. Any further information on how these various families might interrelate would be welcome.
  
  You can click on the family/townland link below for a summary chart or on individual names below for a more detailed look at that person's family.
  
  
  • The Dolans of Seegronan Townland, located south-southwest of Killeter town. The documentary evidence for this family begins with John Dolan (1805-1883) and his brothers William Dolan (1807-1896), George Dolan (1809-1882), and Patrick Dolan (died about 1862). Family oral history takes this family back an additional two generations to the grandfather of John Dolan, known as "Auld Shawn" Dolan. This Dolan family, via marriage, is related to a number of other families on this website. Most of the children of John Dolan emigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; one daughter married Francis McCanney and moved to the vicinity of Drumquin--her descendants can be found in County Tyrone, England, Scotland, Canada, and the United States.
  
  
  • The Dolans of Killeter Townland, located west of Killeter town, descended from Francis Dolan (1789-1872). Descendants of this family still live in and around Killeter today. A family descended from James Dolan (ca. 1835-1885) appears to be related to this set of Dolans, as well. Y-DNA testing of male descendants show that this family grouping of Dolans shares a common Dolan-surnamed ancestor with the Seegronan Dolans, with the common ancestor likely living in the mid-1700s.
  
  
  • The Dolans of Crilly's Hill Townland, in which the bulk of Killeter town is located, descended from Patrick Dolan (1805-1864), a spirit merchant in Killeter town in the mid-1800s along with his son Charles. This family moved out of the Killeter area in 1877 to Scotland, and settled predominantly in the Glasgow area. After the death of Charles Dolan in 1907, his widow returned to County Tyrone to live with her brother and a daughter returned to work in Killeter and married into the McSorley family.
  
  
  • The Dolans of Ardarver Townland, located northwest of Killeter, beginning with James Dolan (ca. 1831-1903). Descendants of this family also live in townlands to the north of Killeter today. Y-DNA testing of male descendants show that this group of Dolans is genetically distinct from the Seegronan and Killeter Dolans, in terms of direct paternal Dolan lineage. Autosomal DNA testing shows that members of this family grouping share other ancestors (via maternal lines) with the other Dolan groupings.
  
  DNA testing also links the Seegronan Dolans to three other Dolan families in the United States via common (although as yet unidentified) Dolan-surnamed ancestors:
  
  
  • The descendants of Patrick Dolan (1826-1903) who emigrated to the United States around 1846, married Anna Gallagher, and settled in Minnesota. Y-DNA testing of male descendants suggests that the common ancestor here lived in the early 1700s.
  
  
  • The descendants of Michael Dolan (1844-1928) who emigrated to the United States in 1868, married Bridget Lynch, and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Five autosomal DNA matches between his descendants and a descendant of the Seegronan Dolans are consistent with him being the nephew of John Dolan (1805-1883).
  
  
  • The descendants of David C. Dolan (1858-1904), who emigrated to the United States in 1875, married Frances Mary Harding, and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Y-DNA testing of male descendants suggests a divergence of this line from the Seegronan Dolans later in time than the divergence between the Seegronan and Killeter Dolans.


• The Carr family of County Donegal. A compelling analysis of the origins of the Carr families on this website, based on DNA testing data, was commissioned by Charlie Carr and is posted here with his permission.
  
  
  • The main set of Carr families on this website begin with Thomas Carr (ca. 1776-1866) of Drumgorman near Mountcharles and including numerous descendants of his son Simon Carr (1812-1888) of Pettigo, Templecarn Parish.
  
  
  • DNA testing shows that another Donegal Carr family, starting with Lawrence Carr, is related through a common ancestor in the 1700s.
  
  
  • DNA testing also shows that a third Donegal Carr family, starting with James Carr, is related through a common ancestor in the 1600s.


• The McGillin family of Philadelphia associated with McGillin's Olde Ale House on Drury Street, beginning with William "Pa" McGillin (1827-1901), born in the Plumbridge District of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. A related Philadelphia McGillin family is descended from Bernard McGillin of County Tyrone, perhaps a brother of William McGillin. A third McGillin family is descended from Thomas McGillin. If you reached this page from the McGillin Family History webpage, you can return there by clicking here.

Submit Information

If you would like to submit information for inclusion in this website, please use this Family Worksheet, or the "Suggest" tab on any given individual or family page, to send me new or additional data on members of the above families. There is also a "Submit Photo/Doc" tab that you can use to upload photographs or other documents to attach to a particular person's record. Thank you!

My Thanks to Genealogical Partners and Contributors

Many people have assisted me over the years, or have published research from which I was able to work, in creating the database of information available on this website. I am deeply grateful for their work and assistance. A listing of their names can be found here.

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Permission to use photographs and illustrations from the copyrighted works of Anthony de Verteuil, C.S.Sp., has been kindly provided by the author.

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Images and data from documents from the Departmental Archives of Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, reproduced with permission in accordance with the Departmental policies regarding the non-commercial use of information.

Images and data from documents from the Departmental Archives of Charente, France, reproduced under the Etalab Open License 2.0.

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Contact Me

If you have any questions or comments about the information on this site, please contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.


All the best!
Bob Simon