Saturday, August 11, 2012

My Random Connections To Paul Ryan

Posted by Craig on 8/11/2012

This morning, Mitt Romney announced Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) as his running mate for the 2012 U.S. Presidential election.

As I did four years ago when Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were announced as VP nominees, I immediately began looking through Paul Ryan's family history to see if I might find any interesting links to my own family.

He is Irish and German, as am I, and I have plenty of cousins in the Midwest, so I was very excited to commence this search when I learned he was the nominee.

If Ryan and I are blood related, I determined it's most likely through his mother's side. His mom's maiden name is Hutter, and her ancestors are from Bavaria, Germany, where I have plenty of roots. Sure enough, I'm a descendant of a Bavarian-born woman named Cecelia HÜTHER (same family, more German spelling) - in fact, so is Nicolas Cage - she and her husband Heinrich Ludwig Vogelgesang are our most recent common ancestors.

The only problem is Ryan's Hutter roots haven't been nailed down to a particular town of origin in Bavaria, and therefore we can't trace his Hutter ancestry back beyond the 1800s, at least for now. (I will say it's likely we are connected though through the HUTTER/HUETHER family if you go back far enough. How far, not sure, but it's not the most common German name.)

BUT, I found a REALLY interesting connection nonetheless.

Paul Ryan was born and raised (and still lives in) Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin. Many of his Irish roots are in Rock County. Would you believe I have an Ireland-born ancestor myself who once lived in Rock County, Wisconsin?

My 5th great-grandfather Michael Tracy can be found in Rock County, Wisconsin in 1860 per the U.S. Census. In fact, he's believed to have died in Rock County sometime after 1873 but I haven't found the death record yet.

Born about 1802 in Ireland, Tracy immigrated to Canada in the late 1820s, had my 4th great-grandmother Mary Jane Tracy about 1832 in Hamilton Twp (Cobourg), Ontario. When Mary Jane's mother died in 1837, he remarried in 1841 to a Catherine Fitzpatrick. They went on to have 10 kids.

Michael immigrated to the United States with his second wife in about 1853, settling in -- you guessed it, Rock County, Wisconsin. He had a brother John Tracy who was already there.

My ancestor Michael Tracy and his brother John had children who lived in Janesville, and MANY descendants in Janesville. As far as I can tell, Paul Ryan was not one of them, but he was likely neighbors/friends/etc. with many of my own blood relatives, also of Irish descent, Tracy descendants.

Another interesting tidbit: Paul Ryan is HIMSELF a descendant of the Fitzpatrick family. His great-grandfather Patrick W. Ryan was born in 1862 in Wisconsin to Irish immigrants Patrick Ryan and Margaret Fitzpatrick. She was born in 1840, and there's no indication she's related to Catherine Fitzpatrick Tracy. But you never know.

[Also, as a Buffalo Bills fan, I have to say, when Paul Ryan's great-great-grandparents got married, the newspaper marriage notice would have said RYAN-FITZPATRICK. Kind of cool.]

10 comments on "My Random Connections To Paul Ryan"

Anonymous said...

Paul Ryan is 50% Irish, 37.5% German, and 12.5% English (from his Kay great-great-grandparents on his mother's side, both English-born).

Similar combination to Tom Cruise, actually - 3/8th German is identical.

Unknown on August 11, 2012 at 10:19 PM said...

His grandparents are Patrick William Ryan (1858-1917) and Mariah Murphy Ryan (1859-1947). You have the wrong Ryans listed

Patrick was born in Plymouth, Rock WI to James Ryan (of County Limerick Ireland) and Catherine O'Shea

Craig on August 12, 2012 at 12:48 AM said...

Are you sure, Dori? What's your source? I found a marriage record that identified PW's parents as Patrick Ryan and Margaret Fitzpatrick. But it could have been a different PW who also happened to live in Rock County. Regardless, the Rock County links I describe in the blog post would be the same.

NorthAmericanSavage on August 12, 2012 at 8:57 AM said...

Dori,
I am wondering if my ancestor was a sibling of James Ryan? Supposedly there were 7 brothers from Limerick.
James' brother Michael (if they were siblings) had a son he named Michael who was deaf, and enrolled him at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan. Since my great-grandfather was this deaf person, he did not pass down much information. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Bill on August 12, 2012 at 1:19 PM said...

That's interesting Dori. My great-great grandfather was James Ryan (1820-1892)born in County Limerick, emigrated to the US ending up settling in Green Bay. He worked as a civil engineer building the canal systems around Lake Winnebego.
He married Catherine Sullivan of County Kerry. They had seven kids, one named Humphrey who had a son named Patrick, who stayed in the Green Bay area.

Kay said...

Does anyone know if a Dennis Ryan from Clyde, Wisconsin might be on Paul's family tree? He was my great- grandfather and we call him the mystery man since we have no background about him. He was born in 1839 and died in 1911. He was a farmer. Kay

Anonymous said...

He's not really any more Irish than Obama who can trace his mother's origins to the Kearneys of Monegall, Co. Offaly.

Anonymous said...

would be interesting translated into infographics

Anonymous said...

I would like to know if the James Ryan who emigrated here and settled in Janesville in 1851 is of any relation to the George Ryan in my family that emigrated here and settled in Watertown, WI in 1852. George's first-born son was named James as well, so it's plausible, yet I have no proof.

Jada on September 6, 2021 at 1:41 PM said...

Loved readingg this thank you

 

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