The McPadden
Project

The Branch Atlas · a living research map

Every branch begins as a question.

The atlas shows where evidence currently leads, where research is still forming and where another McPadden family can help widen the story.
See the current atlas Could my branch belong?
Deepest current researchCounty Leitrim
Bridgeportdocumented
Scotlandemerging
Wider worldinvited
Relationship and research diagram · not a geographic map

How to read the atlas

Invitation without overclaiming.

McPadden is an uncommon name, which makes a shared origin compelling to investigate. The surname alone does not prove that two living branches are related.

Documented branch

People and relationships are supported by reviewed records. Open questions still remain visible.

Emerging branch

Research is active, but the evidence or narrative is not complete enough for a finished branch experience.

Possible connection

A name, place or pattern suggests a relationship. It is a lead—not a proved family link.

Invited branch

A place is held open for McPaddens whose histories have not yet entered the project.

Current research landscape

What belongs on the map today.

The atlas will grow by changing states—not by pretending unfinished research is complete.
01
County LeitrimDocumented + expanding

The Irish heart of the founding research

Tullynascreen, Dromahair, parish life, neighboring households and the relatives whose lives continued in Ireland form the project’s deepest current foundation.

The collection begins with Tullynascreen and now distinguishes Sarah’s Derrindangan family line. It is not a map of every McPadden household in Ireland, or proof that these lines share an ancestor.
Meet Mary of Tullynascreen Explore life in Leitrim Sarah’s separate Derrindangan family line See the Irish household and its connections
02
Bridgeport, ConnecticutDocumented branch

A family network takes root

Catherine Kelly’s household, James’s arrival, Catherine McNiff and five children turn a destination on a passenger record into a changing American family world.

The Bridgeport branch is the most developed emigrant branch because it currently has the strongest joined evidence and family stewardship.
Follow James to Bridgeport See the family take root
03
ScotlandEmerging branch

A different kind of migration story

Thomas went to Scotland; his family is documented back in Tullynascreen by 1919/1920. Whether Mary lived to see their return remains unknown. The full Scotland story is still being assembled.

A finished story will wait for the records, relationships and chronology to pass the same review used elsewhere.
04
The wider worldInvited branches

The atlas is deliberately unfinished

New Jersey, Massachusetts, Canada, Australia and other destinations are reported family directions or research leads—not branches this project has already connected.

A location or a shared surname can begin a question. It cannot complete the answer by itself.

Bring a branch into the project

A small lead can begin a larger story.

Have a correction or a family connection? Start here →

For a family memory or branch introduction: stories@mcpaddenproject.org.

Researching another branch can be substantial work. The most promising collaborations begin with a committed family steward who can help the project understand what the family already knows—and what it does not.
  1. 01

    Branch lead

    A person, approximate time and place give the project a question worth preserving.

  2. 02

    Emerging branch

    A family steward helps assemble records, memories, contradictions and privacy boundaries.

  3. 03

    Documented branch

    Core identities and relationships survive evidence review, with uncertainties clearly labeled.

  4. 04

    Story-ready branch

    Enough human, historical and visual context exists to tell more than a list of names.

  5. 05

    Published branch

    The family steward reviews the result; permissions, provenance and living-person privacy are settled.

A family partner brings

Knowledge, material and stewardship

  • An earliest known McPadden, with an approximate date or place
  • A working tree, family notes, records, photographs or remembered stories
  • Honesty about contradictions and uncertain identifications
  • Permission and privacy decisions for living people and family-held material
  • Time to review the branch as it develops

The project provides

Structure, context and human storytelling

  • Consistent evidence labels and visible unknowns
  • Historical, cultural and geographic context without turning norms into facts
  • Document explanation, provenance and links to original sources where possible
  • A story-first branch experience connected to the larger family landscape
  • Conservative privacy and a durable starting point for future researchers

Enter the branch we can currently document most deeply

See people and relationships without facing one enormous tree.

Open the connected family overview