A government department is walking back from claims contained in a £2,200 booklet delivered to the White House that detailed JD Vance’s supposed links to a named and prominent Ulster emigrant
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons had planned to hand over the hard backed dossier personally to the vice president during a visit to Washington in March.
While the booklet was delivered to White House officials, DNA research published more than three years ago contradicts the claimed link between Andrew Williamson Vance and Coagh, Co Tyrone, to Mr Vance.
Minister ordered research into named Ulster emigrant and JD Vance shortly after election of President Donald Trump (Getty Images) (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
But the Department for Communities is now downplaying any potential connection between the Vance named in the dossier to the vice president.
“The Department’s initial investigation suggested a potential connection to Andrew William Vance who emigrated to America,” a spokesperson said.
“This project was part of the Department’s work around US250 which highlights the people who travelled from Ulster to the USA and made a huge contribution in shaping the country we know today.
“The story of JD Vance highlights the influence and spirit of the Scots Irish and whilst record keeping in the 1700s isn’t of the quality that it is today, it has not deterred people like the Vice President from declaring their Scots Irish roots.”
Dossier was to be presented to Vice President JD Vance
Following the November US presidential election, a researcher was hired in the hope of tracing a link with the 18th century emigrant from Co Tyrone called Andrew Williamson Vance, a member of a prominent family that included clergymen and claims one died during the 1689 Siege of Derry.
By February, just weeks before the Washington St Patrick’s Day visit, the researcher had hit the “proverbial brick wall” and was telling the department “no definitive link could be found”.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons and
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly with President Trump in Washington (Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye) (Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye/Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye )
Yet, a department official wrote in an email: “There is maybe a bit more to do locally to better trace (the vice-president’s) roots, but at this stage I think we have to go with what we have.”
The official added that work should begin “to get a draft done in a day or so but this is a top priority”.
Two dozen copies of a glossy 24-page dossier, costing £2,251 to produce but downgraded from hardback to “coated” paper as time was running out, were printed.
Dave Vance, a genealogist and president of the Vance Family Association, said he is “certain” there is no direct link between Andrew Vance and the US vice-president.
“There is no DNA link between the two sets of Vances,” he told the Irish News.
DNA research published by the association in 2022 shows the genealogical line in the booklet detailing a link from JD Vance to Andrew from Coagh has its known end with an unconnected and differently first named Vance, and with ultimately unknown origins outside the US.
Dave Vance does believe this Vance came from Ulster.