Lauren,

Numerous people are still looking for James, father of Michael. We can conclusively rule out Margaret Foley as Michael's mother though. Margaret Foley was the mother of Garrett Cotter and DNA tests have established that Michael and Garrett descendants did not have the same James Cotter as their common ancestor. It appears that there were two James Cotters living in the Rathcormack area of Co. Cork at the same time, both were agricultural labourers, one of whom married Margaret Foley and had Garrett, the other was the father of Michael.

The DNA test results showed that Garrett and Michael did share a common ancestor going way back in time so they would have been distant cousins, but they weren't brothers.