CLAN DONNACHAIDH DNA REPORT
2007 – No 1
2006
was a very exciting year for the Clan Donnachaidh DNA
surname project. It grew by almost 100 participants and it is providing an
impressive amount of information together with the advances in DNA research.
The
DNA results can be seen on the Clan Donnachaidh
International website: http://www.donnachaidhinternational.com/
The project
and the Clan Donnachaidh Society
The project, which covers the names Robertson, Reid,
Duncan Stark, Duncanson, and several others associated with Clan Donnachaidh,
now has almost 300 participants. The project was set up in 2002 by Bill
Robertson, the International Vice-Chairman of the Clan Donnachaidh Society, to
cover the names associated with the clan.
Participants include society members and others who are
interested in discovering more about their remote or more recent origins. There
is no requirement to be a member of the clan society to take part but if you
would like to know more about the society, please see the Clan Donnachaidh
International website:
http://www.donnachaidhinternational.com/
If you would like to join the society you are very welcome
(an application form can be found on the website home page).
If you would like to join the project you can enrol on
the Family Tree DNA website at http://www.familytreedna.com/
under the project name Donnachaidh. Participants for the Y chromosome test must
be men descended in the male line from one of the clan surnames (Donachie,
Duncan, Duncanson, Reid, Robertson, Stark, some variants of these and several
other names).
Project
administrators
Tim Duncan MiTnacnuD[at]aol.com
Bill Robertson billrobertson[at]donnachaidhinternational.com
Stephanie Robertson dna[at]pt.lu
Results to date
At the time of writing (mid-January 2007) we have 246
sets of results representing a number of surnames and a wide range of results.
There are now nearly 300 who have enrolled. There is no predominant result that
can be said to represent the clan or even one of the surnames within the clan.
Among these results we have
138 different 12-marker haplotypes
157 different 25-marker haplotypes
136 different 37-marker haplotypes
However, the results are starting to coalesce. There
are eight Duncan
subgroups, one Reid subgroup, six Robertson subgroups and some larger Robertson
and Reid groupings of similar haplotypes.
Some dedicated testing by people researching the name
Duncan in the United States has produced some
excellent matches that confirm documentary family research. Some Robertson
families have been working along similar lines.
By selective testing the Duncan
researchers have been able to identify which Duncan
families that settled in the United
States have a common origin. It has proved
possible to link many of them, though the name and location of the common
ancestor is still unknown.
Using
DNA results to help in genealogical research
The results of Duncan Group A are used as an example
here.
Certain
basic principles are involved in genetic genealogy
• It
looks at a timeframe over the period of surname development.
• Follows
lineages by SURNAME
• Uses
the Y-DNA test for male research
Results for
the surname Duncan
• The
Duncan
participants are coalescing into eight defined subgroups.
• Over
20 men do not yet have DNA matches.
• The DNA results show that the Duncan surname developed along different male
lines over the period of surname development.
The Duncan Group A results for 25
markers are shown below. It will be noted that, with a few variations, the
results are very similar. This is the sort of result that is expected if the
people concerned share a common ancestor within an historical timeframe. One
interesting feature is that some members of this group have an additional
marker at 464e.
|
Duncan
Group A with 25-marker results
|
|
|
Through documentary research, the participants had
traced their ancestry back to six different men. It was not known how these men
were related.
Duncans in Walton County,
Georgia
Genealogical
question:
•
Were the Duncan
men living in Walton Co., Georgia during the time period 1820-1860 related?
–
Do they share a common ancestor?
•
Genealogical research has built a strong circumstantial
case, though no documentary proof has been found, that George, Anderson Elbert
and Brantly Duncan were brothers and the son of
Nelson Duncan.
How can DNA
testing help?
•
By testing male descendants from each known Duncan line from Walton Co., Georgia, this
will give a biological ‘fingerprint’ of each participant’s DNA.
•
This DNA ‘fingerprint’ is called a haplotype.
•
Compare the DNA test results from each descendant.
•
Look for near identical DNA haplotype/signature.
Results of Walton Co., Georgia DNA
testing:
•
DNA testing shows that the male descendants of George,
Anderson Elbert, and Brantly Duncan are indeed
biologically related.
•
DNA results show that these men share a common male
ancestor.
•
DNA validates the genealogical research that has been
amassed on these Duncans.
With genetic testing, researchers had proof that all
these lines were related, although documentary proof has not yet come to light.
Duncan researchers in the United States have tested a number of Duncan lines to see
whether they are related. In many cases a relationship has been demonstrated,
though it is not always known how and when the relationship occurred.
Using genetic testing for your
family research
If you are interested in using DNA testing for family
research:
- Seek out men from
families with the same surname who seem likely to be related to you (e.g.
they come from the area historically associated with your family or they
have other characteristics in common with your family, such as the same
unusual forenames).
- If you have already
compiled a family tree, it could be useful to test different branches to
obtain a collection of results to define the ancestral haplotype.
- If not much money is
available for testing, choose a 12-marker test to assess families that may
be related. This will indicate whether there is likely to be a close
relationship or not. An upgrade can always be ordered later if the results
look interesting.
A large number of different haplotypes
have emerged from the testing to date. Groups are starting to emerge. However,
as yet we almost certainly do not have results from all lineages for all the
surnames. If you are interested in using DNA results for genealogical research,
we would encourage you, where possible, to identify families who are likely to
be related to your family and approach them about testing.
Making the most of your
results in other ways
Don’t forget to keep your
contact details up to date. If you move or change your e-mail address, remember
to correct your page on the FTDNA site.
You can help genetic research in general by uploading
your results to the Y-search site. You can do this from your Y-DNA matches
page, where you will find the link under the following text.
Additional
possibilities for searching matches:
While our
database is not open to the wide public for privacy reasons, Family Tree DNA
has created Ysearch.org as a free public service so that people who have tested
with the different companies can compare their results. You will be able to determine
what portion of your personal information you want to disclose. Please note
that a new user ID will be created for you and you will be asked to choose a
new password. This new set of ID/Password is exclusive for Ysearch.org. You
will also be given the opportunity to upload your GEDCOM if you have
one.
Click
here to upload to Ysearch.org
An overview of the results
As has been stated earlier, most Clan Donnachaidh results fall into Haplogroup
R1b. This is the most common haplogroup in western
European populations. It is believed to have expanded throughout Europe as humans recolonized
after the last Ice Age. The latest research suggests that humans returned to Britain
only about 11 500 years ago; the first arrivals almost certainly belonged to
certain categories of Haplogroup R1b.
We also have quite a number of results in Haplogroup I. Haplogroup I
spreads up through central Europe and represents about 10-15% of men in
north-western Europe. We also have one or two
sets of results in Haplogroups R1a, E and J.
Within the R1b results most participants come into
certain broad categories. When defined by six markers the main categories are:
|
Principal clan surnames associated
with haplotype
|
Haplo-group
|
DYS 393
|
DYS 390
|
DYS 19
|
DYS 391
|
DYS 388
|
DYS 392
|
% of total
|
|
Duncan,
Duncanson, Reid, Roberts, Robertson, Stark
|
R1b
|
13
|
24
|
14
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
19%
|
|
Duncan,
Reid, Robertson
|
R1b
|
13
|
25
|
14
|
11
|
12
|
14
|
15%
|
|
Donachie, Duncan,
Duncanson, Inches, Reid, Roberts, Robertson, Stark
|
R1b
|
13
|
24
|
14
|
10
|
12
|
13
|
11%
|
|
Reid,
Robertson
|
I
|
13
|
22
|
14
|
10
|
14
|
11
|
6%
|
|
Duncan,
Robertson
|
R1b
|
13
|
24
|
14
|
10
|
12
|
14
|
6%
|
|
Duncan,
Reed, Robertson, Stark
|
R1b
|
13
|
23
|
14
|
10
|
12
|
13
|
5%
|
|
Duncan
|
R1b
|
13
|
26
|
14
|
10
|
12
|
13
|
4%
|
|
Reid,
Robertson
|
R1b
|
13
|
23
|
14
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
3%
|
|
Reid,
Robertson
|
R1b
|
13
|
25
|
14
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
3%
|
|
Duncan,
Reid, Robertson
|
R1b
|
12
|
24
|
14
|
10
|
12
|
13
|
2%
|
It will be seen that, even at six markers, there is
no haplotype that represents the majority of the clan
results. Consequently, so far there is no evidence of a genetic profile that
represents a typical Duncan, Reid or Robertson. The highest number of results
is found in the 13 24 14 11 12 13 category, which is the category that occurs
most frequently in Britain
and probably represents the earliest settlers.
Matches with other surnames (on 37
and 67 markers)
Most participants have achieved fairly close matches
with other surnames on 12 and 25 markers. There are some who have matches with
other surnames at 37 and in a few cases even 67 markers.
So far all the 37 and 67 matches occur among
participants who come into certain categories of very frequently occurring haplotypes. They will be identified below, when the
principal haplotypes are discussed in detail.
Trying to identify origins from
matches with other surnames
Family Tree DNA points out in a section on Understanding matches with different
surnames:
The range
of generations for the common ancestor extends to 76.9 generations, or almost
2000 years for those cases where there is not a surname in common. Therefore
the importance of a surname link is paramount to provide a comfortable
conclusion of relatedness. Most of the time random matches with people with
different surnames do not stand the test for extended DNA testing.
Some of these surname matches seem to come from
particular areas (perhaps a number of Scottish or a number of Irish results).
Surname maps
The distribution of these names can be studied by
means of the surname maps that are now available on the Internet. The most
recent for Great Britain
can be found on the Surname Profiler site:
http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/
This was developed from a research project based at
University College London.
If you click on Start
a surname search at the top of the home page, you can see how the
distribution of a surname has developed by comparing results in 1881 and 1998.
If you click on the Geographical Location
or Frequency and Ethnicity headings,
you can find more information about the surname.
There does not seem to be an easily accessible
Internet option for Ireland
at present. There is a site that lists the main Irish surnames by county and
barony but does not provide maps
http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/
For charting the spread of names in the USA,
the Hamrick site is easily available: http://www.hamrick.com/names/index.html
No matches (even on 12
markers)
At the other end of the
spectrum, some people have no matches, even at 12 markers.
The people concerned tend to have more unusual
results in that it is not possible to identify the haplogroup
by analysing the haplotype. They come into the
categories of less common haplotypes, which
registered only one or two occurrences even in a 2003 six-marker survey in Britain and Ireland (see below). There are no
matches for these results in the Clan Donnachaidh
project, even at six markers.
Comparing the Clan Donnachaidh results with other results in Britain and Ireland
In May 2003 a team of scientists published the
results of tests in 23 small towns in Great Britain among men whose
paternal grandparents were born within a 20-mile radius of the central point.
These results were compared with similar samples from men in Norway (Bergen
and Trondheim), Denmark
together with neighbouring Schleswig-Holstein in Germany,
the Basque country and two towns in Ireland. Castlerea
in central Ireland
was chosen because it had no known history of contact with Anglo-Saxon and
Viking invaders. Rush, to the north of Dublin,
is on the coast.
Because earlier research had indicated the similarity
of Celtic and Basque Y chromosomes, the Basque samples were included to help
provide a representation of the Y chromosome of the indigenous population of
the British Isles. Similarly, the samples from
northern Germany/Denmark and Norway
were included to provide a comparison for groups whose ancestors came into Britain from
the north and east.
Six markers were tested (DYS393, 390, 19, 391, 388,
392). The results provide an overview of the distribution of certain haplotypes in Britain. Even when only six markers
are considered there is a marked variation in the frequency of results.
The most frequently occurring Clan Donnachaidh results have been compared with the results of
this survey. Charts have been drawn up for the six-marker haplotypes
concerned on the basis of the 2003 survey results, showing the percentage of
the total sample in the particular localities.
The places where samples were taken are listed below,
with their abbreviations.
