The subject group classifies various Maguires into categories and displays their respective matches. On that site, cousin Sam McCown and I are shown under McCown McAuley Maguire, indicating that our matches are with the MacAuley family which is one of the four major families of Clan Maguire. The others are Maguire (of whatever spelling), McManus and McMahon.
Just this last week, we got our first Y-DNA match with Robert McMahon at 61/67 markers. We also gained a 61/67 match with Robert McNeill. All of these families lived historically in County Fermanagh, a portion of which is named Clanawley in honor of the MacAuley family. Others lived in that portion of County Tyrone which borders County Fermanagh and also in County Cavan.
Another recent match is Bill Buchanan at 33/37 markers who has found an interesting story about how the Maguire DNA happened, in at least one case, to occur in a Buchanan. I hope that we find such a missing link in the McCown line as well so that we can tie our South Carolina ancestor with ancestors in Ulster and perhaps in Scotland as well.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A Cluster of Maguire DNA Families
One McGuire in particular has a great many DNA matches that show promise of shedding light not only on his family but perhaps illuminating new information on the rest of us with Maguire DNA. He has the highest matches
with the reconstructed DNA of Donn Carrach Maguire, first Maguire prince of Fermangh of any of the Maguires tested to date. This reconstruction of the DNA of Donn Carrach Maguiire was the result of a DNA study by
Trinity College, Dublin using hundreds of American test subjects from all of the major families of Clan Maguire.
My personal results to date indicate a genetic distance of 4 with Donn Carrach at 37 markers. Since he died in 1301, a little more than 800 years ago, there has been ample time for accidental mutations to occur in the DNA of his descendants. Brad McGuire's line has the fewest mutations in that time, in fact, appears to have no mutations. Since all of the principal families of the Maguire Clan are related to the ruling line by blood, this Clan is the basis for an excellent DNA study and supporting documentation.. Again in the case of my McCown line, we now have high quality matches with all of the major families of the Clan Maguire. They are Maguire, McManus, MacAuley and McMahon.
with the reconstructed DNA of Donn Carrach Maguire, first Maguire prince of Fermangh of any of the Maguires tested to date. This reconstruction of the DNA of Donn Carrach Maguiire was the result of a DNA study by
Trinity College, Dublin using hundreds of American test subjects from all of the major families of Clan Maguire.
My personal results to date indicate a genetic distance of 4 with Donn Carrach at 37 markers. Since he died in 1301, a little more than 800 years ago, there has been ample time for accidental mutations to occur in the DNA of his descendants. Brad McGuire's line has the fewest mutations in that time, in fact, appears to have no mutations. Since all of the principal families of the Maguire Clan are related to the ruling line by blood, this Clan is the basis for an excellent DNA study and supporting documentation.. Again in the case of my McCown line, we now have high quality matches with all of the major families of the Clan Maguire. They are Maguire, McManus, MacAuley and McMahon.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Still Searching
No new progress to report but we are continuing both conventional and DNA genealogical research. I am expecting new input in the next couple of weeks and will report any new developments here.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
MacQueen, MacGuire and MacEwen
Barry McCain of the Ulster Heritage Group, http://ulsterheritage.com, found mention of MacEoghain in Argyll who were bards and had some connection with the Maguires. Using the Google search term "MacQueen and MacGuire" I found that the names in the title block above are associated with each other. And also with McKown and McQuown, which latter is itself a spelling variant of McCown.
The MacEwens (MacEoghain) were bards to the Campbells of Argyll and Breadalbane and to the MacDougalls of Dunollie.
This does not prove anything about my family history, but is an avenue which must be investigated because it ties together my Irish and Scottish matches and surname with my Maguire DNA. That in itself offers some encouragement.
Barry says that he will look into this more closely when he returns from Ulster in the next couple of weeks. It also give a bit of credibility to our word of mouth family tales of being of highland Scots descent. In this case the Scots most likely having come from Ireland.
The MacEwens (MacEoghain) were bards to the Campbells of Argyll and Breadalbane and to the MacDougalls of Dunollie.
This does not prove anything about my family history, but is an avenue which must be investigated because it ties together my Irish and Scottish matches and surname with my Maguire DNA. That in itself offers some encouragement.
Barry says that he will look into this more closely when he returns from Ulster in the next couple of weeks. It also give a bit of credibility to our word of mouth family tales of being of highland Scots descent. In this case the Scots most likely having come from Ireland.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Help ont the Way
Barry McCain reports that Dr. Roulston sent parts of my DNA package to Dr. Brian Traynor in Fermanagh. Dr. Traynor specializes in Fermanagh genealogy and is personally known by Barry. I am most anxious to see what Dr. Traynor has to say about any connection between MacEoin/McCown and any of the Maguire Clan surnames. The momentum seems to be building and that gives us hope for an early connection. It would be great if we could find someone in Fermanagh who has the same surname or a spelling variant thereof willing to be tested to see if we match at 67 markers.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
This Just in to Our Newsdesk
Dr. William Roulston has recived and read our DNA genealogical package and will send his comments to Barry McCain next week. Barry's email included a short piece about how easily surnames changed between Mag Uidhir (Maguire) and Mac Eoin (McCown) although he didn't use this specific example. If you would like a copy of that email please contact me.
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Right People
In any endeavor, it helps to know the right people. In this search for my line of McCowns, I am most fortunate to have Barry McCain, barramccain@gmail.com, administrator of the FTDNA Ulster Heritage Group, http://www.ulsterheritage.com, in my corner and hopefully Dr. William Roulston, Chief of Research, ULster Historical Foundation. The latter is dependent on Dr. Roulston's evaluation of my Y-DNA results and whether or not we have enough data to proceed. Dr. Roulston received the data by email today and I am on pins and needles awaiting his analysis.
Barry McCain has pinned down Enniskillen, Fermanagh, as the most likely loacaton of my McCowns no longer ago than 1600AD. He believes that we are paternally related to the Maguire Clan and that the MacEoin/McCowns are in fact part of the Clan. This is most encouraging.
Barry McCain has pinned down Enniskillen, Fermanagh, as the most likely loacaton of my McCowns no longer ago than 1600AD. He believes that we are paternally related to the Maguire Clan and that the MacEoin/McCowns are in fact part of the Clan. This is most encouraging.
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