The Second ot Two Declared McCowns

Our 14th follower is Alex McCown and I would particularly like to hear from him so
we can compare family histories or just see what I can do to interest other McCown/McKowns in the blog.

In a search of the newly released free public access site for genealogy searches in
Northern Ireland, I did a search to see if I could find a mention of someone who could
be an ancestor of my great great grandfather, Lawrence, somewhere in South Carolina.
That search turned up an Alexander McCown who owned 400 acres of land in South Carolina in about 1750. My brother, Dick, had located the same information in his own research, but so far, we have no other information with which we could relate
with him.

One interesting aspect to our ongoing DNA tests is that both Jim McKown and I are SNP P66+, and by extension, my cousin, Sam is as well. Why do I make such a claim without
Sam having his deep subclades tested? Because we match on 66/67 markers and can document our family histories as well and last but not least, the one marker on which we do not match cannot keep him from being P66+ as well.

Sequel to Cabbages and Kings

All of my marker results from 68-111 have now been posted. I regret that I may
have sounded self satisfied in the previous posting. Actually, I had hoped that the
Italian sample and I were both exact matches on the five marker mentioned. That might have lent some hope that the sample came from a descendant of Cuchonnacht
Maguire who died in Genoa, Italy in 1608, and was a hero and a Maguire chief in his
own right. The total genetic distance between my results and the Italian sample is
a GD=12, with exact matches on only two of the five markers. Since the only other
Maguire tested for the five markers is an exact match with me, it looks as though,
pending the availability of the results of the rest of the Maguire DNA folks tested to 111 markers, that my results will be consistent with the other Maguire results.







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Of Cabbages and Kings

This just in from our news desk! The Italian DNA sample appears to be fading in the stretch. Of five markers for which he has been tested but I was not, he is a mismatch with the Maguires on DYS 462 by a GD=1 and on DYS 463 by a GD=11. So far,
the only other member with Maguire II DNA is Flouronelle Maguire who matches me exactly on the markers for which he has been tested to date above 67 markers including DYS 462 and 463. All of my results for markers 68 through 102 have been posted. The final nine may be posted sometime next week.

Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax

Mike Walsh, of the 11-13 Combo Group, says that there is no chance of the donor of
the DNA sample in Italy being retested. My impression is, that the donor is not be able to be retested. When I referred to the donor as "the Italian", that in itself was not accurate in that what is known is that the sample was collected in Italy and that is that.

The good news is that Mike Walsh indicated that the five STR's that Jim McKown and I have not had tested, may likely be part of the new Y-111 marker level. That would offer the possibility of us matching the donor in Italy on those five markers and that in turn might give more credence to the donor having Maguire DNA.

To Speak of Many Things

I don't yet have more information on SNP L513 and won't until I find out more from one of the FTDNA group administrators.  I mentioned an Italian with the P66+ SNP and that there were differences in our test results. He was tested by Ethno-Ancestry and the group administrator needs his results on DYS 617,
406S1 and 640. Meanwhile, Jim McKown and I were not tested on markers that the Italian was: Dys461,462, 463, 434, and 435.

I have asked the administrator if this means that the Italian should be tested by FTDNA on threee markers or that Jim and I should be tested by Ethno-Ancestry on five markers. Neither approach sounds feasible to me.  In fact, the Italian, if interested, should be retested to 67 markers by FTDNA because there is a good chance that he may be descended from Cuchonnaght Maguire who died in Genoa, Italy,
in 1608. I hope for all our sakes that he is as interested in his ancestral surname as he is in his ethnicity.

I mentioned two postings ago about three McCowns being classified as Ua Flaithbeartaigh although we don't match each other above 12 markers. It turns out that while the above name in Gaelic was applied to an historical O'Flaherty or O'Lafferty, that there was also a Maguire in the chiefly line with the given name of Flaithbeartaigh, so that name could conceivably apply to McCowns of Maguire descent.

The Time has Come the Walrus Said

Many things are happening that look like a strengthening of the connection between my McCown line and the rest of the Maguires.  The P66+ SNP that both Jim McKown and I have, has been found in our
Ulster results and in one Italian result.  The Italian result may be related to Cuchonnacht Maguire who died in Genoa, Italy in August 1608 as well as to the Flight of the Earls which included O'Neills, O'Connors and Maguires among others.  The Flight of the Earls took place on Sept. 14, 1607.

The problem with the Italian P66+ is that we don't match him on five markers and he has not been tested to 67 markers which Mike Walsh of the R-1 L21 11-13 Combo Group would like him to take.

This in turn, leads to the possible need for Jim and I to take the L513 test.  I will address that in the next posting to this blog since I don't have more information on it.  Meanwhile, I for one, am greatly encouraged.  And this just in, 9 of 16 members of Brad McGuire's Airgialla Mag Uidhir Group have already signed up for the 67 toY-111 marker test introduction which is currently offered at a bargain price.

Ua Flaithbheartaigh

There is an FTDNA Cenel Eoghain Group.  Eoghain, pronounced Owen means John.  In this case, the Eoghain was an O'Neill king and a county in Northern Ireland bears his name.  It is Tir Owen or Tyrone, which means Land of Owen.

The group, at the moment has three members named McCown or McCone and notice no "an" or "en" is required because it is still O(w)ne.  The DNA of these three McCowns is not the same above 11/12 markers and in the Cenel Eoghain Group all three are listed under Ua Flaithbheartaigh which could be rendered in English as the Sept of O'Flaherty or O'Lafferty.  Their power was greatly reduced in the 12th century by battles with the MacBrians and the O'Connors.

The Ua Flaithbheartaigh lived in Connaught, roughly in Donegal.  I don't know that this one label can cover all McCowns, but I am glad that Donegal was included in our tour of Northern Ireland last
September.

Jim McKown and I have signed up for the FTDNA 67-Y111 marker test introduction.  This is new technology and is expected to greatly improve the accuracy of the Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA).  Jim and I hope that it will pin point just how long ago our Most Recent Common
ancestor lived.  Of course, we also hope it will also illuminate our link to the Maguire Clan and to that end, hope that many of our 67 marker matches also upgrade to that test.

Serendipity

An internet genealogical contact is in the unfortunate situation of not having a male in the surname line
to take the Y-DNA test on her behalf---until a moment of serendipity occurred and such a male has already been tested and his test results are on display.  Her family's coat of arms has an O'Neill crest above it and the person tested has the Niall of the Nine Hostages haplotype.
 
I had been trying to find some McCowns scattered about an FTDNA project and that surname was there.
This contact has done a lot of diligent research both here and in Ulster and has access to some records that most of the rest of us don't.  Still, after giving up hope for help via DNA, it was found by chance.

She has been a great help to me providing information and advice that may ultimately unlock the Ulster
history of my McCown line.  I will take serendipity over hard work any old time.