Initial Deep Subclade Results

As mentioned in the previous update, FTDNA is testing me for six additional SNP's.
Results on two of the six have been received about a month before their target dates.
They are L49 and L23. I know it is a bit like watching grass grow, but the result was positive on both and my haplogroup has changed from R1b1b2 to R1b1b2a. Another
man of Irish descent has tested positive on all six of these SNP's which came as a big surprise to me, because I had assumed that at least some of them would be mutually exclusive. So, like that man, my results when they are all in could well be the same as his are, R1b1b12a1b5. That is the most common of the R1b haplogroups so I guess that makes me a man of the people.

Looking Farther Back than the first McCown

As many of you know, there is more to Y-DNA testing than just finding your score on
12, 25, 37 or 67 markers or locations on the male Y chromosome. There are also groupings called haplogroups. If you match someone in all 67 markers but are in a different haplogroup you are not related by a common ancestor.

My major haplogroup is R1b but that is further divided into clades and subclades. After testing for my haplogroup, it turned out to be R1b1b2. It stayed that way even after having deep sub clade tests. But now, FTDNA and the science of DNA genealogy have discovered "new" sub clades and my DNA specimen is now being tested for the following Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP): L21, L23, L49, P310, P311 and P312. Now, if I am truly related to my highest quality matches, my new haplogroup will be R1b1b2a1b5. So, that will validate all these high quality matches.

R1b1b2a1b5 is present in several countries in Europe, Africa and Asia, but it's highest concentration per capita is in the British Isles and there, more specifically in Ayrshire, Argyll and the inner Hebrides in Scotland and in Ulster.

Not many of my best matches have been tested to this level, but those that have are
R1b1b2a1b5. The result will be known on all of the SNP's except L21 on August 19th and SNP L21 is expected on August 24th. You will see the results on the www.ulsterheritage.com website. Navigate to that page, then click on DNA Test, then on Test Results and then scroll down the left hand margin until you come to the heading Mag Uidhir II (Maguire II). Look for Lawrence McCown under that heading. There are two of us under Lawrence, mine is the first one. The tension mounts.

One last thing, you don't have to be a by-stander, during July only, FTDNA is offering good discounts to new test subjects who join under a surname group such as the McCown Surname Group. There is probably a surname group for your surname, but if not, they will help you start one and you still get the discounts. See www.familytreedna.com/ and sign up for the most markers you can afford or maybe more.

Doldrums

We have made contact with another descendant of Lawrence McCown. This one is descended from Lawrence's son,Leander who married Jane Gaston. This cousin knows of no male descendants in her line still living. Since we have documentation on Leander and his descendants but no living male to carry on his DNA,we have asked her if she would like to be kept current with our progress because it is pretty much a certainty that Leander's DNA would be very close to Lawrence's and sons William and Eli, and therefor to mine. Jennifer, the newly discovered cousin is definitely interested in our search for our roots both in America and in Ulster.

The doldrums mentioned in the title refer to trying to find parallel family lines and are currently trying to make contact with descendants of Lawrence McKown. We know that this Lawrence's children don't have given names similar to ours, but we could possibly be related several generations before these two Lawrences were born.
Now we have to see if we can get some of these McKowns to take the FTDNA Y-DNA test.

Getting Help

Barry McCain, administrator of the UHG, www.ulsterheritage.com, has been consulting with Dr. William Roulston, Head of Research at the Ulster Historical Society, in regards to how adequate our data is to proceed in researching my line of McCowns in Fermanagh. Dr. Roulston is very interested in seeing how much can be done using DNA with high quality matches and then traditional primary source material. This would be sort of a test case. Mary Becker, administrator of the Oriel Septs of Ireland Group, suggested contacting Dr. Roulston because of some help he provided to her in researching a family from Ulster. It turned out that in her project, it was necessary for him to use records in Scotland. Mary said that the effort paid off.

With both Barry and Mary having had acquaintance with Dr. Roulston and his work and sharing that information with me, there is an outside chance that a seemingly impossible mission could come to fruition. On the surface, it looks like trying to connect unidentified ancestors in Fermanagh with unidentified ancestors in South Carolina, I know,lots of luck! It does seem like trying to connect a suspension bridge between a couple of unsupported sky hooks.

Wrong William or Sloppy Genealogy

In the previous post, I mentioned looking into the possibility that this William was one of my ancestors. He is now claimed as an ancestor by an unrelated McCown line in many different family trees of various surnames. Claiming is one thing, but proving is the color of another horse. The rest of the non-related line of McCowns had relocated to the American colonies by 1740,some in PA and some in VA. There are brothers shown is some family trees not shown in others who are known to be related by DNA. Why would this William alone move from Antrim to Fermanagh while the rest of the family moved from Antrim to the Ameriacan Colonies? On the surface, it looks as if it is all grasping at straws. The nearest name in Fermanagh for the location of this William's death is Knockmakegan, not Knockmaoleigan. So far, the closest match for McCown in knockmakegan is McCue,not McCown so to get to the truth of the matter some on serious research will have to be done, probably in Ulster.

William McCown of Knockmaoleigan, Fermanagh

The Person in the title is the current potential ancestor that I am trying to find some info about. He was born in 1708 and died in 1747 in the village mentioned in the title. He was located in the Ancestry Genealogy of the Walter Family. Two others are shown, one in 1809 in Knoxville, Tenn. and another in 1908 in Iowa. Presumably they are in the same line, but that is to be determined. The subject has the right name and lived at the right place and could fit nicely in our timeline.

So far, there is no evidence of another male in the line using any of the above names as his earliest known ancestor or being tested by FTDNA. I am trying to determine whether or not someone in that line has been DNA tested.

Welcome Scott

Patrick Hermann MacAuley is visiting Fermanagh and Cavan Counties this month and said that if he gets the opportunity he would see if he could get information on McCowns. PLease don't hesitate to write to me directly: bill77mccown@gmail.com or wmccown@throckwisp.com.

Two new matches showed up this week, one 62/67 and one at 63/67 and both are Maguire Clan family names, MacAuley and McGuire, as you may imagine, this is very good news.