The genealogical package of Y-DNA is being put together by Barry McCain to be sent to Dr. William Roulston of the Ulster History Foundation. He will evaluate whether we have enough material to warrant moving ahead with a combined conventional geneaology and DNA genealogy to learn something of our McCown line history.
I prepared a list of 23 matches at 67 markers and a list of 5 matches at 37 markers with no duplications, making a total of 28 high quality matches. Hopefully, more matches will continue to be reported and these will be forwarded to Dr. Roulston as they come in. The highest Match other than cousin Sam at 66/67 markers is Dr. Thomas James McGuire at 63/67 markers. It would be nice to get an exact match at 67/67 plus others at 64 and 65/67 and it may happen yet. Sam would be an exact 67/67 marker except for a one step mutation at 37 markers. As far as I am concerned, he is an exact match since he is descended from a younger brother of my great grandfather.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Down and Out in Abingdon
Sad but true, no state records of marriage were required before 1850 in Virginia. The only records older than that are church records and they do not include the names
of the parents of the couple who were married. I had thought the church records might include the parents' names, but no such luck. At this moment, unless some legal paper such as apprenticeship, property transfers or gravestones are found, I don't have a clue as to where next to find the names of the parents of our earliest known ancestor, Lawrence McCown.
of the parents of the couple who were married. I had thought the church records might include the parents' names, but no such luck. At this moment, unless some legal paper such as apprenticeship, property transfers or gravestones are found, I don't have a clue as to where next to find the names of the parents of our earliest known ancestor, Lawrence McCown.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Abingdon, Virginia Search
I have contacted the Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church in Abingdon, Virginia.
The object is to see if they will recommend someone to search the marriage record of my great great grand parents to see if their parents' names are recorded.
If so, that would be a tremendous break through. It might be possible to determine if these parents were the first of our line in America and the location in South Carolina where they settled. This church (though not this building) is where my gggf&m were married in Janurary 1815.
Also, I have contacted Debra McCown in Abingdon who has been very helpful and may be able to come up with a McCown contact in northeastern Tennessee who has done a lot of genealogical work related to various McCown lines. As with all things genealogical, none of this may pan out, but never the less some very helpful people already have been encountered in the search.
Another goal of this search in Abingdon, Washington County, VA is to locate other male McCowns willing to take the Family Tree Y-DNA test which could give us an indication of whether or not our lines are related.
The object is to see if they will recommend someone to search the marriage record of my great great grand parents to see if their parents' names are recorded.
If so, that would be a tremendous break through. It might be possible to determine if these parents were the first of our line in America and the location in South Carolina where they settled. This church (though not this building) is where my gggf&m were married in Janurary 1815.
Also, I have contacted Debra McCown in Abingdon who has been very helpful and may be able to come up with a McCown contact in northeastern Tennessee who has done a lot of genealogical work related to various McCown lines. As with all things genealogical, none of this may pan out, but never the less some very helpful people already have been encountered in the search.
Another goal of this search in Abingdon, Washington County, VA is to locate other male McCowns willing to take the Family Tree Y-DNA test which could give us an indication of whether or not our lines are related.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The New Haplogroup has been Reported by FTDNA
It is official. As of today my haplogroup is R1b1b2a1b5 as expected (and hoped for). That is consistent with all of my best matches at 37 and 67 markers.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
