Hi Bernard, Although my family's paper trail goes back to the later 18th century in Armagh, Ireland, my having the surname of Morrison made it very easy for me to assume that my family had originated somewhere in Scotland. Morrison = Scottish, right? But over the past few years I have been in contact with Edwin Holcombe, the Secretary of the Morrison Society of North America and it turned out that I am not genetically related to any of the Scottish Morrisons. Huh? What? So it took a lot of Internet searching, but eventually I discovered a small Irish family which is known to have adopted the Morrison name, from O'Muirgheasain from the region of northern Derry and eastern Donegal. But then came the real surprise, that the big and dominant family of that same region is the Doherty clann, that my Morrison genetics are quite closely related to the main branch of the Doherty family and that there are known historical links between the Doherty and Morrison families going back hundreds of years. In Sligo there was an O'Muirgheasa clann, most often Anglicized as Morris and Morrissey, while in Derry and Donegal there was an O'Muirgheasain clann which became Morrison and both of those names roughly translated meaning expert with boats on the ocean. And some of the O'Muirgheasain clann are known to have migrated to the southern and to the inner Hebrides islands, yes, to western Scotland. Yes, there were Irish Morrisons in Scotland! And I still keep looking. Best, Doug On Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 10:20 AM, Bernard Morgan <[email protected]>wrote: > > Genetically I am closely associated with the Doherty clann, including > > historical links between what apparently is my family and theirs, some of > > the members of my apparent family are known to have migrated by boat to > the > > southern and to the inner Hebrides islands, and my haplogroup, L21+, > M222+, > > R1b1a2a1a1b4b can be found there, too. > > > > And I would be delighted to hear of any such results you might discover! > > > Doug, I have an interest in the O'Muirgheasain. Irish names have been > subject contraction, so O'Muirgheasain could easily contracted to > O'Muirgheain which in turn can be anglicized as Morgan, hence my personal > interest. > > As for other Morrison origins there are the MacGillamoire from county > Down. So you in the same boat as myself, with multiple origins for your > surname. The hope I have is that Chromo2 will allow the identification of > kinship groups within the broader Connachta. > > > Quick primer of Irish Surname: Typically Irish surnames come from the > first-name of a male ancestor. This leads to multiple surnames based on > common first-names, yet typically from different kinship groups. > Additionally these Irish Surname are typically use either the diminutive or > the plural form. (I have never found out why these forms are so common.) > > So for example if the ancestor was Murchad you can expect his descendants > to use the surnames - > > MacMurchadha anglicized as MacMorhcoe and more (from plural form) > MacMurchaidh anglicized as MacMurphy and more (from plural form) > MacMurchadhain anglicized as MacMorgan and more (from diminutive form) > > > The reason I raise this is that O'Muirgheasain is diminutive form of > last-name from the first-name Muirgheas. Muirgheas also gives rise to the > plural surname O'Muirgheasaigh or anglicized O'Morrissey. > > So this means you also need to consider the Ui Fiachrach O'Morrissey of > Sligo as a possible origin of your surname. > > Now your surname could be Ui Briuin (MacGillamoire of Down), Ui Fiachrach > (O'Muirgheasaigh of Sligo) or Cenel Eoghain (O'Muirgheasain of Derry). > > For O'Muirgheasain of Derry I find no definite assertion that they are > Cenel Eoghain. However I have found this pedigree in O'Clery's genealogies > that suggests this: > > Genelaigh o Muirghiusa > Aedh m Muiredhaigh m Donngusa m Duib uinsenn m Mail eoin m Ainbeith m > Fogartaigh m Mael roid m Fir moir m Muirghuisa (a raiter an sloinnedh) m > Cobhtaigh m Tnuthghail m Duibh doire m Sarain m Tighernaigh m Muiredaigh m > Eoghain. > > and above: > Senchsus Cloinne Tigernaigh Insdo > Tighernach m Muiredaigh mic Eogain m Neill. Tighernach dano .iiii. mic > lais .i. Tairceltrach (a quo .h. Ulgoba), Gnia (a quo .h. Becan ocus .h. > Odhrain), Saran (da mac lais .i. Domhongog toraighe et Dub doire a quo .h. > Mhuirghiusa ocus .h. Conugan): Daithgheal, an cethramad mac do Tighernach, > .ii. mac laiside .i. Corran et Ruadan. > > So most likely O'Muirgheasain of Derry are Cenel Tigernaigh of Cenel > Eoghain. > > > Now we need wait for the DNA markers to identify the Ui Briuin, Ui > Fiachrach and Cenel Tigernaigh branches. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >