This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ksaxe Surnames: MacConnell, MacDonald, McConnell, McDonald Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.mcconnell/2486/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Results for 20 McConnells Now on the Clan Donald DNA Project Tables Last week I noted the 15-16% growth in the number of men with results posted to the Clan Donald DNA project tables over the preceding four months. For McConnells in the project, the recent growth rate is higher, with the total increasing 33% from 15 men as of the June 5th update to 20 men when K. D. McConnell was added last month. Since last weekend, the relationship trees have been updated again, and K. D. McConnell's results have really changed things around a bit. This is another sign of progress in the project, and I'll say more about it below. For the McConnells with posted results, it is now very simple to compute percentages within various subgroups. These percentages are probably a reasonably good indicator of the probabilities of membership in the various subgroups for McConnell men who may be interested in joining the project, but the percentage of R1b Yellow (unclassified) men may be inflated because some members of that group have recently recruited known cousins to test: 5% are in the Haplogroup I1c (also known as I1b2a) Red subgroup, very possibly in the very old group which is believed to have originated among very early settlers of the British Isles. As the father of seven children, Ray McConnell, the sole McConnell in this group, has had to delay testing to upgrade his results from the 12 markers tested through the Genographic Project for financial reasons. Ray has expressed an interest in further testing down the road. Comparing results with his 5 11 for 12 marker matches on additional markers would really help Ray to assess how closely related he is to these men and others that test in the future. Eventually those 7 kids may start to run out of unique gift ideas for their dad and might find it a good idea to pool their resources for a group gift of further testing that they might all enjoy. 10% are in the R1a Red subgroup of descendants and close relatives of clan founder Somerled. These men have very close matches among other men in the group. One man, Robert C. McConnell, matches a MacDonald on 64 out of 67 markers and has a number of other close matches. Another has results for 12 markers and has 43 12 for 12 matches, including Robert C. McConnell. The success of Somerled and his family in producing male line descendants of Somerled means that men in this group have lots of cousins. Robert C. McConnell is interested in finding known and possible cousins willing to test so that they can compare results. Men in this group may want to use the R1a relationship tree on the project website to help them focus in on the matches most likely to be closely related. 10% of McConnells and 67% of MacConnells, as well as one SMGF study member, are in the R1b Red subgroup related to the kings of the old kingdom of Dalriada. Results for the McConnells and MacConnells indicate a recent common ancestor born about 15 generations ago, with some of the individuals sharing more recent common ancestors. You can see this group near the top of the R1b 37 marker tree, just to the right of the Brown subgroup. Their 4 dots are close together and have the end of a branch to themselves, signifying that the algorithms used by Doug McDonald to create the trees identify them as part of a family group with a recent common ancestor. You can easily identify their dots on the trees using their Clan Donald codes: &MM5AD for J. MacConnell, &DNR9S for F. G. MacConnell, &BOXLP for K. G. G. McConnell, and &76B7L for M. B. McConnell. It is very interesting to me that the tree places M. B. McConnell on the same little branch as K. G. G. McConnell, even though a look! at the TMRCA (generations to most recent common ancestor) column when results are compared to the results of M. B. makes it appear that M. B. is most closely related to J. MacConnell. This arrangement on the tree certainly seems to fit with the use of the two variant spellings among these men. I have not been in touch with these men because they are not on Ysearch, but I wonder if any of them have connecting paper trails. 5% of McConnells, as well as one SMGF study member, are in the R1b Green subgroup related to Niall of the Nine Hostages. Like the men in the group for Somerled descendants, men in this group have large numbers of matches. They may benefit from using the R1b relationship trees to identify men most likely to be related in a genealogical time frame. Upgrading to add results for more markers and recruiting known distant cousins to test should be especially helpful to members of the Green subgroup. Encouraging those with McDonald variant surnames to add results for more markers may also be productive for members of this group. 70% of McConnells and one MacConnell are in the R1b Yellow (unclassified) subgroup. Some of these have significant matches within the group, but so far data from that group is not sufficient to identify subgroups including these McConnell men. This situation may be changing. Some of the close matches among men in this group are between McConnells who had connecting paper trails prior to testing. This gives the researchers in the families of these men a better idea of what their most recent common ancestor's haplotype would have been, and helps them to better determine how they are related to other men in the project. Subgroups including these known cousins may be formed in the not so distant future as other related men are tested. If any of the men already on the table have additional markers tested, this may also help define new subgroups for them. There is another subgroup of men currently within the Yellow group that seems to be taking shape on the R1b 37 marker relationship tree, but it does not involve known McConnell cousins. K. D. McConnell's 37 marker results match 36 for 37 with C. W. McConnell's even though they do not have connecting paper trails. As expected for such a close match, these men are very close on the new 37 marker relationship tree, and with the new information from K. D. McConnell's haplotype, other individuals are now grouped closer to the two men, too. Members of these families have just begun to explore the significance of their match, and at least one of these men (K. D.) is waiting for results on more markers. We will probably hear more from researchers of these families soon. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.