This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ksaxe Surnames: McConnell, MacDonald, McDonald Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.mcconnell/2446/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Robert C. McConnell recently joined the Clan Donald DNA project with a 67 marker test. When the results came back, he learned that he is related to the clan chiefs. Statistics show that Robert and Allan Douglas MacDonald of Vallay, chieftain of the clan's Vallay line, share a common ancestor who probably lived about 14 generations ago. The clan's chiefs are all related and so comparisons of Robert's results with the results of the other 3 chiefs confirm their shared lineage with the estimated number of generations to the most recent common ancestor ranging from 16 to 20. (You can find these statistics yourself using the project result tables. For directions, scroll down to the bottom of this message.) This is a very exciting result for Robert, because it ties Robert to the current clan chiefs AND their ancestors. All of the clan chiefs descend from the clan's founder, Somerled, in their male line. Because Somerled (1100 AD - 1164 AD) lived about 25 generations ago, he is almost certainly a male line ancestor of Robert, too. Robert is able to find very detailed information about the clan chiefs' lines using the After Somerled, Before Somerled, and History pages on the project website at http://dna-project.clan-donald-usa.org/. Since Robert received his results so recently, he has just begun to research his closest matches on the project tables. It is too soon to know whether he'll be able to fill in the gaps in his Somerled line quickly, but he's certainly off to a good start. Robert is very happy to share his experiences with the study. He writes, "I have found the entire experience very rewarding and exciting. For me, it is exciting to know that I am descended from Somerled and before that Norwegian Vikings. It makes ancient history seem very personal. I am looking forward to finding out, as more data becomes available, which part of the MacDonald Clan I am from. Also, possibly I will be able to identify other McConnells who I am closely related to, so that I can make more progress in finding my McConnell roots. I am interested in contacting any McConnells who participated in the study so we can start to identify who is related to whom." An enthusiastic McConnell researcher, Robert has started two websites to help McConnell researchers of all lines, and invites you to visit them at http://www.dsolar.com/mcconnel/ and http://www.mcconnell.com/. How to compare Robert's results with those of the other project participants 1) Go to the project results table for the group including Robert and the clan chiefs at http://dna-project.clan-donald-usa.org/tables.htm. The group is called Haplogroup R1a. (For an explanation of haplogroups, ask me, or check out the DNA Explained page and related links on the project website.) Robert and the clan chiefs are in the red subgroup at the top of the R1a results. 2) Scroll down to find him listed 50th on the R1a red subgroup table as R. C. McConnell. Click on his Clan Donald code, &TRS5T. This is the entry in the far left column on Robert's line of the chart. 3) You'll get a new window showing results for ALL project participants compared with Robert's results. You'll need to scroll down to find the R1a red subgroup table. Robert will be listed at the top and the 5th column of the table shows the statistic discussed earlier, the estimated Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA), in generations. Test results, also called allele values or marker values, are listed to the right of TMRCA. Allele values that differ from Robert's will be highlighted. TMRCA is calculated by comparing allele values. If two men's allele values are very similar, chances are that they shared a very recent common ancestor, and the TMRCA will be a small number. Conversely, if their allele values are not similar, the TMRCA will be a large number. 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.