During the year, I was contacted by a McPherson participant who could not work out why in his Y700 results his nearest matches were McAdams. The genealogical origins of the two surnames are quite different. Macpherson as a surname is mostly associated with a group of families originating in the south of Inverness-shire – round the areas of Kingussie, Newtonmore, Insch and Laggan (see this parish map for location http://www.scotlandsfamily.com/parish-map-inverness.htm). The McAdams on the other hand mostly originated in south west Scotland below the central belt, more or less the opposite end of the country. They also were found in Ireland and there is a fairly direct connection between Southwest Scotland and Ireland.
If we look at the spider diagram for the McAdams [also Adam, McAdam and McCadam] (Figure 1) who are in the MacGregor Project we can see that there is a very large group, and then several apparently unrelated singles (such as 499181) or pairs (such as 510026 and 49834) results.
Figure 1: McAdam/Adam/McCadam
Next, in Figure 2, the kit numbers for those results which seem to suggest an Irish origin, which, in a good number of cases, is confirmed by known genealogy (plus IN100960 McPherson)
Figure 2: McAdam/Adam/McCadam group connected with Ireland (bottom right)
Figure 3 shows the spider chart for the Irish group (all the charts are based on 67 markers):
Figure 3: the Irish group (kit numbers only)
In Figure 4 I have overlaid those McAdam results onto the Irish results and included the kit numbers with the addition of the first letters of the surnames (this being all the program will allow me to do). However, you will see that the McAdams in that tight group of results is embedded within the Irish results – for example kit 165907 or kit 183682. This suggests that these surname groups arose in the same location but in different individuals, creating strong genetic relationships which are not indicated by the surnames. You can see that the Irish group, which appears to have three separate branches coming from the main stem, contains various surnames including White, Black, and, what is especially notable, a tight and separate group of Grier/Greers.
Figure 4: McAdam results and McPherson IN100960 embedded in the Irish group
One thing I do need to mention at this stage is the limitation of STR testing and subsequent mapping of relationships. Since STR mutations are random, comparisons of results can be influenced by the occurrence of a mutation earlier in the sequence of 37, 67 or 111 markers – in other words if a mutation occurs in the first 25 numbers as read from left to right the program assumes that this is a significant mutation, because, in the early days of DNA testing for genealogy certain markers were chosen because they mutated more rarely than others. With the program assuming that a mutation in this area is more significant it is possible for an individual’s results to be grouped with others which have that same mutation rather than the program ignoring that and focusing on later mutations so occasion misalignments may take place. This limitation alone makes the use of terminal SNP testing more reliable for grouping individuals together (and why Y700 uses the SNP tree format designed by Alex Williamson and which Family Tree DNA call Block Tree). I discuss the meaning of ‘terminal SNP’ later (see the subsection heading below).
Now to return to the question which I began with. In Figure 3 kit number IN100960 is McPherson and it is quite clearly in the same group as the McAdams but the line is longer indicating greater predicted passage of time since the shared ancestor. The most obvious interpretation of this result is that IN100960’s ancestor originally came from Ireland pre surnames. It is said that Ireland seems to have had the earliest use of surnames but by the 12th century it was only really the highest class who would be using them, while most of the population would be known by patronymics (e.g. John son of Patrick son of John). The Ancestry blog website https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/history-of-irish-surnames-is-yours-here/ says the following:
‘It was around the 1100s, as the population was increasing, that people in the upper social classes started taking hereditary surnames (those that remain fixed over the generations); others didn’t need surnames, or even get around to them, until the 1500s’
Perhaps the earliest that that IN100960’s ancestor could have come over to Scotland would have been in the settlements that took place not long after 500AD, but it could equally be much later especially since the distance between Ireland and the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland is just 15 miles across the North Channel between the two land masses. Over several centuries one can imagine the movement of people who were originally settled in Argyllshire migrating further north to Inverness-shire, so that one of IN100960’s ancestors found himself in the lands of the MacPhersons, and, instead of using patronymics started to use the surname of the local landowners.
What I have just suggested follows the DNA and social history and is perfectly possible as an interpretation of IN100960’s DNA result, but it should be noted that it is only one interpretation. There are still comparatively few individuals who have DNA tested to find their terminal SNP but of those that are available, and checking not just the terminal SNP, but also those which came immediately before it shows that there are related individuals in Scotland and Ireland. It is possible to look at results which have been mapped onto a very useful SNP mapping website:
https://www.genetichomeland.com/homeland.asp. You have to register to use this site but once registered (it’s free) you can map the results for most SNPs which gives you geographic locations for these SNPs and you can save a limited number of maps for individual SNPs to your account.
Finally, it is important to remember that there are other reasons for the adoption of a surname, and in particular death of father and the adoption of a stepfather’s surname, and illegitimacy, where the child is named for the mother’s surname, being the most common.
Grieg(Greig/Grig/Gragg/Gregg)/Gregory
Having previously explored the results for Grieg and Gregory I thought that it would be interesting to see if there was any link between them, always remembering that while those who test are a random sample of the population they include a high proportion of those in America who may in fact be related as a result of genealogical connections which have occurred in America/Canada over the last 400 years.
Figure 5 shows the complete picture of the two surname groups in order to show those results which lie on the right of the Figure and belong to quite separate genetic groups. Starting from the top, 275997 is Gregory but the haplogroup is J which has its origins in the fertile crescent or further east in west Asia. The larger group with 877623 etc contains the surnames Gregory and Gregg – and these have Viking origins (haplogroup I). 239031 (Gregor) is haplogroup T which also originated in West Asia. Finally, 212046 is from Haplogroup R1a which spread from eastern Europe but may have originated in India.
Figure 5: Gregg/Gregory all results
Figure 6 is a close-up of the much larger collection of Griegs (Greig/Gregg/Grig/Gragg) most of which can be seen beginning with ‘Gr’ while the Gregories are shown as “GY’. What this shows are two discrete large unrelated groups, one of Greigs (including 29673) and one of Gregories (including 8100). Then, apart from three much smaller groups, [the first in the bottom right which has a collection of Griggs, Graggs and a Gregg (e.g. 372126) and the second near the middle bottom of Gregg and Gragg (including 851482), and third, a quartet of Gregories (including 374579)], almost all the rest are either singles or pairs of results which lie some distance from their common point of origin (the split point where their lines divide). Only one pair looks as though they could have been related, namely, 950624 Griggs and N52932 Gregory but they only share a point of origin and are not otherwise a related pair.
Figure 6: close up of Grieg (all variants) and Gregory results
Terminal SNPs
Figure 7 adds the terminal SNPs which have, so far, been tested for these two surnames. To understand the significance of a terminal SNP it is important to understand that, in almost all cases, a SNP is a point on the Y chromosome which has become a fixed point in the genetic tree. Very early on in DNA genealogy the SNP R-M269 was the most recent SNP used to classify individual results for the R haplogroup common in Europe, but that SNP appeared sometime between 4000 and 10,000 years before the present. More recent SNP research and identification has been able to create a family tree of SNPs reaching down through time towards the present. So, a terminal SNP represents the most recent occurrence currently known to research. The company YFull publish a tree where some of the SNPs in sequence have approximate dates assigned – however more recent SNPs are mostly as yet undated.
Figure 7: Figure 6 with tested terminal SNPs added
In Figure 7 the four SNPs which are seen in the Gregg results [top middle] are all connected – some of the SNPs shown occurred earlier than others in time but they all connect together so that the individuals whose results they show are close cousins genetically of each other. Current mapping puts this SNP group in Scotland. The screenshot in Figure 8, which is taken from the Gregg Block Tree shows how the lines spread out from the common terminal SNP BY135575 (courtesy of familytreedna.com).
Figure 8: FT108241 as terminal SNP with later terminal SNPs BY212591 and FT106941 in the other individuals
The large Gregory group has a different terminal SNP – there are only two individuals in this group who have tested but their terminal SNPs are likely to proceed from BY34346, a completely different origin from the Griegs (all variants). All the other terminal SNPs shown for Gregories are either unique to an individual or shared by a small group. In some cases, for example 214992 Gragg and Gregg BY173545, there is a close genetic relation but the Gregg individual has acquired a later terminal SNP.
Descendants of Rob Roy MacGregor
In the last two DNA blogs I have shared some of our DNA research to try to identify an individual who is definitely descended from Rob Roy MacGregor, and discussed some of the difficulties in verifying descent through paper genealogies and available records. As well as trying to identify a Rob Roy descendant we are also hoping to identify the Glengyle family of MacGregors of which he was a part. In my report, I explored the possibility that an individual participant in the DNA Project was descended from Rob Roy’s grandson James who had a son Donald but suggested that it was a concern that this Donald who married Elizabeth Stewart in 1804 was probably too young to be the correct one, and, in addition, terminal SNPs suggested a closer connection to the Chief’s line of Glencarnoch. I am grateful to John Andrew Hutchison who contacted me with a huge amount of information from years of research into the various families who lived in and around Balquhidder and surrounding parishes. John has a family connection to the MacGregors and has been trying to link families together across generations, a task made much more difficult when individual members of families moved around and away from their ancestral homes.There is simply too much information from John to try and summarise here in any meaningful way, particularly as it involves consideration of a large number of different MacGregor families in historical records, as well as family records going from the 18th century onwards. However the main thrust of the research suggests that Donald who married Elizabeth Stewart was probably not of the Glengyle branch but possibly of the family who were designated in the Balquhidder children list of 1787 (which I repeat here complete below) as of Brackley, which could explain our participant’s close genetic connection to the Chief’s line – of Glencarnoch - and/or possibly to the Roro family.
This list is found in Central Archives Stirling with the call number PD60/651. It is incorrectly dated as possibly 1830.
A list of the young children of the tree of McGregor with their names and Designations within the parish of Balquidder [all listed McGregor unless otherwise stated]
Bracklys family [sic]
Inverlochlairgemore
Patrick
Robert 1
Gregor 2
Donald 3
Alexander 4
William 5
Alexr in Lickseridan
Peter 1
Alexr 2
Dun 3
Alexr in Gartnafuaran
John 1
Duncan 2
James 3
Gregor 4
Malcom 5
Dun in Inverlochlairgemore
Donald 1
Alexr 2
Peter 1
John 2
2 orphans
Dun in Craganmore
James 1
Alexr 2
Peter in Milltown
Dun 1
Alexr 2
Donald in Rinacraig
Donald 1
John 2
Dougal 3
Alexr 4
Alpin 5
all orphans
Dun in Rinacraig
Duncan 1
in all 27
Dougal Keers Faimily
Duncan in Minachallwaroo
John 1
Robert 2
Patrick in Blarerioch
Malcom 1
Dougal in woodend Stronslany
John 1
Gregor 2
Donald 3
Malcom 4
Gregor in Gartnafuaran
Dougal 1
Gregor 2
Duncan in Stronair
Malcom 1
Alexr 2
Robert 3
Allan 4
John in Criganmore
Gregor 1
Duncan 2
James 3
Twins John and Donald 2
Donld Coock in Ruskachan
Dougal 1
James in Ruskachan
Duncan 1
in all 20
McGregors Faimily
Donald in Ardchullary
Hugh 1
Robert in Adchullary
Donald 1
James 2
Robert in Rinacraig
Peter 1
John 2
Alexr in Rinacraig
Peter 1
John in Rinacriag
Peter [ ]
Robert in Achtowmore
James 1
John in Achtowmore
Hugh 1
Hugh in Achtowmore
John 1
in all 9
Roro Faimily
Duncan in Stronslary
John 1
Donald 2
Peter 3
Hugh 4
Duncan in Balcnoick
Alexr 1
John in Lichscridan
William 1
Alexr in Dalreach
John 1
Hugh 2
Hugh Drover
James 1
Patrick Decest Balifoil
Duncan 1
John 2
Donald 3
in all 12
A mistake in Brackly Faimily that they not aded togather (sic)
John Decest in Gartnafuaran
Donald 1
John 2
Robert 3
Jobert (sic) 4
Donald in midleachton
Peter 1
Hugh 2
John 3
John Decest in midle achtow
Duncan 1
John 2
Gregor 3
Dun in Glentarkan
James 1
Peter 2
John 3
17
Brackly Faimily
27 (+) 13 (=) 40 of them
As usual I end this blog with the offer to compare a single result with up to 11 others using the spider charts, or to offer further advice on further DNA testing, particularly Y700 and terminal SNPs (and consequently the relationship of differing groups of the same name to each other). Contact me on richardmcgregor1ATyahoo.co.uk (substitute @ for AT).
I am grateful to Central Archives, Stirling, familytreedna.com. and the authors of the spider diagram program Splitstree, Daniel Huson and David Bryant.
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