This Alexander Donald (1745-1808)
http://issuu.com/jamesiandonald/docs/alexanderdonalddraft10 and our Alexander Donald (d. 1806, Abbeville
SC) probably get confused a lot in the course of ancestral research. For that
reason, plus the probable yDNA mismatch between the two Donald lines, I am not
prepared to name ancestors of our Alexander Donald (d. 1806) of interest.
Our Alexander Donald (d. 1806, Abbeville SC) was very likely
in yDNA Haplogroup I1.
According to www.isogg.org/tree/ISOGG_HapgrpI.html
:
“I1-M253 et al has highest frequency in Scandinavia,
Iceland, and northwest Europe. In Britain, haplogroup I1-M253 et al is often
used as a marker for "invaders," Viking or Anglo-Saxon.” I’m guessing
Norse. Roger Donald has a 30 of 37 STR yDNA markers match with a descendant of
Torbjørn Gjøn, born about 1520 at Fusa, Hordaland, Norway. Roger’s and this
donor’s Most Recent Common Ancestor has an 81% chance of having lived 28
generations ago, so around the 1100s. The Norse were well established in
Western Scotland by that time.
“In the Isles very large numbers of men…are descended from
only a few genetically successful ancestors”. (pg. 285, “Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland”,
by Bryan Sykes). During the process of feuding among rival clans, the rise of
powerful men had genetic consequences: “…only comparatively few men have left
patrilineal descendants.” The same thing
is seen in Ireland with the Ui Neill Clan, and this is sometimes called the “Genghis
Effect”. Sykes’ genetic research in Scotland has revealed a fairly rare
y-chromosome DNA profile in Skye, found almost exclusively in men with the
surname MacDonald, McDougall, and Macalister. These clans are said to have descended
from Somerled, a 12th Century lord operating in the Hebrides and
Argyll vicinity. The yDNA Haplogroup R1a1, when found in Scotland, is often associated
with Somerled and Viking ancestry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerled
Consider the unknown I1 men carrying a yDNA profile
ancestral to our Alexander Donald (d. 1808) who were probably Norse and living
in Western Scotland in the time of Somerled. They were not yDNA genetic kin to
Somerled (R1a1), but may have been associated with Somerled’s followers. Somewhere along the line our pre-Donald Haplogroup
I1 ancestors would have become part of Clan Donald. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Donald
Alexander Donald (d. 1806) was said to
have been born in Glasgow.
