Alexander Donald (d. 1806, Abbeville District, South Carolina) carried Scandinavian yDNA, particularly associated with the Bure Kinship of Västerbotten (West Bothnia) in Swedish Lapland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bure_kinship
Alexander’s pattern of STR yDNA markers was consistent with Haplogroup I1, positive on SNP marker M253. This yDNA pattern arrived in Scotland sometime within recent centuries, long after the raids and peak migrations of the Viking Era. This is contrary to my earlier conclusion about Viking input. A distant STR yDNA kinsman to our Donald group recently tested positive on SNP marker L22. Bure Kinship match Lars had already been predicted to be L22+, consistent with subclade I1a1b in the 2015 formulation at www.isogg.org Formerly I1d. Lars is possibly positive on SNP marker L287, but this needs to be confirmed.
We currently have yDNA samples from 6 Donald men descended from Alexander, plus several autosomal DNA samples from Alexander’s descendants. The yDNA mutually-matching “Donald Six” have no matches within the Clan Donald yDNA Project, even among other I1 men, many of whom probably do descend from Vikings. The closest matches are with men currently living in Sweden and Norway. The Most Recent Common Ancestors between the Donald Six & these Scandinavians probably lived no more than a few generations before Alexander.
We have not pinpointed Most Recent Common Ancestors with Scandinavians who closely match the Donald Six, but one possible scenario involves the close Scottish-Swedish ties around the time of the 30 Years War (1618-1648). Thousands of Scottish soldiers were allies of the Swedes, and there were many women who accompanied the Scots men. There was even a Scottish governor of Västerbotten following the war, so there were ample opportunities for Bure Kinship yDNA to wind up in the son of a Scottish woman.
The Donald-Six have the closest matches with Kenneth, who has Västerbotten (West Bothnia) ancestry. I mean close. Kenneth’s match with Don Donald is 64 of 67 STR yDNA markers. Don’s match with Roger Donald is likewise 64 of 67 markers. Many of Kenneth’s kinsmen were soldiers in the Västerbotten Regiment, which was involved in many of Sweden’s wars. The Västerbotten Regiment was involved in action in the Trondheim Norway area. In 1646, Ole Larsen Hafsmo was born near Trondheim Norway; a descendant of Ole is a 35 of 37 STR yDNA markers match with Don and a 36 of 37 markers match with Kenneth. Kenneth, our closest Donald-Six kinsman, is a Swedish professor of history and archaeology.
In 1635, Erik Mårtensson was born at Skråmträsk, Västerbotten. Erik’s descendant Kenneth is a 64 of 67 STR (Short Tandem Repeats) yDNA markers match with Don Donald (one of the Donald Six). In 1646, Ole Larsen Hafsmo was born near Trondheim Norway; a descendant of Ole is a 35 of 37 markers match with Don and a 36 of 37 markers match with Kenneth. Another match (61 of 67 markers with Don) to the Donald Six is Lars Burman. Burman is a surname derived from the Bure Kinship. Alexander Donald’s unknown yDNA ancestor who lived the second half of the 1600s must have been a very close genetic match indeed to contemporaries Erik Mårtensson, Ole Hafsmo, and a Burman ancestor.
Don has a 60 of 67 markers match with Stephen McLeod (tree at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/42334943/person/19767743170 ), the closest Scot connection, but apparently more distant from our Donald group than some of the Scandinavian connections. Stephen has tested positive on SNP marker L22, consistent with subclade I1a1b in the 2015 formulation at www.isogg.org Formerly I1d. Our Donald yDNA match Lars Burman’s results are under Kit # 339609 in the Swedish DNA Project at www.familytreedna.com/public/Sweden?iframe=yresults is in a grouping predicted to be positive on marker L22, & possibly positive on L287. Consistent with Subclade I1a1b3a in the ISOGG system defined by SNP markers. In an alternate system defined by pattern of STR markers, our Donald group corresponds to Clan I1-BBA. See map at www.goggo.com/terry/HaplogroupI1/ The majority of I1-BBA are L22+, and now we have additional evidence that L22+ holds for our Donald group.
