MORE DNA & OTHER EVIDENCE ON THE ANCESTRY OF ALFRED O’BRYANT

We do now have some yDNA, and more autosomal DNA (atDNA), evidence bearing upon our O’Brien/O’Bryant quest. 

According to Find A Grave 84421922, our Alfred was a brother of Wilford, Joseph, Peter III O’Brien, & others. Several autosomal DNA kits from descendants of brothers Alfred, Wilford, Peter III are mutually inter-matching & sizable. A descendant of Wilford has tested 37 STR (Short Tandem Repeats) markers on yDNA. Several men in his match group have tested SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers. Our O’Brien/O’Bryant Haplogroup R1b phylogenetic tree SNP sequence includes these markers: L21+ (Atlantic Celt) -> L226+ (Irish Type III, Dalcassian) -> DC782+ (County Clare divergence from Brien Kings of Munster, c. 1100 AD?) -> DC297+ (Terminal SNP specific so far to part of our O’Brien group of interest in the O’Brien yDNA Project).  Other matching men did not test SNPs down this far, so those kits were placed in another grouping in the O’Brien yDNA Project at https://www.familytreedna.com/public/obrien?iframe=ycolorized  

In this project, find these two groups of matches of Wilford:

(1) Terminal SNP DC297+: The O’Bryan families who migrated to the Carolinas. 33 & 34 of 37 STR matches with Wilford’s descendant. Kit # B122229 is from a descendant of Thomas O’Bryan (1760-1827) of Chatham County NC. The yDNA Most Recent Common Ancestor for our O’Brien of Va -> Ky -> Ross/Pike Ohio Chatham NC lines may have been prior to 1725, in Ireland.  

(2) Group containing Kit # 34330: From Daniel O’Brien b. 1823 County Limerick, a 33 of 37 STR markers match with Wilford’s descendant, & close to the Mode STR values for that inter-related group. STR Modes yield the best estimate of the profile of a man ancestral to all in that group. In this group is Kit # 83123 for James Brient b. 1788 Knockanore Waterford. This man was ancestor of owner of atDNA Kit M225148 who has a sizable atDNA match with A467138, descendant of Alfred. So, James Brient is shown to have been kin by yDNA to Wilford & kin by atDNA to Wilford’s brother Alfred.  A double & solid Waterford connection to the Ross/Pike Ohio line.  

At www.gedmatch.com Kit A238437 is a descendant of Alfred (b. 1807, Ohio). Kit M225148 is a descendant of James Brient (b. 1788, Waterford). The shared segment for these kits is 25.6 centiMorgans on Chromosome 13. There are several other kits which triangulate at this location. Triangulations (sticky segments resisting recombination) can mean that the MRCA for everyone in the group was more generationally remote than one might otherwise expect for a shared segment of this size. Maybe a MRCA who lived well before 1700 in Ireland. On another chromosome, the James Brient (b. 1788) descendant has a shared segment with a descendant of William O’Brien (b. 1695, Londonderry). However, William (R1b-M222+ = Lowland Scot & Northwest Irish) was not a yDNA match with our Wilford (= R1b-L226+, Irish Type III, Dalcassian).  Our R1b L226+ O’Brien is not French, & not from Cornelius b. 1697 of County Clare (= Irish Type II, R1b-CTS4466 -> A7753).  https://www.familytreedna.com/public/obrien?iframe=ycolorized

The Wilford O’Brien descendant’s yDNA has a 34 of 37 STR markers match with a reported descendant of Charles O’Brien/Bryant (b. 1725). This kit tested to SNP = R1b-Y5610+. At https://www.yfull.com/arch-6.05/tree/R1b/  this marker is said to have mutated 1100 years ago, thus possibly shortly before the time of King Brian Boru (941-1013), who was kin to our group, but likely not its ancestor. Boru has his own Terminal SNP in the O’Brien yDNA Project. The trail to Y5610+: R1b-L21+ (Atlantic Celt) -> L226+ (Irish Type III, Dalcassian) -> Y4010+ -> Y5609 -> Y5610+. Downstream from this would have been the peel-off of the County Clare group from the line of Brien Kings of Munster, & still later the peel-off from the Clare Group to markers increasingly focal to our O’Brien close kin.

John Charles O’Brien/Bryant (b. 1725) appears to have been the yDNA/atDNA Most Recent Common Ancestor for descendants of Enoch (b. 1760) versus descendants of his brother Peter Sr. (b. 1750) -> Peter Jr. (b. 1772) -> Alfred, Wilford, Peter III, Joseph etc.  atDNA cross-matches between descendants of Alfred & Peter III are sizable, suggesting that they were not more distant than brothers, as reported. Several descendants of Peter III have nearly 28 centiMorgans of shared segment triangulated on Chromosome 20 with Kirk T945852 (descendant of Alfred).  A descendant of Peter III has on Chromosome 9 a 16.4 cM shared segment with atDNA kit FR3254794 named at this site: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/O'Brien-2028 a descendant of Wilford. This Wiki Tree page manager also has a tree at Ancestry.com https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/76148335?cfpid=40339724659&dtid=100

where one can see that Daniel Mack O’Brien & his wife Mary Jane Hopper both had the same O’Brien ancestry: The father (& unknown mother) of Peter O’Brien Sr. & his brother Enoch O’Brien, respectively.

INTRODUCTION , DONALD FAMILIES OF WESTERN SCOTLAND, COASTAL VIRGINIA, NORTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA, UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA, EASTERN MISSISSIPPI, NORTHWEST ARKANSAS, AND OKLAHOMA.

This narrative focuses upon the ancestry of Charlotte Anne Donald Muffley, and is dedicated to her memory. Anne passed away in Sweden in 2002. Considerable information about her Donald, and other, ancestry is available online. The current narrative is meant merely to focus upon some interesting highlights.

Oral accounts of our particular Donald family history go back to Watson Augustus Donald (born 1844 in South Carolina), great-great grandfather of Anne Donald Muffley. Documentary evidence is solid back one more generation, to the parents of Watson Augustus Donald: Andrew J. Donald and Unity Amanda Morgan Donald.  Earlier than that, evidence is less certain, but our Andrew J. Donald (b. about 1815 in South Carolina) was reportedly a son of Alexander Donald (b. 1790).  A number of trees at Ancestry.com show Alexander’s father as James Donald, a son of Alexander and Margaret Dearest Clanton Donald. 

DONALD yDNA: SCANDINAVIAN, BUT NOT VIKING ERA

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.

DONALD GENETICS

The 67 STR (Short Tandem Repeats) markers yDNA pattern of Anne’s nephew Roger Donald is predictive of Haplogroup I1, consistent with a positive finding on SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) marker M253 (several aliases for this marker are at www.isogg.org/tree/ISOGG_HapgrpI.html ). Roger’s Family Tree DNA Kit #247972 data was sent to the Clan Donald DNA Project at http://dna-project.clan-donald-usa.org/tables.htm The data also appears at www.ysearch.org under ID NARU2; this same ID can be used to locate Roger’s data in the Clan Donald DNA project.

Roger’s yDNA has a 34 of 37 STR markers match with a descendant (deceased in 2010) of a Robert Donald who was born about 1888 in Alabama. This descendant’s data appears under Clan Donald Code “&3BIHQ” and Y-search ID 6986R and the name F. L. Donald. From Roger back to Alexander Donald (b. 1790) is 7 generations, and to Alexander Donald (d. 1806, Abbeville, S.C.) 9 generations. FTDNA estimates that the Most Recent Common Ancestor for Roger & F. L. has an 89% chance of being within the last 16 generations. It appears that we can now rule out Non-Paternal Events (e.g. adoptions) down either line from the joint ancestor, and that we have an estimate the yDNA genetic fingerprint of Alexander (husband of Margaret Dearest Clanton) Donald.

The Alexander Donald (1745-1808) who was a close friend of Thomas Jefferson was not genetic kin to our Donald line of interest & indeed was probably in Haplogroup R1b, according to the findings of a reported descendant of this Alexander’s brother Thomas. R1b is the largest haplogroup for the Clan Donald yDNA project. Clan Donald chiefs are in R1a.