DNA Match

I received a most interesting email today as a direct result of my DNA data being posted for all to see. The email came from Lyn David McMullen, and it certainly got my attention:

Name: Lyn David McMullen
Email: ////////////// (deliberately omitted)
Message: Hi Leroy. Thought I would contact you, as I have been working many months on DNA trying to reconcile the oral history of my family passed to me as Irish circa 1050-1100 to Scotland, then back to Ireland. Most of the Scotland links are now discovered, which is the MacMillan Clanand for me Gp1. Using the matching information and many identical markers, and the distance provided by David, you come in as about 1260 years from me which would be approximately 800 AD. According to my family history we were in Ireland then as Maolain of Connacht (Ballymoe area). So I am interested of course as to where your family came from in Ireland and also whether it was DNA that lead you to the MacMillan site, or information in the family that you connect somehow in Scotland. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Lyn

View this user's profile at (Deliberately Omitted)

He requested that I contact him. I did, giving him some basic info about myself and what I've discovered so far. I also mentioned my blog site. He quickly wrote back and said:

"Hello Leroy. Thank you for contacting me. Leroy I love your site, it has the creativity of the McMullen`s (hope you won’t be offended). We share many things, including the Catholic faith. I am also busy dissecting the MacMillan site and DNA analysis. Like you I happened onto this site thru DNA. My grandfather and the oral history passed to him starts us off in Ireland well before that. Right now my research places us in Ireland for at least a thousand years, mostly in Galway, the Barony of Ballymoe and the parishes of Dunmore, Killean and Kilbegnet, well before migrating to Scotland in 1100 AD as clerics of the Celtic Catholic Church. By connecting our family historical birthdates back to the lineage posted on the MacMillan site, it appears we came back in 1617 to North Antrim. It is an exciting project, and while we as a family evolve more recently from the front end of the Scottish MacMillan`s Gp1 who list their progenitor as one Gilichrist Mac Maolain circa 1100 AD born Ireland (or Scotland 2nd choice), my gut feel is that your ancestors based on this time line of 1260 years, may be the link to the Irish back end and direct descendants of the Ui Maine lagered O`Maolain (Mullen) Lord of Gaileanga and Luighne. This history is recorded in numerous annals for over four hundred years well before Clan MacMillan came into being and is peppered with parishes, plus both individual (Cormac, Gillachrist, Maolmuire) and surnames that form part of the later Clan MacMillan in Scotland. Your markers have three distinctive elements that are part of all the families from the MacMillan GP1 site who on further investigation connect directly to me (25/14/10) and (29/18/9) and (15/15/16/17). It is the distance that is different. The last McMillan checks in at 810 years which is 1197, after that I jump to a GD of 18 which would take me right back to Iberia with the McMillans. In genetic matching anyone who is closer and you are, has their origins listed as Irish. That fits with my Granddaddy and he was an honest man. When I first logged onto the MacMillan DNA site, I was immediately contacted by a Daniel McMullan, who said his oral history was very like mine. He is a perfect match, but only tested to 12 markers. I am waiting for this DNA haplotype thing to evolve a bit, when I think that it will be much easier to identify relations farther back by using SNP vs STR etc. God Bless Leroy, and here is what I have written so far about the Scotland to Ireland migration. (still working on the chart) Cheers Lyn

He's in the R1B1c Haplogroup

I think this is fantastic news and even though I don't know exactly what all it means I'm eagerly looking forward to finding out.