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Archiver > IRL-OFFALY > 2007-02 > 1171721872


From: "InTheWoods" <>
Subject: [IRL-OFFALY] DNA TESTING
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:17:52 -0600


Should one have a DNA test? That is the 200 US$ Question! Here is my
story, hopefully it will help someone.

What DNA does not tell you: It will not tell you directly where in Ireland,
township, County, Province or Kingdom your ancestor once lived, at least not
directly. If you do comparisons with other folks with a similar DNA you may
be able to figure that out but it still takes a lot of effort and it is not
an exact science. DNA changes over the generations due to mutations so one
may expect to find as many as 5 mutations in 1500 years or so of separations
between families. So, do not expect an exact marker by marker match. You
might get lucky and closely match someone who knows where in Ireland their
family came from, and determine where you family is from but that appears
unlikely to me.

For example I have a Conner born 1753 in Co. Dublin, he matches an O'Connor
born in 1790 from County Cork, with only 3 of 37 markers, mutations
separations, he also matches a Murphy born 1815 in County Wexford with only
3 of 37 markers, mutations separation. So where is the family from? A
search of naming patterns say they may be from County Cork. But in trying
to figure out the scheme of things, I have found a branch of the Murphy
family descended from the same Gaelic family name as the O'Connor family in
Kingdom of Offaly back in about 400AD...so we may be from County Offaly.
There is lots of time for people to move and get displaced between 400 and
1700s. The Kingdom of Offaly got broken up into different county names in
about the mid 1500s or so by the Plantation System. Then the county names
have changed over the years and one has to try and figure out where to look
and what records may exist. Keating's history of Ireland Vol 4 has been
helpful but it does not tell you what county you should search.

There is a lot of variability on a family name in the DNA markers. If you
look at this site (loads slowly) you can see that the Lawrence Conner does
not seem to be similar to any other of the Connor/O'Connor/Conner names
listed.
LINK: http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/c/conner/results.html
You can wander around the site by clicking on the top icons and find some
other family names and where they are from in Ireland as a part of other
studies. This site is typical of most "Family Name" DNA sites, but may
have more people participating in the studies and more discussion on the
site.

There are search engines that allow you to search for exact matches, or
similar DNA makers without regard to name, or to find others who have posted
their DNA with the same name, but not matching your DNA.

DNA testing is only another Tool in the search for ancestors. To me it only
has value in comparative analysis. It has helped me eliminate a lot of
places to search, but it has not provided definitive answers.


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