Birth of a New Genetic Family - Group 5

A new project member recently joined the O'Malley DNA Project (KOM-7207). He matches one other member within the project (MOM-7546) and that particular member has been in the Ungrouped section since he joined the project. But now that the two of them match each other, a new Genetic Family has been born - Group 5.

The two members of this project are a Genetic Distance of 4/37 from each other (i.e. 4 steps away from an exact match). The STR markers where they differ are indicated in the diagram below.

Arrows indicate mutations on specific markers
(click to enlarge)

How old is the new group?
The TiP Report predicts an approximate 50% probability that they share a common ancestor within the last 6 generations (i.e. born about 1770 AD) and an approximate 95% probability within the last 14 generations (i.e. about 1530 AD). More accurate predictions could be achieved if both members tested to a higher number of STR markers (e.g. Y-DNA-111, and MOM-7546 has just done this) but there would still be a range of about +/- 200 years on either side of the midpoint estimate. In other words, these estimates will always be crude (from a genealogical perspective). At the moment, our best guess is that they shared a common ancestor sometime in the 1600s or 1700s.

Another way to estimate the TMRCA (Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor) would be for both members to do autosomal DNA testing (e.g. with FTDNA's Family Finder test, or with the Ancestry test). MOM-7546 has already done this test so if KOM-7207 did this test and they did not match each other, we could be reasonably confident that the connection was somewhere beyond the 3rd cousin level (i.e. beyond their respective great great grandparents, born about 1830).

We could also compare their pedigrees to see if they share a common ancestor in their trees and when he was born. Currently, MOM-7546 has provided information on his MDKA (Most Distant Known Ancestor) and he was born about 1840 (in Kilmilkin, Co. Galway, Ireland). KOM-7207 has posted a pedigree that identifies his MDKA as being born in 1887 (with an ancestral location in Co. Roscommon, adjacent to both Galway & Mayo).


Where did they come from?
There are three chief sources of information about any group's origins:

1. the birth location of the MDKAs within the group
2. the surnames of their matches
3. the surnames associated with the particular branch of the Tree of Mankind upon which the group sits (as determined by their Terminal SNP)

MDKA Information
As noted above, MDKA info for one member is Co. Roscommon, and for the other member is Kilmilkin, Co. Galway. This was also known as Kilmeelickin and is situated within the area known as Joyce Country (see map below). One O'Malley family from this area produced a famous eye surgeon who also became an O'Malley Chief - Charles Conor O'Malley (1889-1982).

Matches' Surnames
Both members have a plethora of matches to men with the surname Joyce. At the 37-marker level of comparison, MOM-7546 has 19 matches of which 15 are Joyce (79%).  KOM-7207 has 57 matches of which 40 are Joyce (70%). These Joyce matches belong to the Joyce Country Group in the Joyce DNA Project at FTDNA. Several of the members of this group have MDKA origins in Mayo and Galway.

The Genetic Distance to these Joyce men varies from 0/37 to 4/37, suggesting that the common connection is certainly within a genealogical timeframe (i.e. some time in the past 1000 years). So the most obvious question is: which came first ... Joyce or O'Malley?

Furthermore, there seems to be more genetic diversity within the Joyce Country Group (see screenshot below) and this suggests that it is an older group than O'Malley Group 5. However, this preliminary interpretation may change as more people join the respective Joyce and O'Malley projects.

The Joyce County Group from the Joyce DNA Project
(TMRCA estimates may be pre-1600s)

The surname Joyce is reported to have origins in Wales and was introduced to Connaught some time in the 1100s. It became particularly numerous around the area now known as Joyce Country. This is not that far from the ancestral territories of the Mayo O'Malley's, who were largely concentrated around the Baronies of Burrishoole and Murrisk in Mayo (northwest of Joyce Country).

Joyce Country (in green) with Kilmeelickin indicated by the yellow dot

Another surname among Group 5's matches is Coyne. This too was mainly concentrated in the Galway / Mayo area in the mid-1800s. This lends further support to the contention that Group 5's ancestral origins are around the Galway / Mayo area. Other surnames within Group 5's matches that have an association with the Galway / Mayo area include Newell and Nally (apparently of Welsh origin).

Distribution of the surname COYNE in the mid-1800s

Distribution of the surname NEWELL in the mid-1800s

Distribution of the surname NALLY in the mid-1800s

Matches' Terminal SNPs

Several members of the Joyce County Group have undertaken downstream SNP testing (probably with the Big Y test). The results indicate that two members test positive for the SNP marker YP6008 (this also shows up among our members' matches), as well as the SNP markers YP4660, and Y4380. It is likely that the O'Malley Group 5 members sit on or near the branch of the Tree of Mankind characterised by these markers.

The positions of these SNP markers on the Tree of Mankind are summarised in the SNP Progressions below. Note: A SNP Progression is simply the sequence of SNP markers that characterise each branching point on the Tree of Mankind, starting "upstream" at the level of the Haplogroup (R in this case) and progressing all the way "downstream" to the Terminal SNP.  Comparing SNP Progressions helps us see exactly where each terminal SNP sits on the Tree of Mankind relative to all the other SNPs:

• R-M198 > M417 > Z645 > Z283 > Z282 > Z280 > S24902 > YP561 > YP564 > YP4664 > YP4660 > YP6007 > YP6008
• R-M198 > M417 > Z645 > Z283 > Z282 > Z280 > S24902 > YP561 > YP564 > YP4664 > YP4660
• R- M198 > M417 > Z645 > Z283 > Z282 > Z280 > CTS1211 > Y35 > CTS34-2 > Y33 > CTS8816 > Y2902 > Y4380

This indicates that YP6008 is two branches further downstream from YP4660, but Y4380 is a very distinct branch, with the common branching point characterised by the SNP Z280 (which YFULL dates as arising some time between 4600 and 4900 years ago). In other words, the member testing positive for  Y4380 does not belong within the Joyce County Group - he does not share a common ancestor with them within a genealogical timeframe. (Incidentally, his surname is Gross, not Joyce).

This particular portion of the Tree of Mankind is summarised below. The nearest genetic neighbours to the Joyce branch (YP6008) are on YP6007 (formed about 1700 AD) and the nearest neighbours prior to that are on branch YP4660 (formed about 200-900 AD) and have English ancestry. This could be in keeping with the putative Welsh origins of the Joyce surname.

Unfortunately there are no surnames associated with this part of the Big Y Block Tree and thus it is not possible to draw any conclusions from this SNP data regarding the origins of Group 5. Furthermore, this portion of the Tree on The Big Tree website is still undergoing analysis and the YP6008 branch has not been added - thus it offers no additional information at this time.

The Joyce Country Group's branch of the Tree of Mankind (YP6008) with very crude date estimates
(based on the Big Y Block Tree at FTDNA with some dates from YFULL estimates)

If one or both of the O'Malley Group 5 members did the Big Y test, this could reveal that they sit on the YP6008 branch, or the one above it (YP6007) or possibly an as-yet-unidentified adjacent branch. The latter situation could result in the splitting of the 8-SNP "SNP Block" headed by YP4660 into two separate SNP Blocks, with the Joyce's on one branch and the O'Malley's on another.

Searching the Ireland Y-DNA Project and the R1a Haplogroup Project reveals that the SNP YP6008 is rare and is only associated with the surname Joyce. The upstream SNP YP4660 is associated with the surname Sayers and probably with the surnames Payne, McHale & Guinane. McHale is chiefly concentrated in Mayo and interestingly may be of Welsh origin (like Joyce). Guinane is mainly concentrated in the Limerick/Tipperary area.

Conclusions

The strong association with the surname Joyce (and to a lesser extent the surname Coyne, Newell & Nally) suggests that Group 5 has ancestral origins in the Galway / Mayo area, not far from the ancestral territories of the O'Malley's of Mayo. And in fact one of the group members does have a MDKA from this area (Kilmilkin).

The preponderance of the Joyce surname among Group 5 members' matches suggests that there may have been a Surname or DNA Switch (SDS) at some time along the direct male line of the O'Malley members of Group 5. The evidence suggests that the switch was from Joyce to O'Malley. Firstly, there are many more Joyce's than O'Malleys with this particular STR signature (31 in the Joyce County Group and two in O'Malley Group 5). And secondly, there appears to be more genetic diversity (i.e. more mutations) within the Joyce County Group compared to O'Malley Group 5, suggesting that Joyce came first and O'Malley later.

The Group 5 members probably share a common ancestor some time in the 1600s or 1700s, so if there was an SDS, it may have happened many centuries ago. There are many causes for an SDS and it could be that a Joyce man switched his surname as a sign of loyalty to an O'Malley.


Next Steps

1. Both members should join the Joyce DNA Project and ask the Admin for an assessment of their results.
2. They should also join the relevant Haplogroup & Geographic Projects and seek further advice from the Admins of those projects. For now, until Big Y data is available, only topline recommendations can be made re potentially relevant projects:
1. Ireland Y-DNA Project
2. R1a Haplogroup Project
3. It would be helpful if more Joyce's (and one or both of the O'Malley members) were to do the Big Y test. This would help clarify the relationship of the O'Malley men to each other and to the Joyce group. It would also help us answer the question: which came first - the Joyce chicken or the O'Malley egg? And it would isolate on which particular branch of the Tree of Mankind they sit. This in turn could give further clues as to their origins.
4. If both members upgraded to the Y-DNA-111 test, this would allow a better estimate of the TMRCA (Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor).
5. If both members did the autosomal test (Family Finder or Ancestry test), this could help confirm if the common ancestor is beyond the 3rd cousin level. 
6. Hopefully distant cousins of these Galway O'Malley's will continue to join the project over time (both with Y-DNA and autosomal DNA data) and this will allow us to grow this particular group and answer some of the remaining genealogical questions.

Maurice Gleeson

June 2019