Two weeks ago (on Feb 15th), the O'Malley Clan Association made a funding proposal to the Irish Heritage Council to fund Big Y testing of targeted individuals who have extensive lineages back to Grace O'Malley's immediate male forbears. We have asked for almost 12,000 euro (£10,000 or $13,500) to cover costs of the project and we will know by mid-April if the funding has been granted.
Identifying the Y-DNA signature of Grace O’Malley’s immediate male forbears will allow anyone, anywhere in the world, to take a DNA test, and establish wether or not they have a close genetic link to the incredible human being that was Grace O’Malley. By testing about 20 descendants of Grace's great great grandfather, we hope to build a very detailed picture of the Y-DNA signature of Grace’s immediate male forbears, and consequently, anyone who shares this Y-DNA signature can claim direct descent from them and will therefore be a direct cousin of Grace (possibly out to 3rd cousin), many times removed. Furthermore, anyone who can establish a definite link via autosomal DNA to any direct male line that carries this Y-DNA signature, can also make this claim. In this way, women as well as men can establish a direct relationship to Grace.
An early precedent for this type of research was carried out by researchers at the Genealogy Studies Programme at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland (where I am currently an Honorary Research Fellow). This project identified a SNP marker in 2014 that split the ancient Royal Stewart family into two distinct branches: test-takers who carry the S781 marker descend from Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl (c.1265-1298) and are thus directly related to the Lennox Stuart lines and the English Stuart kings, whereas those who do not test positive for S781 descend from Sir John’s elder brother James Stewart (c1260-1309), 5th High Steward of Scotland and are thus directly related to the Albany line of Stewart Kings of Scotland. The process and methodology for this type of research is described in a recent scientific paper by Graham Holton, University of Strathclyde. The Stewart DNA Project is also hosted on the FamilyTreeDNA website and currently has 2084 members worldwide, all of whom have undertaken DNA tests at FTDNA.
Members of the O'Malley Clan Association have been busy conducting genealogical research that continues to identify direct male line descendants of Grace’s immediate male forbears and these are being approached as candidates for the Big Y test. This is the ultimate Y-DNA test. Most people start their Y-DNA testing with the Y-37 test, which assesses 37 STR markers. In contrast, the Big Y test assesses 838 STR markers and over 200,000 SNP markers, and thus provides a significantly greater amount of information than the standard test.
Already, there are several such candidates in Group 3a and their initial Y-DNA testing has revealed an interesting USP (Unique STR Pattern). Anyone with this USP (which can be seen with a simple Y-DNA-37 test) is possibly/probably a descendant of Grace's immediate male forbears. I'll discuss this further in a subsequent article that gives an update on the current status of Group 3a.
Further details of the undertaking will be coming to you shortly in the monthly newsletter from the Clan Association. If you haven't signed up for it already, you can do so here.
This is just one of several projects planned by the Clan Association that will increase the visibility of Grace and her legacy in advance of the 500th anniversary of her birth in 2030.
Maurice Gleeson
Mar 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment