Z16291 Ely Carroll DNABy Peter Biggins |
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Thomas Bohan, Helen Bowe, Martha Bowes, Kevin Carroll, David Alan Crow, Mark Green, Derek Irving, Chuck Linville, Erik Maher, Kevin O'Meagher, Adrian Martyn, Lee Morton, Andrew Murphy, Michael Rose, Bernadette Carroll Snead, Mikko Talvitie, Sean Tracey, Michael Walsh, and Alex Williamson contributed to this study.
Carroll Roots Ely Carroll Yahoo Group Ely Carroll DNA Project Ely Carroll BIG Y SNP Tree About PetersPioneers Home Page
Two Matching Sets of Nine NamesThe identification of Ely Carroll DNA rests upon the similarity between a set of nine names in the ancient genealogy of Cian and a set of nine names among 63 testers out of a total of 163 with R-Z16284 Y-DNA. It also rests on the pedigree of testers with kits 112378 and 738989, who are descended from Charles Carroll the Settler (shown in bold below).
Many people with Ely Carroll DNA do not have historical surnames. The major names are: Purcell, Springer, Tracey. Ely Carroll DNA has not yet been found for two historical Ely Carroll names: Healy and O'Gara/O'Hara. See Historical Surnames. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abridged Ely Carroll Big Y SNP Tree
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ForewordI have no business writing this. I am not a Carroll. My wife is, but we found out she is the wrong kind of Carroll. Like many Carrolls in America, my wife's family thought they were related to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, signer of the Declaration of Independence (who, in turn, was descended from the Ely Carrolls).
After I had my Y-chromosome DNA tested and found out I was descended from The Three Collas, I started to wonder about my wife's Carrolls. We found a male second cousin of my wife, Michael Patrick Carroll, and had his Y-DNA tested (Y-DNA is passed down from male to male like surnames). Turns out, he was descended from the Carrolls of Ossory rather than the Carrolls of Ely Carroll. But I was hooked on Ely Carroll. Kevin Carroll, adminstrator of the Carroll project at Family Tree DNA, had found a descendant of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. I decided to start a project at Family Tree DNA devoted to the DNA of all surnames descended from Ely Carroll. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ely CarrollThis page is about the DNA of an ancient Irish clan called Ely Carroll. This is a name that surfaced in the Middle Ages. Ely is an anglicized form of Éile, a territory in Tipperary and Offaly. This clan was originally known as Clan Cian or Ciannachta, going back to a man named Cian in the 4th century. Famous persons descended from this clan in modern times are:
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Birr CastleBirr Castle is a large castle in the town of Birr in County Offaly, Ireland. St. Brendan the Elder (not the Navigator) founded a monastery in Birr about 540, serving as its abbot. There has been a castle on the site since 1170, and from the 14th to the 17th century the O'Carroll family ruled from here over an area known as "Ely O'Carroll." According to the Birr Historical Society, "the present castle building was developed on the site of a previous tower house and bawn probably built by the Anglo-Normans. It subsequently became an Ely O'Carroll stronghold. It was demolished in 1778 and all trace of it has disappeared in the terraces and herbaceous borders."
The castle above was not the original castle. Genetic genealogist Maurice Gleeson forwarded an article in The Irish Times of August 6, 2018: "Archaeologists and historians have been turning up unusual finds across the country thanks to the heatwave, including . . . . impressions of the Ely O’Carroll “Black Castle.” | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Charles Carroll of CarrolltonIn 2008, a descendant of Charles Carroll of Carrollton joined the Carroll DNA Project at Family Tree DNA and had his Y-chromosome DNA tested. His DNA is published along side other Carrolls on the Carroll DNA Project Results page at FTDNA. He is kit 112378. Y-DNA is handed down male to male like traditional surnames. So, his DNA is the same as his ancestor, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Other Carrolls in the Carroll surname DNA Project could now see whether their DNA matched up. About 10% of the Carrolls in the Carroll surname project match up.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton is important because he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was the only Roman Catholic to sign, and he was the sole surviving signer following the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826. The pedigree of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and his descendant who has tested his DNA, goes back to 4th century Ireland. And the descendant's DNA matches up with the DNA of men with surnames that are supposed to be related based on ancient pedigrees.
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Ancient Pedigree of Kits 112378 and 738989Years 350 to 1150.
Google Books has made the 1892 edition available online: Volume I and Volume II. The University of Pittsburgh Library System has made the 1892 edition available online as a PDF file or Ebook: Volume I and Volume II. Library Ireland has made a transcript of Volume I available online. O'Hart's 1892 Irish Pedigrees shows, on pages 178-180 of Vol. I, the Carroll pedigree back to Cian, who lived in the 4th century. 85. Cian86. Teige 87. Conla – had a brother named Cormac Galeng. 88. Iomchadh Uallach – whose brother Finnachta was ancestor of Meagher/Maher 89. Sabhrann 90. Iomdhun – whose brother Fec was ancestor of O'Flanagan of Ely, and of O'Conor of Ciannacht, in the county Derry 91. Earc 92. Eile righ dhearg ("eiligh": Irish, to accuse), or "Eile, the red king" – after whom the territories possessed in Leinster by this sept, were called Duiche Eiligh, i.e., "The Estates of Ely," whereof his posterity were styled "Kings." This Eile was the ancestor of O'h-Eiligh (of Ely-O'Carroll), anglicised Healy/Hely 93. Druadh 94. Amruadh – a quo O'h-Amridh; was ancestor of O'Corcrain ("corcra": Irish, red), anglicised Corcoran/Coghrane 95. Meachar 96. Tal 97. Teige 98. Inne 99. Lonan 100. Altin 101. Ultan 102. Cnamhin ("cnaimh": Irish, a bone) – a quo O'Cnaimhin, anglicised Nevin/MacNevin/Bone/Bonass/Bowen. 103. Dubhlaoch 104. Aodh (or Hugh) 105. Cearbhall ("cearbhall": Irish, massacre, slaughter) – a quo O'Cearbhaill Ele 106. Monach O'Carroll – was the first of this family that assumed this sirname. 107. Cu-Coirneach (also called Cu-Boirne) 108. Riogbradan 109. Donal 110. Fionn 111. Maolruanaidh 112. Donoch 113. Goll an-Bheolaigh ("beolach": Irish, talkative) 114. Fionn Years 1150 to 1550. The October 1883 issue of the Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland contains an article by Frederick John O'Carroll entitled "True Version of the Pedigree of Carroll of Carrollton." The article takes the above pedigree from Fionn, King of Ely, who was slain 1205, up to Donough, who lived around 1550. 114. Fionn – King of Ely, slain 1205115. Teige – Chief of Ely, who had (Maolruanaidh and) Conal who settled at Litterluna 116. Donal – Chief of Ely 117. Donough Dhearg – Chief of Ely, who died in 1306 118. William Alainn (the Handsome) – Chief of Ely 119. Donough – Chief of Ely, who died in 1377 120. Roderic 121. Daniel 122. Roderic 123. Donough 124. Teige 125. Donough – circa 1550 This pedigree has been included in John O'Hart's 1892 Irish Pedigrees, Vol. 1, pages 75-77. Years 1550 to the present. In the year 2000, The University of North Carolina Press published a book that includes a pedigree of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The author is Ronald Huffman, professor of history at the College of William and Mary. The title is Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland: A Carroll Saga, 1500-1782. Also see WikiTree. Below are pedigrees taken from that book, with the addition of descendants down to two Y-DNA testers: kits 112378 and 738989. (Generation numbers have been added to facilitate reference to the more distant pedigrees provided above.)
Carroll 738989 has done Big Y-500 and has the SNP R-BY20010. The date of BY20010 has been very roughly estimated to be 950 AD. See: BIG Y test results. This date is around the time that the name O'Cearbhaill (O'Carroll) was adopted. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ely Carroll TimelineBC 2500: R-L21 SNP occurs north of the Alps in a Celt with an R1b haplotypeBC 2100: R-DF21 SNP occurs in Britain in a man with the L21 SNP 43-410 England and Wales controlled by the Roman Empire 200: Cian, with the R-Z16291 SNP, lives 950: Surnames adopted by Cian descendants in Ireland 950: R-BY20010 SNP is born in an Ely Carroll male ancestor 1014: O'Cearbhaill Ele fought at the Battle of Clontarf 1205: Fionn, King of Ely, dies 1377: Donough, Chief of Ely, dies 1607-1609: Flight of the Earls, Plantation of Ulster 1632-1636: Ely Carroll described in Annals of the Four Masters 1634: Ely Carroll described in Keating's The History of Ireland 1652: Cromwellian Settlement 1688: Charles Carroll the Settler goes to Maryland as the colony's Attorney General 1702: Charles Carroll the Settler buys land near Ellicott City in Northern Maryland that would become Douhregan Manor 1706: Charles Carroll the Settler buys land that would become the Carroll House in Annaplois, Maryland 1727: Charles Carroll of Annapolis builds Doughregan Manor as a country home near Ellicott City in Northern Maryland 1776: Charles Carroll of Carrollton signs the Declaration of Independence 1791: Daniel Carroll of Duddington provides the land on which the the U.S. Capitol is to be built 1892: Ely Carroll described in O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees 2004: Carroll DNA project started at FTDNA 2008: New Carroll DNA project member, kit 112378, is descended from Charles Carroll of Carrollton 2011: Ely Carroll DNA project started at FTDNA 2018: An Ely Carroll project member, kit 738989, is found through Big Y-500 to have the SNP R-BY20010. He is descended from Charles Carroll of Duddington, a first cousin of Charles Carroll of Carrollton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ely Carroll MapThe map to the right shows Éile, the territory of Ely Carroll, in the north eastern part of Munster in 700 AD, in the present-day counties of Offaly and Tipperary. This map comes from a website developed by Dennis Walsh. He has a good summary of the history of Éile. The Ely Carroll Map shows:
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Ely Carroll DNA Project – TestingThe test results evaluated here all came from Family Tree DNA. Only 67 or 111 markers tested are included here because those tests include the 66th marker, 492, which is crucial to the analysis. If you are a male with the name of an Ely Carroll descendant, you may benefit from participating in the Ely Carroll DNA Project at Family Tree DNA. Family Tree DNA has the largest DNA database in the field. For a look inside the FTDNA lab, see "A Visit to Family Tree DNA's State-of-the-Art Lab," written by Cece Moore in February 2013 based on a tour in November 2012. The Ely Carroll DNA Project was started in January 2011. The project is designed to attract Ely Carroll descendants, encourage upgrades to the 67-marker test, and promote Ely Carroll research. You can participate in our project as well as a project specifically set up for your surname. There is no additional cost for being part of two projects. By testing the Y-chromosome DNA, males can determine the origin of their paternal line. Note that the Y-chromosome DNA strictly checks the paternal line, with no influence of any females along that line. Females do not receive the Y-chromosome, and therefore females cannot be tested for the paternal line. If you are a female and would like to know about your paternal line, you would have to find a brother or a male relative from that line willing to be tested.
You sign up online for FTDNA and they deduct the cost from your credit card. They send you in the mail a kit containing two scrapers that you use to swab the inside of your cheeks in four-hour intervals. You return the scrapers in receptacles and mailer provided in the kit. You get final results on line two months later. If you decide to have your DNA tested, you should choose the 67 or 111 markers. The lesser tests of 12, 25, or 37 markers do not include marker 492, which is key to verifying a match with Ely Carroll descendants. Most names have multiple origins. For example, there are Carrolls with 25 different types of DNA. For this reason, your results may show that your DNA does not match the Ely Carroll DNA, which will lead you in a different ancestry direction. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ely Carroll DNA Project – ResultsFTDNA Test Results. FTDNA provides two kinds of test results: individual and public.
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Ely Carroll DNA Database – Modal DNA and Key MarkersThe study of Ely carroll DNA began with a preliminary modal DNA for relatively small number of people who had Ely Carroll names and DNA similar. This modal DNA evolved into a modal DNA, based on data from the Ely Carroll DNA Project. This Ely Carroll Modal DNA is now the one used in this study. Since June 2009 the database of people with Ely Carroll DNA has expanded and the modal has been recomputed. Each time, the modal has remained the same. A reference group was put together of people who do not have the Ely Carroll DNA. This group helps to understand the uniqueness of Ely Carroll DNA, such as marker 492=11.
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Historical SurnamesThe identification of Ely Carroll DNA rests on the pedigree of the person with kit 112378 who is descended from Charles carroll of Carrollton. It also rests upon the similarity between a set of related names in ancient pedigrees and a set of names among men with matching DNA. See A Coincidence of Names. Many people with Ely Carroll DNA do not have historical surnames. The major names are: Purcell, Springer, Tracey. Ely Carroll DNA has not yet been found for several historical Ely Carroll names: Corcoran, Healy, O'Gara/O'Hara. Many people do not know where their patronymic ancestor came from, which is not uncommon. Only a small number of those tested live in Ireland. Most live in America. Many of those have resorted to DNA testing for the very reason that they do not know where there ancestors came from when the emigrated to America. The Ely Carroll database includes some people with non-Irish sounding names. It includes some people who are related to each other. It includes surnames where there is only one representative. Some names historically associated with Ely Carroll, like Healy, O'Hara/O'Gara, and Corcoran, are not found in the study. There are a number of good reasons.
There are many people in the Ely Carroll database that do not have historical Ely Carroll surnames. There are a number of good reasons.
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Multiple-Sept SurnamesThe descendants of Ely Carroll share a common pattern of Y-chromosome DNA markers, and many have surnames mentioned in ancient genealogies as descending from Ely Carroll. Not all people with Ely Carroll surnames, however, have Ely Carroll DNA. In the early days of Y-DNA testing, there was a tendency for people with Ely Carroll names to think that they were descended from Ely Carroll just because they had an Ely Carroll name. Most people with Ely Carroll DNA are not the majority of those with their surname. In fact, the majority of people with Ely Carroll DNA are a minority of those with their surname. And, therefore, most people with Ely Carroll surnames do not have Ely Carroll DNA. The reason is that most Irish surnames appear in mutiple septs. For example, an analysis of people named Carroll indicates 25 different septs. There are several explanations for this phenomenon of multiple-sept surnames.
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R-M269, L21, and DF21 SNPsThe Z16291 SNP for Ely Carroll is descended from three well-known SNPs: M269, L21, and DF21.
Any tester with Ely Carroll DNA who has tested STRs but has not done SNP testing is predicted by FTDNA to have the M269 SNP. The M269 SNP is the most common European haplogroup, greatly increasing in frequency on an east to west gradient. Its prevalence in Poland is estimated at 22.7%, compared to Wales at 92.3%. See: Haplogroup R-M269. A real rough estimate of the year M269 was born is 4400 BC, based on the YFull R1b Tree as of October 2018. M269 is descended from M343, which is also refered to as the R1b haplogroup. There is an M343 Project at FTDNA. R-M269 SNP Tree, Including L21
Ely Carroll participants also have tested positive for the DF21 SNP, which is downstream of L21. The first Ely Carroll member tested positive for DF21 in August 2011. As of October 13, 13 of 48 members of the Ely Carroll project have tested for DF21 and all have tested positive. This further narrows the haplogroup for Ely Carroll descendants. All Ely Carroll descendants are expected to have the DF21 SNP. Other groups also have the DF21 SNP--perhaps 10 percent of all those with the L21 SNP. The DF21 SNP is estimated to be 4700 years old (see Rathlin Man 1). It was discovered by an anonymous researcher using publicly available full-genome-sequence data, including the 1000 Genomes Project data. The DF in DF21 is taken from DNA-Forums.org, a now-defunct genetic genealogy community. (DF21 is known as S192 in some testing organizations.) DF21 SNP Tree, Including Ely Carroll
Ely Carroll participants are urged to join the L21 project and DF21 project at FTDNA. The DF21 project has been set up by David Reynolds for people who have tested positive for the DF21 SNP or are interested in ordering the test. The L21 Yahoo Group has been set up to serve as a forum for those interested in DF21 and other SNPs downstream of L21. We also have a Ely Carroll Yahoo Group has been set up to serve as a forum for those interested specifically in Ely Carroll DNA. In April 2014, Alex Williamson identifed new Y-chromosome SNPs for Ely Carroll testers downstream of DF21. The SNPs came from a new product called BIG Y, which looks at more than 1/3 of the testable portion of the Y chromosome. Past efforts to find an Ely Carroll SNP have failed. In 2012-13, Linville (23133) and Carroll (283359) participated in Geno 2.0 at National Geographic (tested by FTDNA). But no SNPs were found downstream of DF21. Without BIG Y, we identified Ely Carroll DNA with two key marker values: 390=25 and 492=11. The first became known when FTDNA started. The second became known in 2006 when 67 markers became available. We also have Ely Carroll modal DNA, which was started in 2010. And, since 2012, we know that all Ely Carrolls have the DF21 SNP. We are thankful for all that. But we knew it would be better if we had a SNP downstream of DF21 that specifically identified Ely Carroll DNA. BIG Y has done that.
| Ely Carroll Big Y SNP TreeThe following pointers will help to navigate the Ely Carroll Big Y SNP Tree shown in the window below.
Ely Carroll Big Y SNP Tree(See also Abridged Tree.)
About the Tree. The tree shows Y-chromosome SNPs of Ely Carroll BIG Y testers. BIG Y is a Y-chromosome testing program offered by Family Tree DNA since 2014. It identifies a man's SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) and compares those SNPs with other men it has tested. The Ely Carroll BIG Y SNP Tree includes the SNPs of all Ely Carroll members who have been tested under the Family Tree DNA BIG Y program, which tests a large part of the Y-chromosome. The tree is based on Alex Williamson's Big Tree. Ely Carroll can be found on the Z16291 portion of his Big Tree. Testers have downloaded their raw results from their FTDNA homepage. The raw results are then uploaded to the Y-DNA Data Warehouse (prior to October 2017, Big Y file in the L21 Yahoo Group). Testers agree to making their results public on the Big Tree. Alex compares a tester's SNPs with other testers and puts him on his Big Tree based on shared SNPs. We owe Alex Williamson a debt of gratitude for producing his Big Tree and including us in it. Alex has the DNA of a group called the Little Scottish Cluster. FTDNA maintans a tree for Z16291 as part of its Haplotree & SNPs, which is accessible by each tester from his homepage at FTDNA. Click here to view the Z16291 portion of the FTDNA tree as of January 2019. FTDNA maintans a tree for Z16291 as part of its Big Y Block Tree, which is accessible by each Big Y tester from his homepage at FTDNA. Michael Sager of FTDNA maintans a Public Y-DNA Haplotree. Tester surnames are shown if two or more kits allow public project profile sharing and have the same surname spelling. See also: Public Y-DNA Haplotree For a summary of BIG Y, see the FTDNA Big Y Q&A. SNPs are either named or unnamed.
| Analysis of L21 and DF21 DNAThe following table compares various groups with DF21 DNA along with other groups with L21 DNA. Based on very rough estimates, these groups constitute 50% of L21.
| History LessonsVerification of Ancient Irish HistoryDNA testing has verified that Ely Carroll existed in Munster. But, DNA testing has also corrected some ancient genealogical connections that had historically been thought to exist. DNA testing shows that two other historical Munster pedigrees said to be descended from brothers of Cian, Owen Mor (Eoghanachta) and Cormac Cas (Brian Boru), are not related to Cian (Ely Carroll). Theuy all have R-L21 and DF13 Y-DNA, but that DNA was formed around 2100 BC, whereas Oliol Olum's father, Eoghan Mor, fought in 122 AD against Conn of the Hundred Battles. Three Sons of Olioll Mor
The fact that some historic connections are contradicted by DNA should not be taken as a denunciation of all history.
| Deep AncestryPatrick McMahon analyzed the geographic distribution of the members of the L21 project at FTDNA in January 2011 and made the following observation. Assuming today's testers are a random sample, these results support the views put forward by many that the L21 SNP occurred somewhere north of the Alps (about 4,000 years ago) and the L21 population drifted Northwest over time concentrating in the western fringes of the British Isles mainly in Ireland. North of the Alps would most likely be Germany or France where the original (presumed) high numbers would over time be replaced by further waves of migrants or simply driven North by more advanced civilisations. How they made their way to Ireland is open to conjecture. The shortest sea journey then (3,000 to 4,000 years ago) as now would be from France to Southern England. However, they could have made their way directly to Ireland from Brittany (or via Cornwall or Wales). The figures support the view that there was no significant migration towards the Eastern parts of Europe and only minor ones to Scandinavia and Spain with the main thrust through Northern France to Britain and Ireland. Archaeologists have termed these peoples (and the proto-Collas are part of this population) as 'Bronze-age' Britons.
For a good presentation of the origins, age, spread, and ethnic association of Europeans see The Peopling of Europe and Eupedia. Following is a haplogroup timeline taken from Eupedia. "ybp" is years before the present.
| How to Explain DNA to Your FamilyOne of Lee Morton's relatives had asked sometime ago about DNA and the Bowes family. At the time, he wasn't comfortable with DNA itself, but he didn't give up and spent a hours on it, consulting Martha Bowes and myself. Here is what he came up with.
The paper trail involves searching through various documents looking for life events of ancestors. In no particular order, documents include birth certificates, baptism certificates, marriage records, divorce proceedings, military records, death certificates, cemetery records, newspaper obituaries, City Directories (old telephone books), census records, and many others. Generally, a researcher works through these records from the certainty of known events backwards through time.
When Charles the Settler came to the US in 1688, he brought an Irish manuscript with the genealogy of the O’Carroll Clan which remains in the possession of current-day Carroll descendants. The Carroll history, both in Ireland and Maryland, is covered extensively in a book titled “Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland – A Carroll Saga, 1500-1782” by Ronald Hoffman in collaboration with Sally D. Mason, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2000. According to Hoffman’s book, the Maryland Carrolls were descendants of the Ely O’Carrolls of the Slieve Bloom Mountains which run for about 15 miles across the southeastern part of County Offaly in the Irish Midlands. Quoting Hoffman, Ely O’Carroll was the territory in which the O’Carrolls originally lived in Munster during medieval times. It encompassed parts of the modern counties of Offaly, Northern Tipperary and Laois. The progenitor of the Carroll branch that produced the Maryland Carrolls was a Chief of Ely named Daniel O’Carroll from Litterluna in the northeast corner of Ballybritt. Daniel’s great-grandson, who died in 1377, was the last of the Litterluna Carrolls to be called a “Chief of Ely”. The pedigree for Charles Carroll of Carrollton goes back before the creation of surnames in the 10th century AD, so it includes other names besides Carroll including Meagher, Tracey, Flanagan, and Dooley, as well as Bohan and Bowes.
Jeane herself unearthed a few more major discoveries. She found that Michael Bowes was born February 20, 1803 in the civil parish of Muckalee in County Kilkenny, and his parents were Denis Boe and Mary Delaney. Michael married Anna Walls in Cretinclough, Muckalee, County Kilkenny on March 6, 1832. We don’t know, but possibly Denis and Mary were born there as well, probably in the early to mid 1700’s.
Jeane had just been introduced to DNA and was looking for a male ancestor line from herself back to James Bowes of Girardville. Being a female, Jeane has no Y-DNA and there were no males in her family with a straight line to James Bowes. My DNA would only tell us about Mortons. So we had to find a male Bowes whose father and grandfather, etc. were direct male descendants of James J. Bowes. That’s when we met Tom Bowes. Even though Tom has no interest in genealogy, he agreed to be tested for all of us and we entered the world of DNA with absolutely no knowledge of it nor of what we might discover. Tom's DNA would not do us any good unless other people with Bowes and related surnames got their DNA tested as well. Fortunately, a company named Family Tree DNA started testing people's DNA in 1999. They are the largest company in the business, and one with an excellent reputation for quality work. FTDNA now has a database of a half million people. That's a small portion of the population, but big enough to be helpful. The database is available to the public online through various projects administered by volunteers approved by FTDNA. People who have their DNA tested at FTDNA can join multiple projects. A surname project has people with the same or similar surnames but not necessarily the same type of DNA. A DNA-specific project has people with the same DNA but different surnames. One of the first things learned from Y-DNA testing is that there is a variety of DNA types among people with the same or similar surnames. And, there is a variety of surnames among people with the same DNA. The main reason is that surnames were not adopted until the 10th century AD, at which time people who were related took different surnames, usually based on their given name. And a lot of unrelated people had the same given name. You sign up online for FTDNA, and they deduct the cost from your credit card. They mail you a kit containing scrapers you use to sample your saliva by swabbing inside your cheek. (You don't have to spit!) You return the scrapers in receptacles and a mailer provided in the kit. You get final results on line two months later. The cost depends on how much of your DNA you have tested. You can upgrade later if you find you want to test more than you signed for originally.
My first contact was Martha Bowes who was administrator of the Bowes surname project at FTDNA. Later, I became aware that Peter Biggins was working on an Ely Carroll DNA project. Also, Jeane Robinson talked to Martha frequently and was able to work her way through the technicalities and strange DNA language to reach some well-founded conclusions. Jeane stayed close to Martha building an understanding of what Tom’s test meant for us. As Jeane put it: “In our Y-DNA (i.e., Tom’s), we have a gene sequence that came from a man whose ancestors lived in the Ely Carroll area of Ireland. He had a gene mutation that set his descendants apart. The reason we are sure we are from Ely Carroll is because a descendant of Charles Carroll of Carrollton with known roots to the Carroll clan of Ely Carroll, is a DNA match to us. So, if his roots go to Ely Carroll, (there is a paper trail to show that this is true in Irish history), and we are a genetic match to him with this unique mutation in our Y-DNA, then our roots go back Ely Carroll. DNA doesn’t lie, we match.” To be clear, we ourselves do not have a line back to Charles Carroll, but we do have a line back to the Ely Carroll clan. So, in 2008, a current-day descendant of the Carroll family of Maryland agreed to be tested by FTDNA. Two years later, Tom Bowes had his DNA tested by FTDNA, and the results proved a DNA match between the Carroll and Bowes families. The certainty of DNA proves that beyond a doubt. This is not to say that the Bowes family is descended from the Carrolls – there is no evidence of that. But we are related to them – and therefore to a signer of the Declaration of Independence. As to when that Bowes – Carroll relationship occurred in time, we have no evidence of that, and may never find it. It could have been 300, 500, a thousand years ago – or more. The clincher in this study is that Tom's DNA matches not only the Carroll of Maryland DNA but also the DNA of people with other names that are supposed to be descended from Ely Carroll, including Meagher, Tracey, Flanagan, and Dooley. Lee Morton, October 20, 2013
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