DNA Overview
Males bearing the surname Kennedy can help the study of the Kennedy surname by submitting, usually free of charge, a cheek swab from which their DNA can be extracted. This is needed to explore where the paper trail cannot take us, for example the relation between the highland and lowland Kennedys. I lead the way having tested with five different DNA testing organisations. A typical set of results can be seen here. By comparing these sets of numbers with other Kennedys, some measure of how long ago we were all related can be obtained. The project is primarily based at DNA Heritage, although the results are compatible with DNA Ancestry (Ancestry.com) and the free SMGF project. Funding is usually available if a paper trail to Britain or Ireland exists. If you are considering testing with any organisation please contact me to discuss.
Kennedy DNA results
As of August 2008, 50 DNA kits have been returned. When the lab has extracted the DNA, full analysis and information about matches will be supplied to the participant. I then encourage people to share their results in the open databases eg http://www.ysearch.org and http://www.ybase.org (some, of course, exercise their right to keep their results private). So far, several different groups have emerged although all are in an old large grouping associated with the Atlantic facade of Europe. This proves that both Irish and Scottish Kennedys are indigenous (at least in the era of surnames) to their traditional homelands. The Irish Kennedys match well with other names from the O'Brien group of families as would be expected and thus confirm the Kennedy history from the Irish annals that places them in the family of Brian Boru. The Scottish Kennedys are demonstrably separate from the Irish, thus disproving certain old histories claiming that they came from Ireland. The big remaining puzzle is the relation between the lowland and highland Scottish Kennedys. Here the evidence is hard to interpret because of the mix of lines in the highlands, one major line of which is border-line related to the main lowland branch. It is to be hoped that with a few more highland Kennedy men doing the test, this picture should be clarified.
For further information please contact the project.