Welcome to the
Kennedy DNA Portal
The modern way to do your Kennedy family history!
Copyright © 2007, 2008 Iain Kennedy
In association with the Kennedy One-Name Study and the Clan Kennedy Society of Scotland
Updated April 15th, 2008
from the leafy suburbs of Dowanhill, Glasgow
Would you like to volunteer for the free DNA study?
Or read how to fund your own test?
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Read about the exciting new find: the ancient DNA of Fergus, Lord of Galloway!
DNA Mutation simulation - NEW!! 9.3.06
April 15th, 2008. Results are in from my S116 SNP from EthnoAncestry in Edinburgh. I am derived or positive for this mutation, as expected. This SNP was discovered by amateurs searching for clade-splitting tests (preferably one which will split R1b1c7/M222!). This new test appears to be higher up the tree and is rather shedding light on the early migrations of the Celts through Europe. Meanwhile a new phylogenetic tree has been published which has changed the notation of many existing groups. The new name for R1b1c7 is now so long that undoubtedly people will just stick with the lowest level SNP which defines it - in my case M222. Now that the S116 test is available separately it is less likely I will pursue the DecodeMe test, but watch this space.
March 24th, 2008. Membership now stands at 47 male Kennedys, with the recent entry of our first member from Co. Donegal. This result is eagerly anticipated, to see whether he too is part of the R1b1c7 group which appears to form the bulk of the Scottish Kennedys, and is controversially claimed by some to have an ancient connection with Co. Donegal (long before it was called that!). The true significane of all this will only be revealed when the data side of the Kennedy One-Name Study gets to work on Donegal, which I hope will be soon.
St Andrews Day, 2007. New members can get a special Christmas offer, the full test is reduced to $159.20 if you sign up before 31 Dec 2007 and return your test kit before the end of Jan 2008! The project now has 42 Kennedy DNA testers from Ayrshire, Dumbartonshire, Perthshire, Stirlingshire and Inverness-shire as well as several Irish, Northern Ireland and English counties. Two testers have matched 42/43 and I have matched 40/43 with someone else too. My results have finally bubbled to the surface at SMGF - finding them needs a little work though as only indirect surname searching is possible (you have to also search on at least some markers). There are now 10 Kennedy samples at SMGF from Scotland, Ireland and the new world. For some reason, the genealogy team at SMGF have analysed my pedigree and downgraded my origins to 'most likely Scotland' - excuse me?! The most exciting part of the project for me has been the results from NW Perthshire which threaten to demolish the long held theories about the origins of the Highland Kennedys. I need a bit more data before I can come to definite conclusions though so this is where I am concentrating my energies.
January 2007. Two new books have recently been published which bring bang up to date the latest scientific theories about the genetic history of Britain and Ireland. Pioneer Dr. Bryan Sykes of Wolfson College Oxford, arguably the inventor of genetic genealogy after his study of the Y-chromosome of men with the surname Sykes, and author of bestseller 'The Seven Daughters of Eve' has had published his third book 'Blood of the Isles'. The importance of this work cannot be understated; for the first time we have a methodical study of the impact of Irish Dalriada on the genetic structure of what we now call Scotland (as opposed to before when we didn't).
Secondly Stephen Oppenheimer has brought out 'The origins of the British - a genetic detective story'.This book is more in depth but at first glance slightly narrower in scope - I have just started reading it so will update this comment later. He seems to be more interested in England than Scotland. There is an awful lot about the meaning of 'Celt' - a bit too much for my liking. Still, it makes a nice balance to the Sykes book which can seem a little on the light side. Both present data either in the book or at their accompanying web sites. Sykes is offering a reduction on a test at his company Oxford Ancestors if you buy his book (shame if you have already tested at OA!).
We should all be indebted to Sykes who has single-handedly popularised the idea of using DNA in genealogy.
There has also been a flurry of new analysis and discussions on the rootsweb GENEALOGY-DNA list about the source of the so-called 'NW Irish' DNA group. Different people get conflicting results depending on which database they consult and their methods. The databases have sampling bias which needs to be taken into account (both SMGF and ysearch have more Irish than Scottish samples). I hope to do some work on this data myself if I can find enough spare time whilst also running the Kennedy surname study.
Earlier news! (30.4.06) I have tested positive for the Irish Ui Neill (Niall of the Nine Hostages) test at Ethnoancestry. This is definitive proof of my membership of the so-called 'North West Irish' Y-chromosome group.
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Recent news (3.4.06) The Kennedy DNA project has now got participants in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia and the United States. DNA matches within the group are being eagerly analysed. Join us today to build the Kennedy DNA tree!!
Recent news (7.3.06) The 'Ui Neill' genetic (SNP) test has been launched by Ethnoancestry and I have immediately signed up. It is hoped this SNP test will prove a definitive for the so-called 'NW Irish' group which my (STR-based) Y-chromosome results have been placed in. The theory is that this group of men came over to Scotland during the establishment of Scottish Dal Riata (Dalriada). Bear in mind though that most of the Irish Kennedys are not in the NW Irish group, as expected since in Ireland the Kennedy name sprang up in the SW. If the population movement is proven it would have pre-dated surname adoption in either country.
Newsflash (4.3.06) Results are in from Oxford Ancestors and the new markers have been added to my overall profile at www.ybase.org
Newsflash (10.2.06) My 43 marker STR genealogy test results are in from DNA Heritage. No other Kennedy has tested to this depth so my closest matches are a (well known!) Wilson from Ulster/Scotland at 42/48. The results can be found here.
Newsflash (04.2.06) My results are in from Ethnoancestry. I am positive or derived for the M269 polymorphism and negative for all the others tested which puts me in the haplogroup R1b1c or R1b3. I am negative for the newly discovered S21 variety which is a lot more recent than M269 but does not appear to split Gaels. These tests relate to ancient population movements ie thousands of years rather than the hundreds encountered in conventional genealogy and are not the first recommended step for those interested in dipping their toes in the water. Newcomers should concentrate on STR based tests, preferably using 37 or 43 markers, which will help prove which documented Kennedy line they connect to.
Newsflash (22.1.06) I have now returned my sample kits to Ethnoancestry, Oxford Ancestors and DNA Heritage. The first two of these use labs in the UK whilst DNA Heritage have a UK office you can send your swab back to but use a lab in the US. There are larger developments about to be announced so check back here for the latest.
Newsflash: (26.12.05). I have now ordered the R1b haplogroup "The Works" test from Ethnoancestry. This will prove which ancient sub-group within R1b my DNA is located in. Recently a new division within R1b has been delineated by the S21 SNP but this now turns out to be up to 9ky old.
Newsflash (12/05). The first report from the Irish DNA research project at Trinity College Dublin has been published. It appears to back up the R1b sub-group described by David Wilson and claims to prove that this group of Irish men are descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages.
Newsflash (11/05). A new closest match at 34/37 has turned up, a member of the Shetland DNA project. It is a non-Kennedy. Previously I only had two at 33/37. I have also gained my first named 25/25 match (a Patterson), in addition to the anonymous Irish match at this level.
Newsflash (9/05): I have now had my Y-chromosome sample accepted at the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation!! It will be several months before the results are available for viewing in their searchable database.
Note on data privacy.
The results displayed on this page are based purely on public data submitted voluntarily to the public database http://www.ybase.org/. by test participants or at the public results page at DNA Heritage. No private information given to me by participants has been used nor are any individuals identified - apart from myself!
What is genealogy by DNA all about?
Several companies now offer DNA tests that can be of use in genealogy. Although there are tests for both males and females, most of the interest has concentrated on male Y-chromosome DNA testing as this gets passed down father to son along with surnames and is easily linked to the family tree. I have listed all the testing companies I know of at the bottom of this page, in alphabetical order.
Taking the test is very simple and luckily doesn't involve blood! The companies all use cheek swabs as their collection method and all you need to do is rub a small swab along the inside of your cheek for 60 seconds and pop it in a sealed tube then post it back to the lab. About a month later you will get your results in the form of a series of numbers and you can start using these results to see how closely related you are to either people with your own surname or with other names, prove or disprove family connections and so on.
The theory - how does it work and what do the results mean?
There are a number of sites that explain this very well, one example I would recommend is the tutorial here. In brief, the test takes male Y-chromosome DNA and from the 'junk DNA' part (ie no medical information is involved) extracts information from a selection of Short Tandem Repeaters (STRs). These are repeat sequences of nucleotides such as 'GATA' which are repeated a number of times. Your results are a sequence of repeat counts typically in the range 10-30 for a selection of these STR sites. The sites are denoted by names such as 'DYS439', the scientific designation of one particular STR.
The usefulness of these STR counts is that over time mutations occur during the passing down process from a father to a son eg a father who had DYS439 = 11 might give his son DNA with DYS439 = 12. The word 'mutation' should not be considered sinister and does not have anything in this case to do with diseases but the changes are the result of a number of different physical and chemical conditions, internal and external to the body. If we now examine the average rate at which mutations can occur we can then deduce on average how long it takes one DNA profile to mutate into another. This can yield information about the most recent common ancestor of two people. And of course if two peoples' profiles match there is a strong likelihood they are closely related. Likewise if two people are supposedly related (descended father to son from the same male ancestor) and their DNA is totally different it is likely that they aren't actually related and what we euphemistically call a 'non-paternity event' has occurred.
DNA Heritage results so far (updated 31.10.07)
There are currently 40 members in the DNA Heritage Kennedy surname project which is a combined project with the Kennedy one name study. This project is focussed on 'Old World' Kennedys who can be directly mapped into the Scottish and Irish Kennedy family trees, whilst of course still welcoming Kennedys from overseas. The project philosophy is to be proactive and this approach is rapidly gaining results. There is more privacy (by default) at DNA Heritage projects so I'm afraid the results are not viewable by the public. If you tested with another company and you want to find out if there is a match at DNA Heritage, first search for matches at the open database www.ybase.org after that contact me by email and I will do a comparison for you. If there is a match and you want to pursue it, I will relay a message from you to the other participant and you can take it from there. Under no circumstances will I reveal the identity of a project member without their approval.
I have recently had the mitochondrial mtDNA test to test my all-maternal line which is from Ruskington, Lincolnshire. I have reported the results at Charles Kerchner's log. (By January 2006 I have some dozen low level matches but no high level ones, in fact more people need to order the high resolution test to make the comparisons worthwhile due to the slow mutation rate of mtDNA).
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dgarvey/DNA/hg/YCC_R1b.html
http://www.worldfamilies.net/Super%20Western%20Atlantic%20Modal%20Haplotype.htm
If you look at the figures for MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) you may at first sense some disappointment at the number of generations ago this common ancestor goes - most family historians struggle to get further back than 200 years although many do much better. Certainly there is no common paper trail the two matched participants can use to find that common ancestor, yet. But all is not lost, there is still the upgrade. I have tested all 37 markers used by my testing lab (one other one goes up to 43). Profile P84GX has only tested 12 and so our comparison could only be done over this short set of markers. In fact it is only when you go up to 25 and probably 37 markers and still match that your time to most recent common ancestor comes down to within the timeframe of a likely paper trail.
A researcher in the US with Irish roots has claimed discovery of a group of results similar to the common sub-group of Kennedys and claimed an origin in Ireland for it. This researcher is at the time of writing (September 2005) reworking this analysis which has proved controversial, not the least because a number of people decided to attach the moniker "Irish" to it when there was insufficient evidence to separate the Irish from Scottish. The Kennedys were not in fact included in the analysis since those who matched are brick-walled in the US and an Old World point of origin was a requirement to be included. It was primarily defined by the keys DYS390= 25, DYS391= 11,DYS392=14.
It is claimed by some that genetic movement occurred from Ireland into 'Scotland' via the kingdom of Dalriada. This is open to debate and many scholars now believe that this did not happen - that genetically and culturally the peoples on both sides of the North Channel were very similar before and after the establishment of Dalriada.
How much does it cost?
It is advisable to do a comparison of latest prices - as of January 2006 DNA Heritage have a special offer of all 43 markers (the highest number of any testing company) for just $137 which is truly a bargain. There is a growing Kennedy project run by myself and a co-admin. Remember that wherever you test you will be most welcome to share your results with the rest of us whoever you test with and you can still upload your results to http://www.ybase.org/ as it is an open database (run by the testing company but open to customers from rivals).
Testing companies
http://www.oxfordancestors.com/
Relative Genetics is being subsumed by Ancestry.com, more news soon! (Oct 2007)
Interested to see the progress on my new Kennedy One-Name Study project? Here is the latest.
Authored by Iain Kennedy
