RESULTS

Test resultsthat generally show matching DNA patterns have been grouped into clusters.Within some clusters, members match closely enough that there is a highprobability they all descend from a common ancestor who bore a hereditaryGaelic surname now rendered in English as Devine. Cluster 1, for example,represents the ÓDuibhín sept of Donaghedy and Leckpatrick Parishes in northwestern .

Cluster1: Members are closely enough related to descend from a common ancestor bearingthe name Ó Duibhín since 1469, when that hereditary name wasfirst documented in Donaghedy and adjoining Leckpatrick parishes. See  Most writersidentify the Ó Duibhín sept with the larger CinnealEoghan confederation.

Cluster 1A:This group is closely related to Cluster 1, and descends from the same distant Ó Duibhín ancestor.However, the two groups differ by three steps at two of the first 12markers—DYS385b and DYS439 (#6 and #9 in the order reported by Family Tree DNA),indicating that each group has a more recent common ancestor of its own.

Cluster1B: Members of this subcluster were originally grouped in Cluster 1, withwhom they may share a common ancestry in the more distant past. The 1B clusterwas separated after two members tested at 67 markers displayed the distinctivemarker for a population group called the Clan Colla, identified by adistinctive null or zero value at marker DYS425 (#48 in the order reported byFamily Tree DNA); other members who match them less closely have also beenplaced in Cluster 1B, as probably also having the defining null at markerDYS 425.  Clan Colla is attributed by traditional genealogies to threeColla brothers who conquered large parts of and  in the fourth century of thepresent era and established the Airgialla over-kingdom. Tradition also assignedthem to a common lineage with Niall ofthe Nine Hostages, but DNA testing showsdifferent ancestry. See Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheThree Collas

Cluster2: The genetic distances that separate members of this cluster from thecentral tendency shown by its modal values suggest that its common ancestor mayhave lived before hereditary surnames became common, and the wide geographicdispersion of its earliest known ancestors does not suggest any common localityfor its origin.

Cluster 3: Members of these subclusters are closely enough relatedthat their common ancestor probably lived no earlier than 1500, but the widedispersion in Ireland of its earliest known ancestors—from Donegal to Mayo andGalway—is consistent with an origin in County Fermanagh before the late 1400s,when Ó Daimhín chiefs who ruled in TirkennedyBarony were displaced by the Maguires. Very few Devines are found in Fermanaghtoday, suggesting an expulsion and scattering after the Maguire victory. However, only one shred of documentary evidence supports an identification ofCluster 3 Devines with Fermanagh: The Donegal townland of Kirkneedy, whereSubcluster 3A Devines have been recorded since the late 1700s, was listed asTirkennedy in earlier records—the only occurrence of that name in Ireland otherthan the barony in Fermanagh where the Ó Daimhín chiefs once ruled.

Subclusters 3A and 3B differ from Subcluster 3 at the markerindicated in their headings, and each may have a more recent common ancestor ofits own. Those in Cluster 3A, all associated with Kirkneedy townland, above,are known to be related to each other, while those in Cluster 3B descend from colonial-periodimmigrants to the present U.S., closely related to the Kirkneedy family. 

Cluster 4:The members of Cluster 4 match closely enough to have had a common ancestorwithin the period hereditary surnames have been used.

Cluster 5: All the members of this cluster bear athree-syllable variation of the surname ending in ‘Y’, suggesting that they areof the original Devanny sept, Ó Duibheannaigh,  found in counties. Separate patterns of matching markers are apparent in cluster 5,supporting Edward MacLysaght’s view, in his book More Irish Families, thatat least two different septs had names that are rendered in English as athree-syllable variation of Devany or Devenny.