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These Y DNA results so far, of two Sturbridge McKinstry's and a Bucks County PA McKinstry support thinking that William McKinstry and the Bucks County McKinstry's share common ancestor a little further back than themselves. Possibly as much as a century and a half back. However there is not yet enough data to firmly conclude such a thing.
It would be very good to test atleast two members each, as distantly related to each other as possible, of as many McKinstry family groups as possible.
One reason to do that is because two markers, DYS 576 and CDY, have developed a tendency to change rapidly in this family group, or in some as yet undefined branch of it that includes the families that have so far been tested. These markers are relatively fast changing by nature, but don't usually change within a five hundred year period. In some families they develop a tendency to change more rapidly. In this family they are so far moving like energizer bunnies. We need to get a handle on how fast they are changing within the family groups to be able to safely infer how long ago the nearest common ancestors lived.
Another reason to do that is to speed up the process of making sense out of it if somebody does not match the Y DNA of the McKinstry's who have already been tested. It would be a pleasant surprise if all lineages of a 500 year old family group actually have the same Y DNA. It is more likely that there is more than one main Y DNA lineage and scattered nonmatches, due to historical nonpaternity events. We need to know if a nonmatch is the Y DNA of a particular family group, or a more recent nonpaternity event.
Several lineages and groups of McKinstry's I would particularly like to test are:
Two descendants of Rev. John McKinstry of New England, as distantly related to each other as possible. He was the only known son of Rodger McKinstry, who by various family traditions may be a common ancestor of a number of McKinstry families.
A descendant of Nathaniel and/or Samuel McKinstry, of the Bucks County McKinstry family. It strongly looks like they were closely related to Alexander McKinstry, b 1808, who married Mary Samuels, but it is unknown if they were first cousins or more distantly related. They strongly appear not to have been siblings.
A second descendant of Alexander McKinstry Sr. b 1708, of Bucks County, would be good as well, to try to get a handle on the behavior of CDY and DYS 576 in this family group. Ideally a descendant of James but not necessarily.
A couple of McKinstry's who still live around Carrickfergus and Ballyclare in Ireland. They also carry a tradition of being descended from Rodger, and they most likely live where Rodger lived. They also live where a number of emigrant ancestors of American McKinstry families lived. Nevertheless, because of their close physical proximity to Galloway, Scotland, it is not possible to intuitively conclude that all of these people are or were more closely related than other McKinstry's.
A couple of McKinstry's who now live in or trace their ancestry to the Ballinderry area of County Antrim. A claim exists that they are descended from the Ballyclare McKinstry's, but this needs to be tested.
McKinstry's who currently live in Galloway, whose ancestors did not back migrate from Ireland, and who have noone in their lines who got the name from his mother. (The records clearly show that some McKinstry's who were born in Scotland were illegitimate.) The closer they live to Minnigaff, the better.