Matheson Surname DNA Project - Family Project Website

Matheson Surname DNA Project

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Group Administrator: Alice Fairhurst afairhurst@earthlink.net

Project Surnames:

MacMath	MacMathon	MacMhathain	Massey
Massie	Matheison	Matheson	Mathie
Mathieson	Mathison	Mathyson	McMath
McMathon	McPhun

Group General Fund:

mtDNA Gift Certificate $15* - Kit 48426
Y-DNA Gift Certificate $30* - Kit 49482
Y-DNA37 2007 Gift Certificate $30* - Kit 106075
Y-DNA37 2007 Gift Certificate $30* - Kit 89288
Y-DNA37 2007 Gift Certificate $30* - Kit 109589
Y-DNA37 2007 Gift Certificate $30* - Kit 109901

10/09/07 - Alice Fairhurst donation....$30
10/09/07 - Total available....$30
10/10/07 - Cleta Mathison donation....$30
10/10/07 - Total available....$60
10/10/07 - Douglas Lock donation....$30
10/10/07 - Total available....$90
10/16/07 - Colleen Mathieson donation....$101
10/16/07 - Total available....$191
12/14/07 - Kit 109589....($95.50)
12/14/07 - Total available....$95.50
03/17/08 - Alice Fairhurst donation....$159
03/17/08 - Total available....$254.50
03/17/08 - Marleen S Vanhorn-White donation....$82
03/17/08 - Total available....$336.50

Project Background:

In May of 2005 Clan Matheson decided to join other Highland clans doing DNA Surname testing to look at the roots of our clan. In doing so we may be able to prove or disprove some of the traditional genealogies of the clan. Some Highland clans are finding both Celtic and Norse DNA signatures in their project. This has true of the Matheson clan. Not all surnames in the project have had traditional genealogies preserved so DNA may help participants to find related people so they can compare their knowledge and add to the clan’s lore.

Maps created by clan member Howard Mathieson that show the location of Mathesons in Scotland at various time periods can be found at
http://www.members.shaw.ca/hmathieson/index.htm

Understanding DNA Testing:
Family Tree DNA provides information to help you understand DNA testing. Most people start by looking at projects which fit their surname. Across the top of every page are the words TESTIMONIALS, PRIVACY and FAQ. There are also excellent explanations of Y-DNA (male DNA) testing and mtDNA (female DNA) testing accessed from the left column. On the lower right column are articles which give you a deeper understanding of DNA. An excellent tutorial on DNA is found on the Blair Surname site called DNA 101.

Recommended books for understanding DNA are:
Colleen Fitzpatrick & Andrew Yeiser, DNA & Genealogy
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Turner, Trace Your Roots with DNA.

Books featuring DNA in the British Isles and Ireland are:
Stephen Oppenheimer, The Origins of the British
Bryan Sykes, Saxons, Vikings and Celts (published in Great Britain as Blood of the Isles).

If you still have questions, contact Alice Fairhurst – afairhurst at earthlink.net Please note that the FTDNA Surname Group Administrators are not FTDNA employees. They do not receive any form of financial payment or any other incentive or reimbursement. The administrator of this project is a member of the International Society for Genetic Genealogy.

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Project Background, Goals, Results and News are copyright of the specific Surname Project

Project Goals:

The purpose of the Clan Matheson Surname project is
1) To identify others who are related and to bring together related people who may have scattered to many countries of the world.
2) To assist Mathesons and other historically related groups to find cousins, determine family location and movement, and determine clan branch or cadet line.
3) To help people prove or disprove theories regarding their family history or ancestry with an additional resource.
4) To investigate through DNA the deep ancestral roots of our clan.
5) To share with other project managers information on Scottish Highland genealogy.

Project News:

This project has been approved by the Clan Matheson Society which is interested in learning more about the genetic diversity of its roots.

Our greatest need at this time is to have males test who can trace their genealogy back to either Lochalsh, Ross-shire, the Isle of Skye, the Isle of Lewis, Germany, or Norway. We also invite those from Sutherlandshire to test as we have identified the Lairg (Shiness) branch, but have many other Sutherlandshire singletons who are looking for genetic cousins.

Project Results:

Updated September 30, 2007:

Y-DNA Results:

Haplogroups are DNA signatures that are used to look at migrations of man. A resource on this topic is Spencer Wells, Deep Ancestry. To see research and graphics of the Y-DNA tree, go to http://www.isogg.org/tree/index.html

• Y-DNA Haplogroup I overwintered in the Balkans during the last Ice Age and some members of this group also overwintered in Iberia. The subgroup I1a today is found mainly in northwestern Europe; some I1a’s are Norse Vikings, and others are Anglo-Saxons. The subgroup I1b expanded from the Balkans both northward and eastward. One of the oldest inhabitants of great Britain is the group called Isles which was formerly designated as I1c and is now seen as part of the I1b grouping.

The first two Groups shown in the Y Results are both in Haplogroup I. Only one of these is shown in the network graphic following because the other has not tested at 37 markers. The one shown both places is from the DNA group identified as Isles which may have come from Spain to the Western Isles prior to Roman times. FTDNA gives the haplogroup as I1c, while the ISOGG website identifies the group as I1b2a. The second is from a DNA group identified as Ultra-Norse (in other words a Viking from Scandinavia).

• Y-DNA Haplogroup R1a is thought to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas in the Kurgan culture and is associated with the domestication of the horse. Some R1a signatures are Norwegian Viking such as that of Murchadh Buidhe, who is a progenitor of the chiefly lines of clan Matheson, and Somerled, who is a progenitor of chiefly lines in clan Donald.

There are two different Haplogroup R1a groups shown in the Y Results; they are both Norwegian Viking. In the first group of R1a's, 76070 and 89300 may be descended from early branches of the Lochalsh Mathesons who are shown in the second group. E1829 is another Norwegian Viking of different paternity who went to Germany. The second group of R1a's, identified as Lochalsh, all have paper trails and DNA which says they are descended from a common ancestor, Murchadh Buidhe, Chief of the clan in the 1500's. The network graphic following helps illustrate the genetic distance between these men.

The following is a network which shows relationship between those men who have tested at least 37 markers and are in either Haplogroup I or R1a.

• Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b is the most prolific haplogroup in Europe and its frequency changes in a cline from west (where it reaches a saturation point of almost 100% in areas of Western Ireland) to east (where it becomes uncommon in parts of Eastern Europe and virtually disappears beyond the Middle East. This group is thought to have spent the last Ice Age in the refuge found in Spain and southern France.

The large Haplogroup R1b grouping shown in Y-Results mainly includes includes people who are not closely related. All these R1b people are of Celtic descent. People who moved into a Chief or Chieftain's territory often took on that clan name. We have illustrated that kit 58590 is of Pictish descent and 92363 and 57534 show the DNA signature of OGAP2 which is an early arrival into Great Britain from the Ice Age refuge of Spain/southern France and is now quite prominent in Ireland.

Haplogroup R1b - Lairg are all related and are of the Shiness branch of the clan. Two members have a paper trail to Col. George Matheson, Chieftain of the Shiness branch of the clan. The chiefly line from Lochalsh and the chieftain line from Shiness are not related genetically through the male line since they are in different haplogroups, but could have been related through the female line in the distant past. This group is a Celtic Pictish group which was in Scotland before the invasion of the Scots from Ireland to form the kingdom of Dalriada.

Matheson/Dunbar is likely descended from a younger son of the Dunbar main family, a branch of which resided in Aberdeenshire. Patrick Dunbar was Chancellor of Aberdeen and also owned Bennetsfield before the Mathesons. This particular DNA signature is one of the earliest to come to the British Isles and is heavily found in Wales and in parts of Scotland.

The Scotland I group is the prototypical Scottish DNA signature. Some population geneticists claim this is a Celtic Pict line. There has been considerable controversy as to the exact name of the progenitor. We recently had a Matheson from Norway test with this signature.

The following is a network which shows relationship between those men who have tested at least 37 markers and are in Haplogroup R1b.

mtDNA Results:

Five females with Matheson ancestry have tested. None of them have a common female ancestor. mtDNA is traced along the straight female line which changes surnames with every generation. It is extremely unusual to find mtDNA matches even if the person has tested both HVR1 and HVR2 since with both tested the match can range back 700 years. All of the mtDNA haplogroups reported in these tests are found in the British Isles and are discussed in Bryan Sykes The Seven Daughters of Eve. All of these haplogroups are also discussed in Spencer Wells, Deep Ancestry.

Two are in mtDNA haplogroup H (also known as Helena). This haplogroup comprises 40 to 60 % of the mtDNA gene pool in Western Europe and as such is considered the most successful of the mtDNA haplogroups in reproducing itself. It also comprises about 20 % of southwest Asian lineages, 15 % of central Asian lineages and 5 % of northern Asian lineages.

One is in mtDNA haplogroup J* (also known as Jasmine) which has a very wide distribution, being common in eastern and northern Europe, and is present as far east as the Indus Valley bordering Indian and Pakistan and as far south as the Arabian peninsula. mtDNA haplogroup J is largely considered one of the main genetic signatures of the Neolithic expansion and is associated with the spread of agriculture.

One is in mtDNA Haplogroup K (also known as Katrine) and has been identified as being in the subclade K1a. mtDNA haplogroup K has a wide distribution including areas of Europe, northern Africa, India, Arabia, the northern Caucasus Mountains and throughout the near East. Today, mtDNA haplogroup K has three of the four most common mtDNA signatures in Askenazi Jews, but our member does not have one of these specific K signatures.

One is in mtDNA Haplogroup V (also known as Velda) which tends to be restricted to western, central, and northern Europe. It is found in 12% of Basques and is thought to have been established within the European refuge during the last Ice Age.

More clan members are in the process of testing. Results will be posted as soon as available.

DNA Test Results (mtDNA) for Project Members