Project Goals
1. To study the Y-Chromosome DNA of any male McCabes who descended from McCabe families who were located in eastern Illinois and western Indiana (states of the USA), in the early 1840's (to test the hypothesis that a specific McCabe was the father of the orphaned McCabe).
2. To study the Y-Chromosome DNA of male line descendants of circa 1740's immigrants to North America (from Northern Ireland), including Owen McCabe (Pennsylvania, US), John McCabe (Delaware, US), and James McCabe (Nova Scotia, Canada), based on oral history that a family relationship existed. If there are other pre-1776 immigrant McCabes to North America (in addition to the three just mentioned), male line descendants of such are encouraged to participate in this study.
3. Expansion of the project to study the Y-Chromosome DNA of any male McCabes (worldwide) in order to determine if there are any relationships between the current McCabe families present around the world. Since this is a Y-Chromosome DNA study, only males can provide DNA samples for testing.
4. Expansion of the project to study the Y-Chromosome DNA of males of the Mecabe (yes, MECABE, not McCabe) family in order to determine if this family (as recorded in oral history) actually descended from the very early McCabe families.
5. Expansion of the project in November 2008 to include males of the Cabe surname to confirm oral history (and public records) that at least some of the present-day Cabe families do match the DNA profile of early McCabe families in the USA.
6. Expansion of the project in August 2009 to include all FTDNA-tested men who have the following results for the first 12 markers: 13,25,14,11,11,14,12,12,11,13,13,31. This series of results appear to be an ancestral haplotype unique to the McCabe DNA line, as any individuals who have these specific values who are NOT members of the McCabe project appear to not have significant matches with their own surnames.
[McCabes/Mecabes/Cabes interested in participating in this DNA study are strongly urged to participate in the 37-marker study or the 67-marker study rather than the 12 marker study. The 12-marker study can no longer be used effectively to compare results and draw tentative conclusions.]