Background: (Updated 9/12/2013 – new material highlighted)

The 1897 Kneeland genealogy, “Seven Centuries in the Kneeland Family” by Stillman Foster Kneeland, traced the descendents of two early Kneeland immigrants to the American colonies.  Those two were John Kneeland of Boston, Massachusetts (born about 1640) and Edward Kneeland of Ipswich, Massachusetts (born about 1632).  SFK linked these two as 1^st cousins and traced both of them back to Alexander Kneland of Scotland (mid 1200’s), an uncle, by marriage, of William Wallace.  SFK also provided some information about the Kneland descendants who remained in Scotland and changed their name to Cleland.  SFK also implied that all the Kneelands in North America derived from the two early immigrants.

Subsequent research has failed to confirm the connection between John and Edward.  In fact, the early colonial records acknowledge John as being of Scottish descent, but Edward is consistently referred to as an Irishman.  Furthermore, US Census records (1850-1900), indicate about 30 other Kneeland immigrants, mostly coming from Ireland.  There are some Kneeland lines that carry the Kneeland name through an unwed maternal ancestor, or by adoption.  And there are the African-American Kneelands, who probably just carry the name, but might also carry the DNA.  There are also alternative spellings, such as Neyland, that may be related, but currently there are no confirmed links.

During the several hundred years between Alexander Kneland and the early migrations to North America, we know there was considerable migration from Scotland to Ireland, some fleeing from the conflicts between Scotland and England, and some being exiled by the English.  It is therefore quite possible that we are all descended from Alexander Kneland, but it is doubtful that a paper trail can ever be established.

DNA testing has the potential to provided some answers, either positive or negative, but there are challenges.  The descendants of Edward Kneeland seem to be plentiful, so we should be able to establish an ancestral DNA profile for Edward.  Male lineage descendants of John Kneeland are surprisingly harder to find.  If we can get a couple and they match to each other and closely to Edward, then it would confirm SFK’s account.  Otherwise it would take additional results to build an ancestral DNA profile for John.

Linking Edward and/or John to the Clelands will be even trickier.  One of the early Cleland direct descendants of Alexander Kneland sold the Kneland/Cleland estate and the hereditary rights to a brother-in-law who then assumed the Cleland name.  So the Cleland descendants that can now properly claim the titles/heraldry/coat-of-arms are not Y-DNA genetically Kneland/Clelands.