About us
If you are male and Y haplogroup R-(something) you might be a male line descendant
of Somerled, the Clan founder. If you have a BigY go to your Discovery page and then Ancestral Path.
If the path contains YP326 you almost surely are. If so, contact the project administrator to
see if we can tell which branch you are in. This is a very reliable test.
If you have only Y37 or Y111 results and have SNP marker M198 plus STR-37 values similar to
13 25 15 11 11 14 12 12 10 14 11 31
15/16 8 10 11 11 23 14 20 31 12 15 15 16
11 12 19 21 17 16 17 18 34 39 12 11
you are also likely a Somerled descendant and certainly a descendant of a close relative.
The ones in bold are particularly characteristic. All Somerled male descendants are also positive for CTS4179,
but the above STRs in bold are almost always good enough to know that. If you are 16 rather than
15/16 8 10 11 11 23 14 20 31 12 15 15 16
11 12 19 21 17 16 17 18 34 39 12 11
you are also likely a Somerled descendant and certainly a descendant of a close relative.
The ones in bold are particularly characteristic. All Somerled male descendants are also positive for CTS4179,
but the above STRs in bold are almost always good enough to know that. If you are 16 rather than
15 in the first marker of the second row you are 99% likely to be a descendant of "Good John". 1st
official Lord of the Isles (died 1386).
official Lord of the Isles (died 1386).
The following is a list of SNPs and one STR for determination of descendants of Somerled. Some people cannot
be exactly determined using it, only approximated. These assignments of course depend on paper trails
that might be inaccurate.
Near ancestors of Somerled YP327 DYS458 = 15
Descendants of Somerled YP326 DYS458 = 15
Descendants of Dugal, son of Somerled YP5543 DYS458 = 15
Descendants of Donald, grandson of Somerled FGC11896 DYS458 = 15
Descendants of John Lord of the Isles (CLD56) DYS458 = 16 as are all below
Dunnyveg and the Glens and Keppoch FT17453
Dunnyveg and the Glens (McDaniel) FGCLR579
Probably Keppoch FGC11919
Sleat CLD18
Glengarry or Clanranald CLD12
Glengarry YP6398
Clanranald CLD50
CLD56 is neither a SNP nor STR and can be determined only by special examination of
Descendants of Somerled YP326 DYS458 = 15
Descendants of Dugal, son of Somerled YP5543 DYS458 = 15
Descendants of Donald, grandson of Somerled FGC11896 DYS458 = 15
Descendants of John Lord of the Isles (CLD56) DYS458 = 16 as are all below
Dunnyveg and the Glens and Keppoch FT17453
Dunnyveg and the Glens (McDaniel) FGCLR579
Probably Keppoch FGC11919
Sleat CLD18
Glengarry or Clanranald CLD12
Glengarry YP6398
Clanranald CLD50
CLD56 is neither a SNP nor STR and can be determined only by special examination of
VCF or BAM files by the project admin. DYS458 is a 99% reliable substitute.
In the results for R1a, the haplogroup of Somerled, the codes of our Clan Chiefs are:
Iain Godfrey Macdonald 25th of Sleat is 13120. Ranald MacDonell 23rd of Glengarry
is 13109. Ranald Alexander MacDonald 24th of Clanranald is 13103. Allan Douglas
MacDonald of Vallay, Chieftain of the Vallay line, is 27987 and
David Foster Macdonald of Castle Camus is 136684
David Foster Macdonald of Castle Camus is 136684
Reading the results tables
Results tables for R1a (M198) and R1b (M343) , I, J, and E are now finished. New enrollees and
new recipients of the BigY700 will be added periodically.
The "names" for the groups, which are sorted on, are designed to place the groups
with the ones most relevant for Clan Donald (R1a then R1b) at the top , then the lesser
populated I, J, and E below.
The names like A1a1b3 "look" like the old Y groups used at FTDNA or the ones currently
used for mitochondrial groups, but are not related. They are designed to allow easy "interpolation"
of new groups. The dates are rounded off to 50 years, and are the "Most Recent Common Ancestor"
rather thanthe date the line brancged off from its parent.
The names and colors for R1a are designed to follow the genealogy of descendants of Somerled,with a
few groups for older clades. The ones beginning AS designate groups that descend from Somerled
(or faintly possibly, Gillebride). ASDg ones are for descendants of Dugal, son of Somerled (Clan McDougal).
ASDo is for descendants of Donald "the Eponymous" but not Angus Og. ASLJ ones are for descendants
of John, 1st Lord of the Isles (d. 1368) (or possibly his father Angus Og).
BigY Charts
FTDNA has done a very good job with the SNP and time charts from the BigY in their "Discover"ages. The migration paths
and times appear to be very accurate. We highly recommend you study them. In our older web pages we had ourn own DNA trees, which were made
entirely from data of Clan Donald participants. These have a few markers which FTDNA does not use, and are important for us.
Hence we are still showing them here.
and times appear to be very accurate. We highly recommend you study them. In our older web pages we had ourn own DNA trees, which were made
entirely from data of Clan Donald participants. These have a few markers which FTDNA does not use, and are important for us.
Hence we are still showing them here.
Each darker tan box stretching across the page from left
to right represents a Haplogroup, for example R-CTS4179, R-FGC11904, R-L175, R- YP280, etc.
Most of these Haplogroups are newly
discovered in the BigY study, and not all appear at FTDNA. The lighter tan boxes below these represent the individual people who did the BigY or Full Genomes test. The long numbers
like 2891073 or 17761211 in the tan boxes give the location on the Y chromosome of the newly discovered SNPs. The exact position on the chromosome is meaningless; you can
just consider these numbers are alternate names for the new SNPs. Different names starting with different names simply imply different groups doing the naming. CLD is names
assigned by our project, L, BY, FT, FTA, etc were assigned by FTDNA.
discovered in the BigY study, and not all appear at FTDNA. The lighter tan boxes below these represent the individual people who did the BigY or Full Genomes test. The long numbers
like 2891073 or 17761211 in the tan boxes give the location on the Y chromosome of the newly discovered SNPs. The exact position on the chromosome is meaningless; you can
just consider these numbers are alternate names for the new SNPs. Different names starting with different names simply imply different groups doing the naming. CLD is names
assigned by our project, L, BY, FT, FTA, etc were assigned by FTDNA.
As you go from top to bottom in this figure, time increases. CTS4179 occurred roughly 2500 years ago in Scandinavia, and essentially corresponds in our main data lists which list "STRs", not "SNPs"
to the transition from YCAII = 19,23 to YCAII = 19,21. The mutation YP280 occurred about 450 A.D.. CLD56 occurred about 1300 A.D. according to the DNA. The ames at the bottom are those in the line of Somerled in whom we presume the mutations occurred.
to the transition from YCAII = 19,23 to YCAII = 19,21. The mutation YP280 occurred about 450 A.D.. CLD56 occurred about 1300 A.D. according to the DNA. The ames at the bottom are those in the line of Somerled in whom we presume the mutations occurred.
On the R1a chart a small check mark next to a name means that that person has their genealogy on the genealogy chart on the Background page.
The R1b chart is similar, except we have far fewer Clan subgroups assigned.
We wish to thank Alex Williamson for the code generating these trees.