The long term objective of the Neely DNA Project is to find where our Neely ancestors came from before they were settled into Northern Ireland during the Plantation. Considerable evidence almost assuredly puts them as part of the Ulster Scots settled into N. Ireland in the early 1600's. They may have come from the Wigtownshire area of western Scotland, but were they Neelys or some surname that was transformed into Neely? And before that, did they come from Scotland or did they descend from a group in England?

The immediate objective is to determine the relationships among the various Neely lines by using YDNA results to match genealogy lines we have identified from Neely immigrants to America from N. Ireland. Then, to work backwards by testing against Neely lines currently living in Ireland.