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For the sake of comprehension and context, according to legend, the Picts were only allowed land in eastern Scotland after being refused entry to Ireland initially by the Gaelic Kings. This was on the proviso that future Pictish Kings would only marry Irish Princesses. A proviso that may have been realised in the 1600s in a union with the Ulster O'Neill clan as cited by Padraig O'Pronntaigh of Lough Erne, Fermanagh in 1761. The Picts were then rivals to the Dalriadans who themselves were a Gaelic Kingdom in the highlands of western Scotland. Ultimately however they were the last line of defense against the Roman empire who never succeeded in fully conquering Scotland and therefore Ireland. Alpin, a half Pict, half Dalriadan, the result of a political marriage paved the way for his son Kenneth MacAlpin to become the first recorded king of Scotland.
According to the historical research centre (HRC) the Prunty's in Ireland are a sept of the O'Hanlon Clan. The O' Hanlon Clan can be traced back in the recorded genealogies to one of the three Collas, Colla Da Crioch, the Colla of two countries, Ireland and Scotland. The O' Hanlon's with the MacGuinness clan, ruled Oirghialla, a large area of the north of Ireland until the 1600's when religious conflict, colonialism and the calling of a new world divided and scattered many clans not just across Ireland and Scotland but to the British colonies, Australia and the Carolinas.
Research from ScotlandsDNA, an ancestry testing company found a Y chromosome marker arising amongst direct ancestors of the Picts. Dr Jim Wilson said this was the “first evidence that the heirs of the Picts are living among us”. After testing this new paternal marker labelled R1b-S530 in more than 3,000 British and Irish men, Dr Wilson discovered it is ten times more common in those with Scottish grandfathers than those with English grandfathers. A total of 170 men living in Scotland have been found to carry this marker, although the number is likely to be far higher. About 3 per cent of men in Northern Ireland carry the lineage, but it was only seen once in more than 200 men from the Republic of Ireland.
Interestingly, four members of the project representing other Prunty families, Printys and Prentices are of the R-M269 haplogroup. This now represents the most common line originating most likely from the Emerald and British Isles.
My Y DNA haplogroup is I. So genetic variance is a factor in the present day global Prunty family!
More Precisely my haplogroup is I1d-L22, which was probably born early in the history of I1 in the very south of Scandinavia or in the very north of Germany --- Baltic coast, Schleswig or Jutland 3,000 years ago. In the "Walk the Y" (WTY) -project, FTDNA discovered eight new subclades for haplogroup I1d (L22+). It appears that all of these SNPs will be downstream of L22. L205+ people (me) are L22-N (Norse) and till now from the Netherlands. The Most Recent Common Ansester (MRCA) is about 1200 years. This could mean that as recently as 800 A.D., the 9th century we were living in modern day Holland. The question remains, so how in the next 700 years do we end up in Ireland and the most northern tip of Scotland, could we be descendants of the angles or saxons?
The earliest Prunty I can find is John Prunto in the County of Caitness, Scotland in 1580 whose family had resided at Wick, Caitness for centuries according to the Hall Of Names (HON). Nele O'Prontye also appears in the Elizabethan Fiants' Index, pardon 5603 in Ireland in that same century. If this is accurate, Prunty's could have travelled to Ireland in mass migration during the invitation by the O'Neill's of Robert the Bruce in the 1300s or during the 1600 Ulster Plantations or at any time in between, due to the close ties of the "Scoti people" of Scotland and Ireland. The Pruntys next appear in the Armagh Manor court rolls of 1625 as Hugh O Prunty. Thomas Prontoch is a minister at wick sometime between 1576 and 1636. Then as a 1641/2 witness at Hockley in Armagh as Donell O Prenty. Then again the Tyrone hearth Money rolls of Donaghmore Killimuill Killlymoyle as Owen O Pronty in the 1660s. They appear again in Scotland when Agness Pruntoch married John Clyne in Wick in 1661 and then in the Monaghan Hearth Money rolls of 1663 in the Barony of Cremorne, the parish of Tullycorbet, included in Aughnamullen in Roll Carrickanare as a Patrick O'Pronty and then again in 1665 as Patrick and Phillip O'Prounty. The Pruntys also appear in the 1663/65 Armagh hearth Money rolls of Laraboy/Lurghaboy (Lower half) as Teage and Edmond O Pronty and that of Cloghfyn & Ballytrodden as Thomas O Pronty.
There was also a Bryan Prunty Living in the Town & Corporation of Dungannon, Tyrone in 1766 & one Edmond Prunty Living in Rossbeg, Drumglass, Dungannon, Tyrone in 1766 RC census.
The 1823 Tithe Applotments and more recently in the 1847/64 Irish Griffith Valuations and the revision books we see the Prunty's primarily in county Longford and then in Monaghan & Armagh and spread out to surrounding counties. I have digitised the Griffith Valuation revision books and they can be viewed on pinterest. My aim here is to try to provide concrete homelands for the diaspora to link their trees to. 18th century Prunty's North Cavan, Erne Valley in Fermanagh, through Monaghan, Armagh, Longford and Roscommon. It is a rare Gaelic surname of the midlands and border counties that. Indeed a true Prunty to Bronte trail would follow the Ulster Canal.
In North America, early immigrants were Byran Prunty who was in America by 1750. The controversial Barnabus Prunty of County Down Ireland who is said to have arrived in America in 1750. Pat Prunty who arrived in San Francisco California in 1852 and Peter Prunty who settled in Philadelphia Pa. in 1856.
Famous Pruntys include the founders of Pruntytown in West Virginia, USA, John & David Prunty, Frank Sinatra's wife, the Bronte Sisters, the gaelic poet Patrick O'Proinntigh, Professor Francis Thomas Garnet Prunty, F.R.C.P. Professor of chemical pathology, University of London at St. Thomas's Hospital,a well known DJ in Ireland, Michael Neal Prunty, a peridontist, Lexing ton, Kentucky and the NBA basketball couch and coach to team GB Joe Prunty as well as UC's Robert Prunty who is named recruiter of the year again for 2015. To name but a few! We are also in Nascar, Disneyland, the Bronx and more recently Space. Over the last 4 years my google news feed has been sending me any news from across the web about any and all Pruntys making our names heard. Our forefathers and mothers would be proud!
Our surname project, The Prunty Project, is not a men only affair at all. While we need Y-DNA from families in the origin areas and representatives of the diaspora to build this into something meaningful to all Pruntys I encourage everyone to tell me of their Prunty Trees and hopefully build a paper tree to surpass the DNA. I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Kevin Prunty
kevinajprunty@icloud.com