Potential origins on the island of Stroma in Canisbay parish in the county of Caithness in Scotland?

No common ancestry on paper has been determined between R-Y61244 males has yet been discovered, which in unsurprising given the estimated birth date of the MRCA at around 1276 CE. An examination of existing family trees reveals that the Rosies and Rosses and some of the Olds may have had a common origin in Canisbay parish in Caithness, which includes the now uninhabited isle of Stroma. 

One problem encountered is that there is a gap in the Old Parish Registers of Births & Baptisms for Canisbay parish between 15/03/1722 and 30/11/1746. However, it is hoped that DNA studies may help bridge this gap. 

STRs, SNPs and the date of birth of the MRCA

STR analysis

Initially, as most members had only carried out various levels of STR testing, these results were used to estimate TMRCAs (Time to Most Recent Common Ancestors).

Begg, Henderson and Old matched with a Genetic Distance of 6 at the 67 STR marker level and according to FTDNA, this suggested a mean birth year for their MRCA of 1243 CE.

Henderson and Old matched with a Genetic Distance of 10 at the 111 STR marker level and according to FTDNA, this suggested a mean birth year for their MRCA of 1256 CE. 

BigY700

Is BigY700 worth doing? It can perhaps be likened to having one of the first telephones. If you were the first to buy one, who could you call? But just as phones have become an almost essential part of modern life, as more BigY700 tests are performed, more and more information will become available about the global tree and how our paternal ancestors are related to each other. One thing is certain, looking at over 1.2 million SNPs can provide better predictions at how we are related than 111 (or even 700) STRs.

Henderson and Rosie - MRCA c. 1275 CE

For the Henderson line, BigY700 has proved to be invaluable. Previously thought to be a result of an NPE (Non-Paternity Event) and actually Rosies, BigY700 gives an MRCA for the Hendersons and Rosies at around 1275 CE, before the advent of surnames, especially in the north of these islands where the Gaelic and Norse traditions of naming someone as their father's son, rather than with a surname, lasted far longer than in southern England.

Henderson and Begg - MRCA c. 1508 CE?

The MRCA of the Hendersons and Beggs has, as yet, only been estimated using STR analysis as a Begg has yet to take a BigY700 test. At the 67 STR marker level, Begg and Henderson have a GD (Genetic Difference) of 4, which would suggest an MRCA who was born around 1508 CE.

Old and Rosie  - MRCA c. 1400 CE

Old and Rosie showed no detectable degrees of matches in standard STR67 comparisons, and they appeared to be the most distantly related members of the group According to manual STR67 comparisons, (as opposed to official FTDNA calculations) IGO and AMR had an estimated Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) born around 960 CE. 

However, with BigY700 analysis, IGO and AMR proved to be more closely related to each other than to WDH, the first member of the group to obtain a BigY700 test. BigY700 suggests that the MRCA of IGO and AMR was born around 1400 CE, rather than 960 CE as predicted from the STR analysis. 

It has also been suggested by Wayne Townsend that IGO and AMR would form a new haplogroup named FTD64696.

Ross and Rosie - MRCA c. 1367 CE

The latest results suggest that the Ross (originally Rosie) line (as represented by AJR) is only distantly related to the Rosie line (as represented by AMR). With both lines hailing from Canisbay in Caithness, it was originally assumed that they would be closely related, with a MRCA perhaps in the 1600s or 1700s. 

Recent 67 marker STR analysis, on the other hand, with a Genetic Difference (GD) of 5, suggested an MRCA of about 1245 CE for Rosie and Ross. 

Rosie and Ross have three private variants in common - FTD90327, FTD90752 and MF603025 - and form a new haplogroup, R-FTD90752 in May 2023. 

FamilyFinder FTDNA tests might be useful for looking at DNA matches between the Rosie and Ross (previously Rosie) lines and chromosome mapping using DNA Painter could be informative.

Family Tree

An updated working version of the R-Y61244 family tree showing the possible relationships between the various branches from the MRCA to the 1700s can be found in the Activity section.