Mid Argyll Group DNA Project Launched

The research into the Mid Argyll Kinship Group picking up pace with the creation of the Mid Argyll Group DNA project.  The project will collect DNA results from those men are in the group, which means every man will have the same paternal ancestry.  The project is only open to men that are a paternal DNA match to the group.

The project's goal is to research the Mid Argyll Kinship Group circa 1300 to late 1500s. . The geographic area of the study is the parish of Kilmichael Glassary and the surrounding districts, such as Bute, Arran, Cowal, etc.

The surnames in the group are Duncan, Gay, Gray, Henry, Henrie, McAlpin, McCain, McCane, McKane, McKain, McKean, McKeen, McDonald, and McLea.  In Gaelic, Mac Donnchaidh, Mag Aodh, Glass, Mac Eanruig, Mac Ailpín, Mac Eáin, Mac Dónaill, and Mac an Leagha.   Another surname of interest in the research are McLachlain (Mac Lachlainn) and the project is open to any male that is high level DNA match to the group.
 
The reason are so many surnames in the group is because surnames were not fixed in Argyll in the 1500s.  Gaelic families often followed traditional patronymic customs of mid Argyll.  This generated several surnames within the same family during that century.  This is why we have McAlpin, Henry, Duncan, McDonald, etc., showing up within the same paternal clan.

The surnames in the DNA match group were in use in Kilmichael Glassary in the 1500s.  Most of these surnames appear in records connected to the Mac Lachlainn 'clan'  of Dunadd.   It is speculated that the Mid Argyll Kinship group is actually the Mac Lachlainn of Dunadd family. 

This project will have Dr Kyle MacLea as an administrator, he is a geneticist by profession and teaches at a university.   I will be a co-administrator helping out with the primary source research and Gaelic language elements. 






Link to Join the Mid Argyll Kinship Group DNA project:   Mid Argyll Group

Mid Argyll Group Surnames

The Mid Argyll Kinship Group includes the surnames, listed in their anglicised forms and then in Gaelic, MacAlpin (Mac Ailpin), McCain (Mac Eáin), MacDonald (Mac Dónaill), Duncan (Mac Donnchaidh), Henry (Mac Eanruig) and MacLea (Mac an Leagha).[i]  These are not ‘clan’ surnames, meaning they do not necessarily relate to historical clans from mid Argyll.  They are surnames created from Gaelic patronymic naming customs.  Surnames were not fixed in Argyll until very late, circa 1500s into the 1600s.  Even then the use of clan surnames was not universal and was often a form only found on legal documents written by government officials, rather than the surname a family actually used in their community.[ii]  Clan surnames were used more by older sons of landed families.  The fact that the Mid Argyll Kinship families shared the same paternal kinship, but were using at least five different surnames is not unusual.  They do share some obvious connections.  They are all of Highland Gaelic ancestry and have histories connected to Argyll.  Several of the families have primary source records that placed them in specific locations in mid Argyll. 

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[i] McCain Family DNA Project, http://mccaindna.ulsterheritage.com/

[ii], Michael Newton, A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2000, pages 136, 137. 

Argyll Redshank 1577

Argyll Redshank 1577