DNA-R1B1C7-L Archives

From: John Mclaughlin <>
Subject: [R-M222] Southern Ui Neill
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:34:22 -0600
References: <000c01c974c9$25edf4d0$6400a8c0@NEWCOMPUTER>
In-Reply-To: <000c01c974c9$25edf4d0$6400a8c0@NEWCOMPUTER>

I'm suddenly finding some southern Ui Neill DNA on Ysearch and Sorenson.
The main surname is Molloy, M222, most from Offaly or the vicinity,
the old territory of the O Mail Muaidh sept. There are at least seven
different samples on Sorenson, maybe more. The O'Molloys were Cenel
Fiachach mac Neill, as were the Mac Geogheghans. There are two of these
samples on Sorenson (one spelled Gagon). Another family linked to the
same stock are the O'Higgins, who are said to have migrated to Connacht.
There are eight M222 Higgins samples on Ysearch. I don't know if all
could be O hUiginds from the southern Ui Neill but it's possible. The
O'Higgins are said to have migrated to Connacht; there are two Higgins
samples from Galway.

Another sample Bernard posted recently was 5WYUU (Kindelan
Meath/Kildare). Cenel Laegaire mac Neill.

We also have the Dunne sample from Offaly (3G5W3 Dunne Kings/Offaly,
Ireland ) who matches up with Pat Conroy on the list. If these are
southern Ui Neill though I can find no pedigree for them.

As one of the administrators of the McLaughlin DNA project, one of my
goals was to find and identity at least some samples representative of
the O Mailsechlainns of Meath, High Kings of Ireland, the major family
of the southern Ui Neill. As descendants of Nial they should be M222
like the tribes of the NW and Connacht. Their surname has disappeared
though replaced by McLoughlin. In our project we have a large group of
M222 McLaughlins, many of whom have paper trails to Donegal, L'Derry or
Tyrone. They are distinct within the M222 cluster with a few unique
markers. Although we do have other M222 McLaughlins in the project so
far we haven't figured out who they might be. All we know is they don't
match the others in the Donegal cluster.

Now it's beginning to look like the southern Ui Neill are M222; and if
so, then some of our M222 McLaughlins could belong to that line. So far
I see nothing unique in the DNA of the southern Ui Neill samples. Some
have the typical "family" type markers so many others display. The
Molloys on Sorenson are a solid 15-15-16-17 at 464.

The Trinity study tested a sample from a Molloy (1). Also from a
McLoughlin (1). There's no way to tell if these were M222 or not
though. And there is no indication of where the samples came from in
Ireland. These may have been intended as southern Ui Neill surnames by
the authors.

One branch of the southern Ui Neill I have yet to find any M222 samples
are the Sil Maine. The main chieftains were the O'Kearneys (Fox).



John

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• [R-M222] Southern Ui Neill by John Mclaughlin <>