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Archiver > DNA-R1B1C7 > 2010-07 > 1279570807


From:
Subject: [R-M222] Roll Call
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:20:07 +0000 (UTC)
In-Reply-To: <mailman.31131.1279566641.3593.dna-r1b1c7@rootsweb.com>


Hi folks,

I admin a small project called the McCamish project. They are M222. It came about when we could not find a paper trail in early America of three brothers who manifested in Virginia in 1770. After the Revolution they moved to eastern Tennessee. There are other independent McCamish colonial migrations who could not be connected to them (but could be proved to not be connected).

I located a couple pods of the surname in Ireland and set about locating descendants whom we could compare with several family members here with confirmed relationships. The later group of McComish in County Down was not closely related. Eventually -- it took years -- we found and tested a man in Australia who had a very good paper trail back to a man in County Tyrone in the early 1800s. He was a very good match.

Since then we have also determined an early Pennsylvania line ("Old William", 1751, Franklin Co) matches the three brothers. We have also found two unconnected McCombs families in America. We now know they were related and apparently came from Tyrone.

I did research into early Irish records and did find some 'hits' in the early 1600s as well as McCombs/Comes. I had wondered if they were related. Probably they are. Earliest McCamish 'hit' is a fined juryman in Derry about 1621: Murtagh McCamnish.

In addition the three brothers' dna matches the clan leaders of the O'Cahans according to the geneticists (who haven't published their 'modal' that I know of). This has gotten us a lot of attention in Dublin. However no one will say much until they are sure enough to publish. They believe there was an old clan McThomais once and that these McCamishes and McCombs are descendants. Possibly it was descendants of Thomas O'Cahan: http://ulsterman3.tripod.com/Chief_Thomas.htm

I can prove McCamish's traveled with the O'Cahan horde in the late 1400s, when they had a bad time of it with some English east of the River Bann. Queen Lizzie's Irish Parliamentary Papers are the source -- they are published and indexed and in Salt Lake! This tends to support the claims of the geneticists that they were O'Cahans. It keeps me thinking maybe the geneticists haven't gone crazy.

We found the McComb matches quite by accident, or rather by me mouthing off on a list. So if you'd like, take a look and see if your DNA is anything close. Because of the ultimate 'publishability' of this 'study', we'll request confirmation from the geneticists, who will take a long time to respond, though promising it the next day. This causes us to be impatient too but what can we do? Have a Guinness...hmm....good idea.

Here's our current results. Check them out. Find your most likely Irish homeland and become an Irish prince instantly. It's even better than the "Poof! you're Irish" syndrome! (We are not responsible for divorces caused by swelled egos.....).

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/McAmis/default.aspx?section=yresults

For myself, I'm just happy to have been able to figure out where they came from. Long boring periods of nothing happening followed by sudden bursts of extreme excitement seems the norm.

Linda Merle

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