McConnell DNA Results

About a fifth of U.S. McConnells are Somerled descendants. Somerled died in 1164 at Renfrew Scotland and at the time of his death he had driven the Vikings out of Western Scotland and Northern Ireland. These lands were inherited by his sons who formed the MacDonald, MacAllister and MacDougal Clans. Clan Chiefs of these clans have very similar DNA which can be traced back to Somerled. All the MacDonald/McDonald Clan chieftains, with the exception of the Earl of Antrim, are genetic descendants of Somerled and their DNA is shown on the page labeled R1A on the Clan Donald USA DNA website. Currently six McConnell men classify in this group with an additional two that probably would classify if additional testing were done. At least one more McConnell is known in this group is know but he has not joined the Clan Donald DNA project.

In the U.S., all the members of this group are direct descendants of Alexander McConnell who died at Octorara Creek in Chester County, PA in 1729 or descendants of early McConnells in North Carolina-- William McConnell and Archibald McConnell. The DNA of the North Carolina McConnells is very similar to the DNA of the Alexander McConnell descendants, so they are probably the same family Alexander may have been the brother or ancestor of the North Carolina McConnells. These McConnells tended to have huge families and they were in the U.S. at early dates. A great many southern McConnells descend from the North Carolina McConnells and and among them is probably Senator Mitch McConnell. His ancestry, which is included with the McConnell genealogy attached to this website, traces back to Archibald McConnell who had descendants in this group.

One question that is still not clear is the ancestry of the early Kentucky McConnells and the descendants of the Frances McConnell, who was in Chester County at the same time as Alexander McConnell, was also a Somerled descendant. We are still missing good DNA information about these and many other McConnell families.

To this author it appears that Somerled descendants in the U.S. descend from Donald Gruamach McDonald 4th of Sleat. All the Clan Chiefs who descend from this person have many DNA similarities in common with the Somerled McConnells.

This group gets its name from known links to the Province of Leinster in Ireland. This group has also been called the Irish Sea Group. The McConnells/McDonnells/MacDonalds (remember they all had the same name in Gaelic) have a long tradition of being gallowglass soldiers-- mercenaries. They fought for the Irish Lords in the northern counties of Ireland in the 1300s through the 1600s, especially in the Province of Leinster. It is believed this line links back to the Clan Chiefs through an early female line. There are many accounts of gallowglass captains marrying into the Irish Lord's family and often became landed regional Lords themselves. There is a Leinster/Beaty/Byrne's DNA Project for person's who fit this DNA profile. There are currently eight men who are classified as members of this group, along with some possible members who need additional test results. In the U.S., this group appears to have a lot of descendants who settled in the Philadelphia/Lancaster County area of Pennsylvania in the 1700s and in the early 1800s many were in the Beaver-Mercer county areas and in Trumbull County, Ohio. Many of this group are descended from the very large family of William McConnell and Mary Magdalena Barnhisel. The descendants of the William McConnell - Sarah Carter family in Wayne County, Ohio are also members of this group.

The remaining 70% of McConnells who have tested fit into many different categories, each with their own history, which can be found on the Clan Donald USA DNA site. New groups are developed as knowledge increases through more DNA samples. The McConnells tested have a similar diversity to that found among others in the Clan Donald DNA Project who are mostly people with the last name McDonald. This is as we would expect since there is no real genetic difference between McConnells and McDonalds. People from the same family wound up with different names due to inconsistent translations into English.

Upper class Indians can name the alpha male of their clan because there are only 37 odd clans called gotras named after the patriarch of that clan. These probably correspond with 37 clans of the Indo-Europeans who invaded India. Indians have a verbal lineage system that is reinforced because the clan patriarch is mentioned during religious ceremonies. These men considered "sages/philosophers" lived in about 2500-5000 BC or even before that. Shan's paternal ancestor/patriarch was Atri.

Atri was the father of Patanjali, a very venerated sage who wrote the yoga sutra, that is, the first book on yoga. He is the father of yoga.

Based on a discussion with Doug McDonald, a university professor and expert in genetics, the exact 12 marker match indicates we share a common ancestor from about the time the Indo-Europeans, members of the Kurgan Culture who lived in Southern Russia, invaded India. Some of the Kurgans invaded south to India. Others (our ancestors) invaded north to Norway and become Vikings. So our exactly matching DNA indicates we share a common ancestor from 5,000 years ago with Patanjali, the father of yoga.