Understanding the Kilcoyne DNA Project

 There are several types of DNA testing. The two that are used for our Kilcoyne Study is the male only Y-DNA test and the autosomal DNA test. The autosomal test can be found on sites like ancestry, My Heritage, 23 and Me , and several others. It is recommended you test with Ancestry, because they have the largest database, and you can transfer your DNA file from ancestry to several other testing sites for free if you wish to. This test is wonderful for family matching within 200 years. The male only Y-DNA test looks only at the male inherited Y-Chromosome. The Y is passed from father to son relatively unchanged from generation to generation. Going back all the way to "Genetic Adam" a few hundred thousand years ago. There are occasional mutations along the Y that occur in specific men called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) and short tandem repeats (STRs)  These mutations allow us to track our ancestors through time. It is unknown to Science why these mutations occur, they are essentially evolutionarily hiccups.

 The Haplotree, also called the Tree of Mankind, has 60k branches on it compiled from YDNA testers on sites like Family Tree DNA and several others. DNA that is sequenced from archeological sites are also included on the Haplotree. YDNA is essentially a time machine that allows us to see where in the world our male ancestors came from and migrated to. The mutations are also valuable in our family trees  within the last few hundred years. Through advanced testing of specific lineages, I have found specific mutations in named men in our family trees. Valuable because we can place a tester on a specific farm where the mutation was created.  

FTDNA is the oldest site and also has surname projects that you can join and is home to our Kilcoyne YDNA Project that I administer. Through this site and our Facebook group I have been able to recruit several dozen Kilcoyne men for Y-DNA testing. I have discovered ten  paternally unrelated Kilcoyne families in the west of Ireland. I believe there are four primary Kilcoyne families with the other six  making up non paternal events through adoption, females passing their Kilcoyne surname onto their child, or by other means. Having established these groups using YDNA , it is relatively easy to find which parish your Kilcoyne family came from. I have connected several families from America and England to their ancestral parishes in Mayo and Sligo. It is a very powerful tool we have at our disposal to reconnect our family trees. Many of us know how difficult it is to research our Irish family tree due to the limits of paper genealogy. 

Here is an example of the Tubbercury-Kilcoynes genetic history traced back to central Africa 200k years ago. The SNPS here listed like R-L21  are actual men in our tree. Traced to these locations through all YDNA testing to date. 

Here is the map I created with all the Kilcoyne YDNA testers to date. I base the pins on the earliest known 19th century  ancestor of the tester. Testing your families Kilcoyne YDNA can easily connect you to one of these groups

 

The Blue Group- Overview

The  Y-DNA test only explores the paternal line, and it can therefore be used to locate one’s direct male ancestors to specific locations at specific time points in history. Moreover, the surnames of one’s Y-DNA revealed genetic relatives can reveal clues to his ancestors ‘ethnicity’ at each specific location and timepoint. For example, one’s Y-DNA revealed 12 marker matches reflect shared ancestry from potentially many thousands of years ago, and when one matches Central European French and German surnames from that timeframe it indicates a Celtic/Gaulish origin. As the STR markers are increased to 67 and 111 markers, the prefix Mac begins to appear and suggests Gaelic roots in Scotland and Ireland in the last 1-2k years. This is the case for the "Blue" Kilcoynes. This family tested positive for the ancient I-M223 SNP. If your YDNA haplogroup comes back as I-M223 then your paternal line will lead back to one of two groups; one within the West of Ireland and another whose Y-DNA signature spans Southeast Ulster and neighboring Southwest Scotland. I-M223 is dominated by surnames like Dougherty, McGuinness and O'Neil , all prevalent in the South County Down area. 

Through advanced YDNA testing using the BigY700 test, we reach into the modern era using SNP mutations that can be more accurately dated. This test has made some amazing discoveries for us. We can date the surname use  to 6-800 years. This family is the oldest found of the 11 paternally unrelated Kilcoyne families in the west of Ireland, and possibly the founding Kilcoyne family. It's possible each of the other Kilcoyne groups have branched off the Blue through "non paternal events" or females' passing their surnames onto their children. We have discovered 4 genetic branches for this family that we call a genetic subclade, all dated within 800 years. This is an achievement, because surnames have been used in Ireland going back 1000 years. Haplogroup I-FT418455 is about 800 years old, created in the common ancestor for this family somewhere in Mayo or Sligo. There are two defining branches that make up this family. FTA11172 was created in or near Louisburg, Mayo about 400 years ago. This man cannot be named but he certainly carried the Kilcoyne surname. Sometime 400 years ago, a man began using the surname Coyle in this branch, likely the result of confusion over translation of the surname. This matches the time frame when names began being  anglicized in Ireland. The other haplogroup, I-FT418169 was created in or near the parish of Ballymote, Sligo in a unnamed man about 400 years ago. We can see that the surname  was corrupted in Sligo at some point in the past in at least one family resulting in the name Coen being used. . What we can tell is that one Kilcoyne man left either Ballymote or Louisburg 400 years ago and settled in an unfamiliar land. We can only speculate why this man left his native farm and land, but it was likely due to some unfortunate circumstance of war or a better opportunity to work more land. 

Many of the Louisburg branch began leaving Mayo in the 1880s. Common destinations were the ports of Quebec, Boston, and Pennsylvania. Some Pennsylvania arrivals traveled to the Midwest, where many still are. While the Boston arrivals settled in the town of Clinton, where many Irish migrants settled. The Quebec arrivals ended up settling in upstate New York. The common ancestor for this branch can be dated back 2-250 years ago. That common ancestors name cannot be determined. In fact, none of the Blue family can be connected on paper, we simply know of the connection via genetic genealogy.  So these families are now in excess of 4th cousins. The Sligo branch has opted for migration to England, and I have seen less travels to the states from this family. The same case for the Sligo branch has played out, none can be connected on paper. 

Thanks to YDNA and the cooperation of many scattered throughout Ireland , England and the States, we can piece this families history back together. It took several thousand dollars from this family and a bit of cooperation with me to make it happen. So fair play to the Blues