kiss me, i'm irish

[mellowtigger]

I know nothing about my family heritage other than "Irish".  Someone once mentioned: Tennessee, 1800s, Irish.  Someone else would mention Irish marrying other Irish, and later more Irish marrying into the family, and later some more Irish.  Mind you, I never once heard a name associated with any of these cases.  There was only the word Irish.  That, plus we'd always been poor and there was alcoholism in the family too.  Not that racist stereotypes are to always be believed, of course.  *big shrug*  I'm just saying that the little bit I'd heard seemed to fit with the reality of American history, where the Irish lived and worked on plantations with the slaves... in Tennessee... in the mid-1800s, I think.

Well, the haplogroup testing seems to confirm it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_mitochondrial_DNA_haplogroup
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Y-chromosome_DNA_haplogroup



The maternal haplogroup U5b2 (left photo) is generally northern European, but it is also commonly found throughout Europe.  The paternal haplogroup R1b1c7 (right photo) is much more specific though.  The text at 23andme even says, "R1b1c7 reaches its peak in Ireland".

So, yes, I am Irish.

Comments

[moofedct.livejournal.com]

I'm Irish through marriage, so welcome to the family! :)

[mellowtigger]

"O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare, and O'Hara,
there's no one as Irish as Barack Obama.
From the old blarney stone to the green hills of Tara,
there's no one as Irish as Barack Obama."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek

Would've been nice to know this information last week, in time for St. Patrick's Day. *laugh*

[shirtlifterbear.livejournal.com]

I've wondered what kind of info came from the DNA analysis, so thank you for posting your findings!

[mellowtigger]

I'm having fun with it (and losing sleep doing it)! *laugh*

[lordalfredhenry.livejournal.com]

You're in the same group as I am on Y: R1b1c7 (King Niall descendant). Congratz! (and late happy St. Patricks!)

[mellowtigger]

I had to look up that name.

"In January 2006, scientists suggested that Niall may have been the most fecund male in Irish history, and second only to Genghis Khan worldwide. In northwest Ireland as many as one-fifth of men have a common Y chromosome haplotype that lies within the haplogroup R1b.[16]"
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_of_the_Nine_Hostages#Descendants

Yikes. :) He was a randy fellow, eh?

[lordalfredhenry.livejournal.com]

It also indicates a degree of nobility but seeing how (somewhat (1/5th?)) common it is due to said fecundity, it's often not enough in Ireland. My family traces up through a particular son and most of the O'Neill family is certainly direct line. My clan (maintained in Ireland by my cousin Eddie), the Geoghegan (http://www.geoghegan.org/clan/)s here often claims primary descendance along with the O'Neill and Malloy clans but it is a bit tenuous considering a lot of adoptions during various wars and famines. That said, I'm sure anyone in the US with this Y can find a link to latch onto within 8 generations if they look hard enough. A Y link is just a very good indicator you'll find something.

Yep, he was fairly randy. He travelled broadly and had pretty good libido. It was customary then for a King to have some wives (economically supported women) and then to have their way with just about any woman (or man) they invited away whenever they roamed around the kingdom. It wasn't considered in any way immoral as the king was the husband of the entire land.

[mellowtigger]

"It's good to be the king."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO99nL_at0o