Introduction

The different links on the Society website provide a history of the Ó Donnchadha name and the various septs/tribes which identify them. They are divided mainly between the different tribes of Eoghanacht O’Donoghues, who trace their descent from Eoghan Mór and the Milesian warriors of mythical times, and the Breifne Donohoes of county Cavan. Joe Donohoe has compiled a comprehensive website devoted to his yDNA studies of the Breifne Donohoes at http://donohoeclan.org. While we will address this group here as well, Joe’s website is a must for those having interest and/or relations in those of Cavan heritage.

The Atlantic Modal Haplotype (AMH)

A modal haplotype is a compilation and average of the most common allele values at each marker for the group which is being defined. Along the western coast of Europe, as well as the islands of Ireland, England and Iceland, there is a common haplotype amidst the R1b population which has been labelled the Atlantic Modal Haplotype – AMH. Those values are listed on line 8 of Spreadsheet B for comparison with those of the Eoghanacht tribes.

The two most numerous of the identified tribes are the Eoghanacht Raithlind and Eoghanacht Cashel, who both match the AMH quite closely except for four loci, DYS 391, DYS 385b, DYS 439 and DYS 447, where the Raithlind/Mór tribe match the AMH while the Cashel/Glens tribe differ by a genetic distance of one, either up or down from the modal. These four markers are significant in differentiating the two tribes, and the alleles are highlighted in yellow in the spreadsheets for the Mór members and in orange for the Glens.

The O’Donoghue Mór tribe

The O’Donoghue Mór tribe belongs to the Eoghanacht Raithlind, which also includes the O’Mahony’s. This tribe of Eoghanacht is considered by many to be the senior branch of the Eoghanacht, with the other tribes separating from them and establishing their own identities at various times through the centuries. Eoghan Mór, their progenitor (if he did indeed exist), probably lived around the time of Christ, give or take a century or so.

The Raithlind ancestral modal matches the AMH modal very closely, with only a few variations. At DYS 460, the AMH modal is 11, but the Mór tribe has a number of members with mutations either one step up or down from the modal. There are four fast mutating markers – DYS 449, DYS 456 and DYS 576, where the variance is one to three from the modal, and DYS CDYa & b is highly mutable and shows little consistency except between relatively closely related individuals.

The single most significant allele in the Mór group is the allele of 12 at DYS 392. The AMH value is 13, along with the vast majority of all R1b. This is an extremely slow mutating marker, and I have labelled it the ‘Scythian connection?’, due to the fact that in a database containing haplotypes gathered from around the world, it matches a small group of similar haplotypes found in the Carpathian mountains of Romania, which were the lands of the ancient Royal Scythians, where Mil Espana/Gallo was to have travelled prior to his return to Spain and his sons sailing to Ireland to establish that mythic Milesian dynasty. There is an in depth article in the October Journal regarding this myth and the supporting yDNA evidence.

Within the Mór tribe, there are several subgroups of individuals that share particular allele values that separate them somewhat from the others. Spreadsheet B shows those smaller subgroups. The first six men include our founding Group Administrator, Prof. Tom Donahue, whose family tree leads him directly to Coomacullen Mountain in Glenflesk, near the county bounds with Cork. While he originally supposed that his geographic location placed him within the O’Donoghue of the Glens tribe, his haplotype clearly matches the Mór in common values as well as genetic distance. His group has three common alleles between them, each a genetic distance of one from the ancestral modal, along with the more prevalent value of 13 at the DYS 392. One of these gentlemen has his origins in Tipperary prior to emigration to the US, but his research indicates that there does seem to be a Kerry connection as well.

The next group of five men share a value of 10 at DYS 391, which is the off-modal value of the Glens tribe for that marker. The one gentleman who knows his place of origin in Ireland is from Cavan. Another matching participant in the Breifne Clans project is also from Cavan. While a migration from the Cork/Kerry area could explain this, it does give me a bit of pause in feeling secure they are definitely part of the Mór tribe. They do not, in any case, match any other of the Cavan/Breifne tribes; and another member still living in the north Kerry/Limerick area also has the 10 at DYS 391, so for now, they are all included in the Mór group.

There is one participant with a Glens allele value of 11 at DYS 439 (see also comments in the Osraighe section), and then we come to the core group of the Mór tribe.

There are eleven participants who have the unique value of 12 at DYS 392 mentioned above. Tighe O’Donoghue/Ross’ family tradition of descending from the Mór lineage was instrumental in recognizing that there is indeed a separate, robust lineage of that lost dynasty from the 1583 death and attainder of the last documented O’Donoghue Mór of Loch Lein. That family, moving to the Glens lands after the death of Rory Mór, remained there till the Rightboy movement of the Tithe wars, when the then O’Donoghue of Ross became Captain Right, the leader of the movement (see ‘Captain Right – The Rightboy movement and the Tithe Wars’ in the Jan 2004 Journal). Caught and banished to the Burren of Clare, Tighe’s grandfather was one of those descendants who emigrated to the US from that county in 1905. Tighe’s closest relative in the project is also from Clare, though his family’s illustrious/infamous history was lost in the mists of time and the tribulations of staying alive on that barren landscape until the present day.

The yDNA records also show that some of those Mór O’Donoghues managed to evade the English guns, since there are nine other members with the distinctive 12 at DYS 392, who still hail from Kerry/Limerick, which would have been the northernmost reaches of the original Mór territories. They all have rather close connections, with two matching exactly at 37 markers who have found their common ancestor in a family of four brothers of the early 1800’s. Another member, a genetic distance of two (from the two just mentioned) at fast mutating markers, has a family tree connecting him to one of the other four brothers. The remaining participants of this group, including the founder of The O’Donoghue Society, our own Rod O’Donoghue, have in all likelihood a connection near the time of the four brothers – perhaps a generation or two further back. They are still searching records to see if they can find the common ancestor.

The two remaining members of the Mór tribe match each other exactly at 25 markers. They share one off-modal allele at DYS 447. Neither are sure from whence their families came in Ireland, but one of them felt the call of home when he visited Ireland and drove within site of the Kerry mountains.

The Raithlind group has a wide spread of TMRCA between the subgroups. Those who have the ‘Scythian’ allele are overall the closest. Tighe and his close cousin, John Roger, have not yet found a common ancestor via paper trail. He may lie just beyond the records still available, or he may still be discovered. Of nine mentioned above, several have a known common ancestor, and the rest are certainly almost as close. But, comparing the two to the nine, there is an average distance of 1700+ years, making the common ancestor probably back to the very beginning of the Raithlind dynasty. On the surface, you might think that they are not necessarily related at all, with such a distant TMRCA. However, with the rarity of the 12 at DYS 392, coupled with the known origins to be in the Mór territory, it is undeniable that the connection is there.

The first subgroup of Prof. Tom Donahue’s also has a definitive tie to Kerry; and they are clearly not part of the Glens tribe, based on their Mór modal values at the four distinguishing markers highlighted in yellow on the Spreadsheet B and their TMRCA. Their average distance of TMRCA to Tighe and John Roger is 1500+ years, making them actually closer to the two than to the nine. This reinforces all the relationships, indicating that Prof Tom’s subgroup mutated back to the common 13 value at DYS 392 at some point after the common ancestor.

Things are less complicated for the Glens tribe.

The O’Donoghue of the Glens tribe

Many histories describe the Mór and Glens lines as originating from two sons of Awly Mór (d.1158), the champion of Kerry who staved off the attempted conquest of south Kerry by the O’Briens of Thomond, built the cathedral at Aghadoe and solidified the Eoghanacht Raithlind presence in Kerry. The yDNA project has shattered that assumption, by clearly separating the lineage of The O’Donoghue of the Glens from that of the Mór. A few historians have posited different origins of the two tribes, and the research initiated by Prof. Tom Donahue has indicated that the Glens tribe is the senior branch of the Eoghanacht Cashel, which also includes the McCarthys and O’Sullivans. Their likely progenitors separated from the Eoghanacht Raithlind around the 5th century, when the annals indicate Corc of Cashel established his tribe in Tipperary after his group’s return from several generations in Wales, raiding the Roman settlements there. Independent research has confirmed that the two Eoghanacht tribes are related prior to the time of Awly Mor. In the Trinity College study, Y-chromosomes and the extent of patrilineal ancestry in Irish surnames, there were three main O’Donoghue clusters discovered. Of those three, two were Cavan sub groups and the third contained haplotypes attributable to both the O’Donoghues Mór and Glens, and possibly the Osraighe/Ruis Arigit. Their estimated TMRCA was 1504 (with a standard deviation of 773 years). The limited number of markers tested in the study - 19 - would tend to produce results of more recent TMRCA than 37-67 markers common in our project, that provide a greater variation and chance of mutations from the modal. So, the coincidental statistic of 1504, placing the common ancestor exactly around the time of Corc in the 5th century must be considered with caution.

By the middle of the 11th century, the Eoghanacht Cashel O’Donoghues were driven from power and out of Tipperary by the McCarthys, and we see little of them in the annals after that until they show themselves in Kerry in the mid 1100’s.

As mentioned earlier, this tribe has four loci, DYS 391, DYS 385b, DYS 439 and DYS 447, with off-modal values from the AMH. This ancestral modal matches that of the ‘Southern Irish’ haplotype. Surname projects of McCarthys and O’Sullivans contain individuals who also closely match this ancestral haplotype. As a rule, most other Eoghanacht families match the AMH with varying combinations of alleles matching either the Mór of the Glens values at the four loci mentioned. There are often other markers with different modal values as well that distinguishes them from other families.

The Glens tribe is a very coherent group. On average, they are related within 1000 years or less, which coincides with the timeframe of the earliest indications of the Glens tribe as a separate entity in Kerry, shortly after the death of Awly Mór. This would seem to indicate that the whole tribe descended from one man, or at most a few closely related individuals who were at that time probably part of Awly Mór’s family, either through fosterage or adoption. There was a common practice noted in the Brehon laws that P. W. Joyce explains in his Social History of Ancient Ireland. “An adopted person was called Mac Faosma, literally ‘son of protection.’ Sometimes not only individuals, but smaller tribes, who for any reason had migrated from their original home, were adopted; who were then know as finé-taccuir, i.e. ‘a family taken under protection’.” This could explain the common notion that the Mór and Glens lines were from sons of Awly Mór. There is no other adequate explanation for how Awly Mór’s territories were divided after his death and the two lineages would have retained close ties of kinship throughout subsequent history.

The group includes four individuals of recognized branches of the Glens tribe still living in their ancestral territories in addition to The O’Donoghue of the Glens, who now lives in Offaly. The only apparent division within the group is of six individuals with slightly different alleles at two of the multi-copy markers, four of which can trace their families back to a common ancestor in the US, though not across the water. The other two have personal haplotypes with a few more than usual off-modal values, including three and four step mutations, which you seldom see but can happen. Nonetheless, we are comfortable with the correctness of their attribution. One of the gentleman with such apparent genetic distance from the rest of the group is probably much closer than it appears. He still has family living in Glenflesk - a stones throw from Killaha Castle, the seat of the O’Donoghue of the Glens until the Cromwellian wars, so there is little doubt of his close connection to the Glens tribe.

Eoghanacht Osraighe/Ruis Airgit

Of the other Eoghanacht tribes listed in the Historical Origins link, the next tribe for which we have the most likely candidates is the Osraighe, historically located in county Offaly/Tipperary. Their territory basically overlaps with the Eoghanacht Ruis Airgit (which means ‘Silver Wood’).

We have three O’Donoghues whose family originates in either Offaly or Tipperary. A fourth participant is of a different surname – Forbes, whose immediate ancestry is Scotland. He joined our project when he discovered the close match he has with our participants. He has no close matches among those of his own surname, and he is of the opinion that Forbes is probably not his actual heritage but the name chosen when surnames came into use by virtue of the fact that his family was living in Scotland in Forbes territory at the time. He professes an affinity for the Irish more than the Scots, which could mean there is indeed a connection there. Family traditions and ‘gut’ instincts are not to be ignored.

The ancestral haplotype of this group matches another recognized Irish modal – Irish Type III, which is shared with the current chief of the O’Briens. I discussed this discovery at length in the April 2007 quarterly report and recommend viewing for those interested. The three O’Donoghues had originally been included in the Mór tribe prior to our becoming aware of their match to the ‘Irish Type III’ haplotype. A member still included in the Mór tribe was originally part of their subgroup. His genetic distance was similar to theirs, but he didn’t have the distinctive allele values distinguishing the Type III modal. What that could support is the reasoning that the Type III is indeed a cadet branch of the Eoghanacht Raithlind whose genetic signature mutated to the current Irish Type III haplotype.

While there is logic to the conclusions that I arrived at in that report, there is still the possibility that the apparent match between our O’Donoghues and the O’Briens is merely a coincidence. The most significant alleles that distinguish this haplotype are the values at DYS 459a & b and DYS 464a & b. These loci lie close to each other on the Y chromosome segment, and according to Dr. Thomas Krahn at Family Tree, have a tendency to mutate at the same time. Therefore, it may be just coincidence that members of different surnames have these same alleles.

Eoghanacht Ninussa

This tribe of O’Donoghues were located in Clare, dating back to the 5th century, opposed to the Mór/Ross O’Donoghues who were transplants at the end of the 18th century. We have an O’Donohue whose family originates in Clare, and his haplotype is different from the Mór/Ross O’Donoghues. A second participant matches at 11/12 markers. Unfortunately, he is not aware of his origin in Ireland. We have tentatively designated these two members as Ninussa. We hope to see more participants from that county to widen our understanding of this tribe.

Cavan Donohues

There are three different subgroups of Donohue/Donohoes in the Project. They cross over with groups in the Breifne Clans project, which also has members that belong with other tribes in the Society project.

The Breifne Group A modal matches that of another established Irish subclade – the NWIMH, the Northwest Irish Modal Haplotype. It was discovered within the genetic genealogy community by David Wilson in late 2004 and it was further studied during the Smurfit Institute of Genetics’ project at Trinity College and independently named the Irish Modal Haplotype. They described the haplotype, predominating in the northwestern areas of Ireland, as being that of the Ui Neill. The TMRCA (Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor) they calculated of 1730 years ago has a standard deviation (SD) of 670 years that could place the common ancestor much later, or earlier, than the 4th century in which Niall of the Nine Hostages was most likely to have lived, but David Wilson has reported that the haplotype has been variously estimated from 2,000 years to nearly 8,000 years. Thus, while it is almost certainly an older subclade than the time of Niall, there was press and publicity about it when Trinity published their paper in the American Journal of Human Genetics in November 2005 which captured the public’s fascination and the NWIMH/IMH has become synonymous with Niall, even to the extent that Family Tree uses it as a benchmark for those matching the modal.

While the NWIMH definitely has a geographic distribution across the northern counties and over the channel into the Scottish highlands, it’s unlikely its origins can be attributed to any specific tribe.

The Breifne Group B has a distinct ancestral modal differing from Group A. It is definitely not NWIMH, but it is quite distinct from the southern Eoghanacht. There is a third Group C with only one member in the Society project, but he has matches in the Breifne Clans’ ‘FD2MaguireGroup’. We recommend you visit their website - http://donohoeclan.org for more information there.

SNP’s
The NWIMH subclade has been given the technical designation of R1b1c7, to identify it as one of 10 recognized subclades within R1b1c. These ten identified subclades are distinguished by specific SNP’s (Singular Nuclear Polymorphisms) which have been found to be only present in the members of the individual subclades. These SNP’s are also found on the Y chromosome, but they are far more stable than STR’s and mutate so infrequently that they can clearly identify a related group. The R1b1c7 subclade is distinguished by the SNP of M222.
Family Tree offers ‘Deep Clade’ tests for some of the SNP’s that have been discovered. M222 is one of them. Several of the Breifne Group A participants have been tested for M222 and have been found to be positive for that SNP, which was not a surprise, since their haplotype so closely matches the modal for that subclade. In the case of the majority of the other participants, who are either predicted or tested to be R1b, R1b1 or R1b1c, there is no SNP discovered which further delineates them within the R1b haplogroup. It’s inevitable that at some point more will be discovered, and when this happens, everyone will be advised in case they wish to have testing done.

Rare allele values & Dunphys

There are a two pairs of individuals who match each other but are not very close to anyone else. They are listed separately in Spreadsheet B. One pair has a null value at DYS439, listed as a 12 in the spreadsheets. There is a research ‘null439 DNA Project’ (http://www.familytreedna.com/public/null439/) at Family Tree that contains seventy or so individuals that share this unusual value. It has recently been discovered that a null value at DYS439 is related to the presence of an SNP nearby on the chromosome, which interferes with the test process and prevents a value for DYSYS439 from being detected. This SNP is S26, which defines the R1b1c9a sub-clade. This subclade is seen mainly in the south and central parts of England, with a presence in Germany which has been interpreted to be its origin.

Likewise, we have one participant who has a null value at DYS425. Since this null value occurs in a number of different haplogroups, there is no reason to believe the null value is anything other than a simple mutation, just as any other change in value might be. However, there is a Dunphy and an O’Donoghue who share this null value, as well as an exact match in the rest of their 38-67 marker panel, which is quite surprising, since in the 1-37 marker range, they are a genetic distance of 10 from each other. (This last panel of 29 markers is considered as a group to be the slowest mutating markers offered by Family Tree.)

In spreadsheet E, the Dunphys are included, as an indicator of their lack of genetic similarity rather than their closeness. Their genetic distance indicates that there was no single origin of the Dunphy name, even though it has traditionally been considered a chosen change by O’Donoghues in a specific geographic area. In addition, I have included the O’Donoghue with the null value at DYS425, to illustrate that the TMRCA with the Dunphy null at DYS425 is less than 1,000 years, opposed to the great distance between the Dunphys themselves.

Palindromes and recLOH

Along the Y chromosome, there are sections which ‘loop’ out from the main strand for the DNA. Multicopy markers are often found on these loops, and the nature of such configuration sometimes creates a cross-over in a way that the allele value of one locus overwrites onto another, resulting in a loss of difference. This results in a ‘recombinational loss of heterozygocity’, or ‘recLOH’. For example, DYS 459a & b, whose modal is generally 9-10, becomes 9-9. RecLOH events are considered to be more stable than STR’s but more mutable than SNP’s. In the spreadsheets, I’ve pointed out with a grey highlight where it appears likely that the allele values are the result of a recLOH rather than mutation.

More details (highlighted in blue) will be added to this section in the future. If there is any aspect of the information which you would like to see expanded or addressed, please let Elizabeth know.