When that paper trail fizzles out or hits a brick wall, what can you do?
While the paper work is still a vital part of the research, another tool is DNA. DNA has become a significant tool in genealogical research. yDNA is used to trace the male or paternal line and mtDNA is used to trace the female line
The O'Shea yDNA Project uses yDNA (y-chromosome DNA) to trace the paternal line. O'Shea men, as only men have yDNA, are welcome to represent their O'Shea (and variant surnames) family and join the O'Shea yDNA Surname Project. This project aims to help people with their genealogical research and to establish the history of the O'Shea Clan.
The O'Shea Surname yDNA Project at Family Tree DNA was initiated in 2003. By February 2010, we have over 100 participants. While most of them are from far-flung places, several members are living in Ireland.
We have had financial contributions, which have helped us pay for some kits for Irish-based O'Sheas. Some of these results can be treated as "benchmarks" for yDNA for O'Sheas in areas in Kerry and the other counties associated with O'Sheas, where Sheas and Shees lived in the past. We always need more Irish-based O'Sheas who know their O'Shea family history to help the O'Shea diaspora to re-connect with their Irish roots. Irish-based O'Sheas can also re-connect with relatives who emigrated in hard times. So, in 2010, we want to encourage Irish-based O'Sheas to do the simple mouth swab and help us progress the project. We also welcome donations to our project fund to help sponsor kits for Irish-based O'Sheas.
How to Join the Project
The testing company used for the project is: Family Tree DNA, based in Texas, USA.
See
O'Shea yDNA Surname Project for details. The order form is available online and you can order the kit, do the simple mouth swab at home and then mail it back, pay the fee and wait for the results to be emailed to you a few weeks later.
The O'Shea yDNA Surname Project suggests doing the 37 marker test as a minimum. Upgrades to 67 markers can be done if a close match is found and it is suspected that there is a very short time to a common ancestor.
Here is a link to a a YouTube video of how the swap is taken:
The yDNA results can be compared to others at YSearch. Ysearch is very useful, so make sure you upload your results to it to compare results with others. This is particularly interesting to see how your results compare with people in your yDNA Project and others who are not in your own project or who are using a different testing company.
Haplogroups
Anthropologists classify the Y-chromosome into branches called Haplogroups or clades. Letters, such as J, Q, R etc classify Y-chromosome haplogroups on the yHaplotree. Haplogroups are subdivided into smaller groups or clades. For example, Haplogroup R is divided into "R1a" and "R1b" and R1b is further divided into R1b1 and so on.
Deep Clade and SNP Testing
When you test your yDNA using the standard y-STR markers, your Haplogroup can usually be predicted. Once your Haplogroup is predicted, you can then use a
Deep Clade Haplogroup Test to identify the SNP mutations that occurred over thousands of years ago, to help find a detailed location, on the Y-chromosome tree (yHaplotree) for your yDNA.
Family Tree DNA's "Deep Clade Haplogroup" tests relevant known SNPs to help to classify the haplogroup into a subclade.
"The purpose of the Deep Clade test is to confirm your haplogroup assignment and determine where your lineage fits within that haplogroup's tree."
So, if you start off knowing that your haplogroup designation is predicted to be R1b1b2, you could learn from a Deep Clade test that it is confirmed to be R1b1b2a1a or R1b1b2a1b5b etc. which is a much greater refinement. It gives you more knowledge of your deep ancestry going back thousands of years.
A Deep Clade test can also confirm a haplogroup where it had not been successfully predicted. Research into subdividing haplogroups into subclades by further SNP testing is ongoing, with the ongoing discovery of SNPS which define subclades.
The search is on for signature SNPs which will be used to define various Irish surname groups. Many Irish surnames are L21+ and there are SNPs being discovered, downstream of this SNP which may define Irish surname clusters. The Ui Neill has M222 SNP downstream of L21, the Irish Type III (Dalcassian) has the L226 SNP also downstream of L21 while the Eoganacht do not yet have a SNP downstream of L21. The Leinster Cluster are also using ySTR markers and SNP testing to analyse this group. All this research is exploring the ancient history of the Irish and the veracity of the written records using DNA.
There is a global Genetic Genealogy Project being carried out by National Geographic, see The Genographic Project for details. You can upload your Family tree yDNA results to this Global Project or vice versa.
In Ireland, most of the research into patrilineal DNA (y-chromosome DNA) is being carried out at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Trinity's research website is: Trinity College Genetics , this is where the titles and authors of the papers are listed. Also some of the data used is available there. However, to read the actual papers, you have to look further.