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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2004-06 > 1086102874


From: David Faux <>
Subject: RE: [DNA] Shetland Islands Geographical DNA Project - Update
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 08:14:34 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <571CF05B2EDBF4479C40CF29EC0C591E2565F6@exchange.conrad.local>


Hello Mike:

Well, I don't think that my R1a numbers are yet large enough such that any of us can conclude that your ancestors did or did not come from or via Shetland. I expect that in the next three months there will be about 10 more R1a haplotypes available, so stay tuned.

Your Davisson match is unlikely to be coincidence (IBS) in an R1a haplotype with a very rare marker value. As I see it this, this would be worth pursuing aggressively. If there was a name change, I know that Davidson was a patronymic Shetlandic name (as well as being a Mainland Scottish name), and that Danielsons sometimes became Donaldsons wthout batting an eye in Shetland so name changes were not unknown. A name change is typical in a patronymic society so the Davidson was probably a Robertson or the like one generation earlier.

Actually the name Harper is a name found in Shetland in the 1600s. I don't know what happened to their descendants (or if they had any). If you check the IGI for Shetland and no Harpers appear then they were gone by the mid 1700s.

David.

Mike Harper <> wrote:
Hi David,

Fabulous job. Looking at your spreadsheet I note that none of your
participants has a value for DYS 449 of greater than 32. Although my
family are R1a, and located in Co. Monaghan and Cavan, Ireland from
early 1700s, supposedly coming from Scotland, they all (third and fourth
cousins) have a rare value for that marker of 35. Despite being
supposedly fast mutating, it did not change, although there are other
single mutations. It seems clear that although of Norse derivation, we
did not come via Shetland or Orkney. In addition, the name Harper does
not appear in your lists. It also appears as though most of your
Scottish families are R1b. Interestingly, we do not match anybody
except ourselves in the Scottish Clan project. In ysearch we have one
match of 25/25 (upgrading to 35 in progress) with a Davisson line in
Massachusetts descended from two brothers who left Scotland (not known
where) hurriedly in the late 1600s. So was there a name change, or one
line used patronymics and the other an occupational one is uncertain.

I suppose I need to try and find some Scottish Harpers willing to be
tested. Re the comment about having to pay for most of the tests, I find
myself in the same situation, at least as far as my family members are
concerned. I usually say an anonymous donor will pay. When the test for
the individual is free to him, there is much more willingness to take
part!

Cheers Michael Harper
Harper Group Administrator

-----Original Message-----
From: David Faux [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 6:49 PM
To:
Subject: RE: [DNA] Shetland Islands Geographical DNA Project - Update



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