A Chairdean Ionmhuinn Mo Chinnidh
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Vol.18, No.2 Summer, 2004 |
"Are you a MacDonald herding sheep on your lonely croft? A Mac Dougal commuting home from your office job? Or even a Mac Allistar living a quiet but humdrum life? If so, there is every possibility that lurking in your body is the genetic footprint of one of Scotland's greatest warriors - a fearsome man capable of tearing the heart out of a Viking foe. An Oxford University scientist has traced the Y-chromosome, which determines maleness, of the founder of Clan Donald - the great Somerled of Argyll, who was born around 1100 and drove out the Viking invaders.Geneticist Bryan Sykes says this microscopic fragment of the fearsome fighter still lives on in the DNA of half a million clansmen throughout the world. Indeed Professor Sykes says the Y-chromosome of the Gaelic warrior, who it seems had Norse blood himself, is so prevalent it could be among the most successful in the world. Prof. Sykes and his team made the discovery almost by accident while they were researching genetic links between the Scots and the Vikings and looking for Norse Y-chromosomes.He and researcher Jayne Nicholson had taken thousands of DNA samples from men in the Highlands and Western Isles, and spotted a group that stood out.They were at first puzzled, then Miss Nicholson looked at the donors' names. These revealed that among the men with the identical Y-chromosomes were MacDonalds, MacAlisters and MacDougalls. Prof. Sykes said: "There didn't seem all that much in it until Jayne said quietly that these clans were related."The possibility that this Y-chromosome was inherited from the common ancestor of the MacDonalds, MacDougalls and MacAlisters was incredibly exciting.They wrote to dozens of those clansmen throughout Scotland, enclosing a sampling brush for them to collect DNA from inside their cheeks. In the samples of those who replied, they found a single common Y-chromosome. To be double sure this was Somerled's, Prof Sykes embarked on a sensitive piece of research involving the living chiefs of the Clan Donald and their septs.He said: "I wanted to see if the clan chiefs still alive, whose recorded genealogies descend from Somerled, also shared the same chromosome. This was a delicate task. We might find one or more of the chiefs did not have it - meaning one of their paternal ancestors might have been adopted, or had not been the biological father of his heir.He approached Lord Godfrey Macdonald, Sir Ian Macdonald of Sleat, Ranald MacDonald of Clan Ranald, William McAlester of Loup and Ranald MacDonnell of Glengary*, enclosing a DNA brush.The result was conclusive: 'They all shared the same chromosome. There was now no dought we had identified the legacy of Somerled.'Now the only one whose lineage is in doubt is Somerled himself. Tradition says he descended from the ancient Irish kings - but Prof. Sykes says the chromosome proves his Norse ancestry."
*We are Clan Glengarry. Michael Mc Donald named his Estrella propery "Glengarry"
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One exception that I shall make to this vow of confidentially is a few tidbits about Uncle Leo. Much time has passed since his demise and he has no living descendents (that I know of) so here is a little I learned about our blacksheep.
. Leo has to come out of the closet first even though for years my mom and her sisters, bless them, tried to keep him well hidden. When they spoke of him it was with whispers and furrowed brows. Being the last born of Loughlin and Mary's brood, his father was 55 at the time, certainly must have contributed to Lee's reputation as the black sheep of the family. While still a young man in Hanford he became involved with a family named Hoover. He and young mister Hoover were caught stealing a car when they dove from the stolen vehicle into a river. Their dive was accentuated by a barrage of police bullets which fortunately missed.
At a later date, Leo was caught bootlegging whiskey and was taken into custody during the time Neola Lohse worked at City Hall. He said, "Hello niece," as he was being taken in. Nervously she pretended not to recognize him. Elmer visited Lee (as his bros called him) in jail on occasion. At another time Leo was sentenced to six months in the Alameda County Jail for punching a policeman. Yet another time he was arrested and ended up in a hospital recovering from a beating he received in a fight. He and a brother of Uncle Bob's wife, Irene, escaped from the hospital. Loughlin found it difficult controlling Lee and often he had to pull strings to extract him from jams.
Lee worked for Theo Lohse off and on but work wasn't his "bag." He enjoyed traveling a lot more. Lee was also in the service in WWII Helen recalls Leo affectionately. "He stole a pregnant poodle from a circus and gave me my first pet, a puppy called Muff." Shirley, too, liked Leo even though the aunts only whispered about him.
Lee never married but he did have lady friends. During WWII he put one of them up in a flat in San Francisco to which she would lure sailors. Lee would then proceed to mug the tars for their money. He was a boxer of sorts who was described as being even somewhat "punchy" at times. He also smoked marijuana when it wasn't a popular thing to do. In the 60's, Leo stayed with Uncle John for about ten days. He had become quite large. On one of these days John visited the unemployment office to find out how Lee was doing in his search for a job. He found his younger brother off in a corner reading.
Toward the end Lee became an alcoholic and was unable to function on his job as a painter. He finally passed away in Sacramento during the 60's. He just collapsed on the front lawn of a local residence and died.
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The following CDs, are available for only $5.00 each.
" The Mc Donalds from the Bras d' Or to the Estrella" is a book on CD which chronicles our famliy's experiences from Scotland to California and can be viewed on a computer CD drive. It contains 274 pages of narrative and over 50 pictures. This is a compilation of all that I have learned about our ancestors during the past twenty seven years of research.
"Glengarry DVD" plays on most DVD players and computer CD drives. It consists of pictures of Michael Murdock Mc Donald's Ranch from 1900 to 1940 as narrated by him.
Several of you have bought some of these disks, often multiple copies for your offsprings.
Email me if you want either or both of these CDs.
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But if you've an itch to know and share
and make an effort to find what's there,
you may indeed turn up a stone
and find what you'd rather leave alone.
Perhaps you find that old cold trail
ends at the door of the county jail.
Or maybe you've rich or royal kin
among whom others might not fit in:
those whose presence you'd like to bury,
who cheated at cards or forgot to marry.
We love to show off saints and winners,
but what to do with losers and sinners?
Do we leave bad apples on the tree,
hanging up there for all to see;
or pluck them off and deny we know
the tree on which they chanced to grow?
Here are my thoughts about what to do
with relatives not as nice as you.
I believe we should tell the truth
if they were criminal or uncouth.
From this distance we cannot judge
since we never took that one-mile trudge
in shoes that pinched or had no soles,
since we never had to play the roles,
that made them do just what they did
or forced them into that moral skid.
Nor do we know whose shining star
was just the result of good P.R.;
whose exemplary public lives
hid the fact they beat their wives.
Wealth and rank provide no surety
of one's real piety or purity.
Embrace the outcasts, faults and all,
for the good they did despite their fall;
and remember that this motley crew
supplied the genes that made you, you.
Just write down all the facts you find
and let the future make up its mind;
and hope we have no need to fear
events that occurred in a bygone year
will somehow reflect on us from afar
and make us other than we are.
But if the truth still turns you pale,
don't just make up a better tale,
or fudge the dates or change a name
or otherwise assign the blame.
If you cannot determine to be frank,
please just leave the spaces blank.
Better to leave the facts a mystery
than attempt to alter history.
Yet truth remains; it may still be found,
though deeply buried underground;
and when it is, you know that means
someone like me will spill the beans.
Author Unknown