Happy New Year!

I think we can still just about get away with saying that.

And as we start 2016, the Y-DNA results of two new members have just been posted (see the previous blog post). Four additional members tested their Y-DNA over Christmas and we can expect these results to trickle in over the course of the next several weeks. Four of these six new members have Irish ancestry and therefore are likely to belong to Lineage II or III, and two have New England ancestry and therefore likely to belong to Lineage I. But who knows? Maybe we will discover an entirely new Lineage and some of the singletons in the "Ungrouped" cluster will suddenly be paired up with a new genetic cousin in their very own new lineage. Time will tell.

There is something else to look forward to. Thanks to the FTDNA Christmas Sale, several members ordered the Big Y test - from both Lineage I and Lineage II, so we have 3 new sets of results to look forward to, bringing the grand total to 9 in Lineage II and 3 in Lineage I. This may reveal the origins of Lineage I and will help further delineate the branching pattern in Lineage II. Even as I write the first two sets of results have come in, earlier than expected!

In addition, some members have upgraded their results to 67 or 111 markers. This will add a degree of detail to their Y-DNA profile which may very well help delineate their relative position on the Mutation History Tree for Lineage II.

So all in all, we are going to have a very busy and a very exciting start to 2016.

Further down the line, from August 19-24, we are having a Gleeson Clan Gathering in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. Everyone is welcome, whether you're a Gleason, Gleeson, Glisson, or simply want to be. Several people from Lineage I and Lineage II have already signed up. We have a mixture of lectures, tours, excursions, & social gatherings, so if you ever wanted to visit Ireland, now would be an excellent time to go. The Gathering has its own dedicated website so feel free to take a look around and be sure to book early as there are limited spaces available. Please note that the focus of the Gathering will be on the Gleeson's of Irish origin but everyone and anyone is welcome to attend.

Here's to a prosperous and productive New Year, everyone!

Judith Claassen

Maurice Gleeson

Jan 2016

New Members, Lineage II - B78262 & 446153

Two sets of new results were recently posted to the project (on January 16th), both of which are matches to those in Lineage II (the North Tipperary Gleeson's).

Member B78262

The first set are those of new member B78262 and he has tested out to 67 markers. His ancestry is from Ireland and his MDKA is Peter Gleeson born c1841 in Bruree, Co. Limerick and died in 1901 in Chicago. We hope to have his Gleeson pedigree up on the Patriarch Page of the website shortly and we are awaiting some additional information about his ancestry, including the family nickname (if known). I will update this post in due course to reflect this new information.

Many of you in Lineage II will have B78262 as a match among your list of matches, but some of you will not (if the Genetic Distance between you and him is greater than 4 mismatches out of 37 markers ... or 7/67, or 10/111). However, as Admins, Judy and I can see how closely each member is related to everyone else, including those beyond the 4/37 level. And so, below is the GD of B78262 to everyone in the group: 

You will see that he has a GD of 4/37 or less to 8 of the Lineage II members, 5/37 to 7 of them and 6/37 to 1. These last 8 members of Lineage II will not show up as a match to B78262. Interestingly, he matches all project members who have tested higher than 37 markers. (Note: n/a means not applicable, in other words you can only compare 37 marker data with 37, and 67 with 67, and 111 with 111. You cannot compare 37 with 111, for example).

Based on these values for Genetic Distance, it would appear that B78262 is most closely related to members 60393 & 411177. But a closer examination of the nature of the mutations and the markers in which they occur, suggests that he is more closely related to 60393.

TMRCA calculations place the common ancestor between B78262 and 60393 at about 11 generations back (90% range 5-20 generations) which gives a crude birth year of about 1630 (range 1360-1800). This also places him as an offshoot of Branch 2 in the current Mutation History Tree. And therefore other close cousins include 338070 and N74958 with corresponding TMRCA's of 13 generations back (90% range 6-23) and 15 (90% range 7-24+).

Member 446153

The second set of results belong to new member 446153. He has tested out to 37 markers and also has Irish ancestry. His MDKA is Denis GLEESON born c1844 Silvermines, died 1875 Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. We will post his pedigree shortly on the Patriarch's Page but here it is for information (note that Denis' father may have been Jeremiah):

1. Denis GLEESON b. c1844 Silvermines, Co. Tipperary, d. 14 May 1875, Bendigo, VIC, Australia, m. Ann GRACE 15 Aug 1865, Silvermines, Co Tipperary.
2. Jeremiah GLEESON b. 7 Feb 1870, Preston Vale (Bendigo) VIC, Australia, d. 2 Dec 1929, Mayfield NSW, Australia, m. Alice Ada BENNETT, 19 AUG 1899, Newcastle NSW, Australia.
3. Gordon Charles GLEESON b 19 Mar 1902, Merewether NSW Australia, m. Daisy BRAMLEY, 10 Dec 1932, Mayfield NSW, Australia.
4. Member 446153

At first glance, 446153 does not match anyone in the Gleason/Gleeson DNA Project. He only has 2 matches at the 37 marker level and neither of them are a Gleeson - one is a Hamilton, the other a McLachlan. However, this latter match gives us a very big clue ... Mr McLachlan's terminal SNP is Z16438 and this is an "upstream SNP" to those in Lineage II. And on closer inspection, 446153 does in fact match EVERYONE in Lineage II. And this means that his particular Gleeson branch is genetically related to the North Tipperary Gleeson’s.

The reason why none of the Lineage II Gleeson’s turn up on his matches page is that the cutoff for declaring a match is 4/37 (i.e. 4 mismatches out of 37 markers, also know as a Genetic Distance or GD of 4/37) and none of the Lineage II Gleeson's have a GD compared to him of 4/37 or less. Most people within the group are not exact matches to each other but rather differ by a few mutations. These are expressed as genetic distance - an exact match would be 0/37 or 0/67 for example and a difference of 4 would be 4/37. You can read more about it here ...

A Brief Tour of the Project

Chromosomes, Markers & Evolutionary Trees

However, as Admins, Judy and I can see how closely each member is related to everyone else, including those beyond the 4/37 level. And so, below is the GD between 446153 and everyone else in the Lineage II group. You will see from the table below, that most of his mismatches are 5/37, and therefore just miss the cut-off for being declared as a “match” to him.

So, 446153 is a match to everyone in Lineage II of the Gleeson DNA Project, confirming that his Gleeson genetic origins are North Tipperary as indicated by his documentary evidence. 

There are 16 other people in Lineage II so far and new people are joining all the time. Some (like 446153) have tested to 37 markers, others have tested to 67 markers, and others to 111 markers. The n/a (not applicable) in the table above is because he has only tested to the 37 marker level and therefore we cannot compare his data to other members’ data above this level. I suspect that if he did test to 67 or 111 markers, he would find that a lot of people in Lineage II would then turn up in his list of matches (i.e. they would then fall within the thresholds for declaring a match, which would be up to 7/67, and up to 10/111 respectively).

His closest matches are the first 7 people in the table above (all with a GD of 5/37). I will have to take a close look at our current Mutation History Tree to see where he most likely fits within its current branching pattern (and therefore who in actuality is his closest relative). I will update this post in due course with that additional information.

Further results

Several additional results are expected in the next few weeks. Once the rest of the new results come in, they will all be added to the Lineage II Mutation History Tree. The updated tree will be the subject of a future post.

Mutation History Tree for Lineage II

What are Mutation History Trees?

These trees are like family history trees but the "family" part has been replaced with "mutations", or rather, has been augmented with mutations. In other words, when the known ancestors run out, DNA mutations still allow us to keep on going back in time and thus identify the branching pattern within the overall group for each Lineage. It also allows us to estimate when the different branching points between group members occurred. This helps you see where you sit in the overall group and who is most closely related to you. And this in turn helps foster collaboration between project members which will hopefully lead to breakthroughs in your genealogical research.

Copies of Older Versions will be archived so that we can keep track of the evolution of the trees over time as more people join the project and upgrade their tests.

Lineage II (North Tipperary group)

Below is the Mutation History Tree for Lineage II (version 1). You can view it or download it as a high-quality pdf document via this Dropbox link. The tree will be constantly updated as more project members join. You can click on the image to enlarge it and then right click again and "Open in a New Window" (Mac) to make it even larger. Alternatively, you may find it easier to download the image (simply right click on the image and choose download). Or a pdf version of the tree is available in our Facebook group here - this has the added advantage that it is searchable.

But first, you will probably need some explanation of what you are looking at.

• Starting at the top, it follows the mutations in STR markers from subclade Z255 (characterised by the Z255 mutation which formed about 4300 years ago [1]) down in time through various subclades (Z16437/Z16439 and Z16438, both formed about 1500 years ago) to the Gleeson MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor of Lineage II) and then down to the modern day Gleeson males who have tested in Lineage II.
• The tree is based on both SNP and STR data. SNPs are cut & pasted from Alex Williamson's Big Tree. STRs are extracted from our project's DNA Results page. 
• Fluxes software was used to create an initial STR-based branching pattern. SNPs were added and helped to anchor the upper reaches of the tree.
• Branching points have time estimates in generations back from the present. Allowing 30 years per generation gives a good indication of the number of years back to a particular branching point from the testers date of birth (usually between 1930-1950).
• STR mutations are written as: marker number, old value - new value
• Back Mutations are highlighted in yellow. Parallel Mutations are written in red text.
• Branches have been numbered (in bold royal blue).
• The number of Markers Tested by each participant is indicated as 25, 37, 67 or 111. BY stands for the Big Y test.
• FTDNA Kit numbers, Project G-numbers, and initials represent each of the participants.
• Country of present residence indicates the extent of the Gleeson diaspora.
• Gleeson Ancestral Lines are indicated for each participant by the green boxes with a crude timeline to the side.
• MDKA Profiles list possible MPRs (Markers of Potential Relatedness) which may be particularly useful information for collaboration between project members (especially birth location, family nickname or agnomen, & occasional other major distinguishing features).

Lineage II Mutation History Tree Nov 2015 (version 1)
Download a pdf version here

You can watch a video of the Journey of Discovery I took in creating this tree below.

What does it tell us? 

The current starting point for Lineage II is estimated to be more than 25 generations ago. That's about  750 years before the average tester's date of birth. If we assume that to be 1950, and allowing 30 years per generation, then we are looking at an origin for Lineage II about 1200 AD. This estimate may change as more people join the project.

The Glisson branch (G-68, 411177) is an ancient branch, going back about 21 generations ago = 630 yrs = 1300 AD.

The most closely related branches are 8, 5, 4, & 12. These members are actively exploring their connection using traditional genealogical records.

As regards the process of building this MHT ...

• The 37 marker test (Y-DNA-37) is sufficient to allocate new participants to Lineage II, but is not adequate for giving accurate estimates of TMRCAs  (and hence branching points)
• 67 or 111 STR markers are needed for more accurate dating of the branching points
• STRs better define the branching pattern than SNPs. Thus far, SNP markers appear to be more useful for defining the more upstream branches of the tree and STR markers the more downstream branches. This may change over time.
• In order to improve the accuracy of this MHT, we need a) more people to test; b) more people to upgrade to 111 markers; and c) more people to SNP test
• In due course, it is hoped that a Lineage II-Specific SNP Marker Panel will be developed (for about $120). This will hopefully save new members money on SNP testing.

A series of blog posts will follow in due course exploring the various steps involved in this creation process in greater depth.

Maurice Gleeson

Dec 2015

Sources:

[1] estimates carry a wide margin of error. Current estimates are found here - http://www.yfull.com/tree/R-Z255/ 

Making Yourself Visible

Some people have been surprised to find that they don't appear on the DNA Results pages even when they have joined the project. Why is this?? The explanation is quite simple.

FamilyTreeDNA changed their privacy settings during the past year and the result has been that customers have to set the Privacy settings themselves. However, not everyone knows about this so some people are inadvertently hiding themselves from view when they don't mean to do so.

Here is an example of the DNA Results page for Lineage II a) when I am signed out of my FTDNA account and b) when I am signed in. 

In the first view, 5 people are missing. These are indicated by the red arrows in the second view. These participants are probably unaware that their Privacy settings are such that they cannot be seen in the project by anyone from outside the project (and they can only see themselves if they are signed in to their account).

The problem with this is that it may inadvertently stop new potential recruits from testing. Would you be less inclined to sign up to a project if there were only 11 members instead of 16? I think so. Bigger projects look more impressive. There is more of a chance that you might find a match. Also, supposing the new recruit was called Glisson, they would not see that there is already a Glisson in the project. Or if their ancestor came from Boherlahan - they would not see that there was already someone there with ancestry from exactly the same area. In both these situations, the prospective tester might have been encouraged to take the test if he had seen this information.

The good news is that it is easy to fix. Just follow these simple steps:

• Sign in to your FTDNA account
• Hover over your Name in the top right
• Click on Account Settings, then the Privacy & Sharing tab at the end of the menu bar above
• Then simply change the settings under My DNA Results by clicking on the words "Project Members" at the end, and on the next screen checking the box beside "Make my mtDNA & Y-DNA data public". Then press Save.

Before the change

After the change

For comparison, this is what my own Privacy Settings look like:

If you need any help with this, please don't hesitate to email me and I can do it for you in 2 minutes.

Here's hoping someone will see your details on the DNA Results page and will decide to join the project simply because they like something they see there.

Every little helps.

Maurice Gleeson

Dec 2015

New Pages make life easier

Now that the this project website has been up and running for almost a year, it is clear that some posts are visited very frequently, and to help people navigate the website a little easier, I have created a new set of Pages to the right which will help newcomers easily navigate the website and find the information they require.

The new pages include a revised version of the original Welcome blog (Feb 2015) as well as separate pages for people who want to join the project and who want to upgrade their test. There is also a new page which has lots of useful tips on how to get the most out of your DNA Test and everyone should check this out, even if you have been a member of the project for a long time. There may be some useful hints and tips there that you may not be aware of.

Here is the list of new pages. Please feel free to copy and paste this pages list into any email you might send to prospective DNA testers.

• Welcome to the DNA Project
• Latest News & Recent Posts
• How to Join the Project
• How to Upgrade your Test
• Getting the Most out of your DNA Test
• Patriarchs & Matriarchs Page
• Most Distant Known Ancestor profiles - Lineage II

Maurice Gleeson

November 2015

Exciting times at the 11th Annual FTDNA Conference

I have just returned from the 11th Annual FamilyTreeDNA Conference in Houston (Nov 11-13) where I had the pleasure of meeting my wonderful co-administrator and founder of our DNA Project, Judy Claassen. Even though we have talked previously on Skype and are in constant email communication, it was great to meet Judy in person for the first time and we had a fabulous weekend discussing various aspects of the project. We also networked with some of the best brains within the genetic genealogy community which has helped advance our ideas about next steps for the project.

Maurice Gleeson & Judy Claassen

I also had the privilege of presenting and sharing some of the results of our Gleason/Gleeson DNA project with the audience (made up entirely of FTDNA Project Administrators like Judy & myself). The title of my talk was "Combining SNPs, STRs, & Genealogy to build a Surname Origins Tree" and it will be available on my YouTube Channel here. In this talk, I developed some of the themes that I had touched on in an earlier presentation at Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2015 (Oct 9-11), which is also available on YouTube. 

Networking with David Dunbar, James Irvine & Cynthia Wells

In brief, I described the fascinating journey of discovery I have taken these last few months to arrive at the Mutation History Tree for Lineage II of the DNA Project. I have previously posted about the generation of this tree based on 12 & 37 STR marker data but I have held off on publishing the more advanced tree (combining 111 STR marker data and SNP data) pending the arrival of additional DNA results. Well, those results are now in, I have incorporated them into both of my recent presentations, and I will be posting a summary of these results shortly in a subsequent blog post. 

The resulting Lineage II tree uses the DNA mutations present among project members to define the branching pattern of the tree and to estimate when each of those branching points occurred. Every member can see where they sit on the tree in relation to every other member and will also have an idea of how closely or distantly they are related to everyone else within the group. And of course as more people join, they will be added to the tree, it will get bigger, and the branching pattern and time estimates will become more accurate.

An early version of the Mutation History Tree for Lineage II
with time estimates for each branching point

After the conference, a few of us stayed an extra day to tour the FTDNA labs. They really have quite a set-up and the resources they have available are impressive. We can expect some great things from FTDNA in 2016,

Bennett Greenspan, CEO, demonstrating a machine in the lab

Bennett Greenspan & Max Blankfield
 have a quick chat

I also was also honoured and privileged to receive an award (organised by Brad Larkin of the SurnameDNA Journal) in recognition of my work in genetic genealogy and was voted Genetic Genealogist of the Year 2015, a very humbling experience given that there are so many of my peers equally deserving of such an accolade. The award itself is made of fine wood and is beautifully inscribed with gold lettering. It is going up on the wall of my study as soon as I can lay my hands on a hammer and a nail.

Maurice Gleeson & Brad Larkin

A big thank you to all of the people who have helped me over the years, especially my colleagues within the genetic genealogy community whose conversations and discussions have served to formulate my own ideas about genetic genealogy. I am humbled by the award and honoured to be part of this wonderful community.

Maurice Gleeson

17 Nov 2015

MDKA Profile – John Gleeson 1832-1885 (G-21, N74958)

Summary

Name of MDKA:                    John Gleeson

Family nickname/agnomen:   ?McEvaddy or?Rabbit

Date & location of birth:         ?1832, Lackagh

Date & location of death:        1885, Shallee

Residence(s):                           Shallee (probably Shallee Upper & Lower, near to Longstone & Killoscully)

Occupation:                             Labourer

Other family occupations:       Teacher, Miner

Religion:                                  Catholic

Wife's name:                            Anne Gleeson

Date & location of birth:         1848, Shallee

Date & location of death:        1926, Ballyhourigan

When & where married:          1865, Ballynahinch

Sponsors at wedding:              not recorded

Order of children's birth:         Martin, Catherine (?Ruby Kathleen), Bridget, Timothy, Winifred, 
Order of children's birth:         Hanora, Patrick, Mary           

Possible father & mother:*     Martin & Bridget

Sponsors at baptisms:            

1) Pat Gleeson, Wenefrid Finey; 2) Patrick Gleeson, Anne Gleeson; 3) Michael Greene, Mary Gleeson; 4) ??; 5) ?John Gleeson; 6) Thomas McDonnell, Mgt Bevan; 7) ??; 8) John Ryan, Catherine Gleeson

DNA kit no:                            N74958

Project ID no:                         G21

DNA Tests taken:                   Y-DNA-111, FF, FMS, Big Y, Z255 Panel

Terminal Y-SNP sequence:     Z255 > Z16439/7 > BY2852 > A5629 > A5628 > Y16880

Closest match(es) ID no:        G64 & G57   

Place on the Lineage II tree:   Branch 6

Link(s) to online tree(s):

• Ancestry … click to view (needs Ancestry account)
• MyHeritage
• Rootsweb … free to view
• FamilySearch … under construction
• GenesReunited …  by invitation only

* based on naming convention

Supporting evidence & documentation

Name of MDKA: John Gleeson

• See birth & baptism records of his children below. [1] They record the parents as John Gleeson & Anne Gleeson

Gleeson nickname/agnomen: ?McEvaddy or?Rabbit

• Dad’s 1st cousin Liz thinks that the family nickname was MacEvaddy. This is a name from Northern Ireland. Apparently miners came to the area from Northern Ireland so maybe one of them was a McEvaddy. However, I have never encountered any such name in the records for the area.
• When Dad and I visited the ancestral home of Anne Gleeson (back in 2012), the present owner of the house said that she thought she remembered seeing the nickname “Rabbit” on some of the deeds or other documentation relating to the purchase of her house. See blog post "What happened to the widow Anne Gleeson?" 

Date & location of birth: ?1832, Lackagh

• Based on the fact that his parents may have been named Martin & Bridget, I found a possible baptism record in Lackagh, a neighbouring townland to Shallee. However, this may not be the correct one [2]

Date & location of death: 1885, Shallee

• Death certificate found for a John Gleeson who died in Shallee aged about 50. The informant was ??? [3]

Residence(s): Shallee

• It is not certain where in Shallee the family lived. Several children were born in Shallee, others in Longstone, and one in Killoscully, so it is assumed that the family lived in the townland of Shallee Upper & Lower (rather than in the neighbouring townlands of Shallee Coghlan or Shallee White). It has not been possible to find the family in Griffith’s Valuation or in any of the subsequent Cancelled Books, so John may not have been the head of the household, but rather the son or son-in-law of the head of the household. 
• See blog post "What happened to the widow Anne Gleeson?" 

Occupation: Labourer

• See birth & baptism records. [1]

Other family occupations: Teacher, Miner

• His eldest son Martin was a Teacher in Co. Wicklow (Stratford-on-Slaney, & Baltinglass). 
• His son Paddy was a Miner in Butte, Montana. He may have worked in the local mines in Sivermines.

Religion: Catholic

• See birth & baptism records. [1]

Wife's name: Anne Gleeson

• See birth & baptism records. [1] Also church marriage records from 1865 & 1895 - she remarried after his death to a Patrick Ryan (soldier) and lived in Maunsell’s Cottage in Ballyhourigan. [4,5]

Date & location of birth: 1848, Shallee

• From Baptism record. [6] Her parents were Timothy Gleeson & Catherine Ryan, consistent with the naming convention predictions (see below) based on her children’s names (lending support to the notion that John’s parents were Martin & Bridget). Also, supportive data for her parents’ names and her siblings was obtained from US records & letters from her daughter (written from 1938-1942).

Date & location of death: 1926, Ballyhourigan

• From death certificate. [7] No headstone found.

When & where married: 1865, Ballynahinch

• From church marriage record. [4] No civil marriage record was ever found for either her 1865 or 1895 marriages.

Sponsors at wedding: not recorded

• See church marriage record.

Order of children's birth: Martin, Catherine, Bridget, Timothy, Winifred, Hanora, Patrick, Mary

• See birth & baptism records. [1]

Possible father & mother:* Martin & Bridget

• See 1st son and 2nd daughter. His wife Anne’s parents are predicted to be Timothy & Catherine (2nd son & 1st daughter’s names) and subsequent records confirmed this.

Sponsors at baptisms:

• See birth & baptism records of his children. [1]

Sources & References

[1] birth & baptism records of his children

No birth records found for Patrick but he appears in the 1901 & 1911 census.

[2] possible baptism record for John Gleeson

[3] death certificate for John Gleeson

[4] church marriage record of Anne Gleeson to John Gleeson (1865)

[5] church marriage record of Anne Gleeson to Paddy Ryan Soldier (1895)

[6] baptism record for Anne Gleeson 1848

[7] civil death certificate for Anne Gleeson 1926 (she remarried to Patrick Ryan Soldier)

Maurice Gleeson

Nov 2015