www.clanlivingstone.info

I recently received a letter from Donald Malcolm Livingstone of Australia.

Looking at the Lyon Conjectural Tree in the back of Sir Ian Moncreiffe of that Ilk

I re-read Donald's letter, and in fact he said, "We are supposedly linked to the early king of the Highlands, Malcolm the first".

Dear Rob, If we descend from one of Malcolm's daughters - then we would not get our DNA signature from that source. Wild conjecture would suggest that if our male line comes from Donn Sleibe Mac Eochada - the last King of Ulidia then it is very likely that a Princess of Moray would be an ideal match for him. According to Byrne the Ulaid rigdamnai alone used the name Mac Duinnshleibhe

Hi Niall, I'm going back to the position that we are descended from the McAlpine line, not the line of Loarn - We are certainly not from descended from the 12th Century Kings of Ulidia. Lismore Livingstone y-DNA is a 31 of 37 marker match with the main MacGregor line, meaning that we have a 95% chance of sharing a common ancestor with them within the last 1175 years (no earlier than 830 AD).

Rob, Very interesting post! This would suggest a direct descent from the ancient O'Duibhne. Several early Campbell's also descend maternally from the MacSween's of Knapdale, long thought to be direct kinsmen to the Bachuil. In many of the old genealogies I believe what we may see is not the direct paternal line but rather the line of representor's, being the rightful heirs of the line, not heirs male of the body. This custom is well established in Scots heraldic practice suggesting that it was a feature of the Scoto-Pictish landscape well before feudal practice was established in Scotland. Previous to DNA testing I believe the major difference thought to exist between Irish and Scottish clans was the Irish practice of the derbfine being of males only. Where in Scotland the Derbfine includes all descendants who share the same great grandparent, thus unilineal. DNA Testing has revealed that Irish Clans are made up of an admixture of haplotypes and may more truly represent a territorial tribal community, rather than an exclusive paternal family. I think the case of the Macdonald chief's is a good example, where the line of the chief's are Viking [Gall Gael], although their ancient genealogy recalls the line of Irish Princes from which they and the body of the Clan Donald descend. In this way I believe the old genealogy of representation and the paternal line revealed by Y-DNA testing co-exist as the heirs of the line. All the best.

It should be noted that Donald Malcolm Livingstone is the brother of Niall Livingston, one of our DNA Project participants from Australia, kit #21629.

Morning everyone - just back from Lismore where we had the Annual Sports, Raft Race and Barn Dance.

The Campbell DNA Project has uncovered 14 distinctive bloodlines within the ranks of its 42 participants, with only two of those bloodlines having more than one person in it.

Rob, I have yet to get my head around the complexities of the DNA project. I need to as I am sure the results will help unravel many a mystery. However, the evidence I am working with is also valuable.