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in
Association with
Family Tree DNA, of Houston, Texas
We invite
all male Mackenzies (however the name is spelled) to join in this exciting
new project to help connect your family tree to other close family
Mackenzies through the analysis of you DNA y-chromosome.
The
cost is US$99 per person.
Candidates for this project will be required to provide their name and
an email address so that feedback can be provided and so contact with
other close kin is available.
Because
of the CONFIDENTIALITY aspect your results will not be publicized, except,
that your name and email address will be passed on to others who share
your Y-chromosome. Once you are able to contact each other then, of
course, it is then up to you to decide how much information on your family
tree you wish to pass on. THIS IS A GENEALOGY PROJECT and has nothing to
do with identifying paternity issues.
WHAT
IS THE Y-CHROMOSOME?
All males are born with one y and one x chromosome. Women are born
with two x chromosomes. The y-chromosome is passed UNCHANGED (except for a
mutation about every 500 generations) from father to son only. Therefore
if two people share the same y-chromosome then it is reasonably certain
that they both descend from a common male ancestor and since this project
only involves people with the name of Mackenzie then it becomes a near
certainty that they are related – and that is what genealogy is all about.
Two people sharing their family trees with each other might endeavour to
discover where their respective families connect. That may not be
possible, as the common male ancestor may have lived several hundred years
ago.
How does the analysis work? You will be sent a
sampling kit and will be asked to (painlessly) scrape the inside of your
mouth and send the result to Family Tree DNA, who will process the result
through the University of Arizona. You will be advised of the result. The
analysis will measure the findings against others of the same name against
12 markers. You will be advised of the names and email addresses of others
with the same 12 markers (or even 11 markers), as they are likely
descended from the same male Mackenzie ancestor as yourself. It is
possible at a later date to request purchase further analyses based on a
25 or even a 37 marker test and this will confirm whether or not the
relationship is recent – say within the last 500 years. Your DNA will be
stored for 25 years at no extra cost.
What
about the Ladies?
Unfortunately since females do not have a y-chromosome this
project cannot involve them personally. So Mackenzie ladies should, in
such circumstances, contact a near male Mackenzie relation to undertake
the test: a brother, father, male cousin, etc.
How do I proceed? Send your name and address to
the Project Coordinator, Sharie Argue, at
saftdna@sasktel.net. If,
however, you are in a hurry, then complete the QUICK START form you will
find on the following website:
http://www.ftdna.com/surname_join.asp?code=C14461
You will
be sent the necessary instructions, and can be invoiced, or you can pay by
secure credit card. Full confidentiality will be preserved by all parties.
For more
details on DNA, the y-chromosome, and Family Tree DNA look up the
following website at www.familytree.com
This
Invitation is being advertised in all countries where there is a Clan
Mackenzie Society. We anticipate, from our initial enquiries, that this
Project will be a huge success, and will answer a lot of questions about
the name of Mackenzie in the Highlands of Scotland.
BACKGROUND of the Mackenzie/McKenzie Surname DNA Project:
This project originated as a family project in
the USA and the details of this project can be seen at the following web
site:
http://theellisons.net/dna/index.htm
Subsequently the Clan MacKenzie Society of
Canada decided to try to initiate a worldwide Mackenzie/McKenzie DNA
Project and the owners of the original project kindly agreed to integrate
their findings with those of the Clan Mackenzie Society’s DNA initiative,
and we thank the family accordingly and congratulate them for having made
an important start in tracing the ancestors of their McKenzies via their
DNA. The original Project Manager was Alan MacKenzie (now deceased).
This Project hopes to enlist hundreds of
Mac/McKenzies worldwide and process their yDNA and provide the first major
DNA database of the MacKenzie Clan. This will be achieved by placing
announcements in all of the newsletters of the MacKenzie Clan Societies in
the world; these include the societies in Scotland, USA, Canada, Australia
and New Zealand. We anticipate that some 2,000 members of these societies
will generate a significant number of volunteers. From this database we
anticipate that there will be a number of major families sharing the same
yDNA.
HISTORY:
The
Mackenzie clan comes from the Highlands of Scotland and as one of the
largest clans they dominated a wide area comprising nearly all of the
County of Ross and Cromarty, overflowing into Sutherland and
Inverness-shire. The Clan experienced several waves of emigration and this
project seeks to identify family groups who are likely related through
their yDNA results. The names of MacKenzie, McKenzie and McKinzie are the
same name. Other names, such as Kenzie, Kinzie, Kenny, Kinnie, McKennie,
etc., are derived from the same surname and genealogists with these
various name are encouraged to participate and check the validity of this
assumption and help prove their genealogical heritage.
This is what the historian Skene wrote in the 19th
century:
“It has
been shown, that from the earliest period down to the end of the 5th
century, that part of Scotland which extends to the north of the Firths of
Forth and Clyde, was at all times inhabited by a single nation termed by
the Romans at first Caledonians and afterwards, Picts . . . We have proved
that the northern Picts occupied the whole of the Highlands as late as the
end of the 9th century; we have shown that they spoke the same language,
and bore the same national name as the Highlanders did; and lastly, we
have traced the Highlanders as in possession of the Highland districts, up
to the very period in which we had previously found these districts
inhabited by the northern Picts. These facts then supported as they are by
evidence of no ordinary description, leads us to this simple result, that
the Highlands of Scotland have been inhabited by the same nation from
the earliest period to the present day.
This observation is of critical importance to us as
genealogists. Since there was no known major immigration to the Highlands
of Scotland of any consequence (except, perhaps, the Celts from Ireland),
anybody who is a Mackenzie and can trace his or her recent ancestors to
the Highlands can be reasonably assured that he (or she) is kin to not
only other Mackenzies but probably to all Highlanders. Furthermore, that
kinship is likely to be stronger with those clans who lived in or near
Mackenzie territory such as the clans Matheson, MacLennan, MacRae, Fraser,
Ross, Munro, Urquhart, etc.
Consider the following arithmetical calculation as a proof. Let us
assume that a child is born when its parents are, on average, 28 years of
age. Each child must, of course, have two parents, four grandparents,
eight great grandparents, sixteen great great grandparents and so on
doubling with each generation. By going back five generations (or 140
years) each child has thirty two ancestors. If, however, we go back thirty
generations, i.e. to the year 1146 we each of us have the staggering total
of 1,073,741,824 ancestors! How can we have had so many ancestors when
such a number exceeded the population of the world for 1146? Furthermore,
it is unlikely that the population of the Highlands would have been as
high as even 100,000 in 1146.
It means, of course, that each of our ancestors in that era must,
at best, have been a common ancestor about 10,000 times on average (1
billion divided by 100,000). Therefore it is clear that if we take two
random Highlanders they too are going to share common ancestors 10,000
times going back to 1146.
SURNAMES IN THE PROJECT:
Mackenzie, MacKenzie, McKenzie, McKinzie, etc.
(See note above)
REQUIREMENTS:
Since a Surname Project in essence traces
members of a family that share a common surname, and since females (a) do
not carry their father’s Y-DNA, and (b) acquire a new surname by the way
of marriage, in order to be relevant to the Surname Project, the tested
individual must be a male; and that he wants to check his
paternal line (father’s father’s father’s...). The test to be ordered is
either the Y-DNA12, Y-DNA25 or Y-DNA37. Females who are keen to check
their Mac/McKenzie ancestry should look for a brother, father, uncle or
male cousin with the Mac/McKenzie surname to be tested. Females may also
order a test for themselves, which will be the mtDNA or mtDNAPlus, but the
results of this test cannot be tied to the Surname Project.
QUESTIONS:
Not sure if this is a situation that applies
to you? Want to obtain additional information? Contact the Project
Coordinator, Sharie Argue, Clan MacKenzie
Society, Canadian Chapter, email:
saftdna@sasktel.net Phone:
306-537-8881
LEGAL NOTICE:
The Clan Mackenzie Societies in the USA, Canada, New Zealand,
Australia and Great Britain and the Project Coordinator, (hereinafter the “Project Team”) do not assume any legal liability or
responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any
information on this page, nor does the Project Team represent that its use
would not infringe on privately owned rights. Further, the Project Team,
whilst they will do their best to ensure confidentiality, disclaims any
and all warranties, express or implied, relating to this project and any
information contained therein, including warranties as to the accuracy or
completeness of the information. The Project Team shall not be liable for
any damages of any kind, under any theory of liability, resulting from
user's access to the project or use of any information contained therein.
Nothing on this project shall be used to construe an attorney client
relationship. You are strongly advised to seek the services of a licensed
attorney. DNA
Project – An Update
Just over one year ago, in October 2004, the Mackenzies started a DNA
project for all males with the name of Mackenzie/McKenzie etc. Members of
the Clan MacKenzie Societies around the world were invited to participate
and have the y-chromosome of their DNA analyzed. The y-chromosome passes
from father to son only. Thus two people named Mackenzie sharing the same
y-DNA are able to discover by communicating with each other to see if they
are closely related. Since October 2004 96 Mac/McKenzies have joined the
project and 80 results are in so far. These results are posted on the
following web page:
www.electricscotland.com/mackenzie (MacKenzie DNA Update page). You
will see that many results are posted for different members for 12, 25 or
37 markers. The regions on the web site, which shows a number of
Mackenzies batch-highlighted with a colour indicates that this group share
a most recent common ancestor. Each member is automatically advised by
e-mail when they get a match and the respective members then contact each
other and try to discover a relationship through the exchange of paper
family trees. To date we have had a number of excited members who have
discovered relationships previously unknown. The relationships may be very
recent – the last three or four generations or may be much more distant in
time – like 400 or 500 years. The more matches that are recorded the more
likelihood of a close relationship. I have 34 out of 37 matches with my
own 4th McKenzie cousin. This tallies with the odds that we
relate at that distance.
The DNA program is an additional resource for genealogy. In
particular it is helpful to those many members of the clan living in
countries far from the Scottish homeland and where they are unable to
obtain a reliable source back to Scotland.
Family Tree DNA of Phoenix AZ, who runs these projects for over 7,000
names, are receiving DNA samples from new subscribers at the rate of over
one thousand a week. Many members have discovered people with a matching
DNA who are not named Mac/McKenzie. In asking the question why this is, it
is important to realize that Gaelic-speaking Highlanders were very late in
adopting English-style surnames. Although there are many Mackenzies
recorded going back to the 1400s, nevertheless as recent as only 300 years
ago masses of Highlanders had Gaelic surnames (which no longer exist) and
started to adopt clan surnames, either because they lived on clan lands or
they believed they related to the Mackenzie chiefs. There is the famous
case of Fraser tenants being asked to change their name to Fraser in
exchange for a boll of meal.
We have reached the point
where we now have a usable database of Mac/McKenzies and we need to make
this even more useful by expanding the database by recruiting many more
members. The process is simple and painless involving scraping the inside
of both cheeks with a small toothbrush type implement for two samples of
DNA. These are then examined at the University of Arizona, which processes
many tens of thousands of these samples. The cost varies according to
whether one wants 12, 25 or 37 markers. 12 markers costs US$99 plus $2
postage if the person is in the USA. One can also request an mtDNA
(mitochondrial DNA test), which examines the x-chromosome passed on by the
mother to both son and daughter. Ladies may participate in this also but
it does not provide much help with genealogy since a woman’s surname does
not pass on. Dr Bryan Sykes of Oxford has written a book to show that all
women in Europe descend from just seven women between 18,000 and 100,000
years ago. He calls them the “Seven Daughters of Eve”.
We need more male Mackenzies to join the DNA Project. You must have a
Mackenzie or variation surname, you must be on e-mail, otherwise we cannot
communicate frequently as the results pour in. If you want to join and
need more information I suggest you go to
www.familytreedna.com for further information. If you join directly
tell them you are joining the Mackenzie surname project otherwise the cost
is considerably higher. OR; contact the MacKenzie DNA Project Coordinator:
Sharie Argue, Clan MacKenzie
Society of Canada at
saftdna@sasktel.net - phone:
306-537-8881. We are
already one of the major names connected with Family Tree DNA. Join and
help us and yourself build a large and meaningful database for Mackenzie
genealogists.
Many thanks, Sharie |
