- To start, you do match one of our groups of McFaddens. I have placed you in "R-M269 > P312 > L21 > DF13 > DF49 > M222 Group 3," which can be seen here: (you will have to be logged in to see all results). There are currently three other men in this group. One traces back to an Andrew McFadden, born about 1788 in Co. Antrim, Ireland, who died in Indiana, USA. One traces back to John "Stephen" McFadin, born about 1700 in northern Ireland, who died in North Carolina, USA. John Stephen McFadin may have been a son of "Andrew McFadden of Maine," who was born in Scotland around 1675, moved to northern Ireland, and then came to the US in 1718. We're still waiting for men with documented descent from Andrew to try to confirm or disprove this. The last match has so far only managed to go back to Indiana, USA in the mid-1800s. It's not yet possible using the current data to determine which of these men are more closely related to your line or estimate exactly how far back the connection is. But we can assume the group shares a common McFadden ancestor who appears to have been a Scot or Ulster Scot.
It's interesting to note that descendants of John Stephen fought in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812 on the side of the Americans. So McFaddens of the same lineage were on both sides.
- What is M222? M222 is a DNA marker that we can assume your line is positive for based on your results. This marker originated in one man who lived roughly 2000 years ago. Everyone with the marker, if they were able, would trace their direct paternal line back to this man. More than one in 10 men of Irish descent have this marker, as well as a smaller but significant percentage of Scots. The marker is commonly associated with the semi-mythical Irish king Niall of the Nine Hostages because many surnames thought to be descended from Niall are found to be M222+. However, even if Niall were to be M222+ himself, the marker appears to be centuries older than him. So I would not advise assuming you are descended from Niall, but I can say your line almost certainly traces back to an ancient Gaelic king or chief.
If you have an interest in this more distant history of your line, I would advise joining the M222 project:
Because M222 is such a massive group, it's not possible to assume all McFaddens who are M222 are of the same McFadden line. We currently have four different M222 groups in the project. It's possible some of them are related. It's a near certainty that not all of them are. One of the goals of the project is to sort this out through advanced testing for markers like M222. I'd be happy to explain further if you might have an interest in that. Also happy to answer any other questions you might have.Statistics: Posted by Rob — Fri May 19, 2017 3:37 pm
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