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Feranokelle (O'Kelly Territory)

'When he came to Tyrconnell the inhabitants took off his head, because they would not have their country discovered.' Such was the fate of the English Map Maker Richard Bartlett in early 17th-century Ireland. The O'Donnells and O'Neills of Ulster that murdered Bartlett would have know the fate of the Irish clans of Counties Laois and Offaly in the Irish Midlands twenty years earlier. The accompanying map of Laois and Offaly was commissioned prior to its conquest by the English. In hindsight, these early maps are of enormous importance. In the example of Laois and Offaly it allows one to see the land of our ancestors prior to the complete and utter desctruction of Gaelic Ireland. 

Even more amazing is the use of modern commercial ancestral DNA testing to link one's ancestors to a location on that map! I have added the latest Y-DNA Case Study for a gentleman named 'Rogers' whose Y-DNA results link his paternal ancestor to 'Ferankelle' (O'Kelly territory) as illustrated in Eastern Laois in around 1580AD. It turns out that his paternal ancestor was most likely named 'MacRuari O'Ceallaigh' with his 'Rogers' surname evolving from the anglicised form of 'MacRuari.' Even more remarkable are the Townlands of Kellystown, Ballykelly and Rogerstown that can be found in neighbouring Laois and Offaly! The complete Case Study can be readily downloaded and studied click here

It is over a decade since I first discovered (through commercial ancestral Y-DNA testing) that my paternal 'Bowes' ancestors linked back to Loais (click here). Our paternal ancestral genetic homelands within Laois are close to each other (Bowe's crossroads lies a few miles to the east of Kellystown).

Mr Rogers and I differ in 16 of 67 Y-DNA STR markers which equates to a shared paternal ancestor over 1,700 years ago. It turns out that we share a common male ancestor who lived in around 300AD. Since out more distant matches are dominated by Lowland Scottish surnames it means our shared ancestor lived somewhere in Southwest Scotland. For some reason, our ancestors left Scotland to settle in the Irish Midlands (our ancestors may have migrated together settling as a tribal group in the Irish Midlands). The timeframe for that migration fits with the collapse of Roman Britain and the arrival of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes within England and Scotland. Within Ireland, our ancestors would be absorbed into the Gaelic Irish world and leave evidence of their links within Eastern Laois in its history, placenames, castles, and in the DNA of the current inhabitants!

What will your DNA reveal? Contact Irish Origenes (CLICK HERE) for a FREE CONSULTATION.

English Origenes

Scottish Origenes