Note: Links to all of the project results pages (Network Diagrams, Results Tables, etc.) appear in the navigation menu at the left on this and all of the project results pages. First time users of the web site will find the information reached via the Help link at the top of every page very helpful in understanding how to navigate among the results pages and view them side-by-side to gain a good understanding of the project's results.
Perhaps the most striking finding of the project so far is that a single
haplotype cluster
includes roughly two thirds of our participants, who appear on the basis of their DNA results to be related to one another within a genealogical time frame. We have conventional genealogical data on four Ewing families that fall into this cluster, but though the progenitors of at least three of these families lived near one another in county Donegal, Ireland, and we believe it likely that they were related, we do not have conventional genealogical proof of this. We also have a number of men who fall into the same cluster, but we do not know their conventional genealogical connection with the others. The large cluster of Ewings (and one Ewin) are all members of a distinct sub-branch of haplogroup R1b1c7, which is itself a branch of haplogroup R1b. Most of the rest of our participants are in haplogroup R1b, but not in R1b1c7. Five participants are in haplogroup I.
To facilitate discussion of our results, we have divided project participants into nine groups. Be aware that these groups are not defined in a uniform way. Some are defined on the basis of kinship groups, others on the basis of genetic clustering. Groups 5 and 6 use a hybrid of the two methods, and some groups consist of men who simply do not fit into the other groups. Groups 1, 3, 4 and 7 are so similar genetically that they cannot be clearly distinguished from one another on genetic grounds. It will be easier to understand how we chose these groups if you will open Network Diagram-Overview and refer to it as you read the rest of this Introduction.
Ewing Y-DNA Project Groups
As you can see in the diagram above and in Network Diagram - Overview, Groups 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7 are all in R1b1c7, Groups 6 and 8 are in haplogroup R1b but not in R1b1c7, and Groups 9 and 2 are in different branches of haplogroup I (the letter 'I' not the number '1'). TD is a participant who is in haplogroup R1b1c7, but is probably not related to the other Ewings in R1b1c7 in a genealogical timeframe. This large cluster Ewings are so closely related that they are piled on top of one another in Network Diagram - Overview, and to see a graphical display of their relationships with one another, you will need to have a look at Network Diagram - Detail.
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Group 1 includes eleven men, ten of whom have DNA results close enough to the others in R1b1c7 that we believe them to be close relatives, but we do not have conventional genealogical evidence proving this.
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Group 3 includes six descendants of James Ewing of Inch Island in Lough Swilly, county Donegal, Ireland, whose lineage appears in Chapter 41 and elsewhere in
Fife's Ewing in Early America.
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Group 4 includes twelve descendants of John Ewing of Carnashannagh, Parish of Fahan, county Donegal, Ireland, whose lineage appears in Chapter 11 in
Fife's Ewing in Early America.
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Group 5 includes five descendants of Nathaniel Ewing and his half-brothers, plus ten other men who have similar haplotypes but are not known to be related on conventional genealogical grounds. We don't have proof certain, but we believe that the father of Nathaniel and his half brothers lived in Londonderry, now in Northern Ireland, within easy walking distance of Inch and Carnashannagh. You can read about this man and his descendants in Y-DNA Article 4. His lineage is in several chapters of
Fife's Ewing in Early America,
but start with Chapter 24.
We have prepared separate Group Relationship Diagrams for Group 5, Part 1, which covers the descendants of Nathaniel and his half brothers, and for Group 5, Part 2, which covers men who share the distinctive marker DYS 391 = 10 with the men in Group 5, Part 1, but we do not have conventional genealogical evidence for a connection with them.
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Group 7 includes four descendants of James Ewing, born circa 1720/25, whose line appears in Chapter 32 in
Fife's Ewing in Early America.
The seventeen participants in Groups 6 and 8 are in haplogroup R1b, but not in its R1b1c7 subclade.
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Group 6 is a cluster of six men in haplogroup R1b that appear closely related to one another based on their DNA results. Three of them have conventional genealogy documenting their descent from William Ewing b. c1730 and d. 1774 in Conemaugh Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, whose line does not appear in Fife. Their conventional genealogical relationship with the remaining three is not known, but they form a genetic cluster suggesting that they may have a relatively recent common ancestor. The men in this cluster are not related to any of the other men in the project in a genealogical timeframe.
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Group 8 includes a heterogeneous group of twelve other men that are in R1b but not R1b1c7. It contains two clusters of men related to one another, but not to the others in the project. SL and ME are known third cousins of one another, and their DNA results suggest that they are also related to PA, who lives in Scotland, but these three are not related to any of the other men in the project. RL2 and PT are known to be sixth cousins of one another and constitute a second cluster of related men in Group 8. The other men in Group 8 are not related to one another or any others in the project within a genealogical timeframe.
Finally, we have five participants in haplogroup I:
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Group 9 consists of three descendants of William Ewing of Rockingham County, Virginia (c1696-1794), known relatives who have very similar haplotypes. Two of them spell their names 'Ewin' and the third 'Ewing.' This line appears in Chapter 32 in
Fife's Ewing in Early America.
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Group 2 consists of two men in a completely different branch of Haplogroup I, one of them a Ewan and the other a Ewing.
