Ui Aiella

[tamcevoy]

A new post from a FTDNA member
Brendan Curran
10 hours ago
Hello all. I've been pondering a potential hypothesis about the origins of FT14462 (parallel to DF105), and while it's all based on speculation, I thought it might be worthwhile to share it with the group to see is there any supporting or contrary ideas floating around.

I wonder might FT14462 represent the Uí Ailella group, one of the three Connachta alongside the Uí Briúin and Uí Fiachrach. (It should be noted that as the Uí Briúin and Uí Fiachrach are both sub-groups of DF105, as far as I know this hypothesis is not compatible with the three brothers model for the three Connachta - but the timelines would seem to be compatible with a common descent for all three from a historical Conn/Dál Cuinn).

The Uí Ailella’s power base was in the modern day barony of Tirerrill (Tír nAilella) in south-east Sligo, but I understand from T.M. Charles-Edwards book “Early Christian Ireland” that a substantial part of northern Roscommon was also counted as Tír nAilella up to the 8th century. The ultimate victory of the Uí Briúin over the Uí Ailella in the 790s effectively consigned the latter to the scrap-bin of history and as far as I know, no pedigrees exist claiming any late medieval or modern families for the Uí Ailella.

My own yDNA lies under FT14462>FTA36430. It seems clear to me that at some point at a relatively late period in my own family’s line, a surname change event took place. However, in general, this group appears to represent the Healy (Ó hÉilidhe) family of Tirerrill. They seemed to be a relatively prominent family locally in the late medieval period, but do not have a pedigree assigned them otherwise.

FT14462>BY33236 is also interesting for the Uí Ailella hypothesis. One of the burials at Kilteasheen, Co Roscommon (which appears to have been in what was historically Tirerrill), falls under this group. There is also a Cryan cluster which appears to come from this same Tirerrill barony/north Roscommon area. There’s also a sample from Drumkeeran, Co. Leitrim, (about 5km from Tirerrill’s modern border).

Other subgroups under FT14462 are: FGC46517 (mostly the north of Scotland); FGC49504 (unclear, but one sample with origins in the Dublin Mountains); BY64330 (apparently Galway); FT24418 (apparently the midlands); FT397039 (again not clear, but with surnames Brennan and Gormley, it could potentially be Sligo/Roscommon or alternatively midlands related).

So a Uí Ailella hypothesis for FT14462 is certainly only a theory based on speculation rather than hard-facts, and the evidence in it’s subgroups doesn’t by any means all blow in the direction of Uí Ailella. (On another purely very much speculative point, the MRCA for the Scottish sub-group FGC46517 is estimated by FTDNA to be about 850AD, a date not inconsistent with a hypothetical exile prompted by the Uí Ailella's overthrow in the 790sAD). Speculation notwithstanding, I think a FT14462/Uí Ailella hypothesis is an interesting possibility if nothing else. I’d be interested to hear any ideas about it one way or the other! The FT14462 group has grown to 46 samples in just a few years, so it'll be interesting to see how it develops in the next few and what patterns might emerge.

[Webmaster]

Please see the post link below for a more likely explanation for R1b-FT14462.

viewtopic.php?p=1131#p1131