On sale now: your DNA

Actually, your DNA is not quite on sale. What is on sale is the ability to read your DNA through Y-DNA and mtDNA testing at Family Tree DNA.

I've written previously about the Tierney Clans Y-DNA project which is looking for Tierneys to participate in learning more about the surname's genetic history. If you've been waiting to check out your DNA (Tierney or not) now's as good a time as any. Check out the Tierney Clans Society DNA Project webpage or other surname project webpage of your choice and contact the group administrator for details on the limited-time reduced prices for DNA tests (offer expires August 31). Maybe you'll even find that your Irish ancestry includes a connection to Ireland's famous Niall of the Nine Hostages.

Note: I receive no financial cut from Family Tree DNA. Just trying to spread the word to those interested in tracing their roots.

A round-up of Tierney family history resources

If you are a Tierney and you have a link to the family that I've written about here at A Light That Shines Again, I would love to hear from you!

Even if you haven't found such a connection, if you have Tierney (Ó Tighearnaigh) ancestry, chances are we are related in some way - although it might a very-very-distant-cousin kind of relationship (there were three main septs of the name in ancient Ireland, according to Irish Names and Surnames by Patrick Woulfe).

If you have a Tierney connection, or are interested in all things Tierney, you may find the following resources helpful.

Want to get a nice overview of the history of the Tierney surname, learn more about the family's coat of arms, learn about distinguished Tierney family members and more? Check out the official website of the Tierney Clans Society. Their stated goal is to "safeguard the heritage of Tierney descendants worldwide through research and education". Now that's a goal that I would like to support! The society is open to all that can show that they have Tierney ancestry. The good information on the website, however, is available to all visitors - Tierney descendant and member of the society or just plain interested websurfer.

While you are visiting the Tierney Clans Society website, you may want to stop by the Tierney Clans Society Y-DNA project info webpage. As I discussed in my posts Mr. Tierney, I presume? and Where Science Meets Family History, DNA testing is the newest source for information about family history. Not only is it new, but it is unique in the information that it can provide for those researching their heritage and the history of a particular surname or family line. The link to the actual project for the Tierney surname is located at the Family Tree DNA Tierney Clans Society Y-DNA project webpage. If you'd like more information about genetic genealogy in general, including the most up to date news about the subject, check out Blaine Bettinger's informative blog The Genetic Genealogist.

Wanting to get in touch with other Tierney family descendants and researchers? The following message boards might be a good place to start:

• Rootsweb's Tierney surname and family mailing list
• Genealogy.com's Tierney Family Genealogy Forum
• Ancestry.com's Tierney message board

The Tierney Clans Society also holds regular clan rallies on both sides of the Atlantic that would be a great place to meet distant cousins.

Want to do some Tierney family research online?

Here are a few sites that you might find helpful:

• The Irish Times' Tierney surname search includes a breakdown of Tierney households as listed in Griffith's Valuation done during the years 1848-64; it also provides a link to the births distribution of Tierneys in Ireland during 1890 and a link to a list of family history publications focusing on the Tierney surname (although at this time only one is listed, it may be the one you are looking for!)


• Linkpendium's Tierney Family: Surname Genealogy, Family History, Family Tree, Family Crest offers a nice assortment of links to all-types-of-things-Tierney


• FamilyHistory.com's Tierney webpage is another good place to visit, as is...


• Cousin Connect's Tierney Genealogy queries webpage

If you are a Tierney and have some other good suggestions for sources of all things Tierney, please contact me and let me know.

In the meantime, I hope that this post has given you inspiration and practical suggestions on how to begin to search for your Tierney family tree and also to help the Tierney Clans Society to complete their goal: to safeguard the heritage of the Tierney family.

I'm doing my part. How about you?

Where science meets family history

Have you read about genetics in the news? Ever asked yourself, "How does this apply to me?"

The study of genetics and DNA testing in particular has now become not just a newsworthy topic, but a practical and meaningful tool for personal use. Family historians, in particular, stand to benefit greatly from the use of DNA testing.

Now a simple cheek swab test can be used to provide information that can confirm previous family history research or provide new clues to a family's heritage, both familial and geographical. On the flip side, genealogy is aiding the study of genetics by providing an avenue for further study of current findings.

If you are interested in getting an introduction to DNA testing and genetics and how they apply to genealogy and perhaps your own family history, check out the Carnival of Genealogy: 35th Edition. Hosted by Blaine Bettinger, otherwise known as the Genetic Genealogist, this "blog carnival" is a series of articles posted on various blogs about the topic of genetics and genealogy.

Included in the series of carnival posts are my own entries:

• Mr. Tierney, I presume? here at A Light That Shines Again (just before this post)
• A rose by any other name at 100 Years in America
• Bad genes - discovered! at Small-leaved Shamrock

Also check out:

• Calling all Ó Cobhthaigh, Cowhey, Coffey cousins! posted at Small-leaved Shamrock

Happy reading! As I learn more about DNA testing and its application to the Tierney family's heritage and that of other related families, I will post more information.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a little introduction to genetic genealogy thanks to the 35th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

Mr. Tierney, I presume?

It's hard to imagine a world where surnames were not a part of everyday life. Today we rely on last names to identify ourselves and easily refer to others. But when you look at the full span of history, it was not that long ago that surnames came into use. And, interestingly enough, the Irish were probably one of the first to use them.

According to researchers Brian McEvoy and Daniel Bradley at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College in Dublin:

"Ireland has one of the oldest systems of patrilineal hereditary surnames in the world. While paternally inherited hereditary surnames are the norm right across Europe, early medieval Ireland was probably the first culture to adopt their usage, with some appearing in the early 10th century AD."

I've been working on my family's history since I was an adolescent, and I intend to continue for many more years. Chances are, however, that I'll probably not be able to work back in my family tree to anywhere near the 10th century. (I was thrilled a year or so ago to finally trace the Tierney family back to the time of the Great Famine in the mid-nineteenth century.)

Enter genetic genealogy. No, DNA won't give me the joy that I've received when I've found a photo of an ancestor, or discovered an ancestor's previously unknown given name on a document, but it can provide information about deeper family heritage in ways that were not possible just short years ago.

According to an article on Genetics & Genealogy by By Thomas H. Roderick, PhD of the Center for Human Genetics:

"By adding DNA analysis to our armamentarium of genealogical tools, we...are adding a new approach that can verify or deny established genealogical lines, provide through similar DNA findings hypotheses for where and when lines may be related and thus new areas in location and time to use the standard genealogical tools, provide understandings of relationships prior to the historical record and to provide insights into our Y-line [patrilineal] and M line [matrilineal] ethnic heritage."

The Y-line that Roderick mentioned is the family tree of the father of the father of the father...and so on. This is also referred to as patrilineal DNA. It turns out that each male has a Y chromosome identical to that of his father, and his father's father, and his father's father's father, back through all ancestral generations on what is called the "Y line".

A simple cheek swab test can provide information about your patrilineal family tree many generations back, particularly with regard to where the family originated. It can also provide you with connections to other descendants of the same family line that are living today - distant cousins who share the same heritage. This information can be shared with others through a Y-DNA surname project.

Because of the nature of patrilineal genetics, you must be male to test Y-line DNA. (The other type of frequently used DNA test is matrilineal or mitochondrial DNA, otherwise known as mtDNA. For more information see the Ireland Heritage mtDNA project.)

Take a look at the frequently asked questions section (under the For Newbies tab on the left sidebar) on the International Society of Genetic Genealogy website for more information about how DNA testing works and what information it can provide.

If your name is Mr. Tierney, and you are interested in learning more about your family's genetic heritage, you may be interested in the Tierney Surname Y-DNA Project. For more information, go to the Tierney Clans Society website or access the project directly at Family Tree DNA .

Similar projects are available for other Irish surnames (not to mention surnames of other backgrounds). You can find more information on some Irish surname projects at Irish Heritage DNA Project and the Ireland Heritage Y-DNA Project Family Tree DNA, although the list is by no means exhaustive. (Tierney and Kennedy, for example, surnames for which I know that there are projects available, are not listed on Irish Heritage.)

It's exciting to be researching family history now that technology is aiding us in so many amazing ways, including the area of genetics. Genealogy has never been as easy or as rewarding.

This post was created as part of the Carnival of Genealogy on genetics. See The Genetic Genealogist for more entries and information about genetic genealogy.