Ireland is a land of myth, fairies, leprechauns, and legend.  Where knights were called "Champions" the "Land of Éire" was thought to be a mystical land and sometimes one needs science to break through fantasy and for that I turned to DNA testing. A retired homicide investigator, I put my skills and experience to work, in 2010 I tested my 37 Y DNA markers, expanded it to 67 markers, to 111 markers, and then to Big Y 700 and as more and more of my matches upgraded to Big Y 700 my results began to tell a much different story than recorded in books about my family written by previous researchers.  I can't take all the credit for what comes next.  My early 37 marker Y-DNA results put me in contact with Anne Beirne, sadly she is now deceased, she was a traceable descendent of the O'Kellys of Hy-many and she aided my early research.  On my behalf in May 2012 she contacted her male Hy-Many O'Kelly cousin who is a descendent of Festus Kelly of London who died in 1831. This was great luck for me because Festus Kelly was the son of William Kelly of Buckfield, and the great grandson of James O'Kelly Esq of Aughrim who died during the Battle of Aughrim 12 July 1691, his father was #37 Tadgh O'Kelly of Aughrim who was the son of #38 Brian they both appear on the Ui Mhaine Pedigree. William Boy O'Kelly #30 on the Ui Mhaine Pedigree was Anne's cousin's 15th great grandfather so he has a well established Hy-Many Pedigree, he agreed to allowed me to test his Y DNA in 2012 and his results from such a well documented family have been critical in my research of my own family, nothing that I record below would have been possible without Anne Beirne of the Bryan Patrick O'Beirne Irish family and her cousin a descendent of James O'Kelly of Aughrim and William Boy O'Kelley.   Anne was so certain that I was her cousin that she sent me a book authored by Bryan Patrick O'Beirn which she wrote on the inside cover "With best wishes to my cousin Rick" signed Anne Beirne.  My Y-DNA result proves beyond all doubt that my O'Kelley family was not of the Hy-Many (Ui Mhaine) O'Kellys of Western Ireland as my family claimed in at least 3 books, my Y-DNA matches, records and family tradition stories handed down for many centuries causes me to conclude that my family descends from Cellach King of Ireland, Maine Mor is not my ancestor, Y-DNA proves we are related, Maine Mor is one of my many ancestral cousins, but my family does not descend from Main Mor and his O'Kelly of Ui Mhaine Family.   Back in 2010 in the early stages of my Y-DNA research my first 37 marker results indicated I share a grandfather with Hy-Many O'Kellys and it turns out they were right, they were just off on the time when that grandfather lived by about 2500 years.  A lot has changed in the past 14 years and thanks to a descendent of Fetus Kelly and the improvements and new research tools provided by Family Tree DNA I know with certainty that I share a grandfather with the Hy-Many (Ui Mhaine) O'Kellys at R-DF13, that our shared grandfather lived about 2500 BCE or 4500 years ago, at least 3500 years before our surnames Ui Ceallaigh (O'Kelley and O'Kelly) came into use and to be clear, our surnames came from two different men both named Ceallach who lived more than 1000 years ago.  I tested 67 markers of Fetus Kelly's descendent and he has 51 matches and 23 are to Kellys. At 67 markers I have 143 matches, 2 are to O'Kelley cousins, and 6 are to Kellys so why do I have almost 3 times the matches at 67 markers as Fetus Kelly's descendant and fewer Kelly matches?   This becomes more glaring when one considers 7 times more people have tested their DNA of Fetus Kelly's Haplogroup vs mine.  To explain this I have developed a "Kings and Chiefs have more Bastards theory".  Fetus Kelly's ancestors were never Hy-Kings of Ireland, they were regional Kings of a small place in western Ireland but my family has a tradition story that we came from Tara where we were prominent and we descend from the Hy-Kings of Ireland, that we descend from Cellach, one of the Hy-Kings of Ireland and before and even after Christianity came to Ireland Hy-Kings and Chiefs had many wives.  The sons of the favored wife could inherit their fathers title and land while the sons of the lesser wives received lands along the border to serve as the defense of the Hy-King.  Often these Kings or Chiefs of the border kingdoms would take different surnames more favorable to their mothers who were often the daughters of powerful Chieftains.  Until someone comes up with a reasonable explanation for why I have almost 3 times of the 67 matches than the descendant of Festus Kelly, I will stick with my theory.  My study using the Y-DNA results of a descendent of Fetus Kelly traceable by the Ui Mhaine O'Kelly Pedigree compared to my own ancient Y-DNA connections reveal two ancient remains that causes me to believe our shared grandfather may have lived in or near Thornholme, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.  Hy-Many (Ui Mhaine) and I along with 33,942 other testers have a directed match to Thornholme 18606 R-DF13 who remains were found in Thornholme, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, and he lived about 1919 -1742 BCE.  From R-DF13 our DNA branches off and my Y-DNA follows FGC11134 and takes me to remains of Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134, my Y-DNA ancestor and his wife who lived and died about 4200 years ago and their remains were found in what is modern day Co Fermanagh indicating that Thornholme 18606 isn't old enough to be the grandfather I share with Hy-Many but he could certainly be a cousin that I share  with Hy-Many O'Kellys whose Y-DNA branches off to R-Z39589 then to R-DF49 then to R-Z2976, then to R-DF23 then to R-Z2961 then to R-ZP75 then to R-ZP77 and then to Thornholme 22060 R-BY154824 who lived between 343 and 1 BCE and his remains were also found in Thornholme, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, a rare 1 in 1500 match that Hy-Many shares with other testers and that increases the possibility that our shared grandfather also lived in the Yorkshire area.  These two remains of men in Yorkshire England who lived maybe 1000 years apart and 7 Hy-Many (Ui-Mhaine) R-Z2961 remains found in the Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland suggests that the Hy-Many (Ui Mhaine) R-ZP77 ancestors may have still been in England 1000 years after my ancestor arrived in Ireland and it could explain why my ancestors are in the east of Ireland and theirs are in the less populated and more remote west.  If the Hy-Many (Ui Mhaine) ancestor came late, east Ireland would have been crowded with powerful Chiefs and frankly DNA indicates that my family coming to Ireland was just an earlier wave of English invaders into Ireland.  Family Tree DNA has a new "Globetrekker" tool that suggests the R-DF13 Ancestor that I share with the O'Kellys of Hy-Many, O'Neills, Mahons, Mahans, McGuires, Dempseys and O'Higgins may have came from Cumbria England.  The maps suggest after branching off from R-DF13 that our ancestors remained in England for a time but my match to Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 who died about 2200 BCE and whose remains were found in a cave in Co Fermanagh and a second match to Treanmacmurtagh 116 R-FGC11134 found in a cist burial cairn in Co Sligo who lived about 2000 BCE suggests my ancestors came early to Ireland much earlier than the "Globetrekker" map indicates, and these are rare matches and I know of no FC11134 remains found in England.  Globetrekker indicates my family always remained in the east of Ireland in what is Co West Meath and Meath and the red shading indicates the heaviest concentration is in North and South Bregia which makes a half moon around Dublin and these fit with the O'Kelley of Bregia.  The map for Hy-Many who also shares R-DF13 Ancestor O'Neills, Mahons, Mahans, McGuires, Dempseys and O'Higgins shows they also remained in England up to Z2916 which branched off about 2000 BCE then they came to Ireland with a wide disbursement of their DNA into Scotland and Northern Ireland with the DNA of Fetus O'Kelly appearing in the right place about 1500 CE along the eastern edge of Hy-Many.  There are many ancient R-Z2916 remains dated between 600 and 1300 BCE found buried in Co Roscommon Ireland the home of the O'Kelly of Hy-Many.    Famly Tree DNA GlobeTrekker Migration Map     Dr John O'Hart's claim in his 1897 book Irish Pedigrees that the Irish descends from the Milesians from Iberian Peninsula appears to be an Irish Myth as one can see from the above maps.  It might have been true for the O'Neills of Tyrone who were R-DF27 and appear to be in Spain about the time the grandfathers that R-DF13 O'Kellys of Hy-Many (Ui Mhaine) and O'Kelley of Bregia and the R-DF13 O'Neills, Mahons, Mahans, McGuires, Dempseys and the O'Higgins were in Cumbria England, we clearly don't descend from the Milesians nor do we share a Three Collas match in the time that the Three Collas were said to have lived.  We all share ancestors who were R-DF13 and they were likely living in, near, or around Cumbria England about 4500 years ago.  Looking at our Y-DNA results, the only thing that makes many of us different is our surnames.  There are the remains of a mysterious R-P312 BR79 - Bolinready, Wexford Ireland who dates to 1935 BCE that the O'Neills of Tryrone, O'Kelley of Bregia, O'Kelly of Hy-Many, DF13 O'Neills, Mahons, Mahans, McGuires, Dempseys and the O'Higgins are related but he is about 200 years younger than my ancestor Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 so that rules out the O'Kelley of Bregia and the R-FGC11134 Southern O'Neales.  BR79 is 100 years older than our ancestor Treanmacmurtagh 116 R-FGC11134.  Because R-P312 BR79 - Bolinready, Wexford seems to be out of place in time by almost 500 years, I suspect that he is the ancestor of  R-Z290 PP6 - Ploopluck (Osberstown), Kildare, maybe R-L21 Rathlins, perhaps the R-DF13 Sliguff 27 and Inchagreenoge 134 Ancient Remains because they also seem to be out of place in time with him.  I find it very doubtful that the O'Kelly of Hy-Many, DF13 O'Neills, Mahons, Mahans, McGuires, Dempseys and the O'Higgins could have descended from R-P312 BR79 - Bolinready, Wexford but if they did that would make my Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 ancestor senior to them all.  You don't need to take my word for any of this, you may do your own research, my Halpogroup is R-BY20936.  Log into your FamilyTreeDNA account, go to Y-DNA Results and Tools and select Discover Halpogroup Reports and select Compare and enter my Halpogroup R-BY20936 to confirm my research.  Click on any of the above surnames to open their surname groups and locate the Halpogroup of anyone in their surname groups and use the Compare tool to see what ancestor you may share with their other surnames.  You will quickly see that the belief that we come from Iberian Spain and descend from the Three Collas who lived about the 4th century is based in Irish Myth and like all Myths it will stand in your way of finding the truth using your Y-DNA results. While the NEW Globetrekker tool is helpful, it certainly needs some tweaking, it seems to lean too heavily on "self reporting" and too light on matches to "ancient connections" because it places my ancestor's rare 1 in 123 R-FGC11134 Halpogroup in England and fails to identify my rare 1 in 123 matches to Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 in Co Fermanagh and Treanmacmurtagh 116 R-FGC11134 in Co Sligo less that 300 years after R-FGC11134 branches off from R-DF13.  Globetrekker tool is helpful to inform you as to where your matches claim their ancestors originated.  The only reason Pollnagollum 911 appears on my map is because I self reported the match which identifies a flaw in their formula which will likely be corrected in future releases.  Yamnaya Russian Grasslands about 6000 years ago   R1b-L151  Amesbury Archer buried near Stonehenge   R-P312  -  2750 BCE   O'Kelley of Bregia and O'Kelly of Hy-Many   O'Neills of Tyrone O'Neills, Mahons, Mahans, McGuires, Dempseys & O'Higgins R-Z46516 R-Z290 22700 BCE - Britain Ireland R-ZZ11 - Germany Iberia R-L21  -  2650 BCE R-DF27 - Iberia or Spain R-S552 - 2550 BCE I can find no information to establish when they arrived in Ireland. R-DF13  - 2500 BCE - Britain Ireland They were the last standing in Ireland so they got to write our history in their favor by connecting the mythical Niall of Nine Hostages to a real High King of Ireland, Niall Glundubh who I am certain was R-FGC11134 of Southern Bregia and his living descendents appear in the Family Tree DNA O'Neill Project as IE Eoghanachta South Irish Type II.  R-FGC11134 R-Z39589 R-DF21 R-ZZ10_1   O'Kelley and 3 grps of Southern O'Neales of Bregia - High Kings of Ireland - PG911 & TR116 O'Kelly of Hy Many, 13 groups of O'Neils including the mythical Nail of Nine, 1 group of Dempseys, & 1 of O'Higgins 2 grps of O'Neils, 2 grps of McGuires, 2 grps of Mahan/Mahon, 1 grp of O'Higgins (Ratlin Island 1 & 2) 2 grps of O'Neills, 1 grp of McGuire, 2 Mahans/Mahon, 2 grp Dempsey, 3 grp Fitzpatrick             R-L513         O'Sealbahaigh of Co Tipperary who took the surname of Richmond.         The first and oldest Irish member of my O'Kelley family confirmed by my Y-DNA is a rare 1 in 123 match to the remains of  Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 and with him in the Pollnagollum Cave in Co Fermanagh was Pollnagollum 86 U4a3a maybe his wife, they lived about 4200 years ago and another female Pollnagollum 90 T2b2b who lived about 4100 years ago.   My second oldest is another rare 1 in 123 match to the remains of Treanmacmurtagh 116 R-FGC11134 found in a cist burial cairn in Co Sligo.  The remains of  Pollnagollum 911 about 4200 years ago and Treanmacmurtagh 116 who lived about 4015 years ago cements my Y-DNA in Ireland about 4200 years ago.   While I refer to them as my O'Kelley family, they lived 3000 years before surnames came into use and many of their descendents use many different surnames.   According to the Haplotree.info database Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 having lived between 2349 and 2135 BCE is the oldest R1b ancient remains to be found in Ireland.  So where did his ancestors come?  Y-DNA tells us that he was related to the famous Amesbury Archer R1b-L151 found near the Stone Henge in England.  I have a dozen ancient remains of even more ancient ancestors leaving little doubt that Pollnagollum 911 descended from the Yamnaya living along the southern border of modern day Russian and Ukraine suggesting Pollnagollum 911 was a descendent of the those like R-M269 Samara Valley 52  and R-M269>R-L23 remains of Samara Valley 57 both lived about 5300 years ago both of the horse riding Yamnaya culture and it seems likely my Yamnaya ancestors were adventurers who pushed on slowing traveling west in their wagons searching for precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper and tin for the making of bronze.  More about my Yamnaya Aceators are at the end of this page.   Perhaps they paused for a few generation or even a century when a discovery was made and then continued on west when the metals were mined out.  I like to think my ancestors were so curious about where the Sun went each night that the Sun was one giant ball of gold and that motivated their migration west into Ireland.  Perhaps that is where the "pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow" originated.  Pollnagollum 911 or his father may have arrived among the farming stone age people of Ireland with a horse carrying weapons made from copper but may had early bronze swords with bronze tipped arrows and would have brought cows and his diet of milk and beef would have made him larger than the grain eating farming Irish, he would have appeared as if a god to the smaller stone age farming Irish and it seems certain he would not have come alone, there would be other "R1b" companions or kinsmen with him and because his remains were preserved that suggest he held some special status among his kinsmen and having reached the western edge of the known world it was in Ireland that he and his traveling kinsmen stayed, marrying Irish native women, then after about 3800 years my more recent ancester left Ireland behind for Virginia in the New World. While Pollnagollum 911 is R-FGC11134 meaning his father would have also been R-FGC11134 or R-DF13 his mother's mtDNA is K1b1a1 and while this is widely dispersed in numerous places around the globe it does appear in Ireland in the ancient remains of a woman found in PN16 - Poulnabrone, Co Clare Ireland who lived about 5442 years ago or 1242 years before Pollnagollum 911 was born.  Her DNA indicates her skin was pale to intermediate and her hair was brown, but her eye color could not be determined.  You may watch a YouTube Video about the excavation.  This is very remarkable that my Big Y 700 DNA test has uncovered so much about my early Irish family and PN16 mtDNA suggest the possibility that she could be my oldest maternal Irish Ancestor, Pollnagollum 911's great grandmother many generations removed would have been of an Irish born family that was in Ireland long before my male ancestor arrived.  Everyone who appears in the FamilyTreeDNA Kelley R1B Group15B will be related to Pollnagollum 911 and thus related to PN16 - Poulnabrone, Co Clare Ireland who lived about 5442 years ago.  If Pollnagollum 911 was my great grandfather and not an uncle or cousin then it increases the possibility that PN16 could be one of my many great grandmothers.  I know of no method to determine this possibility.  In the O'Neill DNA project I find three groups of O'Neill (O'Neale) kinsmen, Family Tree DNA O'Neill Group "IE Eoghanachta South Irish Type II, R-DF13>R-FGC11134> R-FGC12055> Z3026> Z16260> A114> CTS4466 Patrick O'Neill b1833 Ballinabrackey Meath", Group 1E1 R-CTS4466>>>A541>S1121>Z16252, and Group 1E2 R-CTS4466>>>A541>A1135 and like me these three O'Neill Groups also match to the ancient remains that I have listed above and these O'Neills have a closer match to Claristown 14 found buried in a Ring Ditch along the northeast border in Bregia or Brey which was a much larger place that include Tara when Claristown 14 lived in about the time of Áed of Slaine making it very likely the >FGC11134> R-FGC12055> O'Neills are THE Southern O'Neill who lived in Southern Bregia and descend from High King of Ireland Neale Glunduffe (Niall Glundubh).   Their Y-DNA Match to Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 likely makes these three lines of O'Neills (O'Neale) senior to all other lines of O'Neills in Ireland.  Here is a listing of all the 140 ancient remains found in Ireland. This list will surely grow. DNA could not be collected from all of them.  I am related to 7 of these ancient remains.  According to this database my R1b- >DF-13>FGC11134 Pollnagollum 911 is the oldest ancient remains of the first Yamnaya immigration to be found in Ireland and R1b-DF13> DF21>S5488>Z16294 MY-381 Moyyeela Galway is the second oldest. All the Haplogroup H and I on this list are the Middle Eastern Farmers who were living in Ireland when my Yamnaya ancestors arrived.  Today more than 80% of all Irish males descend from my R1b Yamnaya ancestors who came from the grasslands of Russia and dominated much of Europe. My O'Kelley of Bregia family and Fetus Kelly of the Hy-Many O'Kellys & related O'Kelley familes share a R-DF13 ancestor, following my R-FGC11134 branch we have 2418 who have tested their Big Y DNA, following Fetus Kelly's Hy-Many R-Z39589 branch they 15,720 relations, it includes Family Tree DNA R1b Groups 12 C Nails, and 14 Ui Mhanie and 14B are all Z2961 and the Group R1b 13 Big Scotts are Z39589 subclads of R-Z39589 this shows up in the FamilyTree DNA Kelley Surname Project, there are many more members in the combined R-Z39589 than my O'Kelley of Bregia Group 15B and I believe the reason for this is found in "The Annals of Clonmacnoise" on page 165 it tells the reader that in 993 Brian Boru and his Danish allies went to Bregia and "slew them all" and hung around in Bregia for a time then returned to Munster only to return in 996 to seize Tara and crown himself King of Ireland and I suspect he did his slaughter in Bregia to kill off as many of the hereditary Princes who were next in line to be king. The living write our history and they often write it to their benefit. My Haplogroup Path Áed of Slaine Age Est     Hy-Many Haplogroup Path Age Est R-DF13  King James of the King James Bible Shared Ancestor likely live in, near or around Cumbria England about 2500 BCE FGC11134 - Pollnagollum 911 & Treanmacmurtagh 116 2250 BCE     Z39589 Family Tree DNA Kelley R1b Group 13 Scotts 2450 BCE FGC12055 Claristown 14, Southern O'Neale & Fitzpatrick 2150 BCE DF49 2350 BCE ZZ44_1 2100 BCE Z2980 2350 BCE A9871 2050 BCE Z2976 2150 BCE BY9001  Fitzpatrick 100 CE DF23 2050 BCE BY11096  Fitzpatrick 400 CE Z2961   Family Tree DNA Kelley R1b Groups, 12 & 14 2000 BCE FGC54808   Áed of Slaine & Fitzpatrick 500 CE ZP75 1750 BCE FGC54816 550 CE ZP77 1700 BCE FGC54819 Cellach High King of Ireland 750 CE FGC6550 600 CE BY20936   Me 850 CE BY3442 850 CE     BY3437  The Count O'Kelly 1150 CE     BY74457  Fetus Kelly 1500 CE My listing that the 141st Irish Monarch Aed of Slaine as my ancestor, grandfather, uncle, or cousin is based solely upon the claim that my grandmother made that we descend from the "Hy Kings" of Ireland and that is where we got our surname, the published claim that English Earl Huge O'Neill was the son of Mathew O'Kelley of Bregia who descends from Aed of Slaine, also of the published claim from the Annals of Ulster that there was a Hy King named Ceallach of Bregia who died in 895, and my Y-DNA indicates that we came from the area of Bregia in Co Meath so I am not making this up, I am drawing a conclusion based on multiply sources.  It is true?  I think it is anyone's guess the Irish were considerable liars.    The Family Tree DNA Stuart Project claims that King James of the King James Bible was R-DF13.  Currently there are 40,633 DNA tested descendants of R-DF13 making us all cousins of King James of the King James Bible.  The Kings of Munster, the Eoganacht are said to descend from FGC12055 >>>> CTS4466 >>>>A541, I share a grandfather with them at about 2150 BCE.  Currently there are only 2,653 DNA tested descendants of FGC12055 so this is a rare connection.  I also have several Y-DNA matches to the Fitzpatrick surname so I did an analysis of the Family Tree DNA Project for Fitzpatrick.  The Mac Giolla Phádraig related to me come from four different Halpogroups, there are the FCG11134 Fitzpatrick who are more closely related to the Southern O'Neale than to me and I suspect like the Southern O'Neale they may have also lived in Bregia.   The R-BY9001, R-BY1106 and FGC54808 Fitzpatrick branch off from my ancestral line to form there own Haplogroups but like me they all share Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 who are both R-FGC11134. There are at least 3 groups of Fitspatricks that are R-DF13-> R-ZZ10_1 making them related to the O'Neills, McGuires, Dempseys and O'Higgins and one line of R-DF13-> R-FGC5494 Fitzpatrick that share their Y-DNA with a line of McGuires so Fitzpatrick is a very diverse surname likely because they were part of a religious order that spanned all these families.  I suspect all of these took the Mac Giolla Phádraig surname about 1000 AD when most of the Irish were adopting surnames.  The name means "Sons of the followers or devotee of Saint Patrick".   During the mid 1500s the English King Henry VIII used "Surrender and Regrant" to bring the Gaelic lords under his control and under the laws of England and there were requirements, the Gaelic Mac Giolla Phádraig had to change their name to Fitzpatrick, surrender their lands, dress as English and learn English ways, and abandon their Catholic faith and embrace King Henry VIII's religion.  Most did and some Fitzpatrick became English Barons.  The Ui Ceallaigh surname came into use about 900 CE, spelled in early English it translated into O'Kelley and about the time of the printing press in later English into O'Kelly.  The apostrophe began to appear in the late 1800s probably due the the influence of Dr John O'Donovan's 1843 book Tribes and Customs of the Hy-Many.  I have a copy of my 3rd great grandfather signature from the National Archives and he uses OKelley in 1833. His son my 2nd great grandfather signed a loyalty oath in 1867 also as OKelley and his son became a Justice of the Peace and I have the original document he signed in 1889 as OKelley so the use of the apostrophe didn't come into my family until my grandfather born in 1900.  Shared R-DF13 Ancestor about 4500 BCE and DNA suggest he likely lived in or near Cumbria England  Rick O'Kelley's R-FGC11134 Family  Hy-Many O'Kelly R-Z39589 Family   Hy-Many has a much larger number who claim Scotland as their homeland and Group 13 suggests their ancestor went to Scotland maybe about the time my ancestor went to Co Fermanagh Ireland and after about 1000 years in Scotland the Hy-Many ancestors left their Scottish cousins and migrated to Ulster where as the bio of Maine Mor suggest they were not welcome so they went to Co Roscommon Ireland.  I have two ancestors in Ireland who lived at 2000 + BCE the earliest Hy-many ancestor found in Ireland are seven remains found at Kilteasheen, Co Roscommon, they all are R-Z2961 and lived between 600 BCE and 1300 BCE. When I look at only R-Z2916 that includes all of the Group 12 Nails which also include the mythical Nail of Nine Hostages and Group 14 Hy-Many testers filtering out the early Scotts the results seem to support my belief that from R-DF13, my branch went to Co Fermanagh and their branch went to Scotland or remained in England for a time before coming to Ireland.  When I filter using R-DF75 to exclude Group 12 Nails who branch off to form their own Halpogroups I get a much reduced Hy-Many Group 14 and this R-DF75 which branched off from R-Z2916 about 1700 BCE filter excludes the 7 Kilteasheen remains found at The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland because they are all R-Z2961 meaning they are shared with the Group 12 Nail testers but at R-DF75 no one is O'Kelly yet because surnames won't come into use for about another 750 years.  This is more complicated as the my O'Kelley of Bregia and the O'Kelly of Hy-Many share Haplogroup R-L21 and the ancient remains of Moyveela 381 who lived between 2286 -2039 BCE and found buried in Galway Ireland.  So is this OUR shared ancestor or is this the O'Kelly of Hy-Many's ancestor or it this my O'Kelley of Bregia's ancestor or none of the above, perhaps an ancestor of one of the many other Irish lines.  Since my ancestor rare match to Pollnagollum 911 appears to be older that Moyveela 381, the fact that Moyveela 381 was found in Galway suggests that Moyveela 381 might be the ancestor of O'Kelly of Hy-Many but I also have a rate match to Treanmacmurtagh 116 R-FGC11134 who lived between 2015 and 1758 found in Co Sligo. I have also included my R-A9871 which branched off about 2050 BCE for comparison with Group 14.  My group 15b has perhaps 1/3 of the testers of group 14.  Group 14 still has a high number who report Scottish ancestry while my group 15b has a very low number supporting my belief that Group 15b likely went from England to Ireland very early while the Hy-Many ancestor may have gone to Scotland for a time then came to Ireland and it also supports the great reduction in my family which likely occurred in 993 CE when Brian Boru and his Danish armies went to Bregia and "slew them all". Group 12 Nails and 14 Ui Mhaine    R1b Group 14 Ui Mhaine                 My Family Tree DNA RIb Group 15b    The Hy-Many and I are both equally related Rathlin 1 and 2 via our shared ancestor at R-DF13. We both are related to Rathlin 3 via R-L21 at 3580 years ago but so are 37,755 other DNA testers.  I suspect that R-P312 BR79 - Bolinready, Wexford Ireland is the ancesor for the R-L21 Rathlins (Group 1F & 1G O'Neills), R-DF13 Sliguff 27 and Inchagreenoge 134 Ancient Remains.   YouTube Video about Rathlin 1  I have Y-DNA Ancient Connections found buried in and out of Ireland. Family Tree DNA Kelley Project  R1B Group 15b Ancient Connections Ancestor Shared Ancestor Lived Ancestor Rare Conection Found Birkrigg 20997  R-Z17991 R-FGC12055 2550 -1800 BCE 2150 BCE 1/ 129 - 2,296 Cumbria, England Gen Scott 65 R-FGC12055 912-808 BCE 2150 BCE 1/ 129 - 2,296 Moray, Scottland Claristown 14 - Aed Slaine kin? R-FGC12055 60-420 CE 2150 BCE 1/ 129 - 2,296 Claristown Co Meath Ireland Buckquoy 7B  R-A151  (Hostage or Slave)? R-FGC12055 900 -1000 CE 2150 BCE 1/ 129 - 2,296 Orkney, Scotland Zachary Macaulay R-FGC12055 1768 - 1838 CE 2150 BCE 1/ 129 - 2,296  Inveraray Scotland Treanmacmurtagh 116 R-FGC11134 2015-1758 BCE 2250 BCE 1/123 - 2411 Treanmacmurtagh, C Sligo, Ireland Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 2192 BCE 2250 BCE 1/123 -2411 Pollnagollum Cave Co Fermanagh Northern Ireland Scorto Quarry 14096  R-FTA11009 R-FGC11134 101 BCE-59 CE 2250 BCE 1/123 - 2411 North Yorksire, England Low Hauxley 70 R-DF13 2464 - 2209 BCE 2500 BCE   Low Hauxley, Northumberland, England Figheldean 5513 R-DF13 2800 - 1800 BCE 2500 BCE   Nr. Ablington, Figheldean, England Lechlade-on-Thames 12786 R-DF13 2289 - 2052 BCE 2500 BCE   Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire, England Yarnton 2445 R-DF13 2325 - 2040 BCE 2500 BCE   Yarnton, Oxfordshire, England Amesbury Down 2597 R-DF13 2280 - 2030 BCE 2500 BCE   Amesbury Down, Wiltshire, England Trumpington Meadows 10 R-DF13 2171 - 2029 BCE 2500 BCE   Trumpington Meadows, Cambridge, England Lechlade-on-Thames 12935 R-DF13 2200 - 1900 BCE 2500 BCE   Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire, England Yarnton 2447 R-DF13 2120 - 1898 BCE 2500 BCE   Yarnton, Oxfordshire, England Gen Scot 68 R-DF13 2126 - 1886 BCE 2500 BCE   Covesea Cave 2, Moray, Scotland Rathlin 1  R-DF21  Grp 1F & 1G O'Neills R-DF13 2026-1885 BCE 2500 BCE   Glebe, Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland Sliguff 27 R-DF13 2134-1701 BCE 2500 BCE   Sliguff, Co Carlow, Ireland Rathlin2  R-DF-21  Grp 1F & 1G O'Neills R-DF13 2024-1741 BCE 2500 BCE   Glebe, Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland Rodean Crescent 14553 R-DF13 1954 - 1749 BCE 2500 BCE   Rodean Crescent, Sussex, England Thornholme 18606 R-DF13 1919 - 1742 BCE 2500 BCE Ancestor ? Thornholme, East Riding of Yorksire, England Cockerham 16403 R-DF13 1600 - 1350 BCE 2500 BCE   Cockerham, North Yorkshire, England Clay Farm 7640 R-DF13 1434 - 1278 BCE 2500 BCE   Clay Farm, Cambridgeshire, England Gen Scot 22 R-DF13 1389 - 1131 BCE 2500 BCE   Longniddry, East Lothian, Scotland Inchagreenoge 134 R-DF13 1270-1040 BCE 2500 BCE   Inchagreenoge Limerick, Ireland Melton Quarry 7629 R-DF13 1201 - 933 BCE 2500 BCE   Melton Quarry, East Riding of Yorkshire, England Kent 13712 R-DF13 1011 - 916 BCE 2500 BCE   East Kent Access Road, Kent, England Lechlade-on-Thames 12783 R-DF13 783 - 541 BCE 2500 BCE   Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire, England Bottle Knap 27382 R-DF13 774 - 540 BCE 2500 BCE   Bottle Knap, Dorset, England Rowbarrow 19868 R-DF13 771 - 476 BCE 2500 BCE   Rowbarrow, Wiltshire, England Stockbridge 17260 R-DF13 800 - 400 BCE 2500 BCE   Stockbridge, Hampshire, Englan Birkrigg 20997  R-Z17991 is not of my family nor the R-FGC12055 Southern O'Neales family line so perhaps he was an ancestor that stayed in England.   I find my Y-DNA match to Buckquoy 78 of interest for a number of reasons.  Our Y-DNA connection is a rare a 1 in 129, out of all the males tested only 2,296 of us are related to Buckquoy 78, but it is his burial in Orkney Scotland and his close relation to the FGC11134 O'Neills fuels my greatest interest for the Vikings took Irish hostages and slaves and the O'Kelley of Brey or Bregia lived on the east coast of Ireland during Buckquoy 78 time, I believe Buckquoy 78 was an O'Neill taken as a slave during some battle and he could have been a son or a close relations of High King of Ireland Neale Glunduffe (Niall Glundubh). Because I share a grandfather with the 'Kelly's of Hy-many at R-DF13 4500 years ago I share their Y-DNA Ancient Connections and Hy-Many share all of my R-DF13 Ancient Connections.  I have fewer burial of remains in Ireland probably because Pagan Ireland cremated their dead, and Christian Ireland buried their dead.  Hy-Many has many more burials in Ireland but with the exception of the cluster of Roscommon burials which surprise me because they lived 1000 years before Christ, but are buried in the Bishop's Seat so clearly this must have been a place for both Christian and pre Christian burials.  The majority of Hy-Many Irish burials in their Ancient Connections are CE and not BCE causing me to wonder if they arrived maybe 1000 years after my family came to Ireland.  While Inchagreenoge 134 R-DF13 doesn't appear in Hy-Many's  Ancient Connections, the Hy-Many O'Kellys and I share Y-DNA with Inchagreenoge 134 R-DF13 found in my O'Kelley Ancient Connections, I know that he can't be my oldest shared Ancestor found buried in Limerick Ireland about 3000 years ago.  My match to Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 in Co Fermanagh more than 1000 years earlier proves that I could not descended from Inchagreenoge 134 R-DF13, and given Hy-Many R-Z39589 occurred about 4400 years ago Inchagreenoge 134 R-DF13 is excluded as their direct ancestor also but he could be the ancestor of Eugene Crean (Ó Croidheáin) 1854 - 1939 CE one of my R-DF13 notable connections who was born in Cork and Mayor of Cork.  Family Tree DNA Kelley Project  R1B Group 14 Ui Mhaine Kellys Ancient Connections Ancestor Shared Ancestor Lived Ancestor Rare Conection Found Thornholme 22060 R-ZP77 343 - 1BCE 1700 BCE 1/ 1500 Thornholme, East Riding of Yorkshire, England Derrynanamagh 9 R-Z2961 275-585 CE 22000 BCE   Derrynamanagh , Galway Ireland Derrynamanagh 8 R-Z2961 300-700 CE 2000 BCE   Derrynamanagh , Galway Ireland Ship Street Great 12 R-Z2961 665-865 CE 2000 BCE   Ship Street Great, Dublin, Ireland. Ballyhanna 197 R-Z2961 689-975 CE 2000 BCE   Graveyard, Ballyhanna, County Donegal, Ireland. Kilteasheen 14 R-Z2961 600-1300 BCE 2000 BCE   The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland. Kilteasheen 19 R-Z2961 600-1300 BCE 2000 BCE   The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland. Kilteasheen 33 R-Z2961 600-1300 BCE 2000 BCE   The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland. Kilteasheen 37 R-Z2961 600-1300 BCE 2000 BCE   The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland. Kilteasheen 41 R-Z2961 600-1300 BCE 2000 BCE   The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland. Kilteasheen 44 R-Z2961 600-1300 BCE 2000 BCE   The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland. Kilteasheen 9 R-Z2961 600-1300 BCE 2000 BCE   The Bishop’s Seat, Kilteasheen, Roscommon, Ireland. Hvalba 24 (Viking Slave?) R-Z2961 1000 - 1100 CE 2000 BCE   Hvalba, Faroes, Faroe Islands. Hofstadir 127 (Viking Slave?) R-Z2961 900 - 1300 CE 2000 BCE   Hofstaðir, Iceland Ballyhanna 331 R-Z2961 1031 - 1260 CE 2000 BCE   Graveyard, Ballyhanna, County Donegal, Ireland Lagore 14 R-Z2961 1492 - 1665 CE 2000 BCE   Lagore, Meath, Ireland Faroe 17 (Viking Slave?) R-Z2961 1500 - 1700 CE 2000 BCE   Church 2, Sandoy, Faroe Islands Philip Calvert R-Z2961 1626 - 1682 CE 2000 BCE     Infant Calvert R-Z2961 1626 - 1682 CE 2000 BCE   St. Mary’s City, Maryland, United States Bottle Knap 27382 R-DF23 774 - 540 BCE 2050 BCE   Bottle Knap, Dorset, England Wattle Syke 14347 R-DF23 372 - 176 BCE 2050 BCE   Wattle Syke, West Yorkshire, England Ballyglass Middle 44 R-DF23 80 - 420 CE 2050 BCE   Kiltullagh hill, Mayo, Ireland Fossvellir A1 (Viking Slave?) R-DF23 1296 - 1400 CE 2050 BCE   Fossvellir, Iceland Harlyn Bay 16380 R-DF49 800 - 43 BCE 2350 BCE   Harlyn Bay, Cornwall, England Broom Quarry 16597 R-DF49 404 - 209 BCE 2350 BCE   Broom Quarry, Bedfordshire, England Thame 14807 R-DF49 391 - 204 BCE 2350 BCE   Thame, Oxfordshire, England North Berwick 16499 R-DF49 337 - 43 BCE 2350 BCE   North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland Howe 2799 R-DF49 152 BCE - 65 CE 2350 BCE   Howe of Howe, Orkney Islands, Scotland (Orkney) Lundin Links 4 R-DF49 400 - 700 CE 2350 BCE   Lundin Links, Fife, Scotland Vor Frue Kirkegård 336 R-DF49 1536 - 1806 CE 2350 BCE   Vor Frue Kirkegård, Aalborg, Denmark When I was a child I often heard at family gatherings the claim that we descend from the Hy-Kings of Ireland", my paternal grandmother handed down a story that was the reason we maintained the double E O'Kelley spelling we were the first of the O'Kelley Irish to use an English spelling of our name and we were "old Irish".  So where did my grandmother get her story, she may have said and I just don't remember but her mother-in-law was a former school teacher and the wife of a Judge and minster and after he died she lived with my grandparents many years so she is the likely source.  Keep in mind that in the 60s when my grandmother said this, the books about my family were being published, one is 66, another in 69 and there wasn't universal acceptance that all O'Kelleys, O'Kelly, and Kellys were of Hy-many, that may have come with my parent's generation with the books after all if it is in a book it has to be fact, right?  When I started my investigation in 1997 at the request of my Aunt I struggled to find any proof this double E name spelling might be true until I found the O'Kelley spelling in the "Ulster Journal of Archeology VIII on Page 268" "General Owen O'Neil favored his O'Kelley kinsman with the "prized" woods in the Clogher Dioceses and General O'Neil was the nephew of English Earl Hugh O'Neil the son of Mathew O'Kelley.  These woods were in the heart of the ClannKelly in what is today southern Co Fermanagh.  Not sure where it might lead, and weary of going down rabbit holes I tested my DNA in 2010 expanding it when new tests came out and now with the results of my Big Y 700 and a growing database that includes the results of remains found buried thousands of years ago my DNA bread crumbs trace my ancestors as they migrated through Poland, Demark, Germany, France, England and Ireland.  The finding of Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 and Pollnagollum 86 U4a3a a female likely his spouse are two of three found in the cave in Co Fermanagh who lived about 4200 years ago and Treanmacmurtagh 116 R-FGC11134 in a Cist burial inside a Cairn in Co Sligo and his 4000 year old remains were found ironically only a few miles from the northern border of what 2000 years later would become Hy-Many country so while my family doesn't descend from the O'Kelly of Hy-Many I think it reasonable to assume that my ancestors walk their ground long before they arrived. Our long time in Ireland and the rare 1-129 connection to the remains of Claristown 14 believed to be an important person buried in a Ring Ditch with an even more important person in the center places my Y-DNA within 5 miles of the Irish Monarch Áed of Slaine who was the 141st Irish Monarch near the time that Áed of Slaine lived in the 5th century AD increases the likelihood that my family was his family, because from Áed of Slaine came nine Kings of Ireland and one of those Kings was Cellach likely the source of my O'Kelley surame.  My Y-DNA matches to Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 both R-FGC11134 dating back 4000 years in Irelland makes it very likely my family descends from Cellach The King of Ireland indicating that my family's tradition stories have some truth to them. For a member of my family to be a Irish Monarch my ancestors would have had to been in Ireland a very long time to create both family and political alliances necessary to defend such a high place.  The world was a dangerous place especially so for Kings and Monarchs, the Irish homeland security was to  surrounded themselves with family so this DNA match to Claristown 14 found in Bregia or Brey which are  said to be the lands that lay North of Dublin and south of Co Louth written in The Annals of  Clonmacnoisc to be the lands of Áed of Slaine and the O'Kellyes right up to the time of Henry II increases the possibility that my family tradition stories that claim we descend from the "Hy-Kings of Ireland" could be true. My Y-DNA is in the right place at the right time for it to be true and Dr John O'Donovan claim that English Earl Hugh O'Neill's father was Mathew O'Kelley, the adopted son of Con O'Neill and his mother was Lady Joan McGuire the daughter of Lord Cuconnaugh of Fermanagh and was more suited than the O'Neills to be the ruler of Ireland. It is claimed that Earl Hugh O'Neill had one son, Enrique O'Neill who survived to have children and there is a pedigree on Geni with a family tree for Enrique O'Neill and he has a grandson named Nicolás O'Neill y O'Kelley.  His mother was said to be Ana O'Kelly and his brother was Tulio O'Neill O'Kelly.  This pedigree goes all the way back to Mathew O'Neill who Dr John O'Donovan claims was Mathew O'Kelley of Bregia.  I haven't found any contact info for the person who manages these records but I hope that person will contact me and provide an explanation why Nicolás used the double e spelling of the O'Kelley surname and see if there are any surviving males of Hugh O'Neill and if they are willing to test their Y-DNA to see if they are kin to my O'Kelley family.   Patrick George O'Neill did a 12 marker test back in 2010, we match 12 out of 12 markers and I suspected that if he might be a descendent of Earl Hugh O'Neill but his email no longer works and all attempts to locate him has failed.   Based upon his disconnected email address I suspect Patrick George O'Neill is the Patrick O'Neill born in Belfast Ireland in 1925 and died in 2010 in Connecticut.  He had younger brothers George and Hugh are all deceased with no children given.  His father was Francis J O'Neill and his mother was Ellen Lister also deceased.  Anyone doing Irish research especially O'Kelley/O'Kelly research should read "The Annals of Clonmacnoise", their are many mentions of the O'Kelly of Ui Mhaine or Imannie in the west of Ireland and the O'Kelleys of Brey, Moybrey, or Bregia who lived in the land along the sea from Dublin in the south to Louth in the north and certainly as far west as Kells as that is where Aed of Slaine or Hugh Slane as he is called in these Annals lived when he was the Ard or High King of Ireland.  I find no instances where the O'Kelley of Brey and O'Kelly of Hy-Many worked together or fought each other.  Given the account about how Maine Mor, his father and family left Ulster to avoid war I suspect there may have been bad blood between the O'Kelly and O'Kelley.  Maybe Maine Mor and his father and family were chased out of Ulster, we have no method to know what really caused them to leave and how they would have kept the peace between them if they were of equal power as some claim which I doubt. To be High Kings of Ireland one had to have very powerful kin and allies.  The Irish tend to hold grudges that sooner or later result in bloodshed.  What is certain is one group left Ulster and the other group stayed and those who stayed became the hereditary High Kings of Ireland powerfully enough to defend Tara from all challengers that were outside the hereditary lines for perhaps more than 1000 years. In my analysis of the Family Tree DNA O'Neill Project I find thirteen Groups that share Z2961 with the Hy-Many O'Kellys, I find four R-DF13 groups, two follow R-DF13->R-DF21 (Rathlin Island) and two follow R-DF13->R-ZZ10_1 and a fifth group R-L151 branches off just above R-P312 at 2950 BCE.   I find twelve R-P312 Groups that appear to be the O'Neills of Tyrone who HY-Many and Bregia share an ancestor with about 4750 years ago and lastly there are three Groups of O'Neills that share my R-FGC11134 > R-FGC12005 Group "IE Eoghanachta South Irish Type II, R-DF13>FGC11134> R-FGC12055> Z3026> Z16260> A114> CTS4466 Patrick O'Neill b1833 Ballinabrackey Meath", Group 1E1 R-CTS4466> > >A541> S1121> Z16252, and Group 1E2 R-CTS4466> > >A541> A1135 and I believe all three of these groups of R-FGC11134 > R-FGC12055 O'Neills are the Southern O'Neill and I originally thought they might be the sons of Queen of Brey who died in 917. She was the daughter of King Neale Glunduffe. Any children born to King Neale's daughter the "Queen of Brey" would likely follow the Irish custom and take the O'Neale surname to honor their famous and powerful maternal grandfather King Neale Glunduffe.  I now believe that King Neale Glunduffe's Y-DNA was R-FGC11134 > R-FGC12055 > and these O'Neales are his grandsons via one or more of his sons meaning they descend from a High King of Ireland who like my O'Kelley family descend from Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 making them the senior line of O'Neill in Ireland who like the O'Kelley of Bregia were reduced by years of fighting against the Daines who had pushed themselves into Bregia then reduced by Brian Boru and his Daines in 993 and then reduced even more by the English and I am certain that our greatness was sone forgotten and our hsitory overshadowed by the O'Neills of Tyrone who came to power after we were gone and connected themselves the the O'Neals of Southern Bregia who like the O'Kelleys in Northern Bregia were the High Kings of Ireland. Those who are left get to tell their story anyway they wish and I think that is how the O'Neills of Tyrone and the O'Neills of the north came to be remembered the great Kings of Ireland and my O'Kelley family ad the true Southern O'Neales disappeared from Irish history.  I suspect the O'Neills of Tyrone made these R-FGC11134 > R-FGC12055 > O'Neales appear to be of their family to make the O'Neills of Tyrone appear to descend from the High Kings of Ireland.  It is my belief not yet based in evidence that only those who descend from Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 could become High Kings of Ireland.  I suspect that by the time these other families made it into Ireland the descendants of Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 already had the power and control over Ireland locked up. Why would they give up that power and control to newcomers? The O'Higgins claim to descend from the Southern O'Neils so I took a look at their Family Tree DNA Project and compared them to the O'Neills DNA Project.  Except for two "I"s groups who were living in Ireland maybe 1000 or more years before the "R"s arrived, I find one R-P312 that shares DNA with the O'Neill Tyrone Group, all the rest share DNA with the O'Neill at R-DF13.  Two are R-DF13->R-DF21 meaning they share a DNA match with Rathlin 1 and 2 just like the O'Neill Groups 1F and 1G.  I believe this is strong evidence that the R-FGC11134 > R-FGC12055 O'Neills of my family line are the true Southern O'Neills and they are not any more closely related to the O'Neills and O'Higgins who claim descent from Nail of Nine than I am.  My analysis of the O'Neills DNA and now the O'Higgins DNA causes me to believe much about the O'Neills is made up stories and Nail of Nine isn't based in fact but based in myth likely created by the O'Neills.  Nail of Nine's Y-DNA is said to be R-DF13 >Z39589 >DF49 >Z2980 >Z2976 >DF23 >Z2961 >Z2956 >Z2965 >M222.   Some claim Nail of Nine's Y DNA was R-DF13 >Z39589 >DF49>Z2980 >Z2976>DF23 >Z2961>Z2956 >Z2965 >M222 >Z2959 >S658 >DF104 >DF105. Because the Y-DNA of Ancient Remains doesn't put this line of O'Neills in the right places in the right times, I suspect the Nail of Nine myth likely came into fashion after the O'Kelley and O'Neale Bregia clans who were High Kings of Ireland were basically wiped out and could no longer defend their legacy and I am not alone in that belief, Dr John O'Donovan said the same in his notes in one of his books he translated that was written in 1372 CE. Until Brian Boru and his Danes slaughtered the ruling lines in Bregia, the Kingship of Ireland was always with the Bregia clans who I am certain descended from Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 because their remains date to about 2195 BCE.  Having been in Ireland before the others it seems more likely they were the ruling familes and I believe the term "Southern O'Neills" means they were the R-FGC11134 > R-FGC12055 O'Neales who lived in South Bregia and not of the O'Neills of Tyrone or the other O'Neills who lived in the north of Ireland and closely related to the O'Kellys of Hy-many.  It all comes down to who are you going to believe, the myths and legends or the DNA.  If Nail of Nine R-M222 or R-DF105 was a real person and many of his descendents are a living today, this will not be because he was a powerful leader that won many wars thus creating a lot of offspring, it will be because he and his offspring were living in the remote areas of Western and Northwestern Ireland and able to keep themselves out of the many bloody wars that the Bregia clans fought first with the Danes, then with Brian and the Danes then with the English and those wars resulted in the death of so many noble Bregia Irish families,   they greatly reduced numbers of my families of the R-DF13 > R-FGC11134 alive today indicate to me that we were front and on the center lines of all these wars over Kingship and control of Ireland and that resulted in the death of many of my kinsmen who didn't live to have offspring and I am surprised that the Nail of Nine researches haven't figured this out.  I suspect sometime after the Norman Invasion of Ireland having lost the knowledge of their ancestors greatness these Bregia O'Neales changed their name to O'Neill and became blended into the Northern O'Neill lore.  There were McNeales (Mc meaning sons of Neale vs O meaning grandsons of Neale) living in Brey before the "Queen of Brey" as on page 132 of the Annals it records the death in 823 of "Dermott McNeale Prince of Southe MoyBrey" meaning he was one of several Princes in Bregia in line to become the next High King of Ireland and the McNeales of Moybrey appear again in 866, and in 868 where Moyleseaghlin McNeale the king of half of Moybrey was killed by a Dane, so there was clearly a North and South Bregia with the McNeills in the south and the O'Kelleys of Bregia in the North causes me to believe that my R-FGC11134 > R-FGC12055 O'Neill kinsmen didn't descend from any other O'Neills in Ireland, like me DNA proves they descend from Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 and PN-16 and like my O'Kelley ancestors these O'Neills were Princes in line to become High Kings of Ireland which is why they lived in Bregia, we were all caretakers and defenders of Tara until Brian Boru and his Danish Army came and "slew them all".  This was the way of the Irish.  Fostering and Irish naming custom makes Irish research difficult. I am not blind to the possibility that my own O'Kelley surname could be the result of fostering or may have came from a maternal grandfather.  My Y-DNA has certainly been in Ireland long enough for me to be a living descend of Aed Slaine or to be fostered by Slaine's line of Kings, or had a maternal ancestor who became a wife of one of Slaine's line of Kings causing us to take our surname from a maternal grandfather because he was a High King of Ireland.  It might be that after Brian Boru and his Danish supporters went to Bregia in 993 CE and "slew them all" which I assume meant they killed off all the Bregia royal blood lines that to preserve the royal line my family fled and after Boru was killed and the High King restored we returned to Bregia and became the O'Kelley of Bregia.  The possibilites are endless but my cousin Ruth Barton Pullium grandmother's claim that we came from County Meath is supported by my Y-DNA matches to Conleys, Eastons, Shalvoys, Baileys, Walters, Kerrigan, and Hallinan who I have found records or they have ancestors said to come from in and around Dublin or Co Meath.  If Boru "slew them all" in 993 where did the Royal Bregia lines come from that produced Chief Congalach O'Kelley who died in 1292?  Where did Matthew O'Kelley the father of Huge O'Neill come from?  Clearly some survived as in the mid 16th century hundreds of years after Boru and Clontarf Earl Conn O'Neil adopted Matthew O'Kelley and favored him over his blood son and less than a century later General Owen O'Neil restored the O'Kelley Woods to the O'Kelleys in Clann Ceallaigh who I believe were also our kin.  The O'Neils seemed to have an affection for the O'Kelleys and I suspect it may have had to do with Pollnagollum 911 and Treanmacmurtagh 116 and my Y-DNA being in Ireland for a very long time and Matthew O'Kelley descent from Aed Slaine.  I haven't found what I think is "slam dunk" proof but I think it is reasonable to assume it is true because we came from Ireland as protestants well accepted by the English in Virginia and unlike common Irish immigrates who had no choice but to married Irish Immigrants or have a bride sent from Ireland we married the daughters of English Founding Families which is the custom of Royal lines using marriages to build trust and alliances and most importantly we came with our O'Kelley name intact, we didn't change our name to hide the fact that we were Irish, we can proud that we were Irish while most who remained in Ireland or those who went to other countries did as the English demanded and gave up their Gallic names and they appear as Kelly today.  Why would we keep the O'Kelley name if not to honor our descent from the "old Irish Kings"? Bregia, Brega, MoyBrey, or Brey was a much larger and important place as it included Taraspan> near the time of the Norman Invasion and living space for the many clanns could inherit the High Kingship and defend it.  A description of its boundaries is given on page 124 of "The Annals of Clonmacnoise". It would have been an even larger place when the Queen of Brey or Bregia lived and even larger in 600 CE when Aed Slaine lived at Kells.  If you click on the 1172 map of Bregia to the right it will load an entire 1172 map of Ireland and I will point out that while Bregia is listed on this map Hy-Many or Ui Mhaine and Clann Ceallaigh are not listed on this 1172 map suggesting to me that having the Viking cities at their front door the O'Kelley of Bregia as one of the Four Princes of Tara were likely the dominate O'Kelley's in Ireland before the Norman invasion reduced them.  There is also mention in the "The Annals of Clonmacnoise" where the O'Kelley of Bregia in 819 joined with the O'Neills of Ulster who I believe are the twelve groups of the R-P312 O'Neills to wage war against King Conner and they joined again to stop the southern and western tribes of Ireland who were aligned with the Danes from invading east of Ireland, apparently they massed such an army that no blood was drawn and the invaders retreated. One has to go back to 2850 BCE to find the ancestor that the Ulster O'Neills and the O'Kelley of Bregia share, that is 600 years before Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 lived in Co Fermanagh.   I believe longevity in Ireland and probably many marriages of daughters made the Ulster O'Neills and the O'Kelley of Bregia family and cousins and that bond seems to have lasted a very long time because Earl Con O'Neill adopted Mathew O'Kelley of Bregia in the 16th century who was according to Dr John O'Donovan was the father of 3rd Earl Hugh O'Neill in the 16th century and Conn selected his adolpted son over his own blood son Shane O'Neill to receive his inherited title upon his death, I suspect he was also of the Group R-P312 O'Neills, so there appears to be  was some kind of loyalty and affection between the O'Neills of the north and O'Kelleys of Brey that went back more than 1000 years.  I find no indication that the O'Neills and the O'Kelley of Bregia joined King Brian Bour at Clontarf and I suspect that was because King Brian didn't come from the hereditary families like those who descend from Aed Slaine and his father and brothers.  King Brian was an outsider married to a Dane and he used the hated Danes who were living in Ireland raiding and killing the native Irish taking them as slaves to gain his kingship. There is no doubt in my mind that the descendents of Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134, the O'Kelleys and O'Neills of Bregia and associated families were greatly reduced and while Dr John O'Donovan contributes this reduction to the Norman Invasion I believe it was King Brian Bour and his Danes that did the majority of the reduction of my family as on page 165 the Annals tells about how Brian and the Danes came to Brey and slew them all and Brian remained in Brey for a time.  Why would Brian do this? I suspect it was to wipe out as many of the Bregia hereditary princes and their men who might stand against him.  Brian returned to his Munster only to return three years later and seize power at Tara and make himself the High King of Ireland then he used his power to try to bring the Danes and the Irish Chiefs under his control which is why the war at Clontarf was fought, to bring Danes in Dublin under his control.  I am sure when King Brian Bour got his head split by a battle ax at Clontarf there was great joy in those still alive in Bregia because King Brian Boru got what they believed he deserved.  The Annals of Clonmacnoise" say Teige O'Kelly of Imannie fought and died in the Battle of Clontarf.  Dr John O'Hart makes this claim in his Irish Pedigrees.  I wonder if Teige O'Kelley of Hy-Many was at Clontarf because he supported and was a true ally of King Brian Boru or if he was there to avoid the fate of the O'Kelley of Bregia. More likely it was "a Family connection", my analysis of the Family Tree DNA O'Brian Project I find the M222 and DF-105 Groups all branch off the R-Z2961 subclade shared with Hy-Many, they were kin more than 1000 years before Brian Boru was born.  The Annals of Clonmacnoise report "The O'Neales forsooke king Brian in this battle and soe did all Connaught except Ferall o'Roich and o'Ferall" so perhaps the claim that Teige lead the Hy-Many O'Kelly in that battle didn't happen exactly as stated.  Perhaps some of Hy-Many did like the O'Neales did and stayed home.  It is likely that if Brian Boru had survived Clontarf I suspect there would have been a bigger battle coming between Boru and O'Neill and all of Ulster, after Boru's death the Hereditary High King that was in power before Boru seized power once again became the High King of Ireland.   There is a mystery found in Dr John O'Hart Irish Pedigrees as he makes the claim that begins #110 Teige "of Talten" the "Last King of Hy-Many" and we know it isn't true Hy-Many had many more Kings as described in Dr John O'Donovan's 1848 book but even in his book on page 43 O'Donovan begins "The Pedigree of O'Ceallaigh" with Domhnall who he claims was the son of Tadg Tailten suggesting that what came before wasn't the pedigree of O'Ceallaigh, then in the footnotes on page 44 he speaks of a "transcriber error" in Domhnall's pedigree. Then there is a perplexing clue that something isn't right found in the Genealogical table in Dr John O'Donovan's 1848 book "The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many" where we find that during these wars between chieftains that continued long after Clontarf #23 said to be Chief of Hy-Many is killed in an ambush and #24 Tadg TailTenn O'Kelley takes over. Why would Tadg of Tailteann be a Hy-Many Chief? Tailteann is a very famous place in Ireland, it is where the Irish Champions came to compete in what came to be known today as the Irish Olympics and it is in modern Co Meath today, in Ui Meath in that time it was far outside the lands under the control of the O'Kelly of Hy-many and deep inside the lands under the control of my O'Kelley family.  O'Hart says Teige of Talten was the last King of Hy-Many but on page 45 O'Donovan writes "The Race of Domhnall, son of Tadhg Taillten, here" and goes on to list him as a Chief of Hy-Many.  Race was use to describe different families so what is going on in the Hy-Many family, I wonder if there might be a war going on between the Hy-Many and Brey. The Four Masters record the death of Domnhall Mor Ó Ceallaigh in 1224 but his son Connor Mor doesn't become the next Chief until 1247.  According to Dr John O'Donovan on page 102, Connor was Chief of Hy-Many 21 years and the Four Masters reports his death in 1268 meaning he didn't become Chief until 1247.  The Four Masters reports in 1225:  "The residence of Conor, son of Teige O'Kelly (lord of Hy-Maine), and of Ardgal, his brother was attacked and set on fire by the sons of Teige O'Kelly; and both perished in the flames".  So according to the Four Masters a different Connor was Chief, a Connor who was the son of Teige and the brother of Ardgal and he died in a fire in 1225 and the Four Masters and O'Donovan are silent as to who was Chief after that time until 1247 when Connor the son of this Domnhall Mor Ó Ceallaigh becomes Chief.  This Connor son of Teige isn't found in any traditional pedigrees.  The forename Ardgal doesn't appear in any of the traditional Hy-Many genealogies that have found.  My research indicates that forename Ardgal is a name mostly found in Ulster and Meath and I haven't found it in use in Connaught.  I believe the above Ardgal O'Kelley must be of Tadhg of Tailtean Ua Ceallaigh who might be an O'Kelley of Bregia and the war between the O'Kelley of Bregia and the O'Kelly of Hy-Many seeking control of Ireland finally ended.  Hy-Many survived even today and the Clann Cealliagh and their O'Kelley of Northern Bregia familes have families have disappeared in Ireland.  The difficulty in measuring the accuracy of Dr John O'Donovan's book is while doing research for his book he stayed with D H Kelly an MP for Co Roscommon 1820 -1821 a Deputy LT of Co Galway who provided him much of his sole source information so if he wanted his book to be taken seriously he had to be careful about what he wrote. They both live in the 19th century, I was born a century after this book was written and everything written about my family my Y-DNA disproved.  They authors of the books about my family make their conclusions provided to them by family elders and much of that came from Thomas Dean O'Kelley an educated man who travel to Ireland with his college professor in 1883 and returned with the Hy-Many Coat of Arms and a story that my Y-DNA test proved was wrong.  O'Donovan used other material written just a few hundred years before him and he wrote a book for profit, to sell to libraries, collectors and people who have money and time to read it, my family had been out of Ireland for almost 200 years before this book, my family were physicians, judges and wealthy property owners in America when this book was written and those of my family that were in Ireland were likely poor and starving and might not know who they used to be and if they did no one would take then serious over the claims of an MP.  Much of the problem in doing Irish research is most of the information about most Irish families was written in the past 500 or 600 years.  My family was so reduced by that time that none of the Irish Nobel Families would have remembered and probably would not have mentioned my family if they did.  As an experienced homicide investigator I know well that humans make some of the worst witnesses and that is why DNA is freeing many innocent people from prisons. My DNA match to the Hy-many at R-DF13 who lived about 4500 years ago likely somewhere around Cumbria England poses a problem as does my 4200 year Y-DNA match to Pollnagollum 911 and 4000 year match to Treanmacmurtagh 116.  My Y-DNA was in Co Fermanagh and Co Sligo a very long time ago, long before Medieval Irish legend and historical tradition claim that Cellach, King of Ireland descended from Aed Slaine who was said to descend from Colla da Chrioch and claim that Maine Mor the ancestor of Hy-Many also descends from Colla da Chrioch.  My Y-DNA was in Ireland thousands of years before Medieval Irish legend and historical tradition claim that Colla da Chrioch lived in Ireland in the 4th Century CE a difference of more than 2000 years.  Y-DNA proves we both could not descend from Colla da Chrioch, one of us maybe but not both but that might not be a problem, some are now beginning to believe the legend of the Three Collas is an Irish Myth and the fact that we must go back 4850 years to R-P312 to find the ancestor we share with the O'Neills of Tyrone shared a grandfather with the O'Keley of Bregia and Hy-Many proves the Three Collas is a myth likely made up to support made up Pedigrees.  Perhaps when they were creating these Medieval Irish legend and historical tradition they were drinking a little too much wine and thought "what the hell, we can make up what every we want because no one will ever know, bring me another bottle of wine this one is empty". My Closest DNA Match Cousins I have been at this now for more than two decades and have been torn between the O'Kelley of Clan Ceallaigh and the O'Kelley of Bregia but I think the evidence is clear that my family is of the O'Kelley of Bregia.  Because O'Kelly and Kelly are so numerous in Ireland, to find the O'Kelley that my family belongs I had to look at my DNA matches to the more rare and regional surnames and look at their records to find my O'Kelley family. Early on, those matches suggested we were of Clan Ceallaigh as I have a match to the O'Boylans who were the Kings of Darty in Co Monaghan along the Clan Kelly border, several matches to the McConnells who I feel certain are the MacDonnells sons of Donnell O'Kelley the King of Clan Ceallaigh, and the Kearns of Coothill Co Cavan also along the Clan Kelly border that brought me to the O'Kelleys in Pages 189 and 190 of Dr John O'Hart's book "Irish Pedigree, Or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation".  I am no longer certain about the accuracy of O'Hart as DNA proves that we didn't descend from the three Collas or the Milesians of Spain.  It is from page 190 that Dr O'Hart tells his readers that King Donnell O"Kelley of Clan Kelley , the great, great grandson of the above Ceallach was the ancestor whose sons took the surname of Mac Donnell after their father and their sons became the O'Donnell of Co Fermanagh.  In 1333 Huge O'Donnell was King of Fermanagh and Tyrconnell and he was the last of his line and the kingship passed to their cousins the Maguires. These Mac Donnells were of royal Irish blood having descended from of Cellach, King of Ui Cremthain who died in 791. The Kingdom of Ui Cremthain became  Clann Ceallaigh and we became Ui Ceallaigh or  O'Kelley, the Grandsons of Ceallaigh King of Ui Cremthain but now at a low station my research suggest the Mac Donnells change their name to Mac Gonnell likely due to the arrival of the powerful Scottish Galloglass clan Mac Donnells.   According to noted Genealogist Edward MacLysaght the Galloglass Mac Donnells came from Argyle in the 13th century and established themselves as a warring clan in service to the most powerful Chieftains of Northern Ireland.  I don't think the Mac Donnells just change their name to Mac Gonnell because it sounded the same.  I suspect the sons of a Gonnell Mac Donnell followed Irish naming tradition and called themselves the Mac Gonnell Mac Donnell and just like the Donnell O'Kelleys sons drop the O'Kelley and went by Mc Donnell, their sons likely dropped the Mac Donnell and used Mac Gonnell to honor their more recent ancestor who was likely regionally famous, powerful and wealthy after all they built a castle, they had to be somebody to do that.  In the 19th century the Irish Mac Donnells who are now using the surname McGonnell begin to appear in the records as McConnell and I suspect that too was because the sons of a Connell Mac Gonnell called themselves the Mac Connell Mac Gonnell because their father was likely regionally famous, powerful and wealthy by local standards and their sons dropped the Mac Gonnell and used only McConnell .  Rev Patrick Woulfe recorded this name migration on page 68 in his 1929 book "Irish Names and Surnames".  There is a family tradition story that some left Ireland as McGonnell and arrived in Canada as McConnells. Before 1450 AD the Mac Gonnells established Castle Ard-goneil along the border of Dungannon and in the mid 16 century O'Neills were living there.  In the 19th century there were still Mac Gonnell aka McConnell living near where the old castle once stood.  The earliest that the McGonell surname appears in English records is 1605 Priest Corb Manus McGonell of Calebegs appeared with two McConnells giving a description of ruins at a priory at Loughdarge.  This is the only record that I have found of a McGonell outside of Co Monaghan. The second mention in English records is a 1614 Royal Pardon where Hugh McGonell is living in the Barony of Trough and it should be remembered that Trough shares its eastern border with Barony Dungannon and sets next to Castle Ard-Gonell.   Mac Gonnell appears only in Co Monaghan in the 1659 Irish census and in the 1663 Hearth Money rolls where an Owen McGonnell is found living less than a mile from my protestant ancestor Thomas "O Kelly" at Carrickmaross but the bulk of the Mac Gonnells are still found at Donagh Parish near Glasslough where their descendents are still found in the 1826 Applotments records.  I have 111 marker match with a genetic distance of 7 with my DNA cousin Forest Boylen Kannard R-BY54815,  Kannard is an adolpted name. The O'Boylans were the Kings of Darty in Co Monaghan along its border with Co Fermanagh and were one of several families of ClanKelly and Forrest's Big Y 700 result we share a grandfather between 400 CE and 850 CE well within the time frame in Dr John O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees "Clann Cealliagh" Pedigree. I am also 7 genetic distance from John J Kearns and some of his family trace to his Irish ancestor a Patrick Kearns birth to 1827 to an Edward Kearns Cootehill Co Cavan which borders Darty and is only a few miles from the southern border of the Barony of ClanKelley and Co Fermanagh.  According to Dr John O'Hart Irish Pedigrees the Kearns descend from King  Donnell O'Kelley's great uncle and our Big Y DNA match this was true, Kearns and i we share a grandfather about 850 AD. I have two 111 marker and two 67 DNA marker matches to McConnells who I believe descend from #99 Donall O'Kelley the ruling family of Clann Ceallaigh who became the sons of Donall or the McDomhnaill which in English were McDonnell and as I cover able they eventually they changed their surname to McGoneil then to McConnell.  The genetic distance of these matches suggest that this is true but none of my McConnell Y DNA matches have tested their Big Y 700 and that would be need to prove their ancestor was King Donnell O'Kelley. Recent research of my DNA matches to Bregia families of Conleys, Eastons, Shalvoys, Baileys, Walters, Kerrigan, and Hallinan who had ancestors said to have also come from in and around Dublin or Co Meath cause me to doubt that my ancestor came from Clann Ceallaigh and the new Globetrekker Tool provided by FamilyTree DNA suggests strongly that I am of the O'Kelley of Bregia.  These matches are strong evidence that we are the O'Kelley of Bregia that we descend from Aed of Slane and because we have been in Ireland for such a long time that the 172nd Monarch of Ireland Congall O'Kelley of the O'Kelley of Northern Bregia and the English Earl Hugh O'Neil's father Matthew O'Kelley are also of my family.   The O'Kelley of Bregia or Tara are recorded by John O'Dugan in 1372 AD as one of the four Princes of Tara and O'Dugan.  The below represents my closest Big-Y DNA Cousins.  The fact that Halls and I are at the top is meaningless, we all share R-BY20936, but Halls and I haven't branched like the others.  R-BY20936 branched from R-FGC54819 about 850 CE, near the time the Irish began to take surnames after their ancestors and the fact that we are all kin doesn't mean we were all living in the same place or even the same country or took our surnames from the same ancestors.  Everyone listed on the below chart descends from our shared grandfather who lived in England about 4500 years ago and we all descend from R-FGC11134 Pollnagollum 911 Co Fermanagh about 4200 year ago and Treanmacmurtagh 116 Co Sligo about 4000 years ago and PN16 who lived about 5442 years ago and found in the Poulnabrone Tomb in Co Clare Ireland was likely our grandmother.   The "O'Kelley" Earl of Tyrone   Earl of Tyrone Hugh "O'Kelley" O Neill Recorded in TheThe Annals of The Kingdom of Ireland by Michael O'Clery page 1886 to 1890 we learn that "The Great 'English' Earl" Hugh O Neill wasn't a blood descended O'Neill, he was according to Dr John O'Donovan the son of Mahon O Ceallaigh pronounced "Matthew O'Kelley" of Drogheda probably of the O'Kelley of "Northern" Bregia.  Huge O'Kelley Neill's mother was Lady Joan McGuire the daughter of Lord Cuconnaugh McGuire of Fermanagh.  It was said that when Matthew's father died, Matthew was adopted by the 1st "English" Earl of Tyrone Conn O Neill and while adoption was a very common Gaelic custom it wasn't common for such a high born man as Earl Conn O'Neill to adopt anyone who wasn't also high born and who provided no political or monetary advantage so clearly Matthew O'Kelley was of a royal Irish blood line.  Having descended from the O'Kelley of Bregia "Styled Princes of Tara" meaning he was of one of the families who inherited the right to be the Hi King of Ireland, O'Kelley and his sons would pass on their O'Kelley of Bregia Y DNA, but because there are no known living male descendants of Hugh O' Neil so isn't possible to if we are cousins.  Dr John O'Donovan wrote that the son of Matthew,  Hugh O'Kelley O'Neill was more qualified by birth to be rightful ruler of all of Ireland than those of the ONeill bloodline.  When in 1542 King Henry VIII made Conn O'Neill the 1st Earl of Tyrone, he ignored Conn's legitimate son Shane O'Neill and made Matthew "O'Kelley" O'Neill the Baron of Dungannon thus giving Matthew and his heirs the inherited right to the title of Earl of Tyrone.   Shane was only 12 at the time but when he grew into manhood he became furious with his father and drove his father out of his earldom and killed Baron Matthew "O'Kelley" O'Neill thus the English title of Baron passed to Matthew's older son Brian so Shane O'Neills followers hunted him down and slew him and declared himself as "The O'Neill" the rightful King of Ulster but if Matthew O'Kelley was O'Kelley of Bregia he could have become the rightful King of all Ireland.  Some authors of O'Neil history would have us believe that Conn O Neale was deceived by Matthew O'Kelley's mother but Conn was King of Tyrone for 4 decades.  He married the daughter of Thomas Fitzgerald the 7th Earl of Kildare, he didn't rule for 4 decades so easily fooled.  Irish Kings had children by their concubines and they didn't inherit title so why would Hugh O Neill be any different, why would the King of Tyrone Conn O Neale adopt a son of an O'Kelley of Bregia unless this son's father or mother was someone special to the O'Neals or perhaps it was special to Queen Elizabeth after Conn bent his knee to her so it seems likely she would have a say in who would inherit Conn's Earldom and she would have known that Mathew O'Kelley blood line ran back to the Irish Monarchs, that like she had an inherited right to be Queen of England, Matthew O'Kelley had an inherited right to be King of Ireland giving her an ally in Ireland?  Everyone else seemed to know that Matthew was an O'Kelley, so how did Conn not know and if he knew, why did the First Earl, the most powerful man in Ulster adopt him?  I believe it was because Matthew O'Kelley could do something that his son Shane couldn't do, be King of Ireland. I believe the Tudor monarchs sought to break the power of the O'Neills over Ulster by introducing an acceptable but more agreeable "Royal House", the O'Kelley of Bregia into the leadership of Ulster, Queen Elizabeth protected young Hugh O'Neil, had him brought into the English controlled "Pale" where he was raised in English ways. After Shane O Neill's followers killed Brian the eldest son of Matthew "O'Kelley" O Neill, to protect Hugh "O'Kelley" O Neill who was still a child but the next in line to inherit the title of Earl of Tyrone Huge was taken by the English to the Pale and raised in an English family of a military officer spending his final year before manhood raised at Queen Elizabeth's court as the Baron of Dungannon.  It is said a great affection occurred between Hugh and the English Queen.  The English hoped that by returning him to Ulster Hugh O Neill would be a taming influence upon his kinsmen.  The young baron was returned to Ireland when he was 18 and it was a dangerous place but after the passing of a number of years he was made the 2nd Earl of Tyrone and it is said that "The Great Earl"  nephew General Owen O'Neil favored his O'Kelley kinsman with the "prized" woods in the Clogher Dioceses and it is said he restored the woods to the O'Kelleys (noted - this is the only place I have found "O'Kelley" spelled with a double "e") because it was theirs before the English invasion. (Ulster Journal of Archeology VIII Page 268") Hugh was said to be a brilliant and modern general, he must have been, he almost did what no Irish had done before him, remove the English from Ireland.  He carried firearms as he made his rounds in his Earldom and offer peasants an opportunity to fire a weapon and if they displayed skill and an interest he would give them a firearm and provisions provided they promised to practice.  The original O'Neill arms was the "Red Hand of Ireland" the "Great Earl Hugh O Neill introduced an arms with the two Rampart Lions.  Dual Rampart Lions are used by both by the O'Kelley of Bregia and the O'Kelly of Hy-Many.  I wonder who might have influenced who and if there has been a lost meaning for the use of dual rampart Lions. The story of the O'Kelley of Bregia, the Great Earl Hugh "O'Kelley" O Neill, and our descent from Irish Monarch Aed Slaine made a surprising appearance in the 2011 fantasy children book "Kingdom of the Green Grass Straw" written by Vicki A King. In one of those odd twists of fate, it is said on WiKi that Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of the Earl of Tyrone Hugh "O'Kelley" O Neal.

Irish Monarch Aed Slaine

Áed Slaine or Aed mac Colgan sometimes listed as Hugh of Slaine was the 141st Irish Monarch and he died in 605 AD and it was from him that the O'Kelley of Bregia claim descent.  Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134 is my ancestor putting my Y-DNA in Ireland 2500 years before the birth of Áed Slaine and I think it is reasonable to assume that Áed Slaine may have also descended from Pollnagollum 911 R-FGC11134.  If this is true, based upon a 30 year generation, Áed Slaine may have been my 40th great grandfather or great uncle and that is the source of my family tradition stories.

It was claimed by researchers that Áed Slaine was of the southern Ui Nail but I will point out that those who believed he was of the Ui Nail really had no proof.  WiKi says this about Áed Slaine genealogy:

"Áed and his kin were considered by later genealogies and histories to be members of the southern branch of the Uí Néill kindred, but this may be a later addition to include the descendants of Diarmait mac Cerbaill, supposed to be great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, among the ranks of the dominant Uí Néill. The other branches of the Uí Néill, the great Cenél Conaill and the Cenél nEógain, and the lesser Cenél Lóegairi, Cenél Maine, Cenél nÉndai, Cenél Coirpri and Cenél Fiachach, traced their ancestry rather to sons of Niall."

Slaine is located in Co Meath Ireland just a few miles west of Drogheda. There is some DNA evidence that puts my ancestors in this area near the time of Áed Slaine.  As stated above DNA testing was done on the remains found in Claris County Meath Ireland and the Y DNA results indicate that "Claristown 14" and I shared a grandfather about 2000 years before Claristown 14 was born and to be clear the three lines of O'Neills I describe above is much closer related to Claristown 14 than I am.  Ours is a rare connection, so far only 129 males have matched with Claristown 14 and before the arrival of the English, the Irish rarely moved so the finding of this burial in a ring ditch grave site gives reasonable cause to believe that two thousands years ago my family may have been living at or very near Slaine and they were important people.  Slaine is on the River Boyne and near the Co Louth border.  English Earl Huge O Neill's father was said to be "Matthew O'Kelley" who was also claimed to have come from the Slaine area in Ireland giving cause to believe English Earl Huge O Neill was O'Kelley of Bregia.  At thousand years after this time, a Norman family named Fleming built a stone castle at Slaine and it still remains today.  According to the "The Annals of Clonmacnoise" Aed or King Hugh made his home in Kells.

172nd Irish Monarch Congall O'Kelley

Found in the book "Irish Pedigrees" Dr John O'Hart records at generation #101 or ten generations after the 141st Irish Monarch Aedh of Slaine lived appears 172nd Monarch of Ireland Congall O'Kelley.  O'Hart calls them the "O'Kelley of Meath" but they are the O'Kelley of Bregia, the only O'Kelley that I find in Co Meath are the O'Kelley of Bregia who according to Dr John O'Donovan descends from the 141 Irish Monarch Aed Slane so O'Hart must be wrong about Co Kildare, because for Congall to have been an Irish Monarch he would have lived in Bregia. 

 

Black O'Kelleys

Several years ago I became aware of the Black O'Kelleys.  Frankly given my O'Kelley ancestors owned many black slaves in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas it would not have surprised me if these Black O'Kelleys were my close cousins.  They have their own Family Tree Y DNA Project and we are all cousins of some degree so by comparing the haplogroups gathered from the four groups within this project and camparing those haplogroups to my own it gives me an opportunity to see when the grandfather that we share may have lived.  In their EM2 group I compared E-FT424300 to my R-BY20936 and found that the Haplogroup CT-M168 grandfather I share with the Black O'Kelleys lived about 65,000 years ago or 64,000 years before the Irish surname O'Kelley came into use.  65,000 years ago my ancestors may have been black and living in Africa.  In their G-M201 group I compared their G-M201 to my R-BY20936 and found the grandfather I share with this Black O'Kelley group lived about 48,000 years ago or 47,000 years before the Irish surname O'Kelley came into use. 48,000 years ago my ancestors may have been black and living in Africa. In their I-M253 group I compared their I-M253 to my R-BY20936 and found the grandfather I share with this Black O'Kelley group lived about 46,000 years ago or 45,000 years before the Irish surname O'Kelley came into use.  46,000 years ago my ancestors may have been black and living in Africa.  It is entirely possible that one of my slave owning O'Kelley ancestors was the source of the O'Kelley surname in one or all of these three groups, but I find no fathering by one of my O'Kelley ancestors with any of these 3 groups.  In their R-M269 group I compared their R-M269 to my R-BY20936 and found the grandfather I share with this Black O'Kelley group lived about 4550 years ago which was 4450 years before the surname O'Kelley came into use and that was almost 4000 years before black slavery existed in America. My Y-DNA matches to ancient remains indicate my ancestors were white and likely living in or near Germany 4550 years ago so the group R-M269 were likely fathered by a white male slave owner who was distantly related to me.  Could he have been using an O'Kelley surname, certainly, but he didn't descend from my O'Kelley family.  I believe my relationship with the Black O'Kelleys provides a clue as to when my hunter gather ancestors left Africa on their journey to become farmers in Ukraine.  Since all three of the above groups of the black O'Kelleys are still black today that indicates that my ancestor left Africa between 65,000 years and 46,000 years and during that long journey my ancestors lost the black pigmentation of their skin and became white.

The Grandfather I share with some Jews who have tested their Y-DNA

I also tracked down the Haplogroup of some Jews and compared their Haplogroup E-Y4971 to my R-BY203936 and I was surprised that the grandfather that I share with this group of Jews was of the Haplogroup CT-M168 who lived about 65,000 years ago.  That is the same Haplogroup of the grandfather that I share with the EM2 Group of Black O'Kelleys and that isn't the only Jewish connection to the Black O'Kelleys.  The Black O'Kelleys believe that a David O'Kelley halpogroup I-M253 of Darlington SC fathered their ancestors.  I share an grandfather with David O'Kelley at IJK-L15 about 46,000 years ago and that is the halpogroup of the ancestor that I share with the below J-ZS9712.    Apparently all Jews don't descend from Abraham's grandson Judah.  I compared the Haplogroup J-ZS9712 from the Family Tree Jewish Project and find that I share a grandfather with the Haplogroup at IJK-L15 about 46,000 years ago.   Another from the project is Q-M242 and the grandfather I share is P-P226 who lived about 32,000 years ago.  There are numerous R- in this Project and they could not be of true Jewish descent because they descend from my ancestors.  This seems to indicate that some of my ancestors converted to the Jewish faith or perhaps their Bell Beaker fathers married a Jewish woman and the male children adopted their mother's religion or they were orphans adopted by Jewish descended people.

Rick O'Kelley 111 Marker DNA Results

Below are my 111 marker results. Halpogroup Confirmed R-BY20936    YSearch ID 6SG69

* Yamnaya descendant