ROOTS & BRANCHES

It’s been awhile since your “Roots & Branches” columnist had heard from C. Arnold McClure, so it was a welcome thing to get an e-mail update from him.

“I wrote to you some years ago about my experience with DNA tests,” McClure began. “I also sent you a copy of my book that you called ‘strange.’ ” (I don’t recall dubbing his book strange and if so I’m sure it was meant as a compliment … at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it)

McClure wrote that he had an update, which he prefaced by spelling out his full name as Clyde Arnold McClure.  His father and grandfather were named Clyde, also, according to McClure.

When he did a Y chromosome DNA test some years ago – this is the test that follows the surname line from father to son and is genealogically valuable because the Y chromosome generally mutates so slowly – his test showed a unique band of SNPs (short for “single nucleotide polymorphisms,” which are the variables that show DNA differences from one person to another) that totaled 10 rather than the more common number of 11.

“This fortuitously allowed me to find my family journey through all the McClures,” he recounted. “I had surmised that McClures had come from Scotland, and then on to Northern Ireland and then on to America and Pennsylvania.”

This is a common migration pattern for the ethnicity dubbed Scots Irish in America (also called Ulster Scots) and McClure was happy to see that the matches with DNA relatives supported this hypothesis.

“I never understood the Christian name Clyde, however, until lately,” McClure wrote. “My inbox receives a notice every six months or so that another ‘McClure 10’ has been found.  The last notice was momentous and brought a smile to my face by solving a mystery.”

McClure wrote that FamilyTree DNA told him they had found another “McClure 10.”

“He lives in Ayr Shire, Scotland – on the banks of the River Clyde!” he enthused.

“History’s curtains continue to be pulled back,” McClure concluded.

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The Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society is brining its fall workshop and conference to the DoubleTree Hotel south of Lancaster in October.

On Oct. 12, Angela Packer McGhie will present three hours on “Analyzing Documents: A Hands-on Workshop.”

The Saturday (Oct. 13) conference will have a theme of “Atlantic History & Resources,” with presentations by Nicholas Fessenden on Baltimore immigration and Debra A. Hoffman on port records (including Philadelphia), German aid societies and the Columbia Institute for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb in Washington, DC.

The full brochure and registration are available on the society’s website, https://magsgen.com/