There were five kings/clans of old Ireland: O'Neil, O'Brien, O'Keefe, MacMurrough and the (ahem) Ard Ri, or high High Kings, the O'Connors. The last Ard Ri, Rory O'Connor was booted off the throne about one thousand years ago. Now...I know what yer thinkin. "Would you like us to crown you, yer majesty?" But before you get violent, I'd like to pass on this article from this morning's LA Times science writer Thomas H. Maugh II, which explains that many of us modern Irish are not only one family or one clan, but actually descended from a single common ancestor. About one in twelve Irish men worldwide fall into this category, so my thinking is, for finding this story, all of you bastards should buy me a drink... A 5th Century Irish warlord known as Niall of the Nine Hostages may literally be the father of his country, says a genetic survey, which shows he has as many as 3 million direct male descendents. At least one in every twelve Irishmen worldwide and one in every five in the northwest of the island of Ireland, Niall's stronghold, carry a genetic marker on their Y chromosome that can be traced back to a single individual, geneticist Daniel Bradley and his colleagues at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, reported this week in the American Journal of Human Genetics. Niall, a near-mythical figure, got his name by taking hostages in raids on other important clans in Ireland, Britain and France to cement his hold on power. He is reported to have had 12 sons, which was not uncommon for medieval leaders. His descendents, known as the Ui Neill, apparently maintained their dynasty long enough for the bloodline to become firmly entrenched in the Irish genetic heritage, ruling until the 11th Century. Niall may have an impressive legacy, but he was a piker compared with Genghis Khan, whose descendents throughout Asia are thought to total about 16 million. But the Irish lord edges out Giocangga, founder of China's Manchu dynasty, who is thought to have 1.6 million descendents. The Y, or sex chromosome, is passed down from father to son unchanged and is thus widely used as a marker to trace genetic inheritance. The team found that the marker was most common in men whose surnames have been traditionally linked to the Ui Neill dynasty, including O'Neill, O'Connor, O'Donnell, O'Reilly, Flynn, McGovern, McManus, Malloy and O'Rourke. ..................JO'Co
I see that you and Malloy are related! Good article! But it would seem to me that the honor should go to Niall's father! Terry
Here is an actual photo of our ancient ancestor. Our management style, charm and finesse are a direct result of his input to the gene pool... ...............JO'Co of the Forty-One Hostages