KEVENY to CAVANAGH : Y-DNA Results (April 2024 update)

Noel Cavanagh, great-great grandson of Thomas Cavanagh (1797-1852) submitted a Y-700 DNA test to FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) in July 2019.

FamilyTreeDNA Time Tree for Haplogroup R-FT149425 (25 April 2024)

Big Y-700 DNA results updated to R-FT149425:

Noel's haplogroup result has recently been redefined as R-FT149425.

This branch is downstream from the previous result of R-FT149229, which extends from the most common Western European haplogroup of R-M269.

    Related post dated 11 June 2022 - Link: Keveny to Cavanagh: Review of Y-DNA results

For the R-FT149425 haplogroup, FTDNA estimates that the common male ancestor between Noel Cavanagh and the closest Y DNA match was born in about 1650 CE.  The time tree includes a range of between 1400 and 1800CE for when the haplogroup is likely to have first formed.

The dates are estimated using a timeline model, with statistical modelling based upon historical data from ancient DNA results, verified paper genealogies and autosomal relationship mutations.    

Links -   Haplogroup R-FT149229 information from: FTDNA: F-FT149425

              Link to Information on Aging/Timeline modelling: Models - Ages of Y-DNA Haplogroups

Closest Matches:

The redefined result occurred when two men upgraded to higher level tests in December. They are distant cousins with the same surname, and their earliest known shared paternal ancestor is a man with the surname of Baker, who was born in 1731 in New York State, USA. 

Other matches are very distant from all three of these testers, with FTDNA estimating a common shared ancestor at about 500 CE.  

None of the distant matches bear the Keveny/Cavanagh surname, or the Baker surname, or any other surname common amongst them. That is a typical result for distant matches where shared ancestors date back to the Middle Ages or prior, when surnames were only then being adopted in most communities.

Y-DNA Haplogroups and why they change:

Changes to results occur when new people test or lower level tests are upgraded. Additional SNP's and variants can then be identified and testers may move to a different or new branch of the block tree. 

Y-DNA traces the paternal line only - testing SNP's on the Y chromosome which passes intact from fathers to their sons. Because there is no recombination when it is inherited it remains identical for many generations. Occasional mutations occur which create new haplogroups.

    For information about Big-Y DNA testing, refer - FTDNA - Big Y-700 testing

Link between Y and Autosomal DNA testers:

People with relationships of second cousins once removed or closer will always have an autosomal DNA match. However there is about a 10% chance that third cousins may not share DNA. The probability of an autosomal match result declines with more distant relationships, although there is still a 5% chance that 6th cousins and above may share DNA and appear as an autosomal DNA match.

There are no Autosomal DNA matches with any of the men who appear as Y-DNA matches.  This is an expected outcome for such distant relationships.

Summary and next steps :

The only Y-DNA matches on the one family test taken are too distant to provide information as to the origins of Thomas Cavanagh.   If there were closer matches, they may provide clues as to his paternal family line and origins. 

Confirmation of the sibling relationship between Thomas Cavanagh and Francis Cavanagh has not been possible from the autosomal matches to date.  

Two sons of Thomas Cavanagh have families who have done Autosomal DNA tests, and identifying descendants of some of his other children who have or would test could provide further evidence as to relationships.

Y-DNA testing of a direct male line descendant of Francis Cavanagh would be useful for comparison of the results with the descendant of Thomas Cavanagh who has done a Y-700 marker test.  Francis Cavanagh had only one son who lived to adulthood and had children, being Thomas Henry Cavanaugh. There are men from his direct male line who may be interested in doing a Y-DNA test. 

It is thought that Thomas Cavanagh came from Ballymote in Sligo, Ireland. 

   Refer previous post: Thomas Cavanagh (1797-1852)

Finding relatives in the area through autosomal DNA testing or local knowledge and identifying possible male Y-DNA testers would be ideal but ongoing research has not found more than one local family as yet.

The one person found, who is descended from a family with the same surname who lived within 5 miles of Ballymote, was proven to not share the same Y-DNA haplogroup as our tester. Refer previous post: Keveny to Cavanagh: Review of Y-DNA results