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Elliott (And Border Reivers) DNA Project News (February 25, 2008)

 

Hello Border Reivers & Other Rapscallions,

 

First of all, I wish to apologize for such a long hiatus since my last communication.  In my work life, I have exchanged my role as a "mercenary" (i.e., IT consultant) for one as a "captain" of sorts (i.e., software development manager) and have had my hands full keeping my unruly minions in line.   The Border Reivers DNA Project has remained active nonetheless, and we are still actively recruiting participants and posting results.

 

A Report On Recent DNA Results

Results have been so numerous in the last year that it would be prohibitively tedious to summarize them here.  I am instead attaching the complete Y- DNA and mtDNA results of all participants.   Altogether we have at least 466 Y- DNA haplotypes ranging from 12 to 67 markers, and 87 mtDNA results.   In the attached Y- DNA spreadsheet, SNP -tested haplogroups are highlighted in Green while merely estimated haplogroups are highlighted in Brown.  Both spreadsheets are also available online at the URLs cited below:

The complete Y- DNA results for all official participants may be found at this URL:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/Border_Reiver_Y-DNA.xls 

The complete mtDNA results for all official participants may be found at this URL:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/Border_Reiver_mtDNA.xls

A Count Of Official Participants By Surname

We now have 490 official participants. Of these, 472 have so far returned their kits. The total includes:

  • 23 Armstrongs
  • 1 Barraford
  • 3 Beatties
  • 7 Bells
  • 1 Bennett
  • 1 Bligh
  • 1 Bogue
  • 1 Bone
  • 6 Burns
  • 15 Carothers, Carruthers and Cruthirds
  • 1 Charlton
  • 1 Chernek (female Border Reiver descendant)
  • 1 Christian
  • 1 Clendaniel (or Glendenning)
  • 1 Collingwood
  • 1 Coulter
  • 1 Crawford
  • 1 Cresswell
  • 1 Crozier
  • 1 Dalgliesh 
  • 6 Davisons and Davises
  • 1 Dilks
  • 4 Dixons
  • 2 Dodsons/Dodds 
  • 3 Douglases
  • 1 Duckworth
  • 1 Dunn
  • 1 Eckersley
  • 145 Elliotts, Elliots, Eliots and Ellwoods
  • 3 Elders
  • 1 Fenwick
  • 1 Fletcher
  • 2 Forresters and Forrests
  • 4 Gilchrists
  • 1 Gordon
  • 1 Gowland
  • 5 Grahams
  • 2 Grays
  • 19 Halls
  • 1 Hanson (female Border Reiver descendant)
  • 1 Harle
  • 2 Headleys
  • 9  Hendersons
  • 8 Herons and Herrons
  • 1 Hetherington
  • 1 Hildreth
  • 1 Hodgin
  • 1 Hounslea 
  • 1 Hume
  • 5Hunts and Hunters
  • 2 Inglises or Engles
  • 22 Irvings, Irvines, Ervins, Irwins and Erwins (including one genetic Irvine named Hamblen)
  • 2 Jameses
  • 30 Johnsons and Johnstons
  • 1 Kenny
  • 11 Kerrs and Carrs
  • 2 Kilpatricks
  • 1 Kimbley
  • 1 Kirkland
  • 1 Koch (female Border Reiver descendant)
  • 1 Laidlaw
  • 1 Langley
  • 5 Littles
  • 3  Logans
  • 3 Lowthers
  • 1 McCracken
  • 1 Milburn
  • 1 Minto
  • 1 Muhn (female Border Reiver descendant)
  • 3 Murrays and Morrows
  • 2 Musgroves and Musgraves
  • 1 Neely
  • 2 Nixons
  • 1 Noble
  • 3 Ogles
  • 1 Oliver
  • 2 Plunketts
  • 1 Porter
  • 1 Proctor
  • 2 Reades or Reeds 
  • 1 Redpath
  • 2 Ridleys
  • 5 Robsons
  • 5 Rutherfords and Retherfords
  • 1 Rutledge
  • 1 Salkeld
  • 8 Scotts
  • 1 Shortridge
  • 6 Simpsons (although 1 person apparently joined twice)
  • 2 Spences
  • 2 Stevensons or Stevenses
  • 2 Stewarts (although 1 claims to be a Drysdale)
  • 3 Storey
  • 4 Taits or Taitsons
  • 1 Thibault (Border Reiver descendant through non-patrilineal lines)
  • 8  Taylors
  • 1 Telford
  • 2 Trumbles (or Turnbull)
  • 1 Tweedie
  • 1 Veitch
  • 1 Vowles
  • 1 Walker (female Border Reiver descendant)
  • 2 Watsons
  • 1 Waugh
  • 1 Weir
  • 3 Whites
  • 1 Whitfield (but probable descendant of another North British lineage, possibly a Page)
  • 2  Wilsons
  • 9 Witheringtons and Wetheringtons (including a genetic Witherington surnamed McCormick)
  • 1 Young

We have more than 30 new Elliotts, but we have seen the highest percentage of increases for clans that have their own surname projects, but who have heard of our project and are joining (or double-joining) on a regular basis.   These include Bells, Scotts, Beatties, Halls and - especially - Johnsons and Johnstons.   The administrator of the Beattie project has joined us.   So has an official of Clan Young.   We also welcome participants representing Border clans we have never had among us before - e.g., our first Salkeld, Charlton, Collingwood, Redpath and Dalgliesh.  Our membership continues to grow worldwide, as we bring in new blood from The Old World (i.e., the UK ), as well as from Canada , Australia and the United States .

 

Those who have not sent in your kits should try to get them in.   We would welcome your participation.  Those of you who have lost their kits can have new ones sent out at no extra cost, and should contact me for details.   The delinquent reivers that I would most like to bring into the fold are a Lowther and a Crozier.   Mr. Lowther, we have two persons with surnames that are not Lowther but who claim Lowther descent and wish to compare themselves with the real deal.  Mr. Crozier, I know your clan and the Elliotts were sworn enemies in the past, but now in the 21st century you would be welcome among us (even if we outnumber you).

 

I have even managed to recruit a relative whose connection to me I can actually trace.  Not an Elliott alas, but a Hildreth - a G2 of ancient Durham stock - who is a ninth cousin on my mother's side.

 

Border Reivers Web Site

 

The Border Reivers DNA web site retains its old format, although I have updated it several times in the last year and we now have 1,881 results posted.   The haplogroup percentages have remained roughly the same as before.

 

Latest Developments By Clan

 

Here is a partial report on the results of our analysis and research on selected Border Reiver families.  I have focused on clans that have the largest number of official participants, because most of you belong to these.   Don't feel slighted if your clan has not been mentioned.  If you have any questions about our analysis of your haplotype and our investigations into your genetic heritage, please email me directly - and I will respond.

 

The Armstrongs

 

The number of haplotypes posted has grown to 40.   At least three-quarters belong to haplogroup R1b, and about at least a third exhibit the same variant of WAMH, with the tell-tale DYS 448/ DYS 449 combination of 19/32.   Another cluster exhibits a variant of WAMH most often found among the Irvines, with a DYS 385b value of 15, a DYS 448/ DYS 449 combination of 20/30, and other genetic earmarks of that clan.   This cluster shares an origin in County Tyrone . 

 

The URL for the Armstrong web page is:  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/haplo_armstrongs.htm 

 

The Carruthers

 

The number of haplotypes posted has grown to 18.  Clearly, the predominant signature is an Ultra-Norse variant of I1a.   This signature is obviously been native to the clan for a very long time, as it predominates across the different versions of the surname - e.g., Carruthers, Carothers, Crothers and Cruthirds.  We suspect the founders of the Carruthers clan were of Viking or Norse-Gaelic descent. 

 

The link for the Carruthers web page is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/haplo_carruthers.htm 

 

The Elliotts

  • We have 144 Elliott haplotypes posted, with a new one ready to be posted as soon as I finish this bulletin.   As I have stated before, the vast majority continue to be R1b, and within this group there is a large core of WAMH (or Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype) individuals who are clearly related to one another.   Many in this group have received 67 marker results in the last year or so, and we are pleased to report that these results tend to confirm, rather than deny, the genetic closeness of the WAMH Scottish Elliotts.
  • Our latest Elliott - who is not yet posted on the Border Reiver DNA web pages - is a pedigreed descendant of Robert Elliot, 2nd Laird of Midlem Mill, Roxburghshire.   We have 37 markers available thus far from this individual, and he clearly belongs to the WAMH Scottish Elliots.  His results closely resemble those we have already acquired for a pedigreed descendant of Robert Elwald, Captain of Hermitage Castle, for another individual descended from Martin Elliot of Braidley, and for numerous others who can trace their ancestry to Roxburghshire or to Northern English Elliott families.
  • We have at least three individuals with closely matching DNA results who claim descent from Daniel Elliot of Salem .   These individuals belong to a cluster of seven individuals whose modal 12 marker DNA signature is 14-13-14-11-11-14-12-12-11-13-13-29.   We have one other individual, Allen Elliott, who also claims descent from Daniel Elliot of Salem , but is I1a.   We have yet another Elliott who has joined us recently, and claims the same ancestry, but we do not yet have results from him.   The Daniel Elliot issue has ignited something of a minor controversy.   Allen is currently researching his New Hampshire roots, and trying to locate distant relatives to test.   Another of my correspondents has suggested - 1) that there may have been several Elliots arriving in 17th century Salem from the same general part of England - and with similar given names - but who were not related, and/or 2) that Daniel Elliot - or at least Allen Elliott's Daniel - may have been of Irish, not English origin.  I don't know what to make of these suggestions.   My correspondent also mentioned a connection to Reverend John Eliot.   Interestingly, Daniel Elliot is thought by some to be related to Andrew Elliot of East Coker - the ancestor of T.S. Eliot.   To complicate things further, my own father told me once that T.S. Eliot's ancestors originally spelled their surname with two L's and two T's, and were inspired to change their surname in honor of Rev. John Eliot - not because they were related to him.  I do not know myself what to make of these theories, but it all seems quite exciting.
  • The cluster of Elliotts whose DNA results resemble those of the Irvine/Irving clan rather than those of other AMH Elliotts is growing.   We acquired a new one with Fermanagh roots who exactly matches two of our Donegal Elliotts at 37 markers.   We have also recently recruited an Elliott who tested with Genebase, and whose partial haplotype and colonial Maryland genealogy closely match yet another Elliott with an Irvine-like haplotype.   The Ulster Elliott " Irvine " cluster also closely matches the Ulster Armstrong " Irvine " cluster.  Those Irvines seem to have gotten around.
  • The two R1b Elliotts with a DYS 393 value of 12 may not be true ht35 or " Eastern R1b " Elliotts after all.   I am one of these (Ysearch ID XQR3K), as is my probable distant cousin Robert Lorne Elliott (YSearch ID 2Z62Z).   I recently had my DYS 461 and DYF385 marker values tested.   While the typical ht35 values for these markers are 11 and 10,10, respectively, mine were 12 and 11,11.  Nor do I have the DYS 458 and DYS 464a values which Ken Nordtvedt has identified as typical of ht35.   I am now officially outing myself as a true " Western R1b ", my DYS 393 value notwithstanding.   For those of you who have joined this group because of its initial emphasis on ht35, I would suggest ordering the advanced tests for DYS 461 and DYF385.   Just because I'm not be an authentic ht35 doesn't mean you're not.  You should also review the recent thread on the ht35 issue at the  DNA Genealogy forum at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GENEALOGY-DNA/2008-02 - you might even check out the ht35 haplogroup project at Family Tree DNA at http://www.famlytreedna.com/surname_det.aspx?group=ht35  .    Perhaps you might wish to double-join that study, or at least do further testing to see if you qualify.  
  • As for the DYS 393=12 Elliotts - if they are truly ht15, then they could very well be related to some DYS 393=13 Elliotts.  I suspect that is the case.   Ysearch entry 2Z62Z, an Elliott with ancestral roots in Ballyshannon, Donegal circa 1800, is 6 steps distant from five other Elliotts, two from the vicinity of Donegal Town (Inver and Drumhome parishes), two from Enniskillen, Fermanagh, and one just from "Northern Ireland" (although possibly Londonderry, which is close to Donegal).  Not only are these Elliotts all from Western Ulster - particularly Southwest Ulster - they have no matches with anyone else in Ysearch at 6 steps distance out of 37 markers.  If I expand the maximum mismatch parameter to 8, I bring in only another Scots-Irish Elliott - but no one else in Ysearch.   Although Family Tree DNA officially classifies 6 steps distance on 37 markers as "Not Related", it is only 1 step past "Possibly Related" - and is really on the cusp between relatedness and non-relatedness.  It is also way too much of a coincidence that the only entries in Ysearch that fall within 8 steps of 2Z62Z, much less 6 steps, are all Elliotts of Ulster origin - and that they not be related.  I am convinced now that they are.   The Elliotts that fall within this Southwest Ulster cluster include 2Z62Z, XQR3K, SVC 6H, PV8VD, 2J4KB, G8HXP and (probably) FMNEA.   The good news is that, if these Elliotts are all related, the generous distance among their haplotypes indicates that their shared paternal ancestor must have borne the Elliott surname a long time ago, surely within the timeframe of the Border Reiver period - and most likely well before their transportation to Ulster .
  • The URL for the Elliott web page is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/haplo_elliotts.htm.

The Hendersons

 

The number of haplotypes posted has grown to 39.   There is no one prevailing haplotype or cluster of similar haplotypes.   There are, in fact, several different clusters - one I1a, another I1c, and several R1b clusters, such as 13-14-24-10-14-12-12-11-13-13-29/30, 13-14-25-10-14-13-12-13-12-13-28 and WAMH.   As with the Elliotts, there appear to be multiple subgroups that have different origins and may be entirely unrelated.  We must remember that Henderson is a patronym, and may have been inherited by the sons of many unrelated men with the same forename.

 

The URL for the  Henderson web page is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/haplo_hendersons.htm.

 

The Halls

 

The number of haplotypes posted has grown to 40, but there are other haplotypes available in Ysearch and elsewhere that I have not yet had time to incorporate into my sample.   There are various clusters of correspondence in the Hall sample.   For instance, two Halls share a rare E haplotype, several others - of apparently Scots-Irish orgin - share a J1 signature, and occasional pairs of R1b haplotypes are close enough to suggest a fairly recent shared patrilineal relationship.   Perhaps because of the commonness of the name Hall, its wide dispersion across the British Isles (and even among Scandinavian Americans), and other factors, I've yet to identify any truly predominant 25 marker haplotype or set of haplotypes.

 

One of our participants, David Hall, a Clan Hall officer and longtime editor of the Clan Hall newsletter, The Border Reiver, has shown exceptional initiative in recruiting other Halls, and many of our Hall participants came to us through his efforts.   If you know of any Halls who might interested in this project, David would be a great person to contact for more details.  Please contact me if you wish to get in touch with him.

 

The URL for the Hall web page is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/haplo_halls.htm.

 

The Herons

 

The number of haplotypes posted has grown to 10.   All belong to haplogroup R1b, and all but one represent a variation of the Northwest Irish or Ui Niall haplotype (i.e., R1b1c7).   The Northwest Irish modal haplotype is 13-14-25-11-11-13-12-12-12-13-14-29, but with this clan it may vary by a DYS 385b value of 12, for instance, and/or a DYS391 value of 12.  The obvious resemblance among the different variations signifies a common ancestor long in the past.   This impression is bolstered by the fact that these haplotypes persist across different versions of the surname such as Herron, Herrin, Herring, Harron and Heron.   Although this is ancestrally a Northwest Irish haplotype, it has been found among Heron descendants who are natives of Northern England , and among those who can trace their ancestry back to Scotland or elsewhere in Britain , but not Ireland .  Since Heron was originally a Northwest English name, I suspect that this genetic cluster originated in Cumbria with Norse-Gaelic settlement in the 9th, 10th and early 11th centuries.

 

The URL for the Heron web page is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/haplo_herons.htm.

 

The Irvine/Irvings

 

The number of haplotypes posted has grown to 55.   All but two of them belong to R1b, and a large portion of them share the same basic signature.   This signature is a variation of WAMH characterized by a DYS 385b value of 15, a DYS 448/ DYS 449 combination of 20/30, YCAIIa,b values of 19,24, and DYS 464a,b,c,d values of 15,16,16,17. Like the Carruthers clan, the Irvine clan has a very cohesive and distinctive genetic core that transcends all versions of the surname - e.g., Irvin, Irvine , Irving , Ervin, Erwin and Irwin.  We have received several sets of 67 marker results in the last year, and these confirm the close genetic cohesion of this clan.

 

The URL for the Irvine/Irving web page is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/haplo_irvings.htm.

 

The Robsons

 

One of our longtime Robson participants, Edward Robson, founded his own Robson Surname Project within the last year.   Ed has also been in contact with the University of Newcastle Border Reiver study, which started with the goal of obtaining 100 Robson Y- DNA samples.   Ed was kind enough to send me the results of the Robson portion of the study.    The haplotypes are fairly mixed, but appear to be mostly R1b, with some I1a.   I believe I even saw a few that were I1c and J2.   All four grandparents of all of these Robson participants had to have been born in the Borders area for the participant to qualify, so this sample is unequivocally of Borders origin.   Only 12 markers were tested, and no names or other personal data were included, so these results cannot be used for fine-tuned genealogical matching, but they are informative nonetheless.   If any of you wish to see this data, please contact me and I will connect you with Ed Robson.

 

The Trimbles, Trumbles & Turnbulls

 

We have about 9 Trimbles, Trumbles and Turnbulls posted on the Border Reiver DNA web pages, a few of whom are official participants of this project.   Although it is way too early to generalize, I did notice when a Trimble participant's results were posted by FTDNA that one of his few 25 marker exact matches was named "Turnbull".   This is tantalizing evidence that Trimble and Trumble truly are variations of the Turnbull surname, and that some individuals who bear these different surname versions are, in fact, genetically related - just as Elliotts and Ellwoods, or Irwins and Irvings, have proven to be genetically related on more than a few occasions.  However, we have too little data to confirm this as anything other than a coincidence.   One of my wife's former colleagues is named Trimble, and one of her best friends from her college days is named Turnbull.   Although both are theatre professors, Mr. Trimble is a very slight dark-haired man and Ms. Turnbull is a large-boned blonde woman nearly six feet tall.  Here is a case of a Trimble and a Turnbull who clearly do not seem to be related - although even here who really knows?

 

The Wetheringtons & Witheringtons

 

The descendants of this English Border family are perhaps the most genetically cohesive surname group of all, as at least seven members have joined and their haplotypes are virtually identical - all I1a of possible Anglo-Saxon origin.   I ache to create a special web page for these guys, but I don't know what to use as the background - as they are English and I can't use a family tartan.   Nor have I found a suitable image of their coat of arms.  

 

A Personal Note - Meeting The Elliotts Of Screen Townland, Donegal

 

My wife and I visited Ireland this past August, and for a week we stayed in a stone cottage attached to a B&B in Laghey village, about 5 kilometers from Donegal Town.   My Elliotts were from Screen townland, which was just another 4 or 5 kilometers to the east.   I knew there were Elliotts left in Screen because our hostess told me, when I first reserved the cottage via email back in January, that a man named Andrew Elliott from Screen drove her school bus when she was a kid.  I had also read an article in the online version of the Donegal Times about the Donegal Mart, some sort of business enterprise or farmers' cooperative that a man named McElhiney had started with two farmers from Screen named William and Tommie Elliott.

 

I have an annotated copy of the 1901 Laghey Parish census, which lists two Elliott families living in Screen.   One was my grandfather's family, headed by Isabella Graham Elliott, widow of James Elliott.   Among her children, John Elliott - my grandfather - is listed, with a notation that he had left for the USA .   The other Elliott family, headed by Thomas Elliott and Fanny Stewart of Screen, included a certain Andrew Elliott, with the notation that he had emigrated to Winchester , Mass. and married Sarah Graham.    According to my father, John Elliott's first cousin Andrew - who was also from Screen - emigrated to the USA about the same time and settled in Winchester , which is right next door to Arlington , where John Elliott settled and where my father and I both grew up.   This was clearly the same guy.  If John and Andrew were first cousins, then their fathers must have been brothers.

 

 

Graveyard at the Laghey Parish Church of Ireland

 

The Seven Arches Pub is just 100 yards from where my wife and I were staying, and right across the street from the old Church of Ireland and its graveyard.   There were Elliotts buried here.   When we visited the pub, I asked about the Elliotts still living in Screen.   I was told there were two elderly bachelor brothers named Tommie and Andy, who were both great guys and would treat us "grandly" if we cared to visit them.   The barmaid gave me their phone number.   The next morning I tried to call them up using a payphone, but - being unfamiliar with Irish payphones - I got impatient with the technology and couldn't get in touch.   So my wife and I decided just to drive up and see if anyone was home.    We toodled our way up one of those hair-raisingly narrow Irish country roads, got lost, backtracked, asked directions twice - and finally ended up at the Elliott family farm with three Border collies barking at us and Tommie Elliott walking out to greet us with a smile on his face.   I still don't know if he was expecting us, or if he was just always that friendly to strangers.

 

Tommie and Andy Elliott's cottage, built circa 1800

 

I showed Tommie the 1901 census, and he confirmed that Thomas Elliott and Fanny Stewart were his grandparents, that their son William was his father, and that Andrew - who emigrated before he was born - was his uncle.   If Andrew Elliott was indeed my grandfather's first cousin, that would make Tommie my father's second cousin and my second cousin once removed.   Tommie was 85, but he had my father's ears and my grandfather's nose.   He also had a conservative world view and a strong interest in politics.   He and my father, who was a political science professor and a Republican since Nixon (another Border Reiver), would have gotten along very well.

 

 

Tommie Elliott and my wife, Toni, with the Elliott border collies, Tobey, Sam and Bruno

 

Andy was not home to meet us, but we made arrangements to stop by two days later.   The next time we drove up, we met Andy - a diminutive man with an impish sense of humor, but the one who basically ran the farm as he was 10 years younger than Tommie and still very hardy at 75.   The two brothers were graziers, with a few cattle and numerous head of sheep.    Before I even mentioned the Border Reivers project, Andy confided that his father had told him their Elliotts had been "deported" from Scotland for rustling sheep, and joked that he was keeping up the family tradition.  My wife had her camcorder out, and I had my camera with me to document the occasion, so Tommie called his Border collies into action and gave us a demonstration of his sheep-herding skills.  Later all four of us retired to their 200 year old cottage, and spent the next few hours talking.   We were the first Elliott relatives from America  whom they had ever met.  They asked us if we intended to visit Ireland again, and we said we would surely like to.   We exchanged phone numbers and addresses.

 

 

Andy Elliott herding his sheep, some of which he facetiously claimed were "rustled"...

 

This fall my wife and I gathered up some New England goodies - coffee, clam chowder, maple syrup and the like - local souvenirs such as a Lexington Green coffee cup and a tea towel from Concord , Mass. , and a great pile of family photographs that my wife annotated in her warm and humorous fashion.   We Fedexed this to Ireland a few weeks before Christmas - and, lo and behold, Tommie and Andy called us long distance from Donegal on Christmas Eve, wished us Merry Christmas, and insisted that we visit them again.   Our expedition, apparently, had been a success.

 

Tommie and Andy are definitely related to me - second or third cousins once removed, or thereabouts.   My great-uncles Robert and James Elliott are listed on the same tombstone (not just in the same plot) as their grandfather (who lived till 93) and several of their aunts and uncles.    When the last of my great-uncles died, my father was approached to inherit their farm, but he declined and it was passed on to other relatives.   Tommie and Andy and their brother William were the ones who got it.   Their mother had helped Robert and James in their old age, so their family were the natural inheritors much more than my father was, despite his somewhat closer kinship connection.

 

 

Tombstone where the names of Tommie and Andy's grandparents, aunts and uncles - and two of my great-uncles - are recorded...

 

We have never been in contact with the descendants of Andrew Elliott of Winchester , and my father had no brothers.   These are the first male Elliotts related to me that I have met outside of my immediate family.   Elliotts had been herding sheep in the hills of Screen since the early 1600's, and It was nearly surreal that they were still at it, both of them living in an ancient cottage and doing farm work in tweed caps and torn dress clothes like their forebears of a hundred years ago.  My wife was worried about how they were getting by.   When my wife and I revisited the pub to thank the barmaid for giving us their phone number, one of the patrons at the bar told us that William and Tommie had succeeded royally with the Donegal Mart, and that Tommie and Andy were among "the richest men in the county".  Their brother William had been a very generous and popular local figure who was known to buy a round for everyone in the pub on many occasions.   I guess his surviving brothers still herd sheep just because they like it.

 

 

Andy Elliott, during a rare quiet moment, after showing my wife how the peat stove worked...

 

Final Note

 

As always, the main web page for the Border Reivers DNA Project may be accessed at:

 

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/elliott_border_reivers_dna.htm (or just plain http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil )

 

If you wish to consult previous newsletters, click on the link labeled "Project News" and the page will navigate to a submenu with links to each.

 

Sincerely,

 

James V. Elliott

Group Administrator

Border Reivers DNA Project