Colleen Morrison Robinson is represented in Group C by M103, her nephew. in 2018, Colleen authored a substantial book entitled "The Morrisons of Lislagan and Polintamny Townlands, Ballymony, County Antrim, Northern Ireland -- the People They Married and Their Descendants 1700s--1900s". In this 1000 page book, she discusses the Clan Morrison DNA project and each of the participants in Group C. It is with her permission that I present the following pages.

11 Jun 2015 Added the following members with results: M419, Subgroup N1; M423, Group C;

20 Jan 2014 New marker results have been added for M009 in Group C.

5 Nov 2005 — Group C — Morrisons of Ballymoney and Finvoy Parishes, County Antrim, N. Ireland — M103, a Morrison whose family recently came from the vicinity of Ballymoney was of a family that shared certain uncommon given names with some of the Morrisons of Group F below, which has also been documented to the vicinity of Ballymoney. Consequently, it was expected that the results would be a DNA match between M103 and Group F. However, when the DNA results became available we found that M103 is a match with Group C. This is great news for members of Group C because it documents a specific location for the family in Ulster. It is also good news for M103 because information can be shared with other members of Group C to assist in researching the deeper ancestry of the family in Ulster and Scotland.

14 May 2005 — Group C — Morrisons of Co. Londonderry, N. Ireland — M041 is a 23 of 25 match with this group. The most likely scenario is that the three families were related connected in County Londonderry, Ulster. This gives these families an area to focus in for further research.

12 Mar 2005 — Group C — 37-marker results confirm a 90+% probability of a common paternal Morrison ancestor between M009 and M013 based on a match of 34 of 37 markers. Both of these families may have Scots-Irish origins. M020, whose family is from Banffshire, Scotland, matched M013 on 11 of 12 markers, indicating about a 70% probability of recent relationship, and was included as a possible member of this group. 25-marker results did not confirm relationship, but did leave open the possibility. 37-marker upgrades were ordered for both M013 and M020. The 37-marker results for M020 did not confirm the relationship. We can observe at this point that in every case so far where the 25-marker test indicated a relationship, 37-marker tests give the same result. In this case where the relationship was not confirmed at 25 markers, it is still not confirmed at 37 markers. The possibility of relationship still exists, but it is not likely.

A hypothetical modal DNA signature can be developed based on the most common marker at each location for these three participants. M009 and M013 are both with 2 markers of matching this modal signature. However, M020 mismatches the modal signature on 6 of 37 markers. No more than 4 of 37 markers should mismatch for a relationship to be confirmed.

The problem in placing M020 in Group C based on 25 markers was that he mismatched the other members on 4 of 25 markers. If we use a mutation rate of 0.004 per marker per transmission event, then 1 of 25 markers would change every 10 transmission events, which is every 5 generations when comparing two individuals. So a 4 of 25 marker mismatch represents 20 generations, more or less.

Ancestral DNA — It happens that members of Group C are in Haplogroup R1b, the most common one in western Europe. This results in many matches with other surnames at 3 markers distance and greater, raising the possibility that a 4 marker mismatch with a Morrison may be a random one and not due to genealogical relatedness.

These matches with other surnames are much rarer for mismatches of up to 2 0f 25 markers. Therefore we can draw much better conclusions from matches within 2 of 25 markers. Determining the “ancestral DNA” of each line being compared should allow us to keep the number of mismatches lower. For example, if descendants of three lines of an ancestor who immigrated to America are tested, it may be possible to deduce the DNA markers of the immigrant ancestor using a 2 out of 3 voting technique for each marker. If this ancestor was born 10 generations ago, we may have eliminated 1 mismatch when comparing this family to others. If both families find their ancestral DNA, on average we may eliminate 2 mismatches. We are then, in effect, comparing two sets of DNA markers as they were, say, 250 years ago, instead of the way they are now, with additional mutations. Then if the 250-years-ago markers are a close match with each other, we may confirm a common ancestry 500 years ago, if we find the right Morrison to compare against.

The above technique combines additional DNA tests and traditional genealogy as a method to extend the usefulness of DNA testing beyond 10 generations. It may be the only method currently available to establish relationship with distant relatives for those of us with common haplotypes and the popular surname of Morrison.