Hello all,
Last week, I received a promo by email from a well known DNA testing company.
My own experience is:
1.
I have a relatively rare Y-DNA result that DID NOT initially align with established
CAMPBELL groups in Kevin Campbell's CAMPBELL group on that DNA testing company.
2.
Initially concerned about a possibility of a genetic interuption on my result, I asked a
few other documented distant CAMPBELL cousins to test, which they did.
3.
Result was that we have a genetic footprint for "our line" back to two different
sons of Donald Campbell, in Toraston, Isle of Coll (Inner Hebrides) - Church list of 1776;
and born circa 1735.
4.
Other results have since come in and matched to our group and another close group, some
documented from other nearby Inner Hebrides Islands of Tiree & Mull, and other
CAMPBELLs in the US, with non documented origin, but one dating back to an arrival in
Virginia in the mid to late 1700s.
5.
Some members of the proven family initially settled in Canada, Van Dieman's Land
(Tasmania), Port Phillip (Victoria), Louisiana and New Zealand. Others stayed in Scotland,
and an early settler to VDL (1820) returned to Argyll, Scotland for good ...
6.
It is interesting to note that one sample match is from Virginia. My own ggg-grandfather
went to Virginia from Mull, Scotland abt 1840, probably to visit family there, before
deciding to settle in Port Phillip (Vic, Australia).
7.
This CAMPBELL line is significantly different, but has enough variability to suggest that
this group shares a common CAMPBELL ancestor that dates quite a few generations before my
ancestor, Donald, born circa 1735.
8.
There is some strong family "lore" to the origins of my own line ... though
nothing we can so far prove. That said, I feel that it is adding a new dimension to my own
research, and the more who test, the more clues we have to work with.
I encourage all male CAMPBELLs who are interested to further their family research, and
who don't have a documented Y-DNA test either direct or via a proven relative, to
seriously consider joining Kevin Campbell's group.
Best regards,
Andrew Campbell