Haplotype Results

I have my Sorenson Molecular Genetic haplotype results for my mtDNA.

I belong to haplotype U5a1 with an additional detail that I haven't been able to track down.

This group entered Europe very early, possibly from the Near East, about 50,000 years ago. It followed the retreating glaciers closely, and arrived before agriculture.

(This is interestingly the same pattern that we discovered when I was investigating wheat sensitivity: predating agriculture, following the glaciers - ie hunter-gathers.)

This group inhabited the periphery of northwestern Europe, though apparently were not Celtic and did not occupy the British Isles at this time.

The mtDNA is passed from mother to daughter down through the ages. Sons get it from their mothers but can't pass it on.

So our mtDNA came from my mother, my grandmother Teresa Clark, her mother Mary Quigley from County Monaghan in Ireland ...and that's about all we know. Looking at a surname map of the British Isles, we see Quigley is not Irish but British, as is Clark. My guess is that the Quigleys and Clarks were part of garrisons in Ireland, married locally, and found their offspring marrying locally also. I have to figure out the generations and timing and see if this works.

The part of England where the Quigleys and Clarks are found are the northern parts on the east coast, with the Clarks distributed much more widely in England than the Quigleys. The northern part of the east coast is a good place for northern mainlanders to wander to and stay, and that notion is compatible with the mtDNA results.

It's a tall tale with some possibilities behind it. Does anyone want to help find out more?