Am Baile Link

Link to the Am Baile webpage describing the stone of Donnchadh Mór Mac Eáin

page available in English and Scot's Gaidhlig.

Duncan Mor McCain's Sword

I have received several inquires about the symbols on the burial slab of Donnchadh Mór Mac Eáin, anglicised Duncan Mor McCain; I post an answer here in case more people are curious about the slab.  Prominent on the slab is a Scottish style broad sword, or claidheamh (said Clay).  There is also ornamental leaves that appear to be vines and several lions, all done in the late medieval Celtic style.

The sword is the most prominent motif by far.  In Scotland, especially in the west Highlands, this symbol on a burial slab denoted a military family, one of noble birth, or a family from the gentry of that district.  Donnchadh Mór we know functioned as a bailiff for the Earl of Argyll and his family and extended family were captains in service of the Earl of Argyll, hence the sword. 

Scottish Gaelic swords had a very unique design to them, which is shown on Donnchadh Mór's burial slab. The hilts were angled, toward the blade side and the pommels of a designed favoured by Gaels.

modern reproduction of a Argyll sword


The Earls of Argyll, who were the chiefs of Clann Chaimbeul, made their fortune supplying Highland Scots, called Redshanks in the 1500s, to Irish Gaelic lords.  The demand for Redshanks was strong in sixteenth century as the Irish Lords, such as the Ó Dónaill, the Ó Neill, needed these stout soldiers in their long wars against the Elizabethan English. Redshanks were expensive to hire and gold and silver poured into the House of Caimbeul.  It is very likely that the migration of McCains from Argyll to their initial settlement in the Laggan district of east Donegal, was in the role of Redshank captains.

Glencoe McCains, Revisited...

One of the questions which gets asked often is..... is our McCain family, or clan, connected to the Glencoe McCains.  No, we are not.  We are not related to them at all via the paternal line.  Both clans use the same surname, which is how the confusion ensues. We both have the Gaelic surname of Mac Eáin, written MacEain in modern Scots Gaelic.  The surname is from the Latin name of Iohannes.  The etymology is Latin to Gaelic, hence our name is not from 'John' as that is the English form of Iohannes, and our surname went straight from a Latin loan word into Gaelic.

In the late nineteenth century several histories of our family were published in which it was suggested that we were connected to the Glencoe Mac Eáin family. These early published histories took on a life of their own, so much so, that the error became incorporated in our family lore.  Many of us, me included, went out an purchased, very expensive, Clann Dhónaill kilts.  At that point we did not know our real history. 

As several researchers, myself, my cousin Dr William McCain, and others, such as Jim McKane in Ontario, Joe McKane in Tennessee, began to dig into our early history, we realized that there were several McCain families from Ulster and that the reported link to the Glencoe McCains, had never been verified. 

Then came the DNA testing in 2003.  By 2004, we did locate the Glencoe McCain family as several of their members participated in the McCain DNA Project.  They did not match us, but they did match the Mac Dónaill chiefs, which had already tested in one of the very first DNA projects.  So, we found them, but we are not connected to them.  Of interest, they are Norse in paternal ancestry, where as our family is Gaelic in paternal ancestry. 

I did locate a McCain clan, native to Kilmichael Glassary parish, in Argyll, south of Glencoe. As I was researching them, the McCain DNA project, began to get DNA matches to Kilmichael Glassary parish, lots of them.  So using DNA results as a guide I researched 'that' McCain family.  As the research stands now, I am satisfied, they are 'our'  McCain clan.  I use the word clan with intention, as they were a Gaelic 'clann' in the historical sense the word was and is used. 

After many delays, I hope to get out the book, Finding the McCains, this spring.  I had several delays from summer to winter last year.  (those that know the series of great misfortunes that happened to me, know of what I speak).  The book will have a very details chapter of the progenitor of our McCain family.

A sidebar..... as many have observed, we have a paternal connection to a large Henry family.  In Gaelic that surname is Mac Eanruig and there was a historical Mac Eanruig family native to Kilmichael Glassary family, so it is at least suggestive, that our Henry matches originate with the Kilmichael Glassary Mac Eanruig family.  Now they were also the maternal line of the Glencoe McCain family.  Which means, it is possible that we do have a very distant maternal connection to the Glencoe McCain family, but it would be very distant indeed, going back to late medieval times.

Summary, we are the Mac Eáin clan of Kilmichael Glassary and have no paternal connections to the Mac Eáin clan of Glencoe. 

A McCain in Snow

Donovan McCain in the mountains near Ft Collins CO

Donovan McCain of Oxford, Mississippi, on a recent trip snowshoeing in the mountains just west of Ft Collins, Colorado.  McCains do cold weather well.

Squire James McKane of Ontario

Squireen Jim McKane

The Canadian McKanes' answer to Ivan Knox of the Finn Valley is our own Jim McKane of Wiarton, Ontario.  Jim is seen here sporting his new Donegal tweed cloth caipín and stout Shillelagh walking stick.

The Kilted McCains

Barry R McCain circa 1975

McCain Art Work

McCain Family Icons, by Chris and John McCain of California

Above is a very nice creation by Chris and John McCain of California.  It has several of the icons associated with our family. It has the coat of arms of both Scotland and Ireland in the upper corners. In the lower corners are the Argyll and County Donegal coat of arms and the background is the County Donegal Tartan.  The flags are the national flags of Scotland and Ireland.

Chris is a participant in the McCain DNA Project.  From the results we know he descends from the Marsh Creek Settlement group and his closest matches are with McCains that descend from John McCain of Blount County Tennessee. 

McCain Autosomal DNA

I have had several inquires into the Family Finder test that we are now using.  Below is an overview of the autosomal DNA testing with the McCain DNA Project. 

We have several members of the McCain DNA project that have done or are having done the Family Finder test which uses autosmal DNA.  One member has already had a cousin match appear with someone that lists Hance Hamilton as an ancestor.  This is very encouraging and bodes well for when we get more of the autosomal tests completed. 

Autosomal DNA tests are used to locate relative connections along any branch of a family tree.  Any autosomal match between two individuals indicates a possible genetic connection, however in some cases the connection is so far back that the shared DNA has essentially been eliminated through too many generations of recombination . There is nothing in this test that will tell you which branch of your family the match is on so some old fashioned paper genealogy is still needed to sort out the connection.  Obviously, if a match lists Hance Hamilton or a Hugh McKean as an ancestor, then that tells much. One can also have parents, grandparents, cousins, and other family members tested and this will help narrow down potential matches.

The chance that an autosomal DNA test will accurately detect a relative decreases with the distance of the relationship. For example, most autosomal DNA ancestry tests predict an accuracy rate of 90–98 percent when detecting a match with a 3rd cousin, but around a 45–50 percent chance of detecting a match with a fourth cousin. However there is a remarkable aspect of autosomal testing... depending on the DNA recombination an autosomal test will sometimes accurately detect more distant cousins (fifth cousins and beyond).  Also of great utility is double descent from a common distant ancestor (e.g. marriage of second cousins) may potentially increase the chance of a match.  And I have observed that marriage of cousins was common within our McCain clan (as it was with many families in times past).  Given the nature of settlement on the frontier, one almost had to marry a cousin, albeit, second or third, etc.,

Both male and female McCain descendant can participate in the autosmal DNA testing. 

McCain DNA Results

Here is the link to the McCain DNA results:   McCain DNA Results

'Our' McCain family is listed as the 01 McCain family.  On the Ulster Heritage project we are listed by our surname in Gaelic, Mac Eáin.   This is done because of the lack of a standardised anglicised form.  Our family has used many anglicised forms, McKane, McKean, McKeen, McKaine, McCane, McCain, McAne, etc. but there is only one Gaelic spelling, Mac Eáin.  

We did have several McCains sign up of the Family Finder autosomal DNA test.  This is the testing that uses both male and female DNA.  We have at least one Marsh Creek McCain that signed up and one from the Tyrone/east Donegal group.  The 'summer sale' is over, but I do encourage all McCains to participate in the Family Finder test.  With this test both women and men of McCain ancestry and participate.

The Laggans Redshanks

 For those McCains interested in the why and how we migrated to Ulster from the Scottish Highlands, there is a new title available from the Ulster Heritage website.  It is a short, 70 page, account of the Argyll Redshank migration to east Donegal in the sixteenth century.  The book has illustrations and a complete list of the Portlough precinct (in the Laggan district) muster rolls for 1630, which includes the man known as William McKean the Soldier.  

A description of the book:

A Short History of the Laggan Redshanks, 1569-1630, is the story of the Highland Scots, called Redshanks, which settled in east Donegal in the sixteenth century.  The story has many interesting elements which include Clan Campbell and their dynamic leader, Gaelic sexual intrigues, English Machiavellian manoeuvres, Iníon Dubh, and the Redshanks themselves. 

The Redshank settlement in the Laggan took place in the tumultuous years that were dominated by Elizabethan English attempts to bring Ulster firmly under the control of the Crown.  The initial wave of Redshanks came to the Laggan with Iníon Dubh (Fionnuala Nic Dhónaill) after she married Aodh Mac Manus Ó Dónaill in 1569.  The Redshanks were vital players in the affairs of those times and indeed it was their military skills that delayed the conquest of Ulster until the beginning of the next century.  They remained in service of the O'Donnell clan until the Gaelic military collapse after the Battle of Kinsale in 1602.

After Kinsale they remained in the Laggan, but as the Plantation scheme was implemented, they had new lords, the Lennox Stewarts, and the Cunninghams of Ayrshire.  The Laggan Redshanks were unique within the Gaelic world, because they were drawn from clan Campbell and their allies.  The Campbell clan under the leadership of the fifth Earl of Argyll were early converts to the Reformed Faith.  While part of the traditional Gaelic world, the Laggan Redshanks' Protestant faith allowed them to fit into the post Plantation Ulster Scots community in the Laggan.

Many of the Ulster settlers to Colonial America that became the Scots-Irish, were the descendants of the Redshanks from the Laggan.  The Highland Scottish element in the Scots-Irish is a commonly overlooked aspect of the Ulster Migration.  Even more descendants of the Laggan Redshanks migrated to New Brunswick and Ontario Canada in the nineteenth century. 

The Highland Scottish settlement in the Laggan is an integral part of the shared traditions and links between Ulster and Scotland and an important, though little known, aspect of Ulster's long history.

The book is in a Pdf download format, which I believe will also work on the Ipad.  There will be a Kindle version coming out later in the summer.    

To purchase use this link:  A Short History of the Laggan Redshanks, 1569-1630.

Thomas McKean The Signer

Thomas McKean

 Next on the agenda is Thomas McKean The Signer of the Declaration of Independence.   He is often linked to our McCain family, but this is in error, as we are not related to his family.  Again, this data came out way back in 2004 when several of his descendants participated in the McCain DNA Project.  The results proved that there is no paternal connections to his family.  So, many books that report this are just wrong. 

His line is interesting however.  From the DNA matches they have they seem to be native Irish and certainly a distant link to the area south of Dublin, in the Wicklow Mountains.  Another fascinating fact was discovered in the DNA testing, the family of Thomas McKean the Signer is the same as Alexander McCaine, the Southern antebellum Methodist minister and writer.  That McCaine family we know is from County Cavan, near the village of Virginia.  A fascinating McCain family, but no relationship to our McCains. 

Clan Donald and the McCains

I have been absent from posting and other duties of late due to my mother being in hospice and passing away; slowly things are returning to normal and I will take a moment to answer a persistent question that shows up in my email weekly.  

The question...  Are The McCains Connected to Clan Donald?

Well, this is an easy one to answer as Joe McKane and I discovered the facts the first few months of the McCain DNA Project.  The answer is No.  That is a different McCain family, the DNA results were very conclusive.  The Clan Donald McCains are in no way related to us.  The Clan Donald McCains are in fact Norse in origin and we are typical Gaels.  One can tell this by the DNA Haplogroup which shows up in the test.

Our McCains are connected to a Mac Lachlainn family of Dunadd in mid Argyll.  They are a historical family that began using the surname Mac Eáin circa 1450 AD.  Mac Eáin is anglicised phonetically as McCain, McKane, McKean, McKeen, McKane, etc. 

We did find the Clan Donald McCains in the test.  Their are two branches, one from Ardnamurchan and one from Glencoe were both were located and both participated in our DNA test.  They match each other (as they should), but do not match our mid Argyll McCains.  Our mid Argyll McCains are the Mac Eáin family of Kilmichael Glassary and were a  very distinguished group, but lessor known than the Clan Donald McCains. 

That is the bare naked science of it.  It is there in our paternal DNA and the results can be views on several website which have posted the results. 

1607 McCain

Redshank circa 1607

Photo is of Irish archaeologist and actor, Dave Swift, in a recent BBC production portraying a Scottish Redshank in Ulster.  There are eye witness accounts of the Redshanks in west Ulster dressed in the iconic kilt, or féileadh mór.  This is how one of our McCains would have looked at this time. The sword is the Highland style two handed sword called a claíomh mór.  The coat of mail was still in wide use with Redshanks and the helmet is a morion, usually of German or Spanish manufacture. 

William McCain the Soldier 1630

Mongavlin Castle;  copyright 2012 James McKane

Above is a recent photo of Mongavlin Castle, near Porthall, Donegal.  It is here that the first McCain appears in the written records in Ireland.  His name in English was William McCain the Soldier.  His name is in the 1630 muster roll and is written in a phonetic rendering of his name in Gaelic which was Illime mcKaine.   He is unique in that memory of him was kept alive by our McKeen branches in New England and Nova Scotia.  For the record, he was a swordsman.  Mongavlin Castle was the residence of Fionnuala Ní Dhónaill, better known in Irish history as Iníon Dubh, until 1610.  Many of the families that Iníon Dubh brought to Mongavlin were from mid Argyll.  Photo courtesy of Jim McKane of Wiarton, Ontario, Canada.

Joe McKane and Jim McKane In Kilmichael Glassary

A photo taken just a few days ago of Dr Joe McKane of Glasgow and Jim McKane of Wiarton, Ontario, at the original homeland of the McCains in Kilmichael Glassary, mid Argyll, Scotland.  The are by the burial stone of Donnchadh Mór Mac Eáin, who was the first one of our family to take the surname Mac Eáin, which is anglicised as McCain, McKane, McKean, McKeen, etc.

With luck Jim will give us a full account of his trip over.  Both Joe and Jim are participants in the McCain DNA Project.  

Sadly  the burial stone has weathered greatly in the last 130 years. Many think that it is acid rain that has caused the rapid deterioration in the stone.  Fortunately, the stone was surveyed in 1875 and we have the notes and line drawing of it taken during the survey.  The text of the stone was completely legible in 1875, but parts of the writing and ornamentation are now faded.

Thomas McKane

Thomas McKane, County Antrim, circa 1940s

The McCain Project has gathered some very interesting photos of our folk from around the world.  It is always interesting to come upon old photographs.  The one above supplied by Joe McKane of Tennessee.  Joe was born is from Ballywatt, County Antrim.  He was, along with myself, the first two DNA matches that 'located' the some of our family in Ireland.  This first DNA match started the process that eventually led to finding many McCains in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.

Donations Needed

The McCain clan blog and the McCain family DNA project are seeking donations.  There is a lot, an awful lot, of volunteer work that goes on to collect, organise, and make available our history.  We have several projects running now which include book publishing and coordinating the DNA results in a way to better assist our McCain genealogist and family historians.  The book titles in the cue are A Short History of the Laggans Redshanks, 1569-1630, Finding the McCains, A Short History of the McCain Family, and The Mid Argyll Kinship Group. 

The DNA project is gearing up for a phase two.  There have been great advances in mitochondrial DNA research in the last ten years.  It is now possible for us to use mtDNA to confirm which particular McCain line one descends from.  This will be a great asset to a family's genealogy.  The mtDNA is maternal line DNA.  We can use it to see if two McCains share the same 'mother' in generations past.  This has the potential of radically improving our understanding of the various McCain lines.    

Funding is needed to help purchase computers, software, books, etc., that we use in the projects.  Donations would really help all the projects greatly.   Just use the Donations link on the right hand side column of this page.  It leads to the Ulster Heritage Website and donations made there will go to the McCain projects. Or use the link below. 

Donations to the McCains Projects

Many thanks agus go raibh maith agaibh.

Chris McCain of California

Chris McCain

 The McCain Family DNA Project continues to locate members of our particular McCain clan.  This is the nature of genetic genealogy.  As more and more men participate in DNA testing we are able to place them in the correct McCain family.  A short summary:  there are at least 6 separate McCain families.  There are McCain families that originate in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.  Our McCain is the Mac Eáin family that originates in Kilmichael Glassary in mid Argyll, Scotland.  They were, and are, what is known in popular history as Highlanders.  They migrated to Donegal, Ireland, in the mid 1500s.  So we have both Irish and Scottish ancestry.  Donegal has many families that originated in the Scottish Gaeltacht.

Chris lives in San Diego, California.  He is a navy veteran (a lot of military veterans among our clan, and within this group a lot of those are navy).   Chris runs a numismatics firm there. Contact data below for anyone in need of gold and silver coins.  He is also a board member of The Friendly Sons of St Patrick.

From the DNA results we know Chris descends from Alexander McKean who was the immigrant ancestor.  Alexander McKean and his brother Hugh McKean appear in tax records in Donegal township, PA Colony in 1722.  Their exact arrival date is not known.  But, given the ships leaving from Ulster we suspect they either came in the 1718 fleet that landed in Boston in late summer of that year, or were on a ship that came into Boston the next year.  Alexander McKean and Hugh McKean are the progenitors of the Marsh Creek Settlement McCains.

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·          McCain Numismatics www.mccainnumismatics.com

·         The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick (FSOSP) www.fsosp.com

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The McCain Surname

McCain, McCane, McKane, McKean, McKeen, and McKain are just various anglicised forms of the Gaelic surname Mac Eáin. Most of our families have used several anglicised spellings over there years.  Most anglicised spellings did not become 'fixed' until the early 1800s.  The Marsh Creek McCains used, or the clerks that wrote their name down, used McKeen and McKean in the 1700s.  Most families that remained north of the Mason Dixon line retained those two spellings.  In the South (of the USA) the McCain spelling became dominate.

Jim McKane Our Webmaster

Jim McKane of Wiarton, Ontario, Canada

Our webmaster for both the McCain DNA Project and the Ulster Heritage Project is Jim McKane.  Here is a recent photo of him at a function in his 'snow bird' second home in Arizona.