Garth Duncan

One of our distant cousins that was located via the McCain Family DNA Project is Garth Duncan of the Isle of Skye, Hebrides, Scotland.  His people are from Argyll.  His surname in Gaelic is Mac Donnchaidh, which was one of the surnames used by the descendants of Donnchadh Mór Mac Eáin (Duncan McCain) in the 1500s.   Gaelic surnames in mid Argyll were not fixed and changed several times from patronymic customs.  The DNA test confirms we are the same family, though does not provide a neat and tidy generation to generation pedigree.  What we do know however, is this family used both Duncan and McCain as surnames and we are a DNA match to each other.  Garth is seen above in his normal day wear.

McCains And Tartan

 

Barry R McCain

I am often asked about tartans and is there a McCain tartan, etc.   No, there is not 'McCain' tartan.  The use of family tartans was a recent development in Gaelic society and took place long after our family left Argyll.  Family tartans as they are used today came about in the 1800s.  Prior to this time there were no clan or family tartan in general.  There were colours and patterns favoured in a district and so there was some sense of people in an area using the same tartan.

For those McCain who would like to use tartan, I suggest any one that you like.  To reflect our history I like several of them, the Ulster tartan, which dates to the late 1500s, early 1600s, then any of the Black Watch, Argyll, tartans.  Historically we were connected to the Mac Lachlainn clan, so any of the Argyll Mac Lachlainn tartans have historical value.  We were also allies to the Campbell family of Argyll, so their basic Campbell of Argyll tartan historically important also.  

The Ulster tartan I mention is very nice, it was found on the body of a Gael in a bog in County Derry, Northern Ireland, in the 1950s.  There are two versions, one is a faded version then the other is the colours restored to their original forms.

I am wearing a 'MacDonald' tartan in the photo above.  Like many McCains, I assumed we were 'Clan Donald' before we did the research to locate our actual history.  But, I love this particular tartan, and so I wear it.  

Any McCains having photos of themselves sporting a kilt or tartan dress, please email me the photos and I will post them.  

 

Genealogy Tour of Ulster

(Several McCains are participating in this tour)

October Genealogy Tour – Northern Ireland & Dublin October 7-16, 2011

This October Time Travel will be conducting an informal exploratory genealogy tour in Northern Ireland and Dublin.  We will have hands on research time, although not required and tour the North of Ireland as well as Dublin. This tour will be a “get to know” tour for researching your roots in the North of Ireland with some very special highlights to educate you on the Irish and the Irish that emigrated to America, Canada and Australia as well as the local lore of the North. We are very excited and privileged to have some very special guests to join us on our journey. We hope you can join us!

Highlights of the Tour:

• City Weekend Dublin!

             Book of Kells – Glasnevin Cemetery – Guinness- Traditional Irish Night

• St. Patrick’s Trail – County Down
• Belfast City & the New PRONI (Public Records Office Northern Ireland)
• Walk the Walls of Derry with Historian Ronan Macnamara
• Explore a special project on the US Marine’s WWII Beech Hill Connection where we will call home for a night.
• Explore County Fermanagh – Visit & Lunch with The Duke of Abercorn
• Center for Migration Studies – Lectures with Dr. Brian Lambkin & Dr. Patrick Fitzgerald.  Evening Dinner with special surprise guests.
• Explore Donegal along the Lough Eske. Special guests: Storyteller Keith Corcoran and Local Historian and Genealogist Jonathan Kelly
• Names being researched: McCain, Smith, McGrady, Gunn, Ferris Add your names to the list! We’d love to have you along!

Again, we hope you can join us.  We have a limited number of seats left for this tour. Please inquire directly to our Director, Ginger Aarons Garrison at info@timetraveltours.com or phone 503-454-0897 for more information and pricing.

All tours by Time Travel are all inclusive of Transportation, Lodging, Lectures, Admissions, Gratuities and Food.  Airfare & Alcohol excluded.*

The New Brunswick McCains

(article from the Donegal Democrat Newspaper 2000)

SAINT JOHN (Canada) - Potatoes and the Irish love for farming have established a quiet, riverside New Brunswick town as the centre for one of the greatest food empires in the world. Harrison McCain, board chairman of the international McCain Foods Ltd., says this aspect of the Irish character lies behind the success of this famous New Brunswick family.

Harrison McCain

'Definitely permeating the Irish - and also permeating the McCain family - is a love of the land,' Mr. McCain said from his office in Florenceville. It is an inherited love for 'owning the land, and being in an agricultural environment and trading farm produce and farming and that kind of thing,' he said. 'That's what our ancestors came from, and they definitely had a liking for it.'
McCain Foods and its subsidiaries have more than 50 food-production facilities operating in 10 countries, on four continents. And the McCain Group also includes companies engaged in transportation, seed, animal feed, farming, heavy equipment manufacturing and other areas. It achieved $4.1-billion in sales in the 1996 fiscal year, and employed more than 12,500 people. Worldwide, McCain Foods has the capacity to turn out 346,500 kilograms of potato products every hour, company officials say, making this the world's largest French-fry manufacturer, with over 30% of the world market.
With his company operating several French-fry plants on the British Isles, Mr McCain can't get over the fact that in the early 19th century, when the potato was the staple diet of Irish farm labourers, each man gobbled up to 6.3 kg of spuds per day. 'My God, that's a lot of potatoes,' he said with a laugh, ' I wish they'd get them doing it again!'

The Diamond, Castlefin 2002 - Click to view

The McCain history in New Brunswick began when Mr. McCain's great-grandfather (William Andrew McCain) along with his brother James and sister Jane, arrived here in the 1820s. The two brothers had come from just north of Castlefin and their sister from Ballindrait, Lifford.
There is no record of the three McCains ever owning any property in Ireland. It is the great-grandson's belief that they worked as tenant farmers on someone else's estate. 'They wanted to get hold of some cheap land and own the land for themselves.' Within a few years of working as labourers, all the McCains in New Brunswick had obtained 100-acre land grants in Greenfield, near present-day Florenceville.
'The next progression, I would say, was that they were trading farm produce - you know, hay, grain, sheep, cattle, horses, whatever they could trade.'

The small village of Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada is the international headquarters of McCain Foods Limited and McCain Foods (Canada)

For nearly a century, hay was the biggest cash crop on farms along the upper St. John River, some of which operated on barely more than a subsistence level. The picture changed in the 1920s, with the introduction here of an Irish tradition - potato farming. Instead of the tiny, spade-cultivated family potato plots which were the hallmark of pre-Famine Ireland, the New Brunswickers applied their farm machinery to grow potatoes on a mass-production scale. 'It certainly was a turning point for the area,' Mr. McCain said. 'Up until that time, farming that was done was chiefly, I would call it, living off the land.

'The original farming vocation was: you had a small farm, and you worked the farm and you kept a cow or two and some chickens and maybe a few sheep. You had pasture land to feed them in the summertime and cut some hay for the wintertime, and you killed some of your animals to eat. And you picked up what spare work you could in the wintertime cutting pulp or whatever for a little cash. But it was living off the land...There were certainly some cash trades, but I'd say the advent of the potato business, after it got to a considerable volume, was the most important cash crop that most farmers had ever had.'

And it was the potato, he said, that eventually launched the McCain family into its national and international trade. 

McCain Foods co-founders, Harrison (left) and Wallace (pointing) during the grand opening of their first McCain plant in Florenceville in 1957

McCain Foods Ltd. became incorporated in 1956 and began making frozen French fries in Florenceville the following year. The company entered the British market in 1965 and Australia in 1968. It made its first entry into the United States in 1969, the same year in which it opened its first English French fry plant.
The company has also gone into frozen vegetables, desserts, frozen pizzas, juices, meats, cheese products. It has food processing and distribution plants in the United States, Argentina, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Japan and Spain, with an emphasis in many of these plants in French fries and potato specialties.

Article extract from : The luck, and pluck, of the McCains By Mac Trueman
McCain Photographs: © McCain Foods Ltd.
Castlefin Photographs: © Finn Valley Web Design
 

The McCain brothers' great-great grandfather was born in Meenahoney just outside Castlefin and emigrated to Canada in 1823. For some years, Mr Wallace McCain has been trying to trace his family tree and during his brief visit to Donegal he was shown the original farmhouse where his ancestors were born.

It is the third time that Mr. McCain and his wife Margaret have visited Donegal, but on this occasion they brought with them their two sons, Scott and Michael, their daughters Martha and Eleanor, seven grandchildren and three in-laws.

'My wife decided we would make this trip as part of my 70th Birthday celebrations but no doubt I'll get the bill,' Mr McCain quipped. He acknowledged that Castlefin had changed much for the better since he first visited Donegal in 1990. 'When we were here last fall we noticed a remarkable change to Castlefin from our first visit. The place is looking really well,' Mr McCain said.

Mrs Margaret McCain, who has enjoyed a successful political career in Canada, serving a term as Lt. Governor of Ontario, said that the local townspeople deserved the utmost credit for the improvement works carried out in recent years. 'Castlefin looks just like New Brunswick where Wallace's ancestors first settled when they arrived in Canada. They started working in the potato business, first as farmers and later as exporters,' she explained.

McCain Foods, founded by Wallace and his brother in 1957, has grown to become a multi-national business which employs almost 14,000 people across the world. On their arrival in the Diamond, the McCain family were taken on a walkabout tour of the village during which they were shown the remnants of the local narrow gauge railway which ran through Castlefin, and a famine pot.

Music was provided by members of the McElhinney family and Sean O'Neill while a dancing display was provided by members of Terry Lafferty's School of Dancing as Mr McCain and his family enjoyed lunch.

Books and flags were exchanged between Mr McCain's grandchildren and local schoolchildren before the McCain family boarded their coach once more, this time bound for Dublin and London before flying back to Toronto. 'We sailed over from Canada on the QE2 and the journey was just perfect. The weather was wonderful, just like it is here today. Do you get weather like this over here all the time?' Mr Scott McCain asked.

Article and photograph © The Donegal Democrat 2000

McCain DNA Update, the 111 Marker Upgrade

The McCain DNA Project is asking all members of the 01 McCain family upgrade their DNA kit to the 111 marker level test.  This upgrade will allow a better understanding of the time to the shared common ancestor of the various branches of the McCain family.  To date, we know that one or more McCain men left mid Argyll to settle in Taughboyne parish in east Donegal.  The exact date of this migration is not known, but we do know that a large group of men did migrate from the area where the McCains were living in Argyll to Taughboyne parish in early Autumn of 1569.  There were other groups that followed them in the 1570s until the mid 1590s.  The McCain family is appear in paper records in Taughboyne parish in 1630. There was no influx of mid Argyll men from mid 1590s until post 1630, so it appears the McCain family were already living in Taughboyne parish by 1600.

The 111 upgrade will allow us to see if all the McCain branches that have been located descend from the McCain men that have been located in Taughboyne parish in 1630.   

The Mid Argyll Kinship Group

above, DNA results link the McCains to Kilmichael Glassary in mid Argyll

As most of our clan now, especially those who are participants in our DNA project, the McCains are part of the paternally related Mid Argyll Kinship group.  The families in the group are Duncan (Mac Donnchaidh), Henry (Mac Eanruig), McAlpin (Mac Ailpín), McCain (Mac Eáin), McDonald (Mac Dónaill), and MacLea (Mac an Leagha).  There has been considerable progress made in located primary sources records on this family circa anno domini 1430 to 1600.  The surnames in the group are not 'clan' surname, but rather are surnames taken from the normal patronymic customs in Argyll during this time. During the important 16th Century surnames were not fixed and clan surname were not in common use.

I have set up a blog to post news about the kinship group.  Link is here:

Mid Argyll Kinship Group 

Please patronise the advertisements and sponsors on the page as they allow these blogs to flourish. 

Wallace McCain Dies

The article below is from the Canadian Star newspaper.  One of the more interesting aspects of the McCain Family DNA Project was the discovery that the New Brunswick McCains, were the same family as the Mississippi McCains, the New England McKeens, and part of the same Mac Eáin family that originated in Kilmichael Glassary, Argyll so many years ago.  The McCains have several well known personalities, such as Senator McCain, but it can be said that Wallace McCain accomplished a great deal in his life and is certainly our brightest star.  May he rest in peace in God's house.

Wallace McCain (centre-left) is seen in 1957, the year he opened
the first McCain Foods potato processing plant
in Florenceville, N.B. with a staff of 30

Wallace McCain, co-founder of McCain Foods, dies at 81

Published On Sat May 14 2011

Dana Flavelle Business Reporter   The Star

 Wallace McCain, co-founder of McCain Foods and chairman of Maple Leaf Foods, has died after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81. The son of a New Brunswick potato seed exporter, McCain became a scion of Canadian business and a major philanthropist. Together with his brother Harrison he co-founded McCain Foods Ltd., now a $6-billion-a-year frozen French fry empire that exports to more than 60 countries.

Later ousted from the firm in a succession battle, Wallace and his sons, Scott and Michael, bought a stake in Toronto’s struggling Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and through acquisitions built another multinational brand.

With his wife Margaret, McCain was also a noted philanthropist, supporting a range of causes, from Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital to Canada’s National Ballet School and New Brunswick’s Mount Allison University.

For the past year, the man described as a straight talker with a self-deprecating manner had faced another kind of battle, this one with cancer.

“Wallace McCain was an inspiration, as a father, businessman and humanitarian,” said Michael McCain, Wallace’s son and chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Foods.

“His incredible success in business was always balanced with the importance of family and community. He had unwavering values that defined him and everything he did. My family and the entire Maple Leaf community deeply mourn his passing, but also celebrate his life and the contribution he made to so many people.”

Born in 1930 in the small farming village of Florenceville, N.B., Wallace McCain was one of six children of Laura and A.D. McCain, a potato seed exporter.  In their 20s, Wallace and his brother Harrison, with the support of their older brothers Robert and Andrew, decided to start their own business.

They opened the first McCain Foods potato processing plant in Florenceville in 1957 with a staff of 30. The company grew rapidly into a multi-billion dollar global French fry and frozen foods business.  But the brothers had a falling out over who should succeed them.
In 1995, with the help of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Wallace and his sons bought a 33 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Foods.

Together, they built the food-processing firm into a $5-billion-a-year firm, acquiring such leading brands as Maple Leaf, Schneiders, and a majority stake in Canada Bread Inc., makes of Dempster’s brand bread.  “Wallace made an indelible impact on Maple Leaf Foods, our country and the food industry globally,” said Purdy Crawford, Maple Leaf Food’s lead director.  “He had a rare gift for business that was driven by his personal courage, love of people, and sharp insights. His incredible accomplishments came about because of his perseverance, humility and belief in others.”

Wallace’s passing comes at a critical time for the leading food processor.
The Teachers’ Pension Plan decided to sell its stake last year and an activist investor, West Face Capital, bought into the firm and demanded a seat on its board.

Maple Leaf Foods has since undertaken a major restructuring program that includes consolidating and upgrading many of its plants, entering new products categories.
The move came two years after the company had finally begun recovering from a tragic listeria outbreak that claimed 21 lives. Michael McCain was credited with saving the company by taking full public responsibility for the problem and swift action to address its cause.

Wallace is survived by his wife Margaret, who became New Brunswick’s first female. Lieutenant Governor, his four children and nine grandchildren.  His successor as chairman will be determined by the Maple Leaf Foods board.  His funeral will be held at St. Paul’s Bloor Street in Toronto on May 20. For more information, please visit www.wallacemccaintribute.ca.

Loch Ederline

Loch Ederline is located at the west end of loch Awe and the north end of Kilmichael Glen. This was the home of the McCain family for many years, circa 1400 to the 1570s. It is located in mid Argyll.

McCain Family DNA News

There will be a new series of Y chromosome DNA tests available from the Family Tree labs which has the potential to settle many research points concerning the McCains. The new series of test will basically qualify degree of cousin your matches are. The procedure is different in that it will use both Y-DNA and mt DNA testing (as I understand it).

So, all the McCains from the Marsh Creek settlement, all the lines in Ireland that we have found, we can now, in theory, tell which particular line a McCain match belongs. Incredibly advanced molecular research really. This is done by measuring the autosomal DNA contributed by all ancestors.

I will post more on this as information becomes available.

McCain Clan Research March 2010

The research on the McCain 'clan' is still ongoing and new data is being discovered. At present, the research is concentrating on land records, charters, man-rents, etc., from the Caimbeul and Scrymgeour families in mid Argyll. The McCain family can be followed through these records from circa early anno domini 1400s into the late 1500s. The exact date groups of McCains left mid Argyll from Ireland is not known, but the records do suggest that this happened circa 1570.

Many of the mid Argyll families have very elaborate late medieval Gaelic pedigrees, however, most of these genealogies were fabricated to elevate the status of a family. This was common, not only with Gaelic families, but this trend went on in England, France, Spain, etc. For this reason the McCain research is concentration of historical McCains and currently is not looking into the pre late 1300s ancestry of the group. The Recent Ancestral Origins of the McCains indicate that they were native to mid Argyll and there are no striking kinships to any families outside this area. This strongly suggest they were indigenous to mid Argyll.

Many McCains have asked about Gaelic clan affiliations; the nature of society and politics in mid Argyll circa 1450 to 1600 was one of great change and the consolidation of the Camibeul family's control over this area. Most of the McCain lands were 'resigned' over to the Earls of Argyll, who in-turn was also the taoiseach (chief) of the Caimbeul clan. This happened to most of the families in this area, not just to the McCains. The Caimbeul family in turn had interests in east Donegal and sent many families from mid Argyll to east Donegal circa 1570s into the 1590s and the McCains were very likely in this migration.

McCain Clan Research 2009

In 2009 there has been some amazing, even stunning, information about the McCain clan revealed both with primary source finds and new Y chromosome DNA matches. There is a growing group of Gaelic families in the McCain Clan kinship group. Some of the surnames the McCain Clan share a paternal kinship with are Mac an Leatha, Mac Donnchadh, Mac Ailpín, and Mac Eanruig. All of these surnames are from the mid Argyll area. The DNA results have focused and led the research.

Research in the primary sources have turned up information about the flow of events surrounding the movement of mid Argyll Highlanders into eastern Donegal circa 1570 into the 1590s, which is when the McCains left mid Argyll for Ireland. Several McCain family oral histories, such as the well known 'William the soldier' lore of the McKeens in New England and eastern Canada, and the association of the McCains with the players and events surrounding Mary Queen of Scots, have collaborating circumstantial facts that have been located in the primary sources. Information on the very early connection between the Hamiltons and McCains has also been uncovered. Early next year I will be posting more information on 2009's discoveries.

McCain Family Research update May 2009

No good deed goes unpunished.

Clare Boothe Luce

I took the common sense precaution of posting the above quote from Clare Boothe Luce as it is my observation that Mrs Luce was probably referring to working on family history and genealogy when she made the quote.

I've been having the best time doing our McCain family research the last three months or so. Several things have made this so: there are now online some hard to obtain primary sources that directly relate to the McCain family in Ireland. These are collections of reports, letters, etc., written by a wide range of officials in Ireland to each other and to the Crown. The years of interest to me are circa 1750 to 1610. This is because I am trying to ascertain when the first McCains of our family settled in Ireland.

Right now, if I had to name a year, it would be 1569, possible 1570, or 71. This is when several large groups of families moved from mid Argyll, from the townships in which the McCains were living, to east Donegal. The first listing of the surname McCain by any spelling that I can find is from a list compilied in the year 1609, but in reference to events that happened in 1605 to 1607.

I have also had some interesting email traffic from a historian in Ulster, that knowing I am hunting for data on 'Redshank' Scots in east Donegal, sends me primary source material on this topic. He has sent some gems too.

When I have some spare time I will write this all up and post it as I think a pretty good history can now be constructed of our McCains using these source materials now available.

More news: on the orthogrophy front, the name Ean and then in the genitive Eáin, is the root of our surname. It from the Latin, Iohannes and said to be a variation of the surname Mac Eóin. I made an interesting discovery that in the 1300s, 1400s, 1500s, when we took that surname, that the northern Spanish form of Iohannes was also Ean.

Gaelic is rich with forms of the Latin name Iohannes. You have Seán, Seathán, Eóin, Eáin, and post 1700, Iain. Seán (said both Shawn and Shane depending on dialect) is loan word from French, from Jean, which again goes back to the Latin Iohannes.

I think a valid path of research would be to see if there might be any connection between the northern Spanish name Ean and the Gaelic name Ean. Is it possible that this form was borrowed, like Seán was?

In Spannish and Portugese, you see this name written Eanes and Eannes. the suffix of es means 'son of' like our 'Mac.' So Eannes means Son of John as does Mac Eáin. In modern Spanish you see this surname written Yanes, Yáñes, etc.

McCain Ethnicity Poll II

I think I should clarify some things about the poll.

First, there is no wrong or right answer, the answer should reflect your family's sense of self and ethnicity regarding their McCain kin. All three answers are correct.

You should tick the one you feel most comfortable using in describing your your McCains.

All of the our McCains have ancestors that lived in Ireland, indeed, many that have tested still live there. But most of the McCains I've talked with also have an oral history of links to Argyll, in Scotland. This oral history has been supported by multiple DNA matches to mid Argyll in the last couple of years.

When you go to the McCain DNA Project results you will notice several non McCain matches, the MacLea family for instance, is from Argyll, from the island of Bute. The Duncan family is also from Argyll. We think the Henry family is also from Argyll, still working on confirming that one however.

So again, there is no right or wrong answer, just put what you honestly thing about your McCains ethnicity.

And many thank yous to all the McCains taking time out to help us with this poll.

The McCain Ethnicity Poll

Bruce R McCain out on the west coast was kind enough to write an email with some interesting points, which I include below.

A poll? We're taking an online poll to gage our feelings of who we are?

It wasn't that long ago that those of us who can trace our American roots
back to Marsh Creek (Adams County) PA were told that no way were we
'Scots-Irish' and that such a term only displayed the ignorance of the
uninformed who used it. We were 100% native Irish; no doubt about it.

Below I read that "the DNA has confirmed we are as a group Highland Gaelic
Scots" but we're going to take a poll just to be sure.

Lawyers and scientists both require a chain of evidence or proof to validate
a legal or scientific claim. I am the former, not the latter. Rather than an
online poll (or in addition to it) I would much prefer to see the proof of
this DNA confirmation posted online. No living names need be used - kit
numbers would suffice. For example, Kit 12345 was a 25 match with 23456,
which matched 34567, who is a 90% match to 45678, etc. until we get the
chain established once and for all. Only then can someone publicly claim
that "The DNA has confirmed ..." In other words, please connect the dots by
citing actual DNA results between one or more dead or living persons.

Like many of you, I have focused my McCain genealogical work on discovering
my direct ancestors here in North America (and beyond), painstakingly
filling in the blanks of known, named persons until the list is complete as
possible. I also appreciate the work of those whose focus is overseas and
longer ago. We have been repeatedly asked to post our GEDCOM files online to
build up the McCain database. But where is the McCain GEDCOM that connects
the Marsh Creek McCains to Highland Gaelic Scots or any other distant group?
Yes, I know there are living McCain cousins in Ireland and elsewhere today.
But my GEDCOM cannot go back much further that Robert McKean at Marsh Creek
- maybe one more generation to an Alexander. But that's where I and many
others hit the wall. So I am always intrigued when I read about "results"
that connects us further back, but I have never read how or why.

Frankly I don't care which of the four poll option groups I came from. Can't
do much about it now anyway. But I do very much care about the science and
chain of proof in our collective and individual efforts. That's why I have
always greeted new claims with a healthy degree of skepticism until I see
the proof.

So, before we take a poll, I ask that Barry post the evidence to support the
claim that, "The DNA has confirmed we are as a group Highland Gaelic Scots,
that moved to east Donegal and a few of us later to northwest Antrim." That
would make for fascinating reading. Otherwise, we are left with a McCain
project that is once again long on conclusions but short on facts.

Bruce R. McCain
Portland OR via Marsh Creek PA

Very good points all and I do forget that some McCains have not kept up or are new to the DNA research.

First of all, the DNA results are available to the public and have been for some years now. The DNA matches to men with links to mid Argyll are in those results.

Next, the reason why we have been careful with terms is several of oral histories were proved wrong the first few months of the DNA test. Hence, I learned not to say we were this or that. Starting out with two strikes made for caution.

We started out believing we were exiles from the McCains of clan Donald, which turned out not to be true. Next we looked at connections to a McCain family in north Antrim, descended from the Ó Catháin family, that too turned out not to be true.

Our method of testing is good, straight Y chromosome DNA testing, and the answers came back in black and white, i.e. we were not Clan Donald McCains nor were we Ó Catháin clan McCains.

We did find out however that we did come from Ireland as we matched Irish McCains, the two McCain families in Scotland that we matched are from east Donegal. So yes, in that sense we are 100% Irish. And for a long time that all we really could say for sure.

However, a couple of years ago, we did have several dramatic DNA matches to men with links to mid Argyll. But, if you are hunting for a Gedcom file to connect you with the gentleman name Mac Eáin that lived in the 15th Century, then I am sorry to tell you this, but you will never have that. If the Gedom file is required, then all you can prove is back to the 100% Irish model.

Now for me, I like science, and trust it, when I see DNA matches to men from mid Argyll consistently, then I know there is a link there as this is a fact, not speculation. Next, I find primary source records confirming a McCain family from that location and related to the surmames we are pulling up DNA matches with. Now this will not produce the neat and tidy Gedcom file required by Bruce R McCain, but on the other hand, it does produce facts about the general origins of the McCain family and our progenitor.

The reason for a poll is of course not to see what we are. That would be silly. The reason for the poll was to gauge the way the various McCain families 'think' about themselves. For this reason, it is subjective. The objective part the DNA demonstrated, it is the image that each family has of themselves that we are polling. I know some 50 plus McCain families in our group, I've noticed that some like to call themselves Irish, others Scots-Irish, and still others Highland Scots. I find this very interesting, the poll was really to discover if there was a dominate sense of ethnicity.

One thing I've discovered in running the McCain DNA Project is that families have very different goals. Some families need a Gedcom to feel like they have accomplished anything, while others could care less about that aspect, and are overjoyed just to locate their paternal kin in Ireland and go visit them. Then there are many McCain families that aspire to goals in between those two goals.

I hope this clears up the nature of the poll, it is just to see how each McCain family thinks of themselves. The facts are already available in the DNA results.

To answer Bruce R McCain's question and presentation of facts...

I have posted the long story of links to Donegal, Antrim, and mid Argyll, many times on various blogs, forums, websites, etc. I spoke and presented papers at both the 16th and 17th Ulster American History Symposiums in Knoxville, TN, and Omagh, Co Tyrone. So the facts have been out there for some time. One can't do much more than that, short of giving a personal briefing.

The DNA project does not take on the responsibility to do eveyone's personal genealogy, alas that part is still up to each individual family, just as it was for me.

More questions are very welcomed.


Barry R McCain

Our Maryland Sept

Paul F McKean and his lovely wife, of Maryland. Paul was one of the early participants of our McCain DNA Project and descends from the Marsh Creek settlement McCains. The McKean spelling was common in the 1700s and Paul's family liked it some much that stuck with it.

The Knox Family of Corcam, Donegal

This is Ivan Knox (left) with his son Andrew, showing their autographed photo of John McCain. Ivan's mother was a McKane from Drumboe, which is one of our McCains of course. Ivan's house in Corcam has become the de facto headquarters for McCains from both the USA and Canada that travel back over. I will be writing more about Ivan and the Knox family in the future as they are pleasure to be around and know most of the McCains still in Donegal.

Ivan was not surprised by the election results, but he and many of the people of the Finn Valley in Donegal, were obviously very disappointed none the less. A lot of the current research I am doing on the McCains is focused in Donegal. As I gather more and more data it appears that east Donegal is very likely the original ole sod of the McCains. They certainly were there in numbers earlier than I can find them in northwest Antrim. Just another surprise in my long odyssey of finding the McCains. Ivan was in touch with John McCain's people this summer.

Barry R McCain (i.e. Barra)

Pennsylvania and Iowa McKains

One of the interesting aspects of our McCain Clan is we sent immigrants from Ireland in almost every generation since the early 1700s. The last McCain that immigrated out that I am aware of did so in 1979. Keith McKain of Pennsylvania, below, is a member of the McCain DNA Project, which confirmed his kinship to our McCain family.

Keith is a descendant of William John McKain (1760-1827) who arrived in America from northern Ireland around 1795 and moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area through Chester County, Pennsylvania. In Chester County he married Catharine Hoff, the daughter of a Revolutionary War Veteran. By 1813 he settled in the western parts of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the East Donegal Township, in an area called “Irishtown” near Marietta. William and Catharine McKain had eleven children. Six of these children remained in the Lancaster County area. Four children migrated to the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and established a rather large group of McKains in that area. One child continued moving west to an area near Brighton, Iowa and additional McKain families can be found there.

McCains in Oxford, Mississippi

My older boy Donovan, dressed up as the Celtic Lord of the Wood, Cernunos! Nice costume.



Barra, wearing his official wizard's hat on the Square in Oxford, Mississippi

My younger son Conar.... Conar the Viking on Halloween night that is.

Donovan and I enjoying a pint... Donovan got his free, he walked into the pub, went up to the barman and said, 'Trick or Treat,' and held up his functioning drinking horn, the barman filled it with Samuel Adams ale, not bad.

Our family really enjoys Halloween as you can tell. Oxford is a nice place as the Square becomes full of people, many in costume, the pubs all open their doors so you hear music and people laughing and talking, and the weather last night was perfect, cool and crisp with a crescent moon in the sky. Fall in Mississippi is absolutely beautiful.

Barry R McCain

Frank and Gemma Anne McKane

Two more of our clan, this Frank and Gemma Anne McKane, these days of San Fransisco, California, but Frank was born in bonnie Scotland. Frank's originate in east Donegal. The line is that of James McKean who left Donegal circa 1846-47 and settled in the Renfrewshire mining are in the west of Scotland. We think they lived in the StJohnstown area prior to leaving for Scotland.

When we began this research we thought the McCain originated in northwest County Antrim but the DNA and primary sources now confirm that the McCains were in the Finn Valley very early, perhaps even in the 1500s. We may have had the tail wagging the dog. As I have travelled in Donegal to meet our McCain kin, I have observed there are many more McCains there than any other part of Ireland. Frank will be visiting McCains in Ireland and Scotland in the January.

Barry R McCain

McCain Reunion in Dover Arkansas

above, Joyce McCain, Billy McCain, Jeanie McCain, and SJ

The annual McCain Family reunion was held September 6, 2008 in Dover, Arkansas at the farm of Ken and Sudie McCain Rutledge. Attendance for the event was down from prior years at 70 attendees. The reunion organizers were Sudie Rutledge, Joyce and Jeanie McCain, and Sue McCain Lay. The event was advertized as McCain / Lay Reunion.

In attendance were descendants of Ezekial Richard McCain, Thomas Powers McCain and Amos Calvin McCain. They were three of the known sons of William McCain, son of Robert, the son of Hugh McCain, SR.

In all the visiting with the many questions, the one asked all the time was, "How are we related?" when I left Michigan on my driving trip to Arkansas, I had laid out my external hard drive with all of my Family Tree data. I could not give dates and places to anyone because I know that I would be giving out mis-information.

Anita McCain, sister of Billy McCain, Harold McCain, double first cousin to Anita and Billy

When I left Dover, I drove north to Manila, AR for visits with more McCain descendants there. I dropped in on my sister, Anita McCain and our double cousin, Harold McCain. Later in the week, James D. Foresythe flew in from Capertino, CA. James is the son of Allie Mae McCain Foresythe, my dad's first cousin. James, Anita and I spent the day visiting old family sites and discussing family history. We did visit the Manila Cemetery where the McCains and Foresythes are buried. Harold McCain met us at the cemetery. We went to Harold's home to look at family picture albums and do a lot more reminiscing. James at 85 years had memories of great grandmother McCain and her stories of her husband, Amos, as a Confederate soldier. Amos was a prisoner of war, being released just prior to the end of the war.

Billy McCain, Michigan