This page contains one note:

LeStrange/Strange/Strang/Stronge/Strong

DNA Study Note #20:

Updated to September 9, 2009:

 

 

The subject of this note is a discussion of certain aspects of the DNA Study as it relates to the Strong/e families of Counties Cavan and Longford, Ireland. Please refer to: DNA Results for presentation of DNA haplotype information relating to the FTDNA Kits discussed here, including #s  8915 , 9937, and #154976 , amongst others.   While there are some mutational differences between them, the kits represent a set of probable matches.    

 

Shortly after the inception of the DNA Study, in about February, 2003 a respected member of the Strong research community suggested a hypothesis that the various Strong families of Counties Sligo, Monaghan, Longford, and Cavan in Ireland might be related.  Subsequently it was further speculated there might be a relationship with certain Stronges of Counties Down, Leix [Queens], and Offally [Kings] as well.   Testing these hypotheses became part of the study program.    

 

In the intervening years, it has become clear that, baring the possibility of some “non-parental events”, the Monaghan Strongs are most probably an offshoot of the Stronges of Tynan Abbey. Further, the DNA haplotype of the sole representative of the Sligo Strongs does not match any other haplotype  in the DNA Project, with the possible exception of that of a representative of the Tipperary Strong/es; cf.,  the DNA Results in Kits #6822 and 142803, where there is a tentative 23/25 match.    Unfortunately, to date it has not been possible to test a member of the  Leix [Queens] and Offally [Kings] Strong lineages.

 

The Strongs of County Longford are represented by two kits, #s 8915 , and  9937.    Neither matches any of the present “Lanarkshire and Tynan Abbey” group of test subjects, nor the Sligo kit, #6822.   On the other hand, there are possible matches with two kits which have some slight mutational differences: Kit #43844 [a 23/25 match] has not been able to provide a documentary history or genealogy which would tie him to any particular family group.  Kit #   5825 , a 22/25 match [and possibly a 32/27 match, depending on which of the two sets of markers is closest to the as yet undetermined “Ancestral Modal Haplotype”] has a well documented family history tracing back to the Shetland Islands, in Scotland;   there has been no documentary evidence presented which would tie Kit #   5825 in any way to the Longford kits.   

 

Indeed, the DYS393=14 Shetland Islands result has been thought to place a degree of separation between the two groups, given that DYS393 mutates rather slowly. However, in recent research, it has been shown that mutations of DYS393 do occur often enough that the possibility of a relationship cannot be excluded.   Given the 32/37 match between Kits #5825 and #154976, FTDNA suggests that they are “Only Possibly Related”.   However, considering that Kit #5825 can trace his family history back to about 1630, and Kit #154876 can possibly trace to about the same era, we are dealing with a nearly 400 year time span during which it is quite possible that two or three mutations may have occurred in each lineage; the possibility of a common ancestor exists.  

 

Further, given that the progenitor of the Cavan Strongs was apparently William Strong, believed to have been a Roundhead Soldier under Oliver Cromwell, it is entirely possible that William Strong might have been William “Strang”… a Scottish Presbyterian and related to the progenitor of the Strang/Strongs of the Shetland Islands !   It is known that many Scots served under Cromwell during the English Civil War and the aftermath campaigns to subdue Scotland and Ireland.    It may be telling that the Cavan Strongs were members of an extended community  composed largely of Presbyterians.  

 

There has been a further hypothesis that the Longford kits were related to the  Elder John Strong of New England group of test kits, based on certain similarities in the DNA haplotypes of the two groups, and based on some scant documentary evidence suggesting the Longford Strongs may have originated in the Dorsetshire area inhabited by the ancestors of a major landlord family in County Longford, Dorset being the origin of the New England Strongs.    Recently, however, this hypothesis has been placed in doubt by the comparative results of SNP testing of members of the two groups.   The New England members who have been SNP testing have current results of R1b1b2a1a4, while the Longford member who has been SNP tested has a result of R1b1b2a1b4.   The clear implication is that the Longford Strongs are probably not related to the New England Strongs. 

 

It should be noted that the Shetland Island kit has undergone some SNP testing by FTDNA, but in light of more recent genetic discoveries and research, the results should be updated. It likely further testing would show a SNP match with the Longford Strongs.  A review of the testing done by the participant in Kit #5825 reveals that he had further SNP testing done by EthnoAncestry, a testing company independent of FTDNA.  The EthnoAncestry test results indicate that he is positive for SNP S-28+, which is another name for SNP U-152+, the nomenclature used by FTDNA.   If one looks at the DNA Results page,

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegalstrongs/dnaresults.htm

one will note that Longford Kit #9937 has been SNP tested, with a result of R1b1b2a1b4;  

that is the FTDNA terminolgy describing one as being positive for U-152, or S-28.  The bottom line is that the SNP results for  the Longford kit and the Shetland Islands kit match !

 

Until very recently, there has been no testing of a representative of the Cavan Strongs; indeed several researchers of female lineages derived from the Cavan Strongs have sought unsuccessfully to find a male Cavan Strong who could be tested.    Fortunately, a line of Cavan Strongs has recently been located, and one member graciously consented to participate in Y-DNA testing.    We now have STR results for Cavan Strong/e Kit #154976, which match the STR results for Longford Strong Kits #8915 [25/25] and #9937 [24/25].    To the extent there is a match between these kits, we can say that at least part of the earlier hypothesis of a relationship between these two lineages is confirmed.    Unfortunately for some interested researchers, there does not appear to be a Y-DNA relationship with the Stronges of Counties Down, Sligo, Tipperary, or elsewhere.

 

It may be useful to offer some speculations concerning the reasons for the Cavan and Longford Strong/e lineage matches.    Knowing that the earliest Cavan Strong records we have found to date relate to a certain William Strong of Tawlaght, and date to 1654, it seems reasonable to infer that the various Cavan Strongs are descended from this William Strong.   It also seems probable that William Strong acquired his land during the Cromwellian Settlement, as much of County Cavan was allocated to members of Oliver Cromwell’s Roundhead army in lieu of cash payment of wages accrued while actively serving.   It seems quite likely that during the two plus centuries following 1654, there may have been several generations in which there were too many off-spring to be able to economically divide Tawlaght amongst them all, and that several of the different properties mentioned in the various emails represent situations in which the Strong family expanded to acquire additional land beyond Tawlaght.  

 

Turning to the Longford Strong family history compiled by researchers to date, it appears that the lineage can only be traced back to about 1777.   Compare the charts for Kits #8915 and #9937, and the page “ Strongs of Granard Parish, Co. Longford “   It seems quite likely that the Longford Strongs may be an offshoot of the Cavan Strong lineage, dating to that era.   Granard, Co. Longford is apparently only some six miles distant from Ballymachugh, Co. Cavan.

 

The Cavan Strong/e participant shared his copy of a "Gordon" Family History, including  portions relating to the Strong family of Killyfassy, Co. Cavan.  As the Cavan Strong family members will know, both the Gordon and Strong family members who are discussed in the book hail from the townland of Killyfassey, near Mount Nugent, Co. Cavan, Ireland.    It appears that at some point late in the 19th century each family came into fee ownership of portions of the townland... probably circa 1875.   It appears that the Strong family acquired "Killyfassey Manor", and retained ownership up until it was sold by a family member about 1975.    Killyfassey Manor, from a photo in the book, appears to have been a large, well built manor house, a cut above the usual home of the tenantry of much of rural Ireland in the 19th century.    One is led to believe, from the discussion in the Gordon/Strong Cavan Family book, that Killyfassey Manor was originally built by the Maxwell lords as a home during the 18th or early 19th century.

 

Turning to the copies of the c.1821 Tithe Appotment Records and of the c.1856-7 Griffith's Valuations for Killyfassey townland found in the book, it appears that NO Strongs resided in the townland during those dates.   This reinforces the thought that the Cavan Strong family probably bought Killyfassey Manor  and some of the townland circa 1875, and not before.   This in turn raises the question, "Where did these Strongs come from?".    In certain emails forwarded by other interested researchers  it appears that Killyfassey is fairly close to the townland of Tawlaght [various spellings], and that both townlands are in the parish of Ballymachugh.  

 

The foregoing is consistent with our speculation that various branches of the original Cavan Strong lineage descended from William Strong of Tawlaght spread throughout nearby townlands and gave rise to both the Killyfassy Strongs of County Cavan and the Strongs of Granard Parish, County Longford.

 

All of the foregoing tends to point us back to certain prior information made available to us by various researchers  in attempting to reconstruct a family tree and history of the Cavan Strong families.    It is left to the various interested researchers to work with the available prior emails and the accumulated data found at:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegalstrongs/cavan.htm

and

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegalstrongs/bmdindex.htm

to see if they can puzzle out the connectons between the various families in the lineage.   Please note, the cavan.htm page mentioned above will hopefully be updated soon, in the hope it may be more helpful.

 

Further, it would perhaps be useful to review the following webpage which was constructed some time ago from a query of the Land Registry documents indexed in the Data Base:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegalstrongs/regist~1.htm

If one scrolls down the page about 3/4 of the distance, one will come to a section entitled "Background and Discussion  of this data, and possible research uses:"     This section is commended for review.  Note also the links to some other related pages which  may be helpful. See especially 

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegalstrongs/regwil~1.htm

There are a couple of salient points here... one is that the Land Registry appears to hold copies of actual wills and probate instruments relating to certain properties... some of which MAY include Cavan; and 2ndly,   there appear to have been some land transfers between members of the Cavan Strong families which were  probably undertaken in order to effect land settlements within the family... and perhaps to settle estates.   It seems quite possible that such recorded instruments might flesh out the details of family descent at various stages... and be very helpful in genealogical research. 

 

USE Back Button to return to DNA Study Results page, or click: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegalstrongs/dnaresults.htm

 

And see: "Researching Strong/es in Britain and Ireland":

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegalstrongs/contents.htm