Quote Originally Posted by CollinMacD View Post
I am in a very long line of MacDonald's, Clanranald, and of the Isles, both. Did the DNS with Clan Donald, and put in the olive/black group that is one of the oldest of the Highlanders, defiantly old very old, but NOT related to Sumerled. I am having a MacDonald of the Isle Kilt being made now, and plan to wear it proudly. FYI, ALL my MacDonald ancestors are from Knoydart, Keppock and Airsaig, as far back as I have been able to track, early 1500's. I HIGHLY recommend the Clan Donald DNA Test, as the research and results get better every year. Regarding the small "d" and large "D", many times the spelling was changed by Censes, Immigration and Government Clerks who sounded it out phonetically, and did not really adhere to what the spelling actually was. May there is something to the Isles or mainland, but I have seen MacD(d)onald spelled both ways interchangeably throughout generations, even in my own family.
Which DNA tests have you done so far? I've only done the Y-37 test, but I was told my results were strong enough to be put in the R1a red/black subgroup. I was told by the moderator that I am a descendant of Somerled and John, 1st Lord of the Isles. I want to do the Big Y test to see if I can get put in more specific sept of Macdonalds, but I'm waiting for a sale. Though I know that, I can only trace back my paper lineage to arrival in Canada in the early 1800's. My earliest traceable ancestor was a John Macdonald with his wife Margaret and 5 kids that were stated to have been from Inverness-shire (from their ship records), but I realize Invnerness-shire included most of the highlands and isles so I still don't know quite where they came from.

I'd love to compare notes with any other Macdonalds to find out if we share any ancestry.

Also my great-grandfather also used to say something about the lowercase "d" meaning something special and he was the only one in his family who made sure to keep is spelled that way. I'm still not quite sure if it means anything. I have seen it used interchangeably on census records, but those were usually written by someone else and perhaps the individual families kept it spelled a certain way in their own records on purpose. I do think that people generally do want to inflate their own personal family importance so it's hard to know if word of mouth really means anything.

-Warren Macdonald