Haplogroup I McManuses

THE HAPLOGROUP I McMANUSES
Researched and written by Dean McManus

The Haplogroup I McManuses have a Scandinavian origin rather than the Gaelic origin of the two main McManus families of Ireland (Haplogroup R). The name “MacManus” could appear in any Scandinavian family tree whenever a son of a “Magnus” (a common Scandinavian given name) created a surname as the “son of Magnus.” In Irish form this would be “Mac Magnus” (MacManus) with no implication of Irish heritage even though it is an Irish name. There were at least six possible groups to carry the Hg I to Ireland.

The obvious carrier group was the Vikings, Norse and Danish of the 8^th to 10^th century. They plundered widely but settled in the coastal towns of Dublin, Waterford, Wicklow, Cork, and Limerick. However, not all Viking descendants possess Hg I, and not all possessors of Hg I are of Viking descent. Accompanying the Norse Vikings to Ireland were the Gall-Gaidel, a Norse-Gaelic people from the Hebrides and southwestern Scotland that are variously identified but usually deemed of mixed Norse and Gaelic descent. The Norse part could carry the Hg I.

The second group was the mercenaries hired from these same Norse-Gaelic people by Irish chieftains from at least the 12^th century to the beginning of the 17^th century. In 1290 the Irish annals first mention the beginning of their mass arrival to Ireland as the Galloglass mercenaries. They were hired by the Irish chieftains for defense against the conquering Normans. They were paid in land and remained in Ireland. We have the names of Norse-Scot clans who were imported.[1] Prominent with the O’Connors in Connacht, site of the later Roscommon McManuses, were the MacDonalds and the MacSweeneys with the MacSheehys, MacDowells, and MacRorys. Prominent with the Maguires of Fermanagh, site of the later McManuses, were the MacCabes with the MacMahons, MacDonalds, and MacSheehys. Some of these Scot clans contain a variety of surnames and haplogroups. Some include Hg I. By remaining in these regions of Ireland the Galloglass likely intermarried with the O’Connors, Maguires, McManuses, and other Gaelic families.

The third group was the Clan Donald (MacDonalds) who settled in Co. Antrim in 1399. The fourth group was the New Scots (Redshanks) that came as mercenaries to help the Irish, especially in Ulster, defend against the English. They were from the same Norse-Scot clans as the Galloglass but were paid in money, not land, and left for home after their term was up. The fifth group was the Lowland Scots that came to the private plantations of Co. Antrim and Co. Down, to be followed into the 18^th century by the mass migration of the sixth group, the Lowland Scots and English of the Ulster Plantation, whom we know as the Ulster Scots or Scotch-Irish.

Except for the sixth group, which might have included people with the surname McManus, these immigrants to Ireland likely arrived either under a surname other than McManus or under a patronymic name. The surname McManus could have been taken from a wife who was a McManus woman. Or a patronymic “son of Magnus” son of Olaf son of Ivar simply created the McManus surname as did a “son of Magnus” in each of the two Gaelic McManus families.