Author:
John CLeveland, Jr.
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Date Posted: Wed, Jul 27 2005, 11:58:27
I am a descendant of the Southern branch of the Cleveland family from NW South Carolina (Oconee County). I'm sure you're aware that there are now several services offering Y-chromosome DNA testing for males. There are also a number of free databases that allow you to compare your DNA to others from around the world.
I had my Y-chromosome DNA analyzed by Family Tree DNA, the market leader in this technology. I have spent some time analyzing my DNA (i.e., the DNA of the Southern Cleveland paternal line) and discovered some very interesting results. First of all, we appear to be of the class R1b, which is found only in Europe. While R1b is found throughout Europe, its subclasses are not all so common. We fall into a subclass that is the 2nd most common DNA type in Ireland. It is also fairly common (though with lesser frequency) in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Spain, Northern Portugal, Belgium (Brussels) and Germany (Cologne). Elsewhere, it is not a significant percentage of teh population.
All of these regions have one thing in common: there were Celtic strongholds. Northern Spain/Portugal was the Celtic nation of Galitia, which even today has more in common with the Irish than the rest of Spain. Thus, our paternal ancestor was most liklely a native Celt of the British Isles. Historical records indicate that our family originated in York England, which was the center of a Danish (and some would argue also a Norwegian) viking settlement. However, our ancestor does not posses viking DNA. Nor did he possess saxon DNA (i.e., from Friesing and Northern Germany), although we are related more distantly to these peoples.
Note that this does not mean that there are not viking or saxon descendants in the global "Cleveland" family (i.e., those with the Cleveland surname). There very well could be. It simply means that OUR Southern Cleveland line descends from a Celt.
There are several ways this could have taken place. First, there could have been celts in York, England who adopted the surname cleveland based on their location. Second, and much more interestingly, we may truly have a connection with Oliver Cromwell. I won't repeat the details of Cromwell's history, since it is covered elsewhere on your website. The bottom line is that he is rumored to have had an illegitimate child with one Elizabeth Cleveland. According to the legend, the child kept his mother's surname. Colonel Benjamin Cleveland claimed to be a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell through this child. Unfortunately, I am aware of no undisputed hiostorical records to confirm this allegation. All we have is a book Col. Cleveland referred to with the illegitimate child as its subject.
We now have a wonderful opportunity to determine whether the legend is true of not, using indisputable scientific evidence. Because of teh relatively short period of time between Oliver Cromwell's day and the present, Southern Cleveland y-chromosome DNA should match the DNA of Cromwell's male descendants. If we can find a confirmed Cromwell grandson who is will to have his DNA tested for comparison to mine, we can settle this issue once and for all.
We need a direct descendant of Oliver because Cromwell was not actually his surname; it was an alias. Hence, we cannot merely compare data from members of the general Cromwell family per se. Cromwell's paternal grandfather was not English but Welsh (i.e., celtic). If Southern Cleveland DNA matches Oliver Cromwell's descendants DNA, it would mean that we are actually welsh and that our rightful surname is not even Cleveland. Unfortunately, because the ancient Welsh did not use surnames, it would be dirricult to determine our ancient name.
I would like to kindly ask that you post this letter on your website. If there is interest in DNA testing for the Cleveland family, we can start a a project at Family Tree DNA to make our data available to anyone interested in conducting genealogical research. All interested parties should contact me directly for details.
John Astor Cleveland, Jr., Ph.D., Esq.
email: jcleveland@lilly.com
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