BACKGROUND

If you are a Devine who knows where your family came from in Ireland, you can help this study. If you are still searching for an ancestral place of origin, the study may help you. Our objective is to determine whether Devine families from known Irish localities are related, and if so, how closely. We initially test Y-chromosome DNA from Devine males at 37 markers.  When close matches are found, additional markers up to 67 or 111 ater tested to distinguish them further. Families are eligible to join if they bear any variation of the surname Devine, including Divine, Devin, Diven, Ó Duibhín, Ó Daimhín, Mac Dhuibhín, DeVine, DeWine, Davin, Dwane Duane, Devenney, and Divinney.

The actual test results for all our numbered DNA samples may be viewed using the Y-DNA Results tab, above, selecting "colorized" to accentuate the markers that differ from the values (called “modal values”) that occur most often within each group. The individual results, at up to 111 markers each, are grouped into clusters, some closely matching, others with more differences (greater Genetic Distances) separating them. "Genetic Distance" is the sum of the numerical differences at all the markers where a variance occurs between two individuals.

The clusters with most closely matching samples, like those in Clusters 1 and 3, are related closely enough to descend from a single male ancestor who used a Gaelic version of the Devine surname during the 800 to 1,000 years that hereditary surnames have been used in Ireland. Those clusters in turn have been divided into sub-clusters of men even more closely related, each having in common a Devine ancestor as recenty as the last three centuries.