Chapter 1: Introductions
Around 1739 – Braving the Atlantic
Around 1739 – Braving the Atlantic
Near the horizon we see a small wooden sailing vessel passing through St. George’s Channel past Ireland and Wales. It has just begun its journey, bringing goods and passengers to the new world. This vessel happens to have some very special passengers, specifically my sixth great grandparents, David Logan and (probably) his wife Jane Logan (nee McKinley).
Let’s take a moment to appreciate the bravery of our ancestors as they charge into an uncertain future. Make no mistake, this was both a harrowing and perilous journey. Thanks to disease, piracy, and malnutrition, not all passengers survived[1]. If you were lucky enough to make it to the new world you did so after dealing with rough seas, cramped accommodation, very basic food, and questionable sanitation.
David and Jane’s voyage is just the latest of the thousands of uncertain journeys taken by their ancestors. To better understand why they are willing to take this risk, we will turn our gaze to the even more distant past when Humans colonized our entire planet.
[1] Records for this time are incomplete so there is no way to calculate mortality rates, I have seen guesses as high as 10%
Chapter Two: From Africa to the British Isles
A beginning
Through Y-DNA geneticists have been able track all living men to a common ancestor, they have called the “Y-DNA Adam”. This man (or men) lived in Africa approximately 235,000 years ago and he is the ~9400th great grandfather of all living men. [1]
Adam’s descendants spent the next 75,000 years spreading across Africa. Then, approximately 60,000 years ago my ~2,400th great-grandfather (GGF) crossed a Landbridge from modern day Djibouti entering the Arabian Peninsula. This crossing marked the start of gobal human expansion. The speed was impressive, with Australia being settled within 5,000 years of this crossing.[i]
The spreading tribes
As the offspring of our ~2,400th GGF spread across the coast of the Arabian Peninsula and into present day Iran, they would have experienced a much different world than we did. Their coastlines are under water today which eased the journey In addition, in their time the Arabian Peninsula was green and filled with large land mammals.
Our ancestors continued along a north-east trek, following the coast, until approximately 45,000 years ago, that our ~1,800 GGF and his tribe entered modern-day India. For ~17,000 years they wandered around India and Asia until our ~1,000th GGF settled in the steps of Mongolia near the Southwestern tip of Lake Baikal. He or his descendants were part of Mal’ta culture.[ii]
The Mal’ta
Our ~1000’th GGF was an “Ancient North Eurasian” which is a genetic intermediate between modern Western Eurasians and Native Americans. To survive the long dry winters, he would have lived in houses made of mammoth bones that were covered in furs and partially sub-terranean. His people were artistic and spiritual as evidenced by figurines found in burial sites. They were big game hunters as evidenced by Mammoth bones and Reindeer antlers. [iii]
Side note, they also tested the “Mal’ta Boy’s” mtDNA and found that his maternal line was part of the “U” haplogroup[2]. This is especially exciting to me as in 1941, our grandfather John Logan married my grandmother Jeanne Smith who is a direct descendant of a woman in the U haplogroup who was living around that time. Given that there were only ~3m people living at that time, we can’t fully discount that John and Jeanne’s direct ancestor knew each other, and who knows, maybe they were a couple.
Ice’s influence
At around 20,000 before the present time our 800th GGF was in Eastern Kazakhstan. This was at the peak of the last ice age, with global temperatures 5 degrees centigrade colder than today.[iv] During this time much of North America and Eurasia (including the British Isles) was under thick ice sheets, cutting off the northern latitudes. This kept our next 400 generations around the Caspian Sea until the last ice age came to an end, 10,000 years ago.
At the end of the Neolithic period, ~4000 BCE, our ~215th great-grandfather entered central Europe. This was a time of advancement and culture. This is demonstrated with early art and the refinement of stone tools.[v] Then, around 2600 BCE our ~185th GGF entered the British Isles. He likely spoke the “Insular Celtic Language”.
A quick history of the British Isles
For the next 3000 years it will be very difficult to pinpoint the location and activities of our ancestors. Therefore, I would like to highlight a few key events in the Isles:
- 55 BCE – Julius Caesar invaded the British Isles, they never conquered Scotland.
- 245 CE – Saxons raid the southeast coast of England.
- 449 CE – Hengest – Saxon Leader, arrives in England.
- 793 CE – Viking raids begin.
- 843 CE – Birth of the kingdom of Scotland, uniting the Picts and the Scots.
- 878 CE – more Viking raids though the Vikings were defeated.
- 980 CE – for the next 100 years the Danish continued invading until Anglo-Saxon kings paid them for “security.”
- 1066 CE – William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at Hastings ending Anglo Saxon rule and creating a Norman regime.
- 1189 to 1241 CE – Robert Logan was the earliest known Logan in Scotland and was on many charters with key Scottish Magnates including Walter Stewart and Robert Bruce.[vi]
- 1183 to 1200 CE – Walter Logan was the earliest known Logan in Ireland. It is believed he was a prisoner in Carrickfergus castle in 1213 along with other supporters of Hugh de Lacy, the first Earl of Ulster Ireland.[vii]
[1] Assuming a new generation very 25 years. Note, Eve will be discussed in books 2 and 3.
[2] Every male has a separate yDNA and a mtDNA haplogroup. Women only have mtDNA haplogroups as they do not have yDNA
[i] The Journey of Man by Spencer Wells – pg 60
[ii] FamilyTreeDNA,” Your Globetreker report, for Sean Logan, discusses super haplogroup R (R-M207).
[iii] Mal’ta (ca. 20,000 B.C.) | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (metmuseum.org)
[iv] Climate .Gov, “What’s the coldest the Earth’s ever been?”, by Michon Scott, available online at: What’s the coldest the Earth’s ever been? | NOAA Climate.gov.
[v] FamilyTreeDNA,” Sean Logan’s Globetreker report, reporting on haplogroup R-M269.
[vi] “People of Medieval Scotland,” 1093 – 1371, Document 3/416/24 (Stevenson, Ills., no. 8), between 1189 & 1196, names: Roberto de Logan, witness, available online at: POMS: record.
[vii] “Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi,” Edited by Thoma Dusffus Hardy, Vol. I, frtom 1204 – 1224, (Printed under the command of His Majesty King William IV., 1833), pg 147.