The results finally came through on my upgraded DNA test. I had the test rerun to cover 37 genetic markers and yield comparisons which are much more sensitive. Comparing results with a known cousin, Jack Reily, I used the analytical company’s online engine to calculate some relatedness probabilities. Cousin Jack and I share a common ancestor, Samuel Reily, and I am Samuel’s 5th generation descendant. The tool from FTDNA calculated that there is a 76.99% probability that Jack and I share a common ancestor within the last 6 generations. The probability becomes 90% at 8- 9 generations and 99% at 14- 15 generations. There remains, however that 1% that we are not related at all… it is a statistical comparison, not an exact science.
Assuming that my lineage to Robert Reily is true for those 6 generations, I checked the comparison to Henry Burton. The calculator gave 26.94% probability of a common ancestor in the last 7 generations, i.e. back to Robert’s father. The probability becomes greater than 60% out at 9 generations, similar to my comparison to Cousin Jack (for which we have a paper- trail). That would be Robert’s great- grandfather or earlier. The probabilities of a common ancestor reach 90% at 13 generations. The 99% confidence is not reached until 19 generations back. Repeating the comparison for Charles Burton gave an identical result to that for Henry Burton.
Checking others, probability of a common ancestor withThomas Burton is greater than 60% at 8 generations (Robert Reily’s grandfather) and 90% at 13 generations; the result for Arthur Burton is similar. The probability of relatedness is considerably less for Robert Burton, 60% at 10 generations and 90% at 17 generations.
In order to interpret these results in terms that are more meaningful to me, I transformed the number of generations from the calculator to a timeline format and related that to real- world events. Average generational times range about 20- 35 years according to an article on Rootsweb (
http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/GENEALOGY-DNA/2001-11/1005833169). I calculated and rounded- off time periods from the calculator, counting back from Robert Reily’s birth date (estimated at about 1735- 1740). A Potential link to the Burton family might be found in the Plantation of Ulster, a planned settlement, mostly Scotts, in northern Ireland following the “Flight of the Earls” in 1607. Another influx of Scots came to Ireland, fleeing a famine, in the 1690’s. The Scottish immigration to Ulster could well include members of the Burton family.
Seven generations back to Robert Reily’s grandfather would calculate to about 1670- 1700. That was a very turbulent period in Ireland, a time of civil wars, land confiscation, and the atrocities of Oliver Cromwell. Nine generations back would be Robert Reily’s great- grandfather, about the years 1630- 1680, and that would have been during a terrible time of unrest, eleven years of warfare, beginning with the rebellion of 1641, rebellion against the English Parliament and Scottish Covenanters, massacres of protestant settlers (10,000 to 15,000 protestant planters were murdered), and near- anarchy in Ireland. In such an environment, members of a Scottish family named Burton might feel compelled to change their name to a more “Irish” one, yet spiting their oppressors by adopting an English spelling like “Reily”. Also one could reasonably surmise that there would be ample numbers of orphans who could have an informal name change; rapes could beget children without a patrilineal surname.
The common Reily/ Burton ancestor could, of course, have been much earlier. Reaching the 99% confidence level, at 19 generations, one could suppose a common ancestor as early as 1100- 1400. That period includes the Norman invasion through the Gaelic resurgence, and also includes the time of the bubonic plague which reached Ireland in 1348.
Brian Boru defeated The Vikings at Clontarf in 1014. I think I read that the original Raghallaigh, progenitor of the O’Reilly line, was said to be a bastard child of Brian Boru, the high king. One could surmise that Brian may have likewise sired a “Burton” lineage. Perhaps, too, Ralghallaigh could have left male descendants named “Burton”. Or it could work the other way, with a Burton leaving "Reily" decendants. In Europe, surnames first came into use in the 12th century and it took several centuries for surnames to become essentially universal. Since that is within the time- frame calculated for relatedness in our Reily/ Burton DNA- test results, the divergence of a single lineage into Reily and Burton branches, could simply be that, at some point, one son chose one name and another son chose the other. That is not an unfamiliar occurrence, either. Slaves freed by the civil war typically had only a first name and there was no law or custom as to how a surname should be determined. The plantation owner’s name was often taken. However, just as often, it was not, and the slave chose a name that sounded good or the name of someone they admired. One encounters many former slaves with surnames matching U. S. Presidents, for example.
It is very interesting to study historical timelines and draw speculative scenarios. However, it would be more productive to acknowledge that the Reily/ Burton link could be far back, and review the more likely possibilities in later times.
I doubt that Robert Reily was the Burton link. He was obviously not an impoverished street- urchin and he knew how to manage his affairs and build a plantation. Robert was upstanding enough to serve in the militia, to receive land grants, to be involved in civil matters. Records refer to Robert as a yeoman (a small- landowner). His petitions for land did not state that he was “a poor protestant”, nor did he ask for “the bounty”. Those facts lead me to wonder whether Robert may have lived in another of the colonies before moving to South Carolina. Family Bibles say he was born in Ireland. Perhaps he immigrated with his parents to Pennsylvania or Virginia and traveled down the Great Wagon Road to seek his fortune in South Carolina when primogeniture left the family estate to an older brother. If Robert Reily was born in Ireland at a time when the Burton family was already well established in America, it would be well to study emigration of the Burton family and the time they moved from Ireland to America and possible connections dating from that period. Relating that information to the common ancestor probabilities from the DNA tests, may suggest Burton/ Reily connections in Ireland.
