Much has changed since the posting below. Through DNA analysis we have now a list of 2,191 possible living relatives, who may be descendants of a shared ancestor.  From this group we now have a better understanding of connections to potential ancestors going back to about the late 1700s. We have begun family history comparisons with the probable closest matches - 3rd to 10th cousins.   For more information on our findings and our research tools go to our research blog www.sintheta.org/mcgene/ . Our analysis was done by 23andMe.com and the DNA comparison with 560,000 potential others was done by GEDmatch.com .

Key Points: We are looking for the parents of our grand father, Francis "Frank" Freeman  McCallum, and living family too. Frank was likely born in 1891 or 92, probably in the United States and orphaned before he was 12.  He emigrated, that is walked, from North Dakota to Saskatchewan, Canada around 1902.  He died in 1956 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Much of the social information about him is unconfirmed.  Recent DNA analysis proves that McCallum could not have been the ancestral name.  

We don’t know when or where he was orphaned.  The story that family recall that he provided was that he worked on a farm in North Dakota, left and walked into Saskatchewan, Canada in his early teens, around 1902.  He then worked at Vanscoy near Saskatoon as a farm labourer for Charlie Benolken who had recently emigrated with several other relatives and family members from just west of Minneapolis.  Frank then acquired four parcels of land to farm and simultaneously operated a small general store from his farm, sold insurance and involved himself in other ventures.

Apparently he had a younger brother, name possibly John, who Frank last saw in North Dakota.  Later Frank tried finding him but was unsuccessful.  He remembered his father having red hair and his mother black hair.

Y-Chromosome Haplotype: E1b1b1c1a (E-M84) is a sub-clade of E1b1b1c1 (E-M34).   

The DNA analysis proves that our ancestral name is not McCallum.  The global McCallum Y-chromosome is group R; his was group E.  The McCallum name was adopted at some point.  Emigration or adoption would be events when that would occur.  There are all kinds of reasons why someone looking for a name would pick a specific name; but, “Frank McCallum”? Frank is not a typical Scottish name per se, particularly in that era since the name Frank apparently only came into use in the 1700s.  Today there are a number of Frank McCallum’s listed in a Google of today’s Glasgow.   The modern day geographical locations of the M84 haplotype are not yet meaningfully identified.  The earlier E1b1b1c group seems to have originated in or near to the Jordan Valley of the eastern Mediterranean.  However, distribution of the M34 haplotype also includes northern Spain and Portugal and through the coastal areas of the Mediterranean and into Anatolia and even north East Africa. Frank’s eldest son deduced from various indicators that Frank may have been Jewish. The haplotypes from E1b1b1c, although shared with Arabs and others is the second largest haplotype among Jews. Birth Date of Birth:     likely October 27, 1891 or 1892     Place of Birth:     possibly Wayne County, Michigan (cited in numerous homestead registrations and WWI sign-up documents); but could also be New York, Illinois, Detroit and Europe. Alternative McCallum Parentage Alternative McCallum Parentage – Alternative Names (from his 1919 Glasgow wedding certificate) Father: John McCallum, hotel proprietor Mother: Julia, maiden name Leggat Alternative McCallum Parentage – Immigrants 1892 Names: Frank McCallum Age 42 (nationality Canadian) & Mrs. McCallum Age 40 (nationality Irish) Both citizens of the USA. Arrived: Ellis Island, New York Sept 9 1892  from Liverpool Ship was: The City of New York    Of the 65 McCallums who landed at Ellis Island, New York between 1892 and 1924 only one was named Frank, arriving Sept 9 1892 who brought no children.   Coincidence? Quite possibly.  But consider the following: this Frank’s Nationality/Ethnicity is listed as Canada! Very odd. This Frank is also a Citizen of the United States and destination is “Ills” which I assume is an abbreviation for Illinois (Chicago?). Why would Canadian Frank be taking an Irish wife from Liverpool to live in the US instead of Canada? So what might be the relevance? •         They could have had a child after arriving in Illinois. •         They could have “adopted” a child, even one from the boat.  There were deaths during the voyage but I haven’t yet checked the other 1,740 passengers. •         Our “Frank’s” parent(s) could have met passenger Frank and his wife on the boat and then after landing taken on his name, and naming his son Frank as attribute or thank you.   For an eventual orphan Canada could also be a strong, attractive myth of “home”, strong enough to motivate a walk there when he could have walked in any other direction. Alternative McCallum Parentage (possibly grandparents)

Names Given To children that may be relevant hints: James, John, Francis, Merle, Neil, Effie. Reply to frankly7@z33z.com