Ancestry Message Boards - Message [ Sephardim and Sephardic Judaism ]

"A Priestly Clan in Scotland, Ireland…and Tennessee

We are confronted here with a Scottish “clan” that carried its knowledge of Jewishness from Scotland and Ireland to the Appalachians, where they became grouped together with Melungeons. While strictly not part of the Melungeon DNA project, the Cowan Surname Project participants were happy to make available their results. Promisingly, the Alabama branch of Clan Cowan emblazoned a Torah scroll on their Web page. To date, nearly 20 Cowan surname bearers have been tested. They may be divided into 6 haplotypes, of which Cowan IVa is the modal haplotype, representing 6 out of 19, or about one-third of the donors (see Fig.). With the exception of Cowan I and II, all the others are at one or two removes from each other. "