Cleary, John

Description

Genetic genealogist. Accepts unknown parentage cases.
Speaker, lecturer, writer on using DNA in ancestral research. Offers consultation on genetic genealogy projects.

Contributing author to DNA: A Guide for Family Historians [Revised Ed.], ed. Graham Holton (Pen & Sword Books, 2025)

Activities planned for 2026:

I am speaking at the Register of Qualified Genealogists Conference 2026, at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, Birmingham, on Saturday 25th April 2026, on Who drew that tree? A Regency family tree mystery.

In March, I am delighted to have been invited to present again in Family Tree Magazine‘s annual DNA Discoveries (online), offering a two-part exploration of A Tour of Y DNA, on 12th and 19th March 2026. Further information at DNA Discoveries

And in June, there is the exciting Strathclyde University Genealogy Conference Beyond the Family Tree: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on AI, DNA, Education and Community in Genealogy in Glasgow. I will give my talk Resolving an NPE in an early 19th century Pennsylvania settler community using BanyanDNA on Thur 25th June, 2026.

Recent articles:

Here is my two-part study of the genealogy and origins of the Gordon Cumming family of Altyre, Moray, published in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (PSAS) in 2022-2023. These are now available via open access links below, and the accepted versions (minus typesetting and copyright illustrations) can also be found here https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/en/persons/john-cleary

• The Cummings of Altyre and the search for an ancient genealogy: ‘It hath been the unvaried tradition of the country’. PSAS 151: 235-56 [open access]
• The Cummings of Altyre and the search for an ancient genealogy, part 2: ‘Truth has here lain in the bottom of a well’. PSAS 152: 217-39 [open access]

Selection of talks:

• BanyanDNA: a power tool for knocking through brick walls? The East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference (online), 14th September 2025.
• Discover ™: New reference tree suite for Y and mtDNA at FamilyTreeDNA and Relationship Modelling: using WATO and BanyanDNA to build hypothetical cluster trees. Guild for One Name Studies DNA Seminar, Oadby, Leicestershire, 18th Oct 2025.
• Solving genealogical problems with BanyanDNA. DNA Discoveries / Family Tree Magazine, 24 March 2025.
• Y DNA Masterclass. Family Tree Magazine, 20th & 27th Feb 2025.
• Family papers of the Cummings of Altyre: curating the family and family history. Family Archives and their Afterlives, 1400-present, University of Birmingham, 27th-28th June 2023.
• From ‘overmighty subjects’ to chiefs of the clan: revisiting the Comyn revival in Moray after 1360. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Conference, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 2nd-3rd September 2022.
• Y DNA for investigating surnames. Guild for One Name Studies DNA Seminar, Oadby, Leicestershire, 14th May 2022.
• Tools for Y DNA and surname projects (talk) and participant in the Panel Discussion on Ethics in DNA Testing at RootsTech London, 24th-25th Oct 2019.
• The Isaac Cummings Y DNA Project. Invited seminar to the Isaac Cummings Family Association, Salem, Mass. 13th July 2019.
• The Red Comyn’s bones? Ancient DNA & identifying the remains of historical people.  Invited talk to the Medieval Bruce Heritage Trust, Dumfries, 23rd Nov 2018.
• Hidden in plain sight: An Irish informer in 19th century London. Talk at ‘Secret Lives’ conference, Hinckley, Leics, 1st Sept 2018.
• The Kemp Story: reconstructing the history of an Ulster family. Presentation at Back to Our Past, Belfast, 16th Feb 2018.
• What became of the Dunbar Prisoners? Using DNA to investigate the early modern genealogical origins of living people.  Talk at Origins and Evolution, the 32nd International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences.  Trades Hall, Glasgow, 10th Aug 2016.