McCubbin DNA Project and Genealogy News

• Report on the DNA Project by Ryan McCubbin of Gilmer, Texas
• USA McCubbin Family Synchronization by Ryan McCubbin of Gilmer, Texas

McCubbin History (Facts, Fictions and Fun Reading) 3

• The Tree at Wood’s End (excerpt from Rob McCubbin’s forthcoming book) (#03 DNA 4) by Rob McCubbin of Victoria, Australia
• The East Texas Oil Pirates #80 DNA 2 by Ryan McCubbin of Gilmer, Texas

McCubbin Family History Association News

• US DNA Coordinator – Ryan McCubbin (family #80 DNA group 2)
• Farewell to our co-founders Lorna McCubbin (family #45 DNA group 3), Penny McColm (family #02 DNA group 3)

Obituaries

Reginald Francis McCubbin 1919-2018

McCubbin DNA Project and Genealogy News

Report on the DNA Project, by Ryan McCubbin of Gilmer, Texas

Greetings McCubbins. Ryan McCubbin here, and I wanted to introduce myself as I am new to the FTDNA administrator role and want to give you a quick update on the McCubbin DNA project. My family hails from Northeast Texas and we are from the South Carolina-Arkansas branch of the John the Colonist line. I am 46 years old, happily married for 25 years to my wife Robin and am the proud father of three kids, a daughter age 17 and two sons, ages 15 and 19. I have a background in the natural and health sciences and have been fascinated by the growing connection between genealogy and genetics.

After finding the McCubbin Family History web page and reading about the DNA study, I decided to dive in and begin learning about genetic genealogy. It is a tremendous honor and privilege to be able to assist with the Project.

Regarding the McCubbin DNA Project, presently we have 98 participants. Through the amazing work that Lorna, Kathy, James, and others have put into the Project since its inception over a decade ago, there have been four principal DNA groups identified. DNA groups 1 and 3 consist of distinct branches of haplotype R-M269, DNA group 2 consists of haplotype I-M223, and DNA group 4 consists of haplotype I-M253. There are also small numbers of additional haplotypes recently identified. As far as any new changes coming with the Project, I expect just a few superficial tweaks. We now have an activity feed where Project members can post questions or discuss DNA and genealogy matters on the project home page. In the future, I would like to see the matches maps updated with correct locations of earliest known male ancestor information. This would give us a more comprehensive visual picture of the historical story being painted by the DNA results of our Project.

Help needed please!

The biggest news of the year regarding the McCubbin DNA Project is the challenging effect that GDPR is having on the genetic genealogy community. GDPR, in a nutshell, is a new set of mandated privacy regulations that were enacted this past May by the EU. These laws have affected the way companies like FTDNA store and allow public access to various kinds of private, personal data such as DNA results. In response to GDPR, FTDNA updated their terms of use and disclosures to their customers. Additionally, and more importantly, because of GDPR the various FTDNA projects must now require every participant of a DNA project to manually grant new project administrators one of three types of access- Advanced, Limited, or the default, Minimal. Minimal access essentially locks the administrators out of being able to compare matches between project members and group them accordingly. It is essential that either Limited, or preferably, Advanced access be granted to new project administrators by project participants. So, as a new project administrator I am presently blocked from being able to place group participants in their respective subgroups, and unfortunately this will continue until a certain quantity of project participants allow access to their DNA data. We have sent out an email communicating this change and our need for project participants to login and grant higher level access but we did not receive an overwhelming response. We plan to follow up with more communication. Those of you who have kits on file will soon be getting emails from us as we also attempt to verify valid email addresses and update last known paternal ancestor information.

I am confident we will be able to move forward and continue to leverage the power of DNA science and genetic genealogical technology to help us see the ties that bind us more clearly and peek even further into our past. I’m looking forward to us sharing more discoveries together.

Sincerely,
Ryan McCubbin
Volunteer FTDNA McCubbin DNA Project Administrator

USA McCubbin Family Synchronization, by Ryan McCubbin of Gilmer, Texas

Howdy Cubbies. Just a brief note here about one of the exciting new projects that the McCubbin Family History Association will be embarking upon soon.

We are going to begin construction and documentation of the US branch of the DNA group 2 line starting with John the Colonist and try to link all descendant branches.. We have had the opportunity to gather many resources over the years and are fortunate to be able to enlist the help of several veteran researchers, including Rick McCubbin of Kentucky.

As the tree widens and generations are added, we will begin soliciting help and assistance from those of you in the States and territories who hail from the US branch of DNA group 2. We are going to do our best at using available documentation and records and move methodically down the tree. This project will take several years, and in some regard will need to be perpetually updated, corrected when necessary, and maintained. So, be on the lookout for updates on the progress of this new initiative and future calls for assistance. Thank you,

-Ryan

McCubbin History (Facts, Fictions and Fun Reading) 

The Tree at Wood’s End (excerpt from Rob McCubbin’s forthcoming book) (#03 DNA 4), by Rob McCubbin of Victoria, Australia

[Rob McCubbin (family #03, DNA Group 4) has been using his family history as a basis for writing novels for many years, and his first book “Son of the Storm” was featured in our Cub Report in 2003.  15 years and 4 books later, Rob is currently working on his latest novel which he thinks will be called “The Tree at Wood’s End” and he hopes it will be out later next year. He has generously allowed us to include an excerpt of it here.  It gives the reader a flavour of what it was like for Scottish families to arrive to their new home in Australia, and the challenges they faced in settling in the new country.]

CHAPTER ONE

June 1857 – James could feel the dried salt gritty around his jacket collar as his hands gripped the worn mahogany railing of the “Sardinian”. They had encountered a squall an hour ago and everyone had been soaked in spray as they watched the rugged Victorian coastline open up to give them their first glimpse of a new life. The local pilot boat had swung alongside and the whiskery blue-clad pilot ran up the rope ladder, black briar clenched between his teeth. He strode along the scrubbed deck to the Captain standing near the wheel and saluted him as an old friend. The Sardinian was a regular visitor to the Victorian colony, coming from Liverpool about twice a year. Her captain probably could have steered safely through the heads into Port Philip Bay, but he admired the skill of the local guide and willingly shifted over to allow him command of the eleven hundred ton sailing ship. Most of her 450 passengers were milling about on the main deck, eager for fresh air and a look at their new country. Free settlers, men of position, tradespeople, farmers and Government-assisted migrants all searched for a glimpse of their goal, Melbourne Town, and all smelled the new odours of land, not sensed for many weeks. Most of them were assisted migrants who had been crammed into the holds for what seemed like forever. These ‘steerage passengers’ were jammed into a communal space, with six foot square shelves down each side of the hull. Each shelf slept four adults, thus called their ‘quarters’, with a bucket for slops at the end of each shelf. Here a family of two adults with four children could sleep on a whole shelf, the bairns head to foot. A smaller family or a couple would have to share their quarters with someone else. Privacy was unknown. Toileting was done in public and it was the responsibility of one person from each shelf to empty their bucket each morning. Food had become scarce as the voyage progressed. No vegetables or fruit, the staple diet being gruel with fish pieces in it. The luckier the fishermen were, the better everyone ate. But hand-fishing for over 400 souls was a tough job. And those nearest the hatch seemed to eat better than the ones at the furthest end. Such was the pecking order down below. However the thought of gold nuggets lying around in the new Colony just waiting to be picked up, kept them going… No wonder they crowded the deck each day to enjoy the fresh air and occasional bursts of sunshine while they could.

You can read more about Rob and his novels at his website: http://www.talespinnerbooks.com/index.shtml

The East Texas Oil Pirates #80 DNA 2, by Ryan McCubbin of Gilmer, Texas

During the summer of 2014 we planned a move from our suburban home into one into one in the country. As the title transactions promised to move quickly, my wife Robin and I secured a moving service. A few days before the move, the owner of the company came by one morning to assess our belongings and visit with my wife. The following afternoon I arrived home from work and Robin was waiting for me and grinning from ear to ear. “Boy, do I have a story for you” she said smiling. Robin gave me the run-down on her conversation with the owner of the moving company after learning her last name was McCubbin. ‘McCubbin huh,’ Robin began the story in the mover’s own words, ‘Stanley and Jack?’ Robin hesitated and complete with arm gesticulation, said ‘I didn’t tell them Feds nothin’!’

As the story went, the owner of the moving company, as a young man, had worked for my grandparents and had been subpoenaed to testify at a hearing in the early ‘60’s. The ensuing story was a memorable one that prompted some follow-up google searches and in turn, helped spark a genealogical research effort that continues to this day. While I knew my grandfather and his brother, both of whom had passed away years ago, were in the oil business at one time, I was stunned to learn that my grandfather, Stanley McCubbin, and his brother Arthur Elwood “Jack” McCubbin, were considered by law enforcement officers to be ringleaders of what was to become known as the “Great East Texas Hot Oil Scandal of 1962”.

My grandfather was James Stanley McCubbin (1910-1984) who was born in Paris, Arkansas. He was the oldest child of James Asa McCubbin, (1892-1961) also of Paris, Arkansas. Stanley had two brothers, John and Jack, and two sisters, Mary and Rebecca aka ‘Beena.’ The family’s exposure to the oilfield began early. As young siblings, Stanley, Jack, and the rest the family bounced around the fields of Oklahoma and Louisiana with their parents, Asa and Opal Marie. The East Texas Oil Field had been discovered in October of 1930 and the population of rural East Texas began to explode. The family’s arrival into Northeast Texas occurred during this time and as a group, they settled in the Kilgore and Liberty City areas of Gregg County, the oil epicenter of East Texas.

Stanley had married Mae Cook, of Plumerville, Arkansas and they welcomed the arrival of the first of four boys. Stanley was a welder by trade and began work at Kilgore Boiler Works, making equipment for refineries that were beginning to dot the landscape. Jack and Stanley’s entrance into the oil drilling business, or “wildcatting” as it was known at the time, came through Rexall Drilling Company, of Kilgore which was owned by Rex Stegall. Jack was a natural businessman who had remarkable talent for finding business opportunities and had little problem with risk. Stanley was far more reserved and conservative, but the brothers seemed to work well together, with Jack always leading.

The Texas Railroad Commission was tasked with oversight of the oil and gas industry and they had protocols and controls in place designed to discourage an oil crew from drilling in a manner that would tap into an already existing well on another lease. However, some local officials and regulators had been offered quid-pro-quo ‘interest’ in local oil wells by wildcatters and would be paid handsomely for their partnership in the venture. It was often understood that the regulators and contractors would help facilitate production of new production wells that just might be drilled at an angle that exceeded regulations, possibly tapping into an already existing well. Cashed flowed freely from drilling operators, to contractors and to local regulatory officials.

By the late 1950’s, it was rumored among the locals that slanted holes were being drilled in the East Texas Oil Patch, but the issue garnered little outside attention. Beginning in the early 60’s, an interesting alliance quickly formed as the well-funded major oil companies, in league with politicians who aspired to higher offices who were eager to make headlines of their own, began working in concert to scour the back roads of East Texas in search for suspected slanted wells. The Texas Rangers were called up to protect the new army of state investigators who were tasked with locating and shutting down the slanted wells and investigate corrupt officials.

Stanley McCubbin, 1955

An early search for more information on the Hot Oil Scandal let me to the online memoirs of one of our local retired Texas Rangers, Glen Elliot. In this interview Ranger Elliot noted that during this time in the early 60’s that every Ranger in Texas (which at the time was 62) had worked on the hot oil case in some form or fashion and that there were approximately 300 of these slanted holes operating at the beginning of the investigation. When asked about a ringleader of the operation, Ranger Elliot unhesitatingly fingered “Cadillac Jack” McCubbin, citing numerous slanted wells Jack was running at the time and Jacks aggressive and unabashed approach to business. Jack harbored a penchant for Cadillacs and would buy a new one every year, always with a red interior.

On September 10, 1962 the Texas Congressional House Investigative Committee held hearings in Dallas and subpoenaed Stanley, Jack, and Rex Stegall among others. All three men pled the 5th amendment during the hearings and refused to answer all questions except ones related to name and current address. The Committee asked Jack specifically about giving Railroad Commission Employees all-expense-paid trips to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Six weeks after the hearings, the State had filed 52 civil suits, six against Jack and three against Stanley. The State also indicted 17 people on criminal charges of theft, conspiracy to commit theft, bribery, and conspiracy to commit bribery. Jack was charged with three criminal counts, but the State failed to get a conviction. Only one person of the 17 that were indicted was ever convicted. Prosecutors quickly learned that local juries were sympathetic to local businessmen and leery of big oil corporations and zealous politicians. However, Jack was assessed a $53,000 civil penalty and Stanley was assessed a similar fine. The major oil companies had wanted to aggressively pursue the “Oil Pirates” as the media had branded the local wildcatters, but the companies were limited on how much they could expect to recoup in damages by law. As well, several of the independent drillers, including Jack and Stanley, filed countersuits against the major companies which provided the big companies an incentive to terminate further legal proceedings.

Growing up in close proximity to my grandparents, I never knew about the “Hot Oil Scandal.” My father was the youngest of Mae and Stanley’s four sons so by the time I was born, my grandfather was already 61 years old. I have extremely fond memories of Stanley and nothing made him happier than to be surrounded by his grandchildren. Both Jack and Stanley were men that loved their families and were well respected in the community. The discovery of the McCubbin-Hot Oil connection, while sensational, wasn’t entirely surprising. It is certainly a colorful saga in our family history.

-Ryan McCubbin

Jack (L) and Stanley (M) McCubbin with Ryan as a young boy.

McCubbin Family History Association News

US DNA Coordinator – Ryan McCubbin (family #80 DNA group 2)

Welcome to Ryan McCubbin*

Welcome to Ryan McCubbin who has taken a keen interest in the DNA project that we’ve been running since 2007.  It is clear that Ryan has a very clear grasp of the use of DNA studies in family histories and so, when Lorna announced her retirement, we were all hoping that Ryan would agree to step in and become the Group Administrator for the McCubbin DNA project.

We are delighted, and very grateful to Ryan for agreeing to lead this increasingly important part of our project.

Ryan is from the USA and can trace his family history back to John “the Colonist” McCubbin (family #80 DNA Group 2) and way beyond that, so Ryan has become somewhat of an expert in early McCubbins both in Scotland and in the USA. We are delighted to welcome him to the team.

(*not to be confused with Lorna’s grandson of the same name, who is a Cub Helper)

Farewell to our co-founders Lorna McCubbin (family #45 DNA group 3), Penny McColm (family #02 DNA group 3), by Kathy McCubbing

Many thanks and farewell to our co-founders Lorna McCubbin and Penny McColm.   It must have been almost 20 years ago when I linked up with Lorna when I was researching my family history.  I think we ‘met’ on a messageboard and Lorna was extremely helpful with giving me leads and suggestions. I had established that my family  had early links with Kirkbride Farm in Keir, Dumfriesshire and she encouraged me to send a letter to “The Farmer” at that address. I don’t know why, but I was a bit shy of doing that in those days, but her encouragement spurred me on and that was how I came to link up with long-lost cousins still in the area, and gain an avalanche of fascinating information about my family and the Dumfriesshire McCubbin(g)s in general. It probably wasn’t long after that when I became properly involved in the McCubbin Family History Association as the co-ordinator for Dumfriesshire, and my correspondence became more frequent with Lorna, and with Penny – because of the links of many Dumfriesshire McCubbin families in Australia.  I was in awe and extremely impressed with the work they had already done in establishing family branches and links with descendants in Scotland, Australia, Canada and more intriguing links with Hawaii and Bermuda, to name just a few. Before the internet, Lorna and Penny did paper research in their libraries in Canada and Australia, and Lorna hired researchers to review the records in Scotland. The project was registered with the Guild of One Name Studies, and the families which had been researched had been entered into a burgeoning database, and branches were given numbers to help identify them, and thus Lorna and Penny had laid the foundations for what has become a most amazing and comprehensive survey of McCubbins worldwide.

Lorna is a very forward-thinking person, and has always embraced new technologies.  When the internet came along she was pretty quick off the mark, I think, in setting up the first website and in making sure we knew where the newly emerging databases on the internet were… the internet was a new phenomenon in those days – they were exhilarating times when we were constantly finding new online records to mine, not least from the fabulous Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society who did so much work to transcribe memorial inscriptions from across that whole region.  We were very busy, and it was really exciting.

I have such fond memories of the correspondence I had with Lorna and Penny about the minutiae of family groups, and it was always a delight, of course, when we found that we could link up different numbered groups together by finding that essential record!!

And then DNA testing came along, and Lorna got us involved with that in 2007.  I have to admit that I wasn’t sure where it was going to take us, but it has been an amazing initiative which has led, so far, to the discovery of only 4 discrete DNA groups of McCubbins – that is, 4 distinct family groups who have no ‘blood’ relation to each other.  It also meant, of course, that as McCubbin men from the various branches became involved in that part of the project (restricted to men because the part of the DNA tested is on the Y chromosome), we were able to group together various branches knowing that they were related – we don’t know how they are related, but via DNA testing, we can be sure that they are, possibly from way back in the eons of time.  By 2011, Lorna had commissioned a new website which, apart from being better looking and more modern, enabled more and more of the information we had gathered to be uploaded and shared publicly.

While all this was going on we were still beavering away researching the various McCubbins, and with Cub Reports being published online from 2001 we had McCubbins contacting us from around the world seeking information and sharing their stories.  By reading those Cub Reports it’s astonishing to realise the extent and breadth of the research done and the McCubbin descendants we have linked up with from Scotland to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, USA, Hawaii, Bermuda, Ireland, Jamaica, Guyana and Peru… have I missed anywhere?!  Those descendants generously shared their tales and wonderful photos of their descendants and many of their stories were included in the Cub Reports – tales of McCubbins in war and peace time, the stories of their migrations, even tales of their criminality!

And this is all down to the efforts of Lorna, and her late husband Jim, who originally had the idea for the project, with Lorna sending hundreds of letters to McCubbins all over the world, their names having been gleaned from white pages .  Penny was one of the first to contact Lorna, who recalled “…it so happened that her daughter, son and granddaughter were coming to the Cayman Islands where I then lived. It was such a treat to meet kin we had never known about. And the fun began!!!!”

Lorna and Penny then formally founded the McCubbin Family History Association.  We should remember, too, Lynne McCubbin from Ayrshire, who was involved in the early days, and Rick in the USA who has been in touch with McCubbin families there.  We are all indebted to Lorna for getting the ball rolling, and to Penny for all the work she has done on the Australian front, and the legacy that they will leave McCubbins worldwide. For my part is has been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to have been asked to be a part of this and, although I have never met Lorna or Penny, I feel I know them – not just the ‘genie’ side (as we call it) but on a personal level.  Over the years we’ve shared a lot: joys and pleasures, and sadness and grief. I count them both as good friends and will miss them not being a part of the project anymore, but they certainly deserve their retirements and I wish them great happiness and pleasure in enjoying that time.

Obituaries 

Reginald Francis McCubbin 1919-2018

We were very sad to hear from Reginald McCubbin’s family in Australia that he died on 3 July 2018, aged 99 – he would have reached his centenary in February 2019!  We featured Reg in Cub Reports in 2013 and 2014 to tell about his remarkable and fascinating war service and experiences in the Pacific, which featured in the Fraser Coast Chronicle in 2012.

Our heartfelt sympathy and condolences are offered to his son, Trevor, who passed on this sad information and to the rest of his family in Queensland.

Reginald Frances McCubbin 1919 – 2018 A Tribute

(from the eulogy son, Trevor, gave at his Dad’s funeral)

Reg was born in 1919, 3 months after the finish of the First World War.  He was born into a world without electricity, telephones, radio, motor cars or aeroplanes. They did have kites with motors, and the few rich in the cities had cars and telephones, but not in Yuleba. The main form of transport was by horse.  The Cobb and Co coachers were still running – in fact the last one to run from Yuleba to Surat was in 1924.

His was a pioneer family, Reg being a fifth generation Australian.  James McCubbin (1810-1888), Reg’s great grandfather, came as a free settler in 1830 and married Christiana McIntyre who had come out to Australia with her family in 1837.  James’ history is recorded in a book called ‘Beyond the Black Stump’. The first settler in the Coolah district, he was quite an entrepreneur. He was the owner of hotels, slab huts with bark roofs, and held post office contracts in three towns, a blacksmith shop and cattle properties.  His daughter, Agnes, was Reg’s grandmother.

Reg’s first job was working for his father sinking dams. His father was born 25 years before Federation, in 1875, and worked as a contract carrier and dam sinker. One of the dams they built was still called ‘McCubbin’s Dam’ 70 years later!

Reg and his father, William McCubbin (1875-1943), used a small bucket/dredge pulled by 8 horses and cut down trees using an axe to sink the dams.  It took 3 months away from home living in the bush in a tent to dig a dam. The scoop used by Reg was later found on a trip he made with his son, Trevor, to a heritage village near Dalby in 2006 – the attendant there told them it was picked up in Yuleba! The photo shows Reg with the scoop he used to use.

The depression saw the family lose everything including their home.  Reg moved to Cracow in the late 30s to join his brother who had moved there earlier.  They worked in the gold mining industry. Son, Trevor, relates “they worked on their bellies down holes to dig out the quartz which held the gold.  They were paid so much a pound for what they took to the claim holder.”

In 1941 Reg joined the army as war had broken out and the Japanese had entered the war.  He was one of Sparrow force and we reported on his military service in the Cub Reports of 2013 and 2014: https://mccubbinhistory.info/2021/03/16/the-cub-report-2013/ and https://mccubbinhistory.info/2021/03/16/the-cub-report-2014/

Reg and Phyllis (nee Davis) married while he was on leave in 1944, and after only 2 weeks together he was posted overseas. Phyllis didn’t hear from him for 8 months. They were married for 74 years.

After leaving the army he worked at the Brisbane Mirror Co in Brisbane where they purchased a home.  In 1951 they moved with their young family to Chinchilla where Reg worked timber cutting in the sawmill there to get enough money to buy a farm.  They purchased a farm in Bidwell outside Maryborough.

The photo shows Reg and his workmate, Bill Clayton, from the sawmill, with Bill’s two girls. Bill sadly died just a couple of months after this photo was taken, having been crushed by a log in the sawmill.

The farm at Bidwell was a continuous struggle:  there was no electricity, just a long-drop toilet, no running hot water.  Heating was from a wood stove and lighting from pressure lights. Food was kept cold in a kero fridge.

The family lived through drought, and flood, and financial hardship.  They stayed at the farm for 10 years then had to sell out due to poor health.   But it wasn’t all work – they had plenty of friends, so it was cards night at different homes once a month, and the local dance at the Bidwell Magnolia hall where Reg sung all the old songs as he danced with all the ladies.  They had a lot of friends who all supported each other when anyone got into trouble.

Reg worked at Walkers Ltd until he retired in 1976, and Phyllis continued in Real estate, accumulating a small property portfolio. They lived in retirement at Lambert St, Maryborough for over 25 years.

After retiring from work they enjoyed travelling both in Australia and throughout Europe and America, including taking a number of cruises to the Pacific Islands, and the area north of Australia. They loved to play indoor bowls and were working members holding a number of positions organizing clubs and tournaments in the area.  Between travelling, playing and organizing indoor bowls, and managing their homes they had a very active and enjoyable retirement.

All the best for 2019!!

The MCFHA Committee, Chairperson of McCubbin Family History Association – Kathy McCubbing

Keeper of the Master Genealogist McCubbin database – Kathy McCubbing

Member – Guild of One Name Studies – Kathy forwards world queries to co-ordinators.

DNA Project Administrator – Admin – Ryan McCubbin and James H McCubbin – co-admin

Coordinators:  Ryan – USA; Kathy – rest of the world

MCFHA Sponsors – Lorna McCubbin & son, James H McCubbin

Facebook Administrator – James H McCubbin,

Co-Admin – Kathy McCubbing

Cub Helper – Ryan McCubbin

Click to whom you wish to email Kathy, James, Ryan.

To the many people who have contributed to the content of the CUB report, we say Thank You!

We are especially grateful to those of you who provided samples for the DNA project. It is providing a great insight into our past.

Contact us about any questions or queries about your McCubbin ancestors