Background

PROJECT BACKGROUND: The Towey Surname Project is closely associated with the Towey Clan of Ireland. The Towey Clan was organized in the year 2000, and it held reunions in 2001 and 2004. Another reunion will be held in our home town of Ballaghaderreen on 10-12 August 2007. The Toweys (and alternate spellings) have various traditions of their origins, which typically claim settlement during the 17th century in the area where counties Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo meet. Their earlier origins may have been from counties Cork, Galway and/or Tyrone. The conditions of history make it difficult to separate fact and fable for those earlier times, and in the 19th and 20th centuries the ancestors of many of our ancestors were prompted by economic conditions to seek better lives in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. So now we seek help from our various cousins at home and around the world to clarify the origins of our ancestors by genetic testing. Were we one or several peoples brought together by Ireland’s troubled history? What were our family experiences in Ireland, and who and where are our relatives?