BENBOW, BEMBOW, BENBO, BEMBO, BENBOWE, BEMBOWE, BENDBOW, BENDBOUGH, & OTHER VARIATIONS. The purpose of this project is to help establish connections between different branches of the family and to supplement the findings of traditional research methodology.

This surname is one which is considered to be Middle English, and branches of the family have spread to Wales, Ireland, and Scotland - as well as many countries overseas - in the years since the first documented occurrence of the surname.

We have project participants from the United States, Canada, England, Wales, and the European mainland; and we are making progress in forming different groups with shared ancestry.

THIS PROJECT IS A SURNAME OR Y-DNA PROJECT! Only males have Y-chromosomes. If you are female, you can have a male relative who fits the criteria for unbroken-male-surname-line submit a sample for your line.

Any mt-DNA or other-surname Y-DNA results will be irrelevant to the project surnames.

There is no reason for an atDNA or Family Finder test subject to join. The site software is not designed to display your results and matches.

Unfortunately, the recent TV shows on genealogy talk about "DNA tests" without telling viewers anything about the three different types and how they may -- and may not -- be used. There is no benefit in joining a surname project that represents one of your ancestral surnames UNLESS you are an unbroken-biological-male-line descendant.

There are Y-DNA and mtDNA projects, and even some atDNA projects. Please look for the appropriate ones, if you are not appropriate for this particular project.

At present, I am requiring that you contact me before receiving an authorization to join the project. This is to ensure the privacy of study members. It would be helpful to me if you could give me a detailed statement as to why you want to join our project. For those who want to keep their family history to themselves - and I respect that - it will still cost the usual fee to order the tests. For those who are willing to share a detailed family history, and for those whose family history indicates a branch of the family that I would particularly like to include in our study, then I may offer sponsorship for all or part of the test. I will require that information before paying for the test, as the results will not be useful to me without a family lineage to go with it. If you have any questions, you may contact me for a further discussion of options.