The Dorling One-Name Study.

The Dorling surname originates in East Anglia.  In 1881 535 Dorlings are recorded as living in England. 48% were living in Suffolk, 24% in London, 7% in Essex, 5% in Norfolk and 4% in Yorkshire.  14 other English counties had less than 10 Dorlings each in 1881.    

The Dorling one-name study started in 1984, when there were approximately 400 Dorling families in the UK telephone directories.  Most of these Dorlings were contacted and there was a good response rate which yielded a lot of useful and interesting information.  Using this information and historical records of census returns and birth, marriage and death records, it became possible to construct family trees for most Dorlings in the 1800s.  Information about the Dorling one-name study can be found at  The Guild of One Name Studies website or by contacting me.   

The study's research suggested that the Dorling surname originated from the surname De Dalling and Dalling which was found mainly in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Suffolk, UK, with a small number in Cambridgeshire, Devon, Kent and London UK.  Over the 1600s the name became more common in Suffolk than the nearby counties and began to be spelt as Dawling, Dauling, and eventually most often as Dorling.  Numbers of Dorlings are small - 606 in the UK Register for 1939, including some married women whose maiden names were Dorling. 

By 2006 The one-name study had identified 7 main branches with identified founding couples, and most present day Dorlings are likely to be able to trace their ancestry to one of these branches and the founding couple.  The DNA project was started to find out if there was a link between the branches.   As at 2017 there is a longer list of Dorling branches which can be seen in the recently updated "News" section of the website.

The Main Dorling Branches in 2006 were:

• The Bury St Edmunds branch originating with James Dorling d. 1722 and Margaret nee Holmes who married in Bury St Edmunds.  he had previously lived in Sudbury, Suffolk with his first wife Ann. 

• West Stow branch originating with Samuel Dorling & Mary nee Scarrow, married 1745 Freckenham, Suffolk, UK

• The Herringswell / Barton Mills Branch are descended from Samuel Dorling who married Abigail Rumbelow in Herringswell, Suffolk, UK in 1729.  

• The Dennington / Epson branch is believed to be descended from John Dorling (b. approx 1660s) who married Margaret.  Their children were baptised between 1694-1716 in Dennington, Suffolk, UK.  

• The Bacton branch is descended from John Dorling, born around 1762, who married Elizabeth seargeant / Sturgeon in 1787 in Bacton, Suffolk, UK.  

• The Nacton branch originating with John Dorling who married Ann Capon in 1785 in Nacton, Suffolk, UK.  John likely to be baptised 1765 the son of William Dorling & Susan nee Stearman. 
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• The Bedfield branches - one originating with William Dorling & Sarah Bolton, married 1742 Bedfield and one originating from George Legate Dorling baptised 1763 Bedfield, son of Anne Dorling.  it seems likely these Bedfield branches are related but as yet there is no proof of this.  It is possible that William of Bedfield is the William baptised at Dennington 1714.
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• The Framsden branch is a small branch originating with Robert Dorling born between 1775 and 1780.  This branch could well be connected to one of the other branches - YDNA testing could confirm this.
  
  

Dec 2017 - there were just under 700 male Dorlings born in England between 1851 and 1911, they came from the branches as follows:   
Herringswell / Barton Mills - 21%, 
Bacton - 20%, West Stow - 16%, 
Bury St Edmunds - 10%, 
Bedfield - 6.5%,
Nacton - 4.5%,
Washbrook - 3.5%,
Dennington - 2%,
Framsden - 2%,  
Moulton 0.6%, 
Hadliegh 0.5%,
Waldingfield - 0.5%.  

At Dec 2017 13% of males born 1851-1911 were not yet placed in a branch, of which about 9% died in infancy with branch unknown.  Update: I am currently working on that 13% and have now been able to place 5 more Dorlings in a branch. 

The Dorling DNA Project

The aim of the YDNA Project was to find out if the different branches of the Dorling family were related to each other.  The original Dorling DNA Project started with DNA Heritage in 2005 and used 43 markers. 9 participants representing 6 branches were YDNA tested, but more follwed.   DNA Heritage ceased operating and the DorlingDNA project transferred to FTDNA in 2011.  All results, except the Epsom/Dennington branch, were transferred to FTDNA and all of these have now been upgraded to a higher level.

Two distant cousins, descendants from each branch, were needed to match to confirm the DNA signature of each branch and this has been done for all the branches tested except the Dennington / Epsom branch.  Two matching results from each branch confirmed the DNA signature of the branch enabling us to see if any of the Dorling branches were related to each other.

Results: the Y DNA of the following 5 Dorling branches has been identified with 2 distant descendants from each branch have matching results:-

Bury St Edmunds (BSE) Dorlings,
West Stow Dorlings,
Nacton/Easton Dorlings,
Barton Mills/Herringswell Dorlings  
Bacton Dorlings.  

To date we have only 1 DNA sample from the Dennington/Epsom Dorlings and none from the small Framsden branch. 
Update: we now have a Fransden volunteer and hopefully his sample will reach FTDNA in 2018.

All the YDNA results have been submitted to the East Anglian DNA project and to YSearch.

Unfortunately the Epsom / Dennington results have not been transferred to FTDA but are available to compare if anyone from that branch is tested in the future.  They are also on the Ysearch database.

New project members are very welcome, especially for branches without 2 descendants already tested.  Anyone joining and taking a YDNA test should test for a minimum of 37 markers, but ideally 67 markers.

YDNA Results

• The West Stow and BSE branch results show that these 2 branches are related through a common ancestor, but who or when they lived is not yet known. They are from the haplogroup R1b which is common in Western Europe.  This branch's DNA was interesting in that it was possible to observe two mutations in the YDNA over time which passed down through different generations of the family

•  The Barton Mills / Herringswell branches were shown by the DNA results to be related, and once that was known, the common ancestor was found through genealogical research.   This branches Y DNA is from the I1b1a haplogroup which is rare in the UK.    David Weston of the East Anglian DNA Project says: "My guess is that Chris's deep ancestry is Ancient Briton, with his line having arrived with the migration north out of the Iberian peninsula following the end of the last ice age.  His ancestors could have arrived with the Romans or Normans as well."  

• The 2 Bacton branch DNA results are in the J2 haplogroup which is rare in the UK and does not match any other Dorling results.  

• The one Dennington branch DNA result does not match any of the other Dorling DNA sequences.  It is part of the common European haplogroup R1b.  Another male descendent needs to be tested to confirm the DNA signature of this branch.  

• No-one from the small Framsden branch has been tested but hopefully we may have results from this branch in 2018.

• The main Bedfield branch descends from a female Dorling, Ann, whose son George Legate Dorling was born in Bedfield in 1762.    Therefore the male Y DNA in this branch will not likely to be from a Dorling.  It is possible that it is from a male with the surname Legate or a surname variation such as Leggat.  There is now a Leggett DNA Project so if any male Bedfield descendants would like to be tested to see if they match the Leggetts please join the Dorling DNA Project to be tested and we will compare your results with the Leggetts tested so far.

• The smaller bedfield branch does not appear to have any present day male Dorling descendants, although it is possible that the Doiley branch of Hollesley and Alderton may be descended from the Bedfield Dorlings - but to date, no-one has been found in this branch to take the YDNA test.

Autosomal tests.
These are the DNA tests available at FTDN (Family Finder test), Ancestry, My Heritage, 23 and Me, Living DNA, and other companies.  The Dorling DNA Project is now open to anyone who has Dorling ancestors and who has taken a DNA test. Autosomal tests can confirm genealogical research and help break down the "brick walls" in the genealogical research and are especially helful for identifying people with shared ancestors up to 5-7 generations back.    I can order Family Finder DNA tests through the Guild of One Name Studies at a discounted price.   See the "News" for Family Finder members and results.