PENN is one of the most storied surnames in the history of the United States, after William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. The name originates primarily in England, where variant forms of the name were PENNE and PEN. There may be unrelated Penn ancestral lineages (that's one of the things we're trying to see). Many Penn descendants in the United States arise from two distinct branches that settled in colonial Maryland and Virginia by 1695.

This purpose of this project is to study the surname PENN, both in Y-DNA (male patrilineal line) and autosomal DNA (all the non-sex chromosomes). This means that the project is open to both men and women, within the guidelines below.

Y-DNA

To participate in the Y-DNA component of the Penn surname project, you should be a man with the surname PENN, or otherwise have close Y-DNA matches with other Penn men, on a test of 37 markers or more, such that you believe your patrilineal ancestry may follow the Penn line. You should have ordered or conducted a Family Tree DNA Y-DNA test. Please enter your most distant known paternal ancestor in the genealogy section of your account settings, so I know who a little bit about where to place you.

Autosomal DNA (Family Finder)

To participate in the Family Finder component of the Penn surname project, you should be a male or female who has ordered or conducted a Family Finder test. You should be of the surname Penn or have known or suspected Penn ancestry within five or six generations. Please post a family tree indicating your connection to the Penns.

About the Project Administrator

My name is Joseph T. Richardson, and I also a co-administrator on the Dutton surname project and the Hogan Family Finder project. I do not have known Penn ancestry — though I suspect that I might have. My personal interest and connection to the family comes through my Dutton family, who hailed from Charles County, Maryland, in the late 1600s. In the same county were a family of Penns, and the Duttons had numerous interactions and intermarriages with them. My ancestor Zachariah Dutton, whose parentage is unknown, had a relationship of some sort with Stephen Penn (1760-1839), whose parentage is likewise unknown. Both men originated in Charles County, Maryland, both men migrated to North Carolina, and both men's descendants migrated on to Lawrence and Morgan counties, Alabama, where Stephen Penn himself died. I would like to determine Stephen Penn's paternal ancestry and through DNA uncover the connection between these families.