About us
A new Harwood-surname Y-DNA tester can now test and match against 30 y-testing Harwood-surname members in our Harwood Family History DNA Study, including eighteen unrelated Harwood family y-dna profiles, spread across fourteen different subgroups, including a remotes subgroup. We also have a number of other different Horwood, Harrod, and other Harwood-variant surname testers, profiles, and subgroups, for a total of five different haplogroups. We now have three tests from Harwoods born in Sussex and Lincolnshire, England. So a test from your Harwood family line would have an excellent chance of finding matches -- both right now plus more in the future -- in the British Isles, Australia, America, and Europe. Please come on in, join our Harwood testers and researchers, and help us build an informative, productive and detailed Harwood Family History DNA Study.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 1: Our first Harred tester has tested out as our first R1a1. His predicted haplogroup is R1a1-English to a 100% probability, and he has accordingly been placed in his own subgroup R1a1-English Harred.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 2: Our first Harwood tester reportedly tracing back to the BEDFORDSHIRE-MARYLAND line of RICHARD HARWOOD in Anne Arundel Co., MD, has tested R1b1b2 on 67 markers.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 3: OUR FIRST ENGLISH HARWOOD TESTER BORN IN LINCOLNSHIRE HAS MATCHED OUR SECOND ENGLISH HARWOOD TESTER BORN IN LINCOLNSHIRE on 67/67 markers -- R1b1. Our second tester traces his Harwood family traces back to the marriage of GULIULMUS (WILLIAM) HARWOOD and ANNA WRIGHT in Irnham in 1617. Neither of these two Harwood families were previously aware of being related to the other. We need a third and preferably a fourth Harwood test from different Harwood families in different parts of Lincolnshire and not known to be related to the other testing families to provide additional confirmation on whether we have defined a dominant Lincolnshire Harwood profile as R1b1c.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 4: OUR FIRST ENGLISH HARWOOD TESTER BORN IN SUSSEX HAS POSTED 67-MARKER RESULTS AS AN I1A (POSSIBLE VIKING / SCANDINAVIAN). His test gives our first indication that the POCKET OF HARWOODS OBSERVED IN SUSSEX ON THE CENSUS IN 1891 AND 1841 MIGHT HAVE BEEN I1A. Another Sussex Harwood tester is needed for confirmation of the possible dominant Sussex Harwood family profile as I1a.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 5: Our most recent Harwood tester on a line tracing back to Clearfield Co., Pennsylvania, in the 1880's has posted R1b1c results with no matches yet.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 6: One recent Harwood tester in California has posted results as R1b1c and Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype (WAMH) -- the most common haplotype of Europe's most common haplogroup. This tester's father was born in Kent on a line going back to Middlesex, England in 1866. Intriguingly, his nearest tester cousin is our Belgian Henriet tester, and they share a Most Recent Common Ancestor within the last 725 years to a 52% probability according to their recalculated TiP report.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 7: TWO TOTALLY UNRELATED SUBGROUPS -- I1a-Thurlby A and E3b-Thurlby B -- BOTH HAVE MEMBERS THAT TRACE BACK ON THEIR PAPER-RECORD CHAINS TO THE SAME WILLIAM HAREWOOD, SR. OF THURLBY, LINCOLNSHIRE, who died in 1568/9.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 8: A THIRD THURLBY TRACER ON A DIFFERENT LINE HAS NOW POSTED I1A RESULTS, BUT HE IS ONLY REMOTELY RELATED TO OUR OTHER I1A THURLBY TRACER. He has only a 54% probability of sharing a Most Recent Common Ancestor with our other Thurlby tracer within the last 32 generations -- very roughly, about 800 years. He has only a 4% probability of sharing a Most Recent Common Ancestor with our other I1a Thurlby tracer within the last 20 generations -- roughly, about 500 years.
Consequently, we now have THREE SEPARATE LINES THAT ALL CLAIM LINEAGE TRACING DOWN FROM WILLIAM HAREWOOD, SR. OF THURLBY, AND YET NONE OF THEM IS RELATED TO ANY OTHER WITHIN THE LAST 500 YEARS. We are now working to develop other Harwood tests that will prove which one of these three lineage claims might be correct. Interestingly, both of our unrelated I1a Thurlby tracers can document their lines convincingly back to early Virginia.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 9: A descendant of the SURREY-CONCORD LINE OF NATHANIEL HARWOOD tested J2 Haplogroup, as confirmed by the SNP-Backbone test. A second tester is needed on this line to verify the profile.
BIG NEWS ITEMS # 12: Our Michigan Harwood tester tracing back to WILLIAM SAMUEL HARWOOD, born 1794 in Rowan Co. NC, has tested R1b1c -- WAMH.
OUR PLAN is to identify and email known researchers and members of Harwood lines not already represented in the study, and ask them to consider participating. We have put notices concerning the Harwood Y-DNA study on GenForum, RootsWeb, and other internet sites, inviting Harwoods of different lines to submit a test, and will continue to post more notices and invitations on the internet from time to time.
If you are from a Harwood line that is not yet represented by two confirming tests in our study, please consider submitting a test, or recruiting a second test (ideally through a different son of the Earliest Known Ancestor). At least 25 or 37 markers are recommended to provide sufficient specific data. The new 67-marker test has the power to generate the most useful and specific tracing information in reaching back centuries into the past. A 12-marker test can produce false positive matches with different surnames and is of limited value in genealogical tracing, but it can define the all-important haplogroup and can always be upgraded later with no need for a new sample.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 10: A descendant of the BEDFORDSHIRE-PENNSYLVANIA HARROD LINE tracing back to immigrant patriarch JOHN HARROD SR. (1700 Bedfordshire - 1754 PA) through son John Jr. has tested HAPLOGROUP I1a (POSSIBLE VIKING / SCANDINAVIAN). He matches no other Harwood group members, but he does match FOUR Herrick testers at 37 markers, including one at 37/37. A second tester on this line is also needed to verify the line back to the Most Recent Common Ancestor. We understand John Sr.'s son JAMES HARROD was the founder of Harrodsburg, and we invite a test down from James or another son of John Sr. to verify the profile of this line back to the immigrant John Harrod Sr. as Most Recent Common Ancestor.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 11: Our American HARROD/HARRIOD member matched 12/12 with our HENRIET member, whose family has lived in BELGIUM for centuries. A 67-marker upgrade on our Henriet test changed the genetic distance to 22. Recalculating and extending back in time, the FTDNATiP report shows a 53% probability of the two testers sharing a Most Recent Common Ancestor living up to 49 generations ago -- very roughly around 800-900 AD -- consistent with an ancestor living in France or Belgium before the Norman Conquest in 1066 AD.
If you are in contact with Harwood descendants coming down from a different line, consider explaining the DNA testing program and its benefits and potential to them and encouraging them to participate.
Suggestion: Think of a possible connection to a particular Harwood line that you most want to investigate. For example, you may have a strong suspicion that your ancestor was descended from a Harwood family in Massachusetts in the 1770's, but you can't squarely prove the connection. Next, search through GenForum or RootsWeb or elsewhere, send some emails, and find and recruit a male Harwood descendant from that line whose test results, compared with yours, would either prove or disprove that connection.
Some of the most valuable test matches reportedly come from the test candidates we recruit ourselves. We ourselves know the most about what we want to find out, and we have the greatest incentive to figure out how to do what's needed to get it done. You may want the test more than the potential test candidate does, and if so, you (and possibly your relatives) might offer to share in the cost.
The object is not to recruit as many individual tests as possible that duplicate each other and provide no significant information. The object is to find and recruit new test candidates whose tests may provide new information to prove or disprove a possible connection between or within Harwood lines. In this way we make the most effective use of this extraordinary and powerful new technology.
Our study would benefit substantially from having a co-administrator or correspondent in the British Isles, who could assist in identifying and recruiting participants from different Harwood lines, checking British materials and sources on Harwood family history, and so on.
Please email me if you have any questions, and thanks for stopping in.
John
Volunteer Group Administrator
Harwood Family History Y-DNA Study
BIG NEWS ITEM # 1: Our first Harred tester has tested out as our first R1a1. His predicted haplogroup is R1a1-English to a 100% probability, and he has accordingly been placed in his own subgroup R1a1-English Harred.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 2: Our first Harwood tester reportedly tracing back to the BEDFORDSHIRE-MARYLAND line of RICHARD HARWOOD in Anne Arundel Co., MD, has tested R1b1b2 on 67 markers.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 3: OUR FIRST ENGLISH HARWOOD TESTER BORN IN LINCOLNSHIRE HAS MATCHED OUR SECOND ENGLISH HARWOOD TESTER BORN IN LINCOLNSHIRE on 67/67 markers -- R1b1. Our second tester traces his Harwood family traces back to the marriage of GULIULMUS (WILLIAM) HARWOOD and ANNA WRIGHT in Irnham in 1617. Neither of these two Harwood families were previously aware of being related to the other. We need a third and preferably a fourth Harwood test from different Harwood families in different parts of Lincolnshire and not known to be related to the other testing families to provide additional confirmation on whether we have defined a dominant Lincolnshire Harwood profile as R1b1c.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 4: OUR FIRST ENGLISH HARWOOD TESTER BORN IN SUSSEX HAS POSTED 67-MARKER RESULTS AS AN I1A (POSSIBLE VIKING / SCANDINAVIAN). His test gives our first indication that the POCKET OF HARWOODS OBSERVED IN SUSSEX ON THE CENSUS IN 1891 AND 1841 MIGHT HAVE BEEN I1A. Another Sussex Harwood tester is needed for confirmation of the possible dominant Sussex Harwood family profile as I1a.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 5: Our most recent Harwood tester on a line tracing back to Clearfield Co., Pennsylvania, in the 1880's has posted R1b1c results with no matches yet.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 6: One recent Harwood tester in California has posted results as R1b1c and Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype (WAMH) -- the most common haplotype of Europe's most common haplogroup. This tester's father was born in Kent on a line going back to Middlesex, England in 1866. Intriguingly, his nearest tester cousin is our Belgian Henriet tester, and they share a Most Recent Common Ancestor within the last 725 years to a 52% probability according to their recalculated TiP report.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 7: TWO TOTALLY UNRELATED SUBGROUPS -- I1a-Thurlby A and E3b-Thurlby B -- BOTH HAVE MEMBERS THAT TRACE BACK ON THEIR PAPER-RECORD CHAINS TO THE SAME WILLIAM HAREWOOD, SR. OF THURLBY, LINCOLNSHIRE, who died in 1568/9.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 8: A THIRD THURLBY TRACER ON A DIFFERENT LINE HAS NOW POSTED I1A RESULTS, BUT HE IS ONLY REMOTELY RELATED TO OUR OTHER I1A THURLBY TRACER. He has only a 54% probability of sharing a Most Recent Common Ancestor with our other Thurlby tracer within the last 32 generations -- very roughly, about 800 years. He has only a 4% probability of sharing a Most Recent Common Ancestor with our other I1a Thurlby tracer within the last 20 generations -- roughly, about 500 years.
Consequently, we now have THREE SEPARATE LINES THAT ALL CLAIM LINEAGE TRACING DOWN FROM WILLIAM HAREWOOD, SR. OF THURLBY, AND YET NONE OF THEM IS RELATED TO ANY OTHER WITHIN THE LAST 500 YEARS. We are now working to develop other Harwood tests that will prove which one of these three lineage claims might be correct. Interestingly, both of our unrelated I1a Thurlby tracers can document their lines convincingly back to early Virginia.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 9: A descendant of the SURREY-CONCORD LINE OF NATHANIEL HARWOOD tested J2 Haplogroup, as confirmed by the SNP-Backbone test. A second tester is needed on this line to verify the profile.
BIG NEWS ITEMS # 12: Our Michigan Harwood tester tracing back to WILLIAM SAMUEL HARWOOD, born 1794 in Rowan Co. NC, has tested R1b1c -- WAMH.
OUR PLAN is to identify and email known researchers and members of Harwood lines not already represented in the study, and ask them to consider participating. We have put notices concerning the Harwood Y-DNA study on GenForum, RootsWeb, and other internet sites, inviting Harwoods of different lines to submit a test, and will continue to post more notices and invitations on the internet from time to time.
If you are from a Harwood line that is not yet represented by two confirming tests in our study, please consider submitting a test, or recruiting a second test (ideally through a different son of the Earliest Known Ancestor). At least 25 or 37 markers are recommended to provide sufficient specific data. The new 67-marker test has the power to generate the most useful and specific tracing information in reaching back centuries into the past. A 12-marker test can produce false positive matches with different surnames and is of limited value in genealogical tracing, but it can define the all-important haplogroup and can always be upgraded later with no need for a new sample.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 10: A descendant of the BEDFORDSHIRE-PENNSYLVANIA HARROD LINE tracing back to immigrant patriarch JOHN HARROD SR. (1700 Bedfordshire - 1754 PA) through son John Jr. has tested HAPLOGROUP I1a (POSSIBLE VIKING / SCANDINAVIAN). He matches no other Harwood group members, but he does match FOUR Herrick testers at 37 markers, including one at 37/37. A second tester on this line is also needed to verify the line back to the Most Recent Common Ancestor. We understand John Sr.'s son JAMES HARROD was the founder of Harrodsburg, and we invite a test down from James or another son of John Sr. to verify the profile of this line back to the immigrant John Harrod Sr. as Most Recent Common Ancestor.
BIG NEWS ITEM # 11: Our American HARROD/HARRIOD member matched 12/12 with our HENRIET member, whose family has lived in BELGIUM for centuries. A 67-marker upgrade on our Henriet test changed the genetic distance to 22. Recalculating and extending back in time, the FTDNATiP report shows a 53% probability of the two testers sharing a Most Recent Common Ancestor living up to 49 generations ago -- very roughly around 800-900 AD -- consistent with an ancestor living in France or Belgium before the Norman Conquest in 1066 AD.
If you are in contact with Harwood descendants coming down from a different line, consider explaining the DNA testing program and its benefits and potential to them and encouraging them to participate.
Suggestion: Think of a possible connection to a particular Harwood line that you most want to investigate. For example, you may have a strong suspicion that your ancestor was descended from a Harwood family in Massachusetts in the 1770's, but you can't squarely prove the connection. Next, search through GenForum or RootsWeb or elsewhere, send some emails, and find and recruit a male Harwood descendant from that line whose test results, compared with yours, would either prove or disprove that connection.
Some of the most valuable test matches reportedly come from the test candidates we recruit ourselves. We ourselves know the most about what we want to find out, and we have the greatest incentive to figure out how to do what's needed to get it done. You may want the test more than the potential test candidate does, and if so, you (and possibly your relatives) might offer to share in the cost.
The object is not to recruit as many individual tests as possible that duplicate each other and provide no significant information. The object is to find and recruit new test candidates whose tests may provide new information to prove or disprove a possible connection between or within Harwood lines. In this way we make the most effective use of this extraordinary and powerful new technology.
Our study would benefit substantially from having a co-administrator or correspondent in the British Isles, who could assist in identifying and recruiting participants from different Harwood lines, checking British materials and sources on Harwood family history, and so on.
Please email me if you have any questions, and thanks for stopping in.
John
Volunteer Group Administrator
Harwood Family History Y-DNA Study