Howard Genealogy
Howard is in the top 150 surname groups in England and America and many of us whose families have been here for centuries have no roots back to the
“old country”. Even though we are proud of our American heritage (or Australian or New Zealand, etc) and what our ancestors accomplished, we find ourselves longing for a sense of belonging. I think it is this longing that has caused some people to stake claim to the closest Howard to the area or with a a family with similar names.
DNA is rectifying some of those errors. Some lines who have thought for generations they were descended from Mathew Howard of Virginia and Maryland have discovered otherwise. Some lines which seemed to have no connection to each other have found there was a common ancestor and now strive to find out who and where. Others have roots all over the US and Canada. The one thing that stills seems to bind us together is that very few of us have yet to find any trail to England. Hopefully this is because England has been slow to respond to DNA testing. I believe we are just now arriving at that junction where many of us will find our questions answered.
YDNA follows the male line from son to father to grandfather and mtDNA testing follows the female line in much the same way, daughter to mother, etc. Mothers also pass on their DNA to their sons but you need to remember that even an ancestral female Howard gets her mother's genes, not her father's. This is where it is helpful to have marriage information, be this personal knowledge or written records.
Family Finder, one of the biggest advances in DNA technology, has only been out for a short period of time but the possibilities are fantastic! Men and women can take the test and esults give you approximately five generations of information. If you could get a parent or grandparent to take the test it would give the male and female names of their parents, grandparents, great grandparents and gggrandparents. We are talking about up to 32 surnames (if I’m doing the math right),which is phenomenal. The other tests, YDNA and mtDNA are still available of course, and cost less; but if money is no object Family Finder is the test I recommend.
Gen1 Mother Father
Gen2 Mother Father Mother Father
Gen3 M F M F M F M F
Gen4 M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F
Gen5 M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F
DNA is rectifying some of those errors. Some lines who have thought for generations they were descended from Mathew Howard of Virginia and Maryland have discovered otherwise. Some lines which seemed to have no connection to each other have found there was a common ancestor and now strive to find out who and where. Others have roots all over the US and Canada. The one thing that stills seems to bind us together is that very few of us have yet to find any trail to England. Hopefully this is because England has been slow to respond to DNA testing. I believe we are just now arriving at that junction where many of us will find our questions answered.
YDNA follows the male line from son to father to grandfather and mtDNA testing follows the female line in much the same way, daughter to mother, etc. Mothers also pass on their DNA to their sons but you need to remember that even an ancestral female Howard gets her mother's genes, not her father's. This is where it is helpful to have marriage information, be this personal knowledge or written records.
Family Finder, one of the biggest advances in DNA technology, has only been out for a short period of time but the possibilities are fantastic! Men and women can take the test and esults give you approximately five generations of information. If you could get a parent or grandparent to take the test it would give the male and female names of their parents, grandparents, great grandparents and gggrandparents. We are talking about up to 32 surnames (if I’m doing the math right),which is phenomenal. The other tests, YDNA and mtDNA are still available of course, and cost less; but if money is no object Family Finder is the test I recommend.
Gen1 Mother Father
Gen2 Mother Father Mother Father
Gen3 M F M F M F M F
Gen4 M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F
Gen5 M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F
