English Surname

[English]

I have been searching my family tree on and off since my father started this over 20 years ago. The internet has made a lot of this much easier to do. I was able to find documents to dispell rumor from fact and corrected dates. However, I kept hitting the same brick wall with my most distant known ancestor James C English born abt 1817 in Burlington Co., NJ.

Just try doing a search on that particular name and you will get hits galore, but none to be found that I can say for certainty prior to 1850, ANYWHERE. The NJ link was something I established through census records. Our family had been in Philly PA for as long as we knew and no where else. Again, the internet proved to show us the NJ link, and listed both his parents being born there as well. Armed with the new info I began searching Jersey. Anyone with ancestors in early NJ knows the records are sketchy and incomplete.

I have known about the English Surname project for about a year. I was hesitant because there were only about 14 participants. Recently out of frustration and feeling I had no choice but to eliminate those already in the study and hope for a hit in the future with this becoming popular now. I submmited last month and got my results this week.

Also because the name English can also denote Irish ancestry I was hoping to put that to rest. My own research did not show our family to mingle with any Irish surnames with the exception of one, an Ardrey that is listed as being from Scotland, although that last name is mainly Irish and it could be if I dig hard enough.

The test showed England as our most likely ancestry.

Now I did the 25 marker test. I got a perfect 25 match to another member that had sent his in about a year ago. We have both sent in for the upgrade to 37 markers now.

Okay the result was huge surprise. His earliest known ancestor was born abt 1805, in NC! He migrated to GA and the family has mostly been there ever since. His descendent lives not to far from me ironically here in FL.

I would never have given this family a second look but the DNA shows us we need to find out more. There are some major differences in our families. His ancestors were farmers (most English's were) and mine were business owners in Philly. I am searching for a paper trail now and have already discovered a mistake in the year when his ancestor was born.

I will post news as I find it pertinant to this group.

Best, Guy English

[Stevo]

Interesting and hopeful sounding.

Out of curiosity, what Y-DNA haplogroup are you?

With a name like English, does that indicate that your ancestors were Angles or that your family lived in East Anglia?

In one of my lines (to me through a paternal gg-grandmother), the males have come back I1a (and trace to the same ancestor I do in that line). Since that line originated in East Anglia, I am curious about your haplogroup.

[English]

English Surname

Hi Steve,

My haplogroup is "I" so far with out the deepclade test being done.

Funny you mention East Anglia because I lived there briefly with the RAF while in the USAF, based at Lakenheath.

I hope that there is a remaining English family in England that eventually does the 37 marker test and I get a hit. That way we can back track that family. The rumor was our family was wealthy till just after the civil war...

Where do you now live Steve, and what is your last name?

Best, Guy English

[Stevo]

Hi Steve,

My haplogroup is "I" so far with out the deepclade test being done.

Funny you mention East Anglia because I lived there briefly with the RAF while in the USAF, based at Lakenheath.

I hope that there is a remaining English family in England that eventually does the 37 marker test and I get a hit. That way we can back track that family. The rumor was our family was wealthy till just after the civil war...

Where do you now live Steve, and what is your last name?

Best, Guy English

I live in Virginia, and my last name is Stevens. The East Anglian branch of my family is the Washburns.

I just figured the name English might indicate origin among the Angles, who came to England from the Angeln district of southern Denmark, or that your family once lived in East Anglia. The fact that your haplogroup is I (maybe I1a?) tends to support that idea, since Scandinavia has a pretty high concentration of I1as, as does East Anglia in England, where not only the Angles settled but also many Danish Vikings.

I don't yet know my own haplogroup (it's anybody's guess), since I only just recently submitted my test samples. I'm in Batch 147, which just got started at the lab.

[Stevo]

BTW - On my mom's side one of my gg-grandmothers was Sarah Lucinda ENGLISH. She married Walter Danley. Their daughter, Missouri A. "Missie" Danley, married my mom's paternal grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Gist.

I don't have any dates yet for Sarah Lucinda English, and I don't yet know who her parents were, but her daughter Missie Danley was born in Lauderdale County, Alabama about 1852.

Maybe we are related?

[English]

I live in Virginia, and my last name is Stevens. The East Anglian branch of my family is the Washburns.

I just figured the name English might indicate origin among the Angles, who came to England from the Angeln district of southern Denmark, or that your family once lived in East Anglia. The fact that your haplogroup is I (maybe I1a?) tends to support that idea, since Scandinavia has a pretty high concentration of I1as, as does East Anglia in England, where not only the Angles settled but also many Danish Vikings.

I don't yet know my own haplogroup (it's anybody's guess), since I only just recently submitted my test samples. I'm in Batch 147, which just got started at the lab.

Hi Stevo,

Doing some digging I came up with a haplogroup of I1a as the most likely based on my DNA, with East Anglia as you stated a likely area they came from...strange because I lived there for 2 years about 25 years ago.

Also, I1a can denote anglo-saxon origin.

Best, Guy

[Stevo]

Hi Stevo,

Doing some digging I came up with a haplogroup of I1a as the most likely based on my DNA, with East Anglia as you stated a likely area they came from...strange because I lived there for 2 years about 25 years ago.

Also, I1a can denote anglo-saxon origin.

Best, Guy

It sure can, and with a name like English, I'll bet it does!

Of course, from what I understand, it is nearly impossible to distinguish Anglo-Saxon I1a from later Danish Viking I1a.

It is a strange thing that your family may have come from East Anglia and that you happened to serve there while in the Air Force.

I wonder if your English line is related to my great-great grandmother, Sarah Lucinda English.

[Stevo]

Guy -

Have you seen this web site - http://www.englishdna.com/ ?

[Stevo]

I just found some more info on my own branch of the English family here: http://www.ceharger.com/Genealogy/dat53.htm .

It seems the parents of my gg-grandmother, Sarah Lucinda English (born 1833), were Wilson English and Sally Kimbrell.

Wilson's parents were Matthew English and Disey ? English.

[Stevo]

Guy -

I know you haven't posted in this thread in awhile, but have you seen the East Anglia Geographic Project?

It can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/thurlowons/...frame_set.html .

It might be worth investigating.

Depending on how my own Y-DNA testing turns out, I might be looking into it myself.

[M.O'Connor]

That's an interesting project.

[Stevo]

That's an interesting project.

It is. Unfortunately, I cannot make a connection to it other than the fact that one of my gg-grandmothers had the surname English.

Well, on second thought, another of my gg-grandmothers had the surname Washburn, and I believe they came from East Anglia, as well.

[Downer101]

My surname is from medieval Wessex... and modern Sussex..

[Terry]

I just found some more info on my own branch of the English family here: http://www.ceharger.com/Genealogy/dat53.htm .

It seems the parents of my gg-grandmother, Sarah Lucinda English (born 1833), were Wilson English and Sally Kimbrell.

Wilson's parents were Matthew English and Disey ? English.

Hey Steve, you might be interested to know that Dicey is also known as Dianah English, July 1825, County Court Minute Book, PP 123-124.

Also there is a good possibility that our ancestors came from Settrington, Yorkshire, England about 1560 and immigrated to Ireland about 1659. This has not been 100% verified but it all fits well!!

Regards,
Terry

[rivergirl]

In one of my lines (to me through a paternal gg-grandmother), the males have come back I1a (and trace to the same ancestor I do in that line). Since that line originated in East Anglia, I am curious about your haplogroup.

Stevo,
Do you know if your East Anglia relative has joined the East Anglia Project??
Is this Washburn??

I just did a quick look on the 1841 UK Census for the surname English born 1740-1780. A lot are from Suffolk and Norfolk, also a lot from Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, Glouscestershire and Somerset, Kent, Surrey and Middlesex. There is a website that gives the percentage of a surname distribution in the UK in the 1800s, I just have to find it again.