I participated in the Harrell DNA project. This has been an invaluable research tool. For example, through DNA testing it has been shown that our family branch of Herring is not related to the main branch of Harrell in North Carolina even though it still appears that our family also came from North Carolina in the early 1800's. There is a large family of Harrells in North Carolina that trace their genealogy back to the early 1700's there. We are also awaiting the DNA test results of a descendent of a Isaac Herrell to determine if this Isaac was indeed the brother of my great grandfather, Robert Home Herring. NOTE: SEE UPDATE BELOW!
It has been determined that my recent ethnic origin is English and this represents a time frame to about 1000 years or so ago. Over the span of generations people tend to move and because of national expansion the borders of countries have moved so nationality or ethnicticity becomes subjective. My family's far distant origin as determined by my projected haplogroup, listed as R1b, appears to be from the area in Europe now known as Denmark.
Haplogroup R1b is the most common haplogroup in European populations. It is believed to have expanded throughout Europe as humans re-colonized after the last glacial maximum 10-12 thousand years ago. Haplogroups represent fractures in the genealogy tree of humanity and are tied to deep ancestral origins (think 10,000 or 10's of 1000's of years). One way to think about Haplogroups is that a specific Haplogroup is a branch on the tree of Homo Sapiens. A Haplotype represents a leaf on a branch. All the Haplotypes that belong to that specific Haplogroup are leaves on the same branch. The Haplogroup database classifies these ancestral origins.
UPDATE: 10/16/2004
The DNA results are in. The descendant of Isaac Herrell is related to most of the Harrells in Gates County, North Carolina. Our line of Herring is not related to this Herrell or any of the other Harrells. My DNA and the Herrell DNA are not even close. This means at the most, Robert & Isaac were stepbrothers. We do know though that they lived in the same household in 1860 in Yell County, Arkansas but that's about it. I will attempt to locate a Herring descendant of one of Lewis Herring's other sons who will agree to a DNA test. That way we could hopefully prove that we are Herrings.
UPDATE: 01-20-2005
We now have a HERRING DNA project. I have signed on the project as co-coordinator. The testing is through the The Family Tree DNA Website . We have secured discounted testing rates for our project. For example the DNA 12 Marker test is normally $159.00 but our project's discounted price is just $99.00. The sign-up is at the HERRING DNA Page on Family Tree DNA .
Our website for this project is hosted by World Families and can be at the HERRING DNA Project Page. Terry Barton at World Families is providing the DNA analysis and will post the DNA comparisons on our Herring DNA Website.
Besides identifying the connections between the Herring family groups we also want to differentiate the British and Germanic families and explore the connections between our North American and European families. This DNA database can be a clearing house for all of our Herring Family connections.
In addition:
1. We would like to identify the ancestors of John Herring who migrated to Virginia in 1642 and is recognized as the patriarch of one of the largest genealogical-researched Herring families in the United States.
2. We want to identify the family lines of Archbishop Thomas Herring of Canterbury in England, c.1693-c.1768.
3. We would like to identify the Herring family of Abraham Lincoln, if possible. Abe Lincoln's paternal grandmother was Bathsheba Herring, c.1750-c.1836, said to be the daughter of Alexander Herring, Jr.
4. We would like to identify the family lines of Julienes Herring, c.1582-c.1644. Julienes Herring has been suggested to be the father of John Herring, c.1642-c.1666. Julienes Herring escaped religious persecution in England and fled to Amsterdam, Holland.
5. In addition, we want to be open-minded and recognize and explore any other possibilities as they present themselves in our ongoing project.
UPDATE 09/09/05:
I am pleased to announce that
the highly regarded genealogist, Dr. Dallas Herring, has joined our Herring DNA
Project. Besides the authorship of many genealogy papers Dr. Herring was a major
contributor to the Herring Highlights series of books, written by James Maurice
Grimwood.
He was recently honored at a meeting of the Duplin County Historical Society in
Rose Hill, North Carolina by his induction in the North Caroliniana Society,
chosen “in recognition of his lifetime of service to his fellow North
Carolinians." Dr. Herring is the 32nd recipient of this honor.
Dr. Herring traces his Herring Family line back to
the John Herring who is the patriarch of the Herring Highlights books.
Like the rest of us he would like to further his genealogy research through the
use of the latest DNA technology.
I also want to thank and recognize Mr. Horace Fussell, Jr., another well known
genealogist and Herring Highlights contributor, through whose efforts this has
been made possible.
Remember, this is our Herring DNA Project, if you know of any Herrings that have
expressed an interest in the project please encourage them to join.
UPDATE 08/10/05:
Dr. Dallas Herring's DNA results are in. He is of the same Herring line as I am. This is the proof we needed to show that our line is descended from Graddy Herring, who in turn is descended from the patriarch of the HERRING Highlights series of books, John Herring. There is now evidence to show that there were two distinct Herring lines that were in Virginia in the mid-1600s. It is possible that some of the Herrings that are documented in the HHIII series of books may not be of the same Herring line. Because of this I recommend that all Herrings join our DNA project to determine which line you belong to.
One thing
that has made tracing one's genealogy really possible has been the introduction
of the usage of surnames into society. In Europe, surnames began to be used in
the 12th century, but it took several centuries before the majority of Europeans
had one. The primary purpose of the surname of course was to further distinguish
people from one another. The inheritance of the surname from father to child has
become so common that it is believed that the majority of people today are
able to trace the male line of their surname back to around the 12th
century. Even when tracing a female family member her original surname is used
to identify her.
Genealogists use written records to support their investigation and research of
a particular surname. Today we have personal family history records, court
records and census records for our research. In the 12th century
written records of common families were practically non-existent so it
would be difficult to substantiate one's genealogy research that far back.
The only family lines that were well documented at that time were the rulers and
monarchs or important people of history. I wouldn't say it would be impossible
to research a common family but I would think it would prove to be very
difficult.
DNA testing is just another way to substantiate genealogy research. With
the introduction of Y-DNA identification we are able to trace as far back
as we can find testable DNA tissue. However, because of DNA mutations it is
possible to match with someone with whom you do not share a surname. For
example, I originally ordered a DNA test to see if my family line was related to
the Harrell family line. I did this because of a question of my great
grandfather's parentage. The Harrell descendant I tested against has found over
forty different people with other surnames that he has matched with; besides all
the Harrells he has matched with. This shows that besides the DNA test we need a
surname and written history to properly trace our family lines.
Here's an interesting side note to my testing though. Apparently my DNA is
fairly unique. I only matched with one other person in the entire database! Now,
there are no other Herrings in the database so there is no one in our surname
line to compare. Most people match with several others with whom they do not
share a surname with, as in the example of Mr. Harrell above. I only
matched with a Mr. Roper from North Carolina. Of course the same is true
with Mr. Roper. I don't know how large the database is but I do know it's
unusual for us not to match with more people, regardless of their last name.
This uniqueness should make our surname project easier to trace, at least for
the Herrings in my line.
Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) is now taking contributions that go toward a group fund
from which tests can be ordered. The advantages of this are that the coordinator
can perhaps get someone tested who is otherwise not interested at all in
genealogy and doesn't want to put forward the money for the test. Right now,
they are matching up to $200 worth of funds contributed dollar for dollar. We've
set up the administration of the project with World Families and Terry Barton is
our project coordinator there. He is an impartial, third party and with our
input will be the one to make decisions of whom we might test with the money
from this fund. By handling donations this way we eliminate any conflict of
interest and take advantage of FTDNA matching funds.
Patrick Earl Herring, Sr.
E-Mail: imaherring@yahoo.com
Last Updated: 02/18/2005