#05 (Vol 2, No 2) - April 2021

Hello Rowland Genealogists,

I’ve been somewhat distracted with other activities since the previous newsletter, although progress is being made on many fronts. As you will see, much of what I have to report was made possible by the efforts of Nick Rowland. I should probably rename this volume of the newsletter the Nick Rowland Edition. Anyway, here’s some of what’s inside:

New DNA Group M
Black Rowlands and the 1870 US Census
“The Essex Rowland Family Story from 10,000 BCE to 2020 CE”, by Nick Rowland
Website Enhancements

DNA Group M

DNA Group M – Essex, England: Thanks to the determination and successful efforts of Nick Rowland, there is now a DNA group for a Rowland line with 500 years of history in Essex, England. Nick was somewhat discouraged when his Y-DNA results came in and didn’t match up with any other Rowlands. He had 500 years of documented history, stretching back to Nicholas Rowland, born about 1510, but no Y-DNA cousins. He finally tracked down a potential candidate, convinced him to take a Y-DNA test, and he (kit #IN101347) turned out to be a perfect match. Nick is now searching for his next match.

If you are a Rowland male living in North America and believe your line originated in England, then you need to get a Y-DNA test if you haven’t done so already. If you turn out to be a match to DNA Group M, then you will immediately get 500 years of family history. If you can wait about a month, the test kits will probably be on sale for Father’s Day. When you are ready, the steps you need to take are outlined in How To Participate in the Rowland Xref Project.

Black Rowlands and the 1870 Census of the United States

The US 1870 census was the first time that race was on the data collection forms. The census recorded 22,308 Rowland (and variant spellings) individuals, of which 18,907 (84.8%) were enumerated as White and 3,401 (15.2%) as Black. This was, of course, the first US census after the Emancipation Proclamation and the conclusion of the American Civil War.

Among the Black entries, two were identified as being born in Africa. One of them was Alexander Rowland, who was 104 years old and living in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky at the time. The other was Moses Rowland, who was 70 years old and living in Greene County, Georgia. We have not been able to locate any additional records for these two individuals.

As you would expect, the states with the largest quantity of Black Rowlands were located in the south:

Black Rowlands in 1870 Census

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Virginia		  495
Georgia			  414
Mississippi		  289
North Carolina		  271
Louisiana		  216
Tennessee		  206
Missouri		  205
Kentucky		  200
South Carolina		  178
Alabama		          140
Other States		  787

-----------------------------
Total			3,401

We will be making a push to get started on these family trees. Additionally, we would like to get these lines represented in the Rowland Y-DNA database.

New Article Posted

“The Essex Rowland Family Story from 10,000 BCE to 2020 CE”, published on March 4, 2021, was contributed by guest author Nick Rowland. Nick took the Big-Y DNA test and surprisingly learned his male line is more Viking than British and arrived in Essex via Scotland. He has graciously shared his story with us – all 12,000 years of it. Not only is this a fascinating tale, but it should also provide you with any motivation needed to get your Y-DNA tested. Note: This article has been viewed more than 350 times by people from nine different countries.

New Documents in the Free Downloads

Recent additions to our online library:

“Mary Hunsaker Roland (Wife of Gasper Roland) and Descendants” (aka Book #3 of The Hunsaker Family History), authored by Robert Harold Hunsaker and Edna Shull Hunsaker, images microfilmed by the Genealogy Society of Utah, 1996, pdf document published by RowlandGenealogy, 2021 (74-page pdf). The Hunsaker Family History consists of 34 volumes. This document represents the images of Book #3 – Mary Hunsaker Roland (1720- after 1766), wife of Gasper Roland (1721-1809), and their descendants. Gasper and Mary had eight children, and a descendant tree is provided for each, with some going many generations further. It includes Hunsaker, Beery, Rhoads, Wells, Roland, Lands, Craig, and related families. Male descendants of this Roland line are part of Rowland DNA Group I.
“History of the (Hezekiah) Rowland Family, With names of the descendants of Aaron and Levi Rowland, Mrs. Esther (Rowland) King and Mrs. Nancy (Rowland) Wood”. By Dr. F. E. Weeks, self-published, Clarksfield, Ohio, 1910. 12 pages. Hezekiah Rowland (1758-1819), is the father of the four descendants named in the title, all of whom settled in Huron County, Ohio. Aaron G Rowland (1780-1868), Levi Rowland (1788-1874), Esther (Rowland) King (1793-1873), and Nancy (Rowland) Wood (1797-1878). Their lives are outlined and dated with names and places. The DNA Group for this line is currently unknown.

Website Enhancements

Website performance improvements have been made with the implementation of a content delivery network (CDN) and a new caching system. You should be experiencing much-improved page load times, although further improvements will likely be necessary.

All documents in our Free Downloads area are now tagged with their DNA Group were applicable. All articles will be receiving similar tags. This will allow us to present articles and publications of specific interest to each DNA Group. Here is the DNA Group M page as an example. All DNA groups will be getting their own page as part of our 2021 goals.

Most Wanted Update

Our “10 Most Wanted – December 2020” article identified our list of the 10 most wanted Rowland DNA test-takers and genealogical data. Item #9 now comes off the list with a successful completion. Here is the status:

Group F (Botetourt) – need additional genealogical information from group members.
Group I (Gasper Roland) – need genealogical information from group members. Progress has been made, but the family connections between 1750 and 1850 need additional sources.
Group J (Surry) – need genealogical information. This is another group in need of documentation for the 1750-1850 period.
Shovel Works – need DNA test-takers. There are believed to be many living male descendants of this group still living in the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania area. We need to locate some and have them take a Y-DNA test.
Orkney Islands – the Orkney Project administrator at FamilyTreeDNA states that there are no longer any Rowlands in the Orkney Islands (extinct in his words). We do know many descendants of this line migrated to Canada, and DNA test takers are needed.
Derbyshire – need test takers. No progress made.
Ruland of Suffolk County, New York – need test takers. No progress made.
Sleigh Rowland Cutlers – need additional test takers. Currently a “group” of one.
~~Essex – need additional test takers. This is still a “group” of one.~~ SUCCESS: Now Group M
Arthur “Ray” Rowland – need copies of his research books/documents.

Book Recommendation

I just finished reading The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth, and it is hands-down the best book I have read about someone experiencing a surprise in their DNA results. I highly recommend it to all genealogists, and it is a MUST READ for anyone receiving a surprise result in their DNA test. If you watch financial news, then you might know the author, Bill Griffeth, who has been an anchor on CNBC for decades.

A longtime genealogy buff, Bill takes a DNA test that has an unexpected outcome: “If the results were correct, it meant that the family tree I had spent years documenting was not my own.” Bill undertakes a quest to solve the mystery of his origins, which shakes his sense of identity. As he takes us on his journey, we learn about choices made by his ancestors, parents, and others, and we see Bill measure and weigh his own difficult choices as he confronts the past.

Free WikiTree Help

I am convinced that WikiTree’s vast richness of tools, its policy of a single profile per ancestor, and its pledge to remain free making it the best choice for documented tree building. I’m also aware that WikiTree can be somewhat daunting to newcomers, especially those without prior experience with document markup language techniques.

Therefore, I will help you get started by connecting you (or your recent Rowland/Roland ancestors) to the global tree. Please note that I will not add living people to the tree. That is something you will need to do so that you can control the privacy level. If this is of interest to you, then please email rowlandgenealogy@gmail.com with your ancestral information. Note: if you already have a public tree documented on another site, then I can work with that.

Share and Share a Like

As stated earlier, improving the awareness of our existence is key to our goals for 2021. You can help by forwarding this email newsletter to family and friends that may find it of interest. If you received this newsletter from someone else, then you can sign up to get future issues directly at the Rowland Genealogy Newsletter sign-up page.

Following us on Facebook may be the easiest way to keep abreast of new articles and activities between issues of the newsletter. To do so, simply “like” the Rowland Genealogy Facebook page.

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Ron Rowland
Editor & Publisher

PS – I welcome your suggestions for improvements, features, and topics.