#11 (Vol 3, No 4) - December 2022

Hello Rowland Genealogists,

In this issue, we discuss the recent expansion of Rowland DNA groups. There are now 15 groups and 99 Y-DNA kits within those groups. Additionally, 16 of the grouped kits have taken or upgraded to Big Y-700, which helps our understanding of the line’s DNA attributes. I encourage you to take advantage of the year-end sale at FamilyTreeDNA to get a Y-DNA test. If you’ve already been tested, then consider an upgrade to Big Y-700.

Here are the recent changes to the Rowland DNA groupings:

Group G Merged into N – County Mayo

As a result of DNA similarities, the Rowland DNA Group previously known as Group G – Ireland to Chicago has been merged into DNA Group N – County Mayo Ireland. The expanded Group N still has its known roots in County Mayo. Additionally, the group boasts five members with Big Y-700 results, which vastly improves the group’s Big Y Block Tree and Big Y Time Tree details. Genetic analysis currently points to this Rowland line arriving on the island during the early part of the Bronze Age, about 4300 years ago (2280 BCE). Unfortunately, RowlandGenealogy has no further knowledge about this group’s members or their trees.

County Mayo sits on the western edge of Ireland. The county and its current boundaries were formed in 1585, consisting primarily of the lands controlled by Richard Brouke, the 19th Mac William Íochtar. The county boasts the highest cliffs in Ireland (270m, 900ft) at Croaghaun on Achill Island, despite the much smaller Cliffs of Moher (155m, 109ft) in County Clare being more famous.

New Group G – Derbyshire, Sheffield (Sleigh Rowland)

The creation of this group eliminates another item from the 10 Most Wanted List, possibly two (Sleigh and Derbyshire). Sleigh Rowland (1772- ), was a noted cutlery maker in Sheffield, England, and is a distinguished member of our Famous Rowlands page. The given name of Sleigh was used by at least five generations. Descendants of Sleigh migrated to the New World and carried on the cutlery profession for many generations. Some of his wares are on display in the National Museum of American History.

This line has its roots in northern Derbyshire (probably in the parish of Rowland), with many members migrating across the county line into the town of Sheffield (county of South Yorkshire). One of Sleigh’s living descendants recently stepped up and took a Y-DNA test. The results matched a previous ungrouped kit, providing the match and data needed to form this new Rowland DNA Group G.

New Group O – Isle of Wight, England

The new Rowland DNA Group O came about as a result of Clyde Rowland taking a Y-DNA test that matched up with another kit already in the Rowland Project. His Y-DNA results also revealed two additional matches. We reached out to the other two, and they promptly joined the Rowland Project, bringing the group to four members. Clyde’s line was documented in the article The Forgotten Relatives: From the Isle of Wight, England to Hutchinson, Kansas, penned by Clyde’s wife, Jean Rowland.

Interestingly, all four members have different surnames. Three of them are the Rowland variants of Rowlands, Rolen, and Roling. The fourth member has a completely different surname resulting from a known NPE. However, ongoing DNA-based genetic genealogy research points to this branch being the Rowland family of Surrey County, England. Surrey County happens to adjoin Hampshire County, which includes the Isle of Wight. The village of Rowland Castle is also located in Hampshire, which may be a contributor to the origin of the Rowland surname in this area.

Two of this group’s members recently upgraded to Big Y-700, which should help provide additional details when their nodes are added to the Big Y Block Tree.

Recent Articles

The Rowland Haplotree (published November 27, 2022). If you’ve ever wondered how all the Rowland families are related, then perhaps the Rowland Haplotree can shed some light. Yes, we are all related, but you have to go back to the Stone Age, 45,600 years BCE, to find our common ancestor. But with the power of Y-DNA, we can do just that. The Rowland Haplotree will evolve as more data become available.

Rowland YDNA Cladograms (published November 19, 2022). A cladogram is a diagram showing the connections (relations) among various organisms. When constructing genetic genealogy cladograms, the organisms are individual Y-DNA test results (kits), and the connectors are mutations at designated STR markers. The rules for constructing cladograms are presented along with the results for eleven of the Rowland Y-DNA Groups.

The First Rowland YDNA Project Member: Oxfordshire to North Carolina by guest author Jamie (Rowland) Fish (published November 4, 2022). Jamie provides some history of the Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA and shares her recent discoveries connecting her North Carolina line (DNA Group H) back across the pond to Oxfordshire, England.

John Rowland’s Copy of the Rancho La Puente Partition Map by guest author Paul R. Spitzzeri (published October 30, 2022). John Rowland (DNA Group B) and William Workman co-owned Rancho La Puente, consisting of 49,000 acres in Los Angeles County, California. When it came time to divide their holdings, this map shows the painstaking detail they undertook to ensure each received fair apportionments. The Rowland-Workman Expedition of 1841 led the first group of permanent settlers from Taos, New Mexico to the San Gabriel Valley of California, which was part of Mexico at the time.

Website Updates

Group pages were updated with the new and changed groups discussed above.
Y-DNA cladograms were added to group pages where available.
The Alfred Rowland House, also known as Riverwood, was recently added to the Rowland Homes and Buildings page. The house was built between 1875 and 1880 for Alfred Rowland (1844-1898) and his wife, Susan. It was listed in the North Carolina National Register of Historic Places RB0532 on January 17, 2008. Alfred Rowland was a member of the North Carolina State house of representatives (1876-1881) and a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina (1887-1891). The town of Rowland, North Carolina is named for him.

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, make 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.

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Past Newsletter Issues: Remember, you can access all of our past issues in the Rowland Genealogy Newsletter Archives.

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Ron Rowland
Editor & Publisher

PS – I welcome your suggestions for improvements, features, topics, and website restructuring. Please let me know of any errors, inconsistencies, or additional Rowland/Roland lines.