Another year has come and gone, which means it’s time to review the 2022 statistics. We made great progress in 2022 and have every intention of riding that momentum into 2023. As a reminder, Rowland Genealogy consists of many moving parts, including but not limited to:
- Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA): performs Y-DNA testing, grouping, and analysis
- Rowland Name Study at WikiTree: contains the Rowland descendant trees as part of the global single-family tree (with free access for all)
- Rowland Surname Study at the Guild of One-Name Studies: the worldwide center of excellence in one-name studies
- Rowland Genealogy Website: Where we tie everything together with the Xref Project and so much more
- Rowland Genealogists: That’s you! Your insights, contributions, and ideas are vital.
Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA)
The Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA is the starting point for many of us. It’s where we get our Y-DNA testing and genetic grouping. The site also has great tools for further analysis. Key statistics and accomplishments for 2022 include:
- The Rowland Project now has 159 Y-DNA test-taker kits (an increase of 18 for the year)
- 26 kits (14%) have taken or upgraded to the Big Y-700 level
- There are now 15 DNA groups (labeled “A” through “O”). New groups in 2022 include “O” (Isle of Wight England) and “G” (Derbyshire and Sheffield England). The former Group “G” was merged into Group “N” (County Mayo Ireland).
- 101 kits have been grouped into one of the 15 DNA groups (58 kits are ungrouped – currently do not have any matches in the Rowland Project)
FamilyTreeDNA made significant strides in updating its Y-DNA analysis tools including:
- The Big Y Block Tree continues to grow
- The Y-DNA Time Tree is a new feature
- Discover Haplogroup Reports is a new section
Rowland Name Study at WikiTree 2022 Statistics
WikiTree is our default destination for documenting the various Rowland lines and branches. Its policy of one profile per ancestor helps to avoid the proliferation of duplicate and error-prone trees that are common on other websites. The Rowland surname database continued to grow in 2022 and now contains 18,727 unique profiles of our ancestors with the surnames of Rowland, Roland, Rowlands, Ruland, Rolland, and other variant spellings.
The Rowland database grew by 2,706 ancestor profiles over the past year. The graph below clearly shows that ‘Rowland’ is the most popular spelling, while ‘Roland’ comes in a distant second place.
Xref Project Trees 2022 Statistics
Each Rowland Y-DNA group has one or more descendant trees. Each identified Earliest Known Ancestor is currently a genealogical brick wall, a profile where the parents have not been identified. Many groups contain multiple descendant trees. The DNA evidence tells us they are related, although the paper trail or other logical connection has not been made. Each Rowland DNA Group has its own page, which can be accessed by clicking on the Group Name in the table below:
Notes
- Conflict: The WikiTree profile for John Rowland II (1614-1653) has both DNA Group A and DNA Group J descendants. It is assumed that the DNA is correct and that WikiTree is in error. At this time, DNA Group J is believed to be correct.
- Conflict: The WikiTree profile for Gasper Roland (1721-1809) has both DNA Group D and DNA Group I descendants. It is assumed that the DNA is correct and that WikiTree is in error. At this time, DNA Group I is believed to be correct.
Descendant Trees of Ungrouped Test Takers — DNA Ungrouped
These are the trees for a defined “group of 1” which are DNA test-takers without any matches
| Group | Description | Earliest Known Ancestor(s) | # Descendants | # Kits |
| Ungrouped | Macon County, Missouri | Younger W Rowland (c1770-bf1850) John Younger Rowland (1776-1839) | 138 180 | 1 |
| Ungrouped | Manchester to Yonkers | John Rowland Sr (1827-1891) | 42 | 1 |
Descendant Trees without Test Takers — DNA Untested
These are fairly large documented descendant trees where none of the descendants have taken a Y-DNA test and joined the Rowland Projects. The following groups are sorted by the largest number of descendants with WikiTree profiles.
Rowland Haplogroups 2022 Statistics
The first ever Rowland Haplotree was created in 2022 and documented in The Rowland Haplotree. One thing that was missing from the article was an analysis of the various Rowland higher-level haplogroups. The haplotree shows that many specific haplogroups are subsets of the major haplogroup designations. There are two charts below summarizing the major Rowland haplogroups.
The first one includes only kits in one of the defined DNA Groups. At this time, all members of the Rowland Project in grouped kits belong to one of four major haplogroups. A little more than half of the grouped kits are in R-M269 (Western Europe, aka R1b) or one of its downstream branches. The popularity of the R-M269 haplogroup is further supported by the fact that nine of the Rowland DNA groups are within R-M269. G-M201 (Central and Eastern Europe) is the second largest with 23% of the grouped kits all belonging to DNA Group J. Additionally, R-M198 (Central Europe and Scandinavia, aka R1a) and I-M170 (Central and Northern Europe) each have 13%.
When analyzing the Ungrouped kits, the number of major haplogroups increases from four to seven. R-M269 again takes the lion’s share at 61%. The three additional haplogroups are E-P177 (primarily African), R-M343 (which is upstream from R-M269), and J-M267 (primarily North Africa and Middles East)
Rowland Genealogy
Key Accomplishments for 2022
- Rowland Haplotree Ver 1.0 created to show how all grouped members of Rowlands are related through time
- Y-DNA Cladograms created for 11 of the Rowland DNA Groups showing the genetic differences of group members
- 16 Articles published in 2022 including 4 guest articles
- Past issues of the newsletter made available online in the Newsletter Archives
- Xref Project: The Group DNA pages have been updated with year-end 2022 data and cladograms
Rowland Genealogy Website Status
- 25 Rowland genealogy documents are now available as free downloads (5 added in 2022)
- 36 people are identified on the Famous Rowlands page
- 61 listings in Untimely and Unnatural Deaths, including:
- 14 Murders
- 2 Speared/Killed by Natives
- 15 Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Boats
- 5 Tornadoes and Storms
- 7 Drownings
- 18 by other means
- 67 families with 12 or more children on the Be Fruitful and Multiply page
- 40 Rowland men who participated in the American Revolution
- 27 Places Named Rowland
- 17 Rowland Homes and Buildings
- 130 Rowland Cemeteries
- The website had 5,079 visitors and 11,691 page views in 2022
2023 Has Now Begun — Happy New Year!
What would you like to see from Rowland Genealogy in 2023? Don’t be shy, let us know.
If you haven’t already joined us, here are the steps you can take to participate in the Rowland Xref Project.
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Thanks Ron, impressive results!. Thank you so much for all your work over the year to increase the understanding of Rowland genealogy. Let’s hope 2023 proves as fruitful and some of those ungrouped kits find matches 🙂
Thanks Nick, and thank you for all your contributions.
What are the Ungrouped vs defined DNA Grouped kits?
Thank you,
Carrie Rowland
The Grouped kits within a specific group are Y-DNA matches with the other members of the group. The Ungrouped kits currently do not have any Y-DNA matches in the Rowland Project. They are essentially a “group of 1′.
Thank you!!
Carrie