DNA Group B: Chester County, PA

Descendants of James Rowland, Chester, PA

James Rowland of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and his descendants, constitute Group B in the Rowland DNA Project at FTDNA. James was born about 1715 in places unknown, although believed to be on the other side of the Atlantic in the British Isles. He passed away in 1762 at West Nottingham Township, Chester County, in the Colony of Pennsylvania (before the USA existed).

Note: There were at least two additional Rowland lines living in Chester County during colonial times.

Xref Status of Rowland DNA Group B

Blue shading indicates new/change from a prior update
Red shading indicates a conflict between the DNA and WikiTree
Haplogroups in green are confirmed by SNP testing, while haplogroups in red are predicted

Earliest Known Ancestors – Descendant Trees

Earliest Known Ancestor #1: James Rowland (c1715-1762) has an unknown birthplace and died in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

  • Descendants in WikiTree: 3,150 (as of 31 Dec 2023)
  • Descendant locations: California (Los Angeles), Illinois (Franklin), Indiana (Crawford), Kansas (Neosho), Maryland (Cecil), New Mexico (Taos), Ohio (Hancock, Harrison, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Morgan, Stark, Union, Van Wert, Washington, Wood), Pennsylvania (Chester, York), Virginia

Earliest Known Ancestor #2: Dr Thomas Rowland (c1805-1878) was born in Maryland (probably Cecil County) and died in Holt County, Missouri.

  • Descendants in WikiTree: 187 (as of 31 Dec 2023)
  • Descendant Locations: California (Los Angeles, Orange); Missouri (Greene, Holt, Lawrence)

Linking to WikiTree

The image above shows how the various Y-DNA test takers are related. The test takers are on the right-hand side, highlighted in blue. Some boxes only include the Kit Number, as they requested their name remain private.

Each box contains a person’s name, WikiTree ID, birth info, death info, spouse’s name, and spouse’s WikiTree ID. For example, the first entry in the second column is for Robert Rowland. Robert’s WikiTree ID is Rowland-191, and all IDs are based on the last name at birth, followed by a dash and the next available sequential number. Robert became the 191st Rowland entered in WikiTree. My ID is 1184, indicating that 1183 Rowland profiles were created before mine. Robert was born about 1735 at an unknown location and died in 1779 at York County, Pennsylvania. Robert married Mary Houlton (WikiTree ID of Houlton-4). Mary was the mother of Robert’s three identified male descendants.

The yellow shared boxes indicate where a living Y-DNA test taker would be useful to our research and/or identify an ancestor where there is a discrepancy between various family trees or between the tree and the DNA results.

Our goal is to be able to build this type of linkage for each of the Rowland groups in the Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA and the X-ref Project. We need your help to accomplish this task. We need to know your Y-DNA Kit Number and as many generations of your Rowland line that you know of.

Group B Cladogram

Note: Big Y testing shows matches to two others with a common ancestor estimated to live about 1250, which was before the common usage of surnames. These two (Williams and Griffith) are shown in yellow.

Information on how to construct and interpret a cladogram is located in Rowland YDNA Cladograms.

Descendant Migration Maps

Descendant migration map showing the first three generations, with James as generation 1. The third generation was for the most part now gone from Chester County. Some members had settled a few miles south in Cecil County, Maryland. Others pushed westward, and with the opening of Ohio in 1803, Rowland families of this line are now established in the Ohio counties of Jefferson, Harrison, Stark, Morgan, and Washington. The Ashtabula, Ohio family had the surname of Pollock.

Descendant migration map showing seven generations – James and six generations of descendants. By this time, there were Rowland families in the majority of Ohio counties and probably the majority of U.S. states.

Digging Deeper

There are two major Y-DNA subgroups in this tree. The first are the descendants of Robert Rowland, who settled in Ohio. The second are the descendants of William Rowland, who settled just a few miles south of Chester County, PA in Cecil County, MD. James’ third son Hugh did not leave much of a trail that we have been able to find, but he may constitute a third major subgroup.

Descendants of Robert Rowland (1735-1779)

Four of the Y-DNA test takers are in this subgroup,

Robert himself only went as far as York County, Pennsylvania, just a few miles from Chester County. Most of his children and grandchildren became Ohio pioneers, being among the first families arriving in Harrison, Stark, Wood, and Henry counties. Robert served in the 6th Battalion of the York County Militia during the American Revolution, as did his son John.

Those who settled in Wood and Henry counties in the 1820s and 1830s were met by the Great Black Swamp and had to toil for many years (decades) to drain the swamp and make the land productive.

Descendants of William Rowland (1737-1784)

Two of the Y-DNA test takers are in this subgroup.

William went a few miles south of his father’s home and founded the town of Rowlandsville, Maryland. It is in Cecil County, where the Octoraro Creek empties into the Susquehanna River. Many of his offspring remained in the area, with some becoming successful businessmen in the lumber trade of nearby Port Deposit. Another went a little further, establishing himself as a prominent banker in Baltimore.

Another group of his descendants, like those of Robert, had the pioneer spirit in their DNA, especially three of his grandsons. The three entered southeast Ohio when it opened up, becoming early settlers of Morgan and Washington Counties. For one of the brothers, this wasn’t enough. John Albert Rowland (1791-1873) headed to the western frontier of St Louis, Missouri. He became enthralled with the stories of the mountain men and fur trappers and soon relocated to Taos, New Mexico, which was part of Mexico at the time. He became a Mexican citizen and took a Mexican bride. In 1841, he led the Rowland-Workman Expedition of the first settlers from Taos-Sante Fe to Southern California, which was also part of Mexico. He became a vast land owner, acquiring nearly 49,000 acres (76 square miles) in the San Gabriel Valley of what is now Los Angeles County, California. His accomplishments earned him a spot on our Famous Rowlands page. Test-taker Donald Erwin Rowland authored a book on John Albert Rowland, and his DNA helped verify that this Rowland branch is part of the Chester County, Pennsylvania Group.

DNA Group B Articles

DNA Group B Downloadable Documents

Additional Resources

The Homestead Blog, in conjunction with the Homestead Museum, strives to create advocates for history through the stories of greater Los Angeles from 1830, when this was a remote frontier area of Mexico, through 1930. Although its primary focus is on the Workman and temple families of Southern California, the Rowland family is also featured prominently.

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If you are a Rowland or have a Rowland in your family tree, then you need to subscribe to the Rowland Genealogy Newsletter.

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