Saturday, January 31, 2015

Jewish ancestry

In chatting with Lynda Davis-Logan today, Lynda shared the information that her Blankenship DNA participant had a very interesting match with a man in Alabama who is 90 with last name Ward.  Her story is fascinating in that this man is not Jewish.  However, he had had many occasions in his life when others had mistaken him for being Jewish.  His testing indicates that indeed his heritage is Jewish as he falls into the haplogroup J-M172.  Linda's Blankenship DNA participant is a match for this man as well as two men who tested (one is my participant) for the Wooten Surname project.  They also share the J-M172 haplogroup type.

I wanted to put down the story that this 90 year old man told Lynda is the probable beginnings of these Ward families.  He said that these men were Syrian Jews.  They moved into the border area between Scotland and England with the Roman conquest.  They lived there for many generations and because they were Jews they were given the less glamorous jobs of being the guards.  These men were left to protect the Roman interests when the Romans pulled out.  When surnames were put into place (After 1066, the Norman barons introduced surnames into England, and the practice gradually spread.)  these men were given or took the name of Ward or Warden.  These families  lived in the borders area of Great Britain for many generations.  

I wanted to write this down so I don't loose the thought.

No comments: