Early Haplotype Origins
This subgroup is Haplogroup I1*. The asterisk means a subclade test was done (by Bowe/s) and no markers appeared that would position this group on any later sub-branches.
Ken Nordvedt, an academic researcher specializing in Haplogroup I, evaluated our markers and says that L22- indicates Anglo-Saxon origins as opposed to Norse (L22+). He places us in I1-ASgeneric, about which he says, “for now think of I1-ASgeneric this way: we all have a common ancestor in the I1 founder himself --- 4500 years ago, probably somewhere near present day Schleswig Province of Germany (formerly Denmark)” He further describes I1-ASgeneric as follows:
I think we have an ambiguous, borderline cluster here dwelling in the marches between I1-AS1, I1-AS5, and “north German plain” ... Looking at the SMGF [Sorenson Molecular Genealogy foundation] marker values for these three clades or clusters, I see nothing standing out from I1-AS generic, so our cluster of interest will probably get no jump in clarity for awhile. The number of haplotypes [Y-DNA marker value sequences] with the combination 22 at 447 and 15 at 464d [this subgroup's haplotype is one] is enormous... I think original I1 very quickly divided into two quasi-founding haplotypes, based on 447, 464d, and 413a."
In this subgroup, Bowe/s, Bowe, Crowley and Pearse are closer to the 'north German plain' group, while Eaves and his closer matches (Rogers, Wilbanks, Ward) loosely match I1-AS1. While AS1 makes a strong appearance in Scotland:
it is heavy in Germany and is the I1 clade with clearly the most Netherlands and Belgium examples. My present best guess is that it was originally of the Saxon tribes. They are noted as expanding into the low countries region around Roman times. And of course Saxons were a big part of the 5th century Germanic settlings into England. The TMRCA [time to most recent common ancestor] for I1-AS1 is about 2000 years ago. It is the largest clade of I1-AS from our databases.
Note that Eaves is not related to the others in any genealogical timeframe.
Using the Family Facts tool at Ancestry.com, we can identify the counties showing the highest concentrations of these surnames in the 19th century censuses. The result shows counties in lowland Scotland and northern England, with Lancashire making a very strong showing. This distribution fits Ken's analysis of our I1* haplotype.
The Pierce variant is concentrated in Lancashire and a little less so, Sussex, while Pearse is clearly most concentrated in Devon, suggesting a Pierce branch may have traveled south and changed the spelling. The Rowe surname has its highest concentration in Cornwall, bordering Devon on the west, so perhaps there is a genealogical connection between Rowe and Pearse in that vicinity. Or, Rowe could have been Bowe. We hope to hear from him and get the details of his family history.
We can begin to see a migratory picture over many years wherein this subgroup's earliest ancestors originated around Denmark/Germany and first migrated to northern England, the Eaves branch if not also the others possibly going on to lowland Scotland. Eventually Pearse ended up in Devon while, Bowe/s, Bowe and Crowley ended up in Ireland. Figuring out how these more specific family branches relate turns out to be even more challenging than summarizing our likely early origins!
Family Branches Cladogram
Research Notes
Pearse's remaining markers up to 67 have come in and suggest our earlier discussion of possible Cork origins (below) is highly unlikely. His markers confirm the Crowley and Bowe/s lines are both related to Pearse within a genealogically meaningful timeframe. The biggest surprise is that Crowley and Pearse *could* share a common ancestor even more recently than Bowe/s and Pearse. To be more precise (but not exact), there is a 73.77% chance their common ancestor lived within the last 150-250 years, and a 94.58% chance he lived within the last 350 years.
Statistically speaking, it looks like the common ancestor between Bowe and Pearse lived the longest back (57.23% chance within the last 275 years, and 91% chance within the last 425 years). Later the Bowe/s line split off of Bowe, and later still Crowley and Pearse's lines split. But since we are dealing with statistical likelihoods over a time period, it's also possible the Crowley and Bowe/s lines have the same common ancestor from further back.
Possible scenarios include:
1.
The subgroup shares a common Pearse ancestor in Devon, where male offspring were raised in English (Crowley or Bowe) families or where for some reason a couple of his descendant lines took different (Crowley and Bowe) surnames in Ireland (see 5).
2 .
A Pearse or Pearses had an adventurous and productive trip in Ireland before returning home, leaving a male offspring to be raised in an Irish (Crowley or Bowe) family.
3.
An Irish maid or other worker/immigrant in Devon conceived a Pearse son and returned back home to Ireland and raised him in her own Irish (Crowley or Bowe) family? (This pattern occurred in my husband's family from Prussia.)
4.
Pearse's own paternal ancestor was conceived out of wedlock – perhaps by an English Bowe/s or Crowley – and raised as an adopted child in the Pearse family. In support of this is Pearse's lack of matches with the Pierce (and variants) DNA study. A question for Pearse: Do you have birth certificates showing your Pearse grandfathers all the way back to the early 1600s, or is some of that information undocumented in official records. Of course even if all the birth records record a Pearse father in an unbroken paternal chain, a non-paternal event could have gone recorded as if it hadn't happened. While only a smattering of the many Devon parish records are transcribed at freereg.org.uk, some Bow variants appear in those few records, suggesting there were Bows around Devon. Testing other Devon Pearses from different lines with a common ancestor as far back as possible could help verify the Devon Pearse DNA markers to see if our Pearse matches them or not.
5.
One or more descendants of a Pearse common ancestor in Devon moved to Ireland, where their out-of-wedlock or orphaned male offspring were raised in Crowley and Bowe/s families. Sometimes too a man took his wife's last name if there was some advantage gained doing so. In this scenario, while the earliest common ancestor, to include our Pearse participant, would have been in Devon, the most recent common ancestor, a descendant(s) of his in Ireland could be "the culprit" whose own offspring acquired the other surnames.
In support of a Pearse moving to Ireland, I find:
a) Some early Pearses in southern Irish counties in the Irish Family History Foundation's parish records database.
1881 Census of England and Wales showing distribution of the PEARSE name per 100,000 and origins of the surname in Cornwall/Devon.
They were all Church of Ireland, while most of our Pearse match in Devon's family were Church of England, so that may suggest very early (Norman?) Pearse settlement in Ireland–long enough for them to intermarry with the Irish. The leading Norman settlers in Ireland brought tenants from southwest England.
Not all county records are online yet, but most are. Parish records for some parishes go back further than for others, so for many parishes there are no early records even if there were other Pearse family events occurring. Question for Cecil: In the records you've seen, was the spelling of your Pearse surname consistent and apparently established going back to the early 1600s, or have you noticed variants used within your family?
Early Pearse Births in Ireland in Wicklow
Wicklow, Elizabeth Pearse, 6-31-1670, to Richard Pearse (no mother named), Address: Kilcoole, Newcastle Parish, Recorded: Delganey Parish, Wicklow, Church of Ireland
Wicklow, Anne Pearse, 1-12-1689, to William Pearse and Margaret, Bray Parish, Wicklow (no address), Church of Ireland
Wicklow, Elizabeth Pearse, 6-10-1697, to Miles Pearse and Esther, Powerscort, Wicklow (no address), Church of Ireland
I wonder if fathers Richard, William and Miles came over as brothers/cousins. These births occurred during the Cromwellian phase. There are no Irish birth records for the fathers, but records that early are hard to come by in Ireland, so they could have already been residing there. Wicklow is the most common county among Irish Pearse births in Ireland (30 of 120), and the earliest Pearse births (the three above) are in Wicklow. (The next earliest recorded is born about 100 years later in Limerick in 1781 where there are 25 Pearse births over time.) There are also a number of Bowe/s lines from Wicklow to the present day, but it's unclear whether there were any connections between the Wicklow Bowe/s and the Kilkenny Bowe/s. At any rate, there were early English Pearse settlers in south Ireland.
Early Pearse Marriages in Ireland in Kilkenny and Cork
Kilkenny, Elizabeth Pearse, 11-14-1741, m. Peter Alley, St. Mary's, Kilkenny, Church of Ireland, no witnesses [There was a Bowe family well recorded in the 1700s in St. Mary's parish, but no male Pearses. One of the Bowe matches in this group has an ancestor Michael Bowe marrying in neighboring St. John's parish in 1820.]
Cork, Elias Pearse, 5-6-1795, m. Francis Langford of Mallow, Cork, Church of Ireland, no witnesses [No children of an Elias Pearse or variant show in database; if you google "Mallow Cork" and "Crowley" many hits come up. This Elias Pearse is from a Pearse family that emigrated to Cork from Devon. Details on this family, which are not known to be 100% accurate, can be found at ]
Early Pearse Deaths in Ireland
None recorded before 1847
b) Reference in thepeerage.com and the Landed Estates [of Connacht] Databaseto a Persse family beginning with the death in 1700 of the Rev. Dudley Persse
1881 Census of England and Wales showing distribution of the PERSSE name per 100,000 and origins of the surname in Hants.
From the Landed Estates Database:
The Persse family first received grants of land in counties Galway and Roscommon in the 1670s [Cromwellian period]. Some of this land had been de Burg[h] land [the de Burgh and Fitzpatrick lines married into the Persse line] and later a descendent of the Persses acquired the estate at Moyode. Lands at Moyode and Castleboy had been granted to Sir William Scawen in 1703. They settled initially at Spring Garden. Afterwards they purchased Roxborough where some of the family were living by the early 18th century [Dudley Persse, earliest mentioned at thepeerage.com lived here]. Robert Persse of Roxborough established estates at Castleboy and Moyode for his sons Parsons and Burton respectively [explanation a bit convoluted] ... The house at Roxborough is most famous as the birthplace of Isabella Augusta Persse, later Lady Gregory of Coole.
Pearse in the Griffith's Valuation 1848-1864
There are 12 entries for Pearse: 3 in Wexford, 2 each in Cork and Offaly and one each in Antrim, Dublin, Kildare, Longford and Roscommon.
There is a forum for the Persse surname.
c) Some early Persses appear to link Galway, Wicklow, and Kildare at the Latter Day Saints website
Early Wicklow/Kildare Family (probably tied to the Galway Persse family above)
These records at familysearch.org have not been checked by the LDS against any official records. They are user submitted. Checking the microfilms may give sources for the information.
Robert Persse, b. abt 1570, Northampton, Hampshire, England, m. abt 1595 in Killadirge, Wicklow, Ireland, Mrs. Robert Persse, b. abt. 1574, Bowdenstown, Galway, Ireland. Died abt. 1612.
Their children were:
Francis, b. abt 1596 in Killadirge, Wicklow, Ireland. Died May 1640.
Edward, b. abt. 1598 in Carragh, Kildare, Ireland. Died aft. 1642.
Henry, b. abt 1600 in Clane, Kildare, Ireland. Died 11 July 1673.
Robert Persse, b. abt. 1555, "of" Carrogh, Kildare, Ireland. Died 1612. Buried Bowdenstown, Galway, Ireland. Married abt. 1585 "of" Downings, Kildare, Ireland, Mrs. Robert Persse, b. abt 1559, "of" Downings, Kildare, Ireland.
Their children were:
Francis, b. abt 1586 in Killadirge, Wicklow, Ireland. Died May 1640.
Edward, b. abt. 1588 in Carrogh, Kildare, Ireland. Died aft. 1642.
Henry, b. abt 1590 in Clane, Kildare, Ireland. Buried bef. 11 July 1673 in Bowdenstown, Galway, Ireland.
I can't find a Bowdenstown, Galway, but there is a Bowdenstown, Kildare with an old parish cemetery.
Next the apparent Galway connection reappears in records of Dudley Persse, son of Henry Persse (the child above?) I need to retrieve Versions 1 and 2 from the database again and compare them for discrepancies. They look identical here but I must have noticed a difference and I didn't get back to this. In any case Version 3, if true, makes the clearest connection between Kildare and Galway:
Version 1:
A Henry Persse, the son above?, m. Elizabeth? and had son Dudley, b. 1625, Clane, Kildare, Ireland, d. 1699.
Version 2:
A Henry Persse, the son above?, m. Elizabeth? and had son Dudley, b. 1625, Clane, Kildare, Ireland, d. 1699.
Dudley Persse, b. abt. 1626 in Clane, Kildare, m. Sarah Crofton, b. abt. 1639 Lisdorne, Roscommon in abt. 1658 at Lisdorne, Roscommon. Dudley died abt. 1699 in Roxborough, Galway. They have seven children shown as born in Spring Garden, Galway, where The Landed Estates said the Galway Persse family first settled.
Another Link between the Galway Persses and Wicklow Persses
Henry Persse of Roxborough, Galway, b. abt. 1664, m. Mary Stratford of Baltinglass, Wicklow.
d) Reference to a Sir Henry Pierce settled in Kilkenny by 1650 as part of the Cromwellian incursion.
1881 Census of England and Wales showing distribution of the PIERCE name per 100,000 and origins of the surname in Flints.
"Other Cromwellian landholders included ... Sir Henry Pierce" probably the same as one noted in Cavan, Ireland, at a number of links.
d) References to an Anglo-Irish Pierce/Pearse family in East Leinster
Note: I do not think these entries below are accurate when implying that Pierce and Pearse are related. Using the census distribution maps on this page for the various spellings reveals they probably have separate origins and are distinct families.
Neither gives a source and one may even be relying on the other. It's not clear if the Anglo-Irish family may be the Pearse entries referenced in a) above, or the Persse family referenced in b) and c) above:
The Internet Surname Database - "The name Pearse while mainly associated with Cornwall, is also found in Ireland as Pierce and Pierse, and is an Anglo-Irish family name found mainly in East Leinster."
Irish Identity - "Pierce, Pearse An Anglo-Irish name found in eastern counties of Leinster. In Kerry, the Pierces or MacPierces were a branch of the Fitzmaurices."
6.
At least one of these Bowe families comes from just east of Castlecomer. “Until the 16th century, Castlecomer or comer as it is locally called was the home of the O’Braonáins [Brennans]. In 1635 Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford planted an area in Co.Kilkenny with six hundred Yorkshire men. Christopher Wandesforde was granted an area round the present town of Castlecomer. Castlecomer and the surrounding area was owned by the Wandesfords until the present century.” [http://homepage.eircom.net/~prescomerns/castlecomer/locality3.htm] The Wandesforde family opened coal mines in the area, having come from a coal mining region in England. The Bowe surname is also prominent in Yorkshire, while the Bowes surname was also strongly associated with the coal mining industry in Yorkshire. Conceivably a Bowe or, less likely, a Bowes from Yorkshire were among the “600 Yorkshire men” who settled Kilkenny. I think this is a less probable scenario because it's harder to account for the Crowley connection in Cork and the Pearse connection in Devon, unless those were separate non-paternal events arising from Bowe in Yorkshire.
7.
Something else.
Griffith's Valuation 1848-1864
There are 12 Pearse entries: 3 in Wexford, 2 each in Cork and Offaly and 1 each in Antrim, Dublin, Kildare, Longford and Roscommon.
Old Discussion Before Pearse's 67 Markers Were Tested - Now Considered Outdated
NB: One aim of the DNA Project is to determine which, if any, modern lines conform to explanations of our surname origins in Ireland. This subgroup has found strong evidence to rule out the possibility his line may in fact descend from O'Buadhaigh, but since we can't prove anything as yet, we leave this discussion here for the "archives." Only one genetic Bowe/s line, if any, would have descended from the individual O'Buadhaigh, but since people joined the sept and took the name who were not related, more than one genetic line could have ancient ties to the sept. The fun continues!
it's interesting to note that while Bowe and Bowes hail from Kilkenny and surrounds, Crowley's most recent known location is Cork in the 1800s. This could indicate that these Kilkenny Bowe/s line(s) at some point lived in the Cork area. Cork is also where the O'Buadhaigh sept is said to originate among the Corca Laoidhe, and the Bowe and Bowes surnames, along with Bogue, are said to be anglicizations of this Gaelic O'Buadhaigh. Interestingly, on a map showing the location of the principal Gaelic septs from 1300-1600, O'Bogue and O'Crowley are located less than 10 miles apart in the Corca Laoidhe country.
Red oval is O'Bogue, Orange rectangle is O'Crowley [1]
Yet the haplogroup for this subgroup is Scandinavian, so if this subgroup were to have genetic roots with O'Buadhaigh, it would mean some Viking intermixed with native Gaelic "back when." In fact, about 15-20 miles east of where the O'Buadhaigh/O'Bogue sept is located we find Rosscarbery, a once ancient ecclesiastical center that was raided by Vikings:
Although there is notice of a raid on Ross by the Norsemen of Dublin in 840 by the compiler of the unreliable 'Codagh Gaedhel re Gailibh', the first active reference to the monastery is in the Annals of Inisfallen which records that the Norse chief, Gofrey, son of Imar 'went by sea westwards and took the hostages of the South of Ireland by sea to Ros Ailithir' [Ross Carbery] in 924. They further record in 990, the son of Imar, the Danish leader, left Waterford, and then followed the destruction of Ross of the Pilgrim by the foreigners [the Norse], and the taking prisoner of the Fear Leighinn [professor], Mac Coise Dobráin who was later ransomed by Brian Boru at Inis Cathaigh. [2]
The Vikings did intermarry with the Gaels in Ireland [get cites], in the least at elite social levels, though that is unlikely to have occurred here since Vikings didn't settle this location (there was, however, a strong Viking settlement in Cork city). It's more plausible, though impossible to prove in this case, that Viking raids routinely included some "spoils of war" that could account for intermixing here. Additionally, the Danes held Irish hostages and slaves within the walls of Cork city, later freed by local Irish. No doubt some intermixing could have occurred in an environment like that.
Finally, the Coppinger's Court mansion at Rowry, Rosscarbery, was built by the Coppinger family, "an old Viking family who remained in the Cork area" and came to Rosscarbery among "the Elizabethan and Cromellian families who settled in the district." [3] An 1884 Coppinger family history records (without citation) that "the Coppingers of Ballyvolane [Cork] were among those old Burgher families of Danish origin who were once all powerful within the walls of Cork," and later suggests the surname evolved from the Danish "Copenher." [4] It's not clear in the sources how this family is both "an old Viking family who remained in the Cork area" and among the "Elizabethan and Cromwellian families who settled in the district." I have solicited this family for DNA studies to rule in or out a possible connection, but have not received a reply.
____________________
1. MacLysaght, Edward. The Surnames of Ireland. Irish Academic Press Ltd.: Dublin. 1980, Map. "Prepared by [MacLysaght ] and drawn and lettered by Nora O'Shea, one time heraldic artist to the Office of Arms, Dublin Castle."
2. "History Rosscarbery West Cork Ireland," The Rosscarbery Web Site Committee.
3. Ibid.
4. Copinger, Walter Arthur, Ed. History of the Copingers or Coppingers of the County of Cork, Ireland, and the Counties of Suffolk and kent, England. 1884.