Y-DNA Marker Results Kit #23350 \ YSearch ID ZGTWZ
Earliest known ancestor is <1645. See Lawrence Springer and Martha Hicks.
Discussion
NB: We have no proof that the following noted associations explain the relatedness in this group between Irish families of other surnames and a Springer from Barbados. All we can do at this point is theorize, and other scenarios are possible. We'll develop them, perhaps abandoning this one, as more details emerge and time allows. The further these participants can pursue their paper trails, and the more people join the DNA study who match this subgroup, the more information we'll have to go on.
An interesting association in this group is the match between two Irish Bowe and Bowes lines and a Springer. Springer's line emigrated from Barbados to the US. It is possible that a common ancestor of these lines went from Ireland or England to Barbados during the English colonization there from 1625-1644, either as an Irish slave, indentured servant, or with some financial backing looking for opportunity:
The first English ship touched the island on May 14th 1625 under the command of Captain John Powell. The island was therefore claimed on behalf of King James I.
On February 17th 1627, Captain Henry Powell landed with a party of 80 settlers and 10 slaves to occupy and settle the island. This expedition landed in Holetown formerly known as Jamestown. The colonists established a House of Assembly in 1639. It was the 3rd ever Parliamentary Democracy in the world (Barbados History).
People with good financial backgrounds and social connections with England were allocated land. Within a few years much of the land had been deforested to make way for tobacco and cotton plantations.
During the 1630s, sugar cane was introduced to the agriculture. The production of sugar, tobacco and cotton was heavily reliant on the indenture of servants. White civilians who wanted to emigrate overseas could do so by signing an agreement to serve a planter in Barbados for a period of 5 or 7 years. To meet the labour demands, servants were also derived from kidnapping, and convicted criminals were shipped to Barbados. Descendants of the white slaves and indentured labour (referred to as Red Legs) still live in Barbados, they live amongst the black population in St. Martin's River and other east coast regions. At one time they lived in caves in this region. [1]
At least one Bowes, a John Bowes, is recorded to have emigrated to St. Christopher's, Barbados, during this period, in 1634. Though he left from the Port of London, that doesn't make clear whether he had lived in England or Ireland. [2]
Although not relevant to Springer's paper trail, which shows his line in Barbados earlier, it's worth noting the large wave of Irish to Barbados later in the 17th C:
During the 1650s and 1660s, Ireland was probably the chief source of white migration to the West Indies, mainly in the form of indentured servants and to a lesser extent convicts and prisoners of war. The islands, however, were not simply a Cromwellian dumping ground for unwanted Irishmen. The most visible Irishmen there were younger sons of prominent Catholic families who, lacking opportunity at home, set up as merchants and planters in the West Indies. [3]
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1. "The Abbreviated History of Barbados"
2. Hotten, John Camden, The Original Lists of [People] Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations 1600-1700, 1874. [This is far from a complete list. See pp. xxx-xxxi.]
3. Kenny, Kevin, Ed. Ireland and the British Empire. Oxford University Press: Oxford. 2004, p. 95.