If anyone is interested in DNA testing, here is a report on our Howery family.
Here are some URLs for info on the DNA tests.
http://www.familytreedna.com
http://www.oxfordancestors.com
http://www.mitotyping.com
http://molecular-genealogy.byu.edu/
http://www.mumma.org/DNA.htm
http://www.savin.org/dna/introduction.html
http://www.duerinck.com/genetic.html
Is anyone interested in doing any testing on the various Cales/Cale/Köhl/etc. family
to see if there is a common ancestor?
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Source: GENEALOGY-DNA-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [DNA] Howery DNA Project
After reading all the grand plans that other families have for doing a
formal DNA project, I'm almost embarrassed to report the simple results of
our Howery effort.
We Howerys (Howrys, Hauris, Haurys, Howreys) supposedly all descend from
single ancestor who lived c1400 in the Swiss village of Beromuenster.
Although the main branch of the family is easily traceable through the
excellent Swiss records, quite a few modern branches don't know the precise
details of their connection to the larger family. However, there is very
little doubt that there's only one family. (I should add, however, that
we're almost certainly an entirely different family from the Orcadian
Howries and we are probably a different family from the Bearnese Hauries.)
Some of us on the Howery mailing list had some preliminary discussions about
DNA testing and four of us decided that we were interested enough to look
into it. It didn't take us long to settle on Family Tree DNA as the folks to
do the testing. To make a long story short, one of the four of us backed out
and one has dallied a bit. The two of us who went ahead with the testing got
our results a few days ago. We matched on all 12 loci.
The result surprised and pleased the two of us who participated. My branch
of the family left Switzerland around 1700 and came to America. The other
guy's family left Switzerland about the same time, went to Bavaria, and
didn't come to America until the mid 1800s. Theoretically, we were supposed
to match, but I don't think either of expected to. First, there have been
occasional suggestions that the Haurys in southern German might not have
really come from Switzerland after all. (Pure nonsense, but some
genealogists love to spin theories.) This particular theory suggested that
the German Haurys just happened to adopt the same surname as a Swiss family.
I think that my test partner might have harbored doubts about his connection
to the rest of us.
I had my own doubts. My branch of the family has preserved a tradition that
we're not really Howerys; we just adopted a step-father's surname somewhere
along the line. My genealogical research hasn't shown any indication that
this happened, but I thought that the tradition might have an element of
truth. Alternatively, there was some indication that my colonial Howry
ancestors have been improperly identified with the Swiss family and that
they were originally members of the Orcadian family with the same name. So,
I was expecting a dramatic disconnect between my test results and those of
my test partner. Then, with a heavy sigh, I would turn from Howery research
and start looking for that elusive step-father <g>.
However, we matched. In essence, the test results of just two guys -- albeit
the right two guys -- dramatically swept aside a lot of meaningless and
irrelevant "what-ifs." I now have the first real evidence that my descent is
really through the Howerys, and it's now clear that the Virginia Howerys and
the Bavarian Haurys have a common origin, an origin that must certainly be
what the evidence has always suggested -- a common descent from the Swiss
Hauris. So, our little Howery DNA project gave us some very useful
information. Finally, I can't say enough good things about the lab we used,
Family Tree DNA. They were uniformly supportive and professional, answering
a zillion questions, listening to long rambling concerns, and going out of
their way to keep us updated after we committed to the test.
Justin Howery
justin(a)howery.net