HELP NEEDED, HIT A BRICK WALL: I've traced the Dowdy line from 1900's to 1554 Richard Doude in Kent, England.

Question

I've seen that his father could be John Alixander and his father John Alixander, b.1507, but no proof of either.  Some have said the Sir John of 1507 could have had another name.  His father is supposedly an Edward(possibly Kind relation) but no proof so far.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I’m afraid you haven’t traced your line all the way back to Richard. There are problems with your tree. 

Your line from Richard is Henry & then another Richard, born 1610. In 2018 Craig Dowd commented on the profile for Richard, that this particular Richard died as a child. This is the case - he was baptised 15 July 1610 & buried 21 July 1610, both in Woodchurch. 

Baptism:

https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/5ce3ff8af493fd7eafb2e92d/richard-dowde-baptism-kent-woodchurch-1610-07-15?locale=en&search_id=60a6f47a4325a664147c80c5&ucf=false

Burial:

https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/581816e5e93790ec75c0ea56/richard-dowde-burial-kent-woodchurch-1610-07-21?locale=en&search_id=60a6f47a4325a664147c80c5&ucf=false

Also other details of the tree don’t make much sense - the supposed son of this Richard - who lived & died in Kent, is born in Gloucestershire. There is no explanation how or why. This child then has a child born in Pennsylvania, even though he dies in Gloucestershire, England & doesn’t seem to have emigrated. The next generation is born in Albermarle,Surrey, England (a place that doesn’t exist, perhaps they meant Virginia?)

Richard Doude born 1610 conveniently marries a woman with the surname Dowdy... 

Unfortunately there is quite a bit of unsourced detail in the tree. It looks like it needs a lot of work to get to the truth. Sorry, but you may find your actual brick wall occurs quite some time before 1554 & perhaps even in America, & that is why the tree is currently attached to someone who died as a child.

I would go back down the tree to the last person you are absolutely sure of & have reliable sources for & then start working your way up again using records. Look at other family trees, but unless they show evidence, take them with a pinch of salt. 

Probably not what you want to hear...

Comments

Thank you for posting this as I was considering posting something similar myself. Many of the profiles in the Dowdy chain were imported and are unsourced apart from ancestry trees. [Of course Cameron is not responsible for any of this!]

I did look at some of the English profiles and there are some real people being documented although not necessarily being connected correctly. With more sourcing work it may be possible to salvage some solid genealogy.

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The only known living descendants of Richard Doude (parentage unknown) are from his grandson Henry Doude, who emigrated to Connecticut in 1639, as far as I've been able to ascertain.  All descendants of Henry used the spellings Doude, Doud, Dowde, and Dowd.  None used the spelling Dowdy.  

The Dowdy spelling almost certainly indicates Irish descent. At least that is what the Y-Chromosome dna studies of the surname show.

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Hey Craig, I just added my father's dna and he is definitely a Dowdy(Dowdy-1028). It appears that y'all are related, so Dowdy's would need to be included. Let me know if I'm incorrect. Thanks! Cameron Dowdy Thrasher(Dowdy-1018)

email:cdowdy@dowdyinc.com

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Hi Cameron, there are no dna sites that show me related by y-chromosome to anyone with the Dowdy surname.  I share the same y-dna signature with several other descendants of Henry Doude (the 1639 immigrant to CT).  Your father may be dna related to people with the name Dowdy, but he is not dna related to me.  My own y-dna is not connected to any Irish families.  In fact, it appears to be descended anciently from somewhere between the Netherlands and Switzerland.

I'm not certain what you mean by "Dowdy's need to be included".  Your paternal Dowdy ancestry is almost certainly part of the large Irish group (again, dna proved that my paternal line is not related to the Irish Dowd clan).  If you're talking about pedigrees on Wikitree, I'd suggest creating a tree starting with yourself, and working back by documenting every generation.  Best wishes ~ Craig

Answer 2

I suspect the name Alixander originated with Ancestry.com entries showing Richard Doude (1554-1612) as son of an Alixander Doude.  However, this is based on a 1579 baptism of a Richard Dode (son of Alixander Dode).  This makes no sense, and someone apparently changed Alixander Dode to John Alixander, perhaps to claim an illustrious ancestor.  The father of Richard Doude is actually unknown.  

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/111849690/person/360089332157/facts

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