Downings in America

Profile manager: Cheryl Rothwell [send private message]

The goal of this project is to trace our Downings back as far as possible and find out how we are related. We know Downings came from England, Ireland and Scotland. The goal of this project is to get our Downing lines "back to the boat" by finding the original immigrant ancestors.

I have two Downings lines. They came from Maryland. My lines last intermarried just prior to the Civil War. DNA has now shown all the Maryland Downings share a common ancestor but who that man was has not been definitively proven - and may never be. There are three or four distinct lines, depending on how you count as there is a lot of intermarriage along the way to where we are now, and whether you believe the men in 1720 were brothers or cousins. No connection to the other Downing lines has been shown - yet.

There is a Downing line from England that went to Massachusetts. Downing Street in London is named for that family. There are the Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Downings. And more.

Also, as many of our distant ancestors couldn't write, their surname got spelled however the person documenting them thought it should be spelled. Accents (think various English dialects, Irish, Scottish) might make a difference. We have DNA proof that Downen and Downey lines came from the Maryland Downings. This can happen in any surname so keep an open mind if the spelling is off.

Here are some of the tasks that I think need to be done. I'll be working on them, and could use your help.

• posting your Downing line(s)
• adding appropriate location tags
• posting DNA information
• link your most distant Downing ancestor's profile on the Downing Name Study page at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Downing_Name_Study

Will you join me? Please post a comment here on this page, in G2G using the project tag, or send me a private message. Thanks!