HURST SURNAME DNA PROJECT SUCCESS STORIES
The Hurst Surname DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA
was begun in 2001. Apparently as a pure coincidence the first four Hursts
to test turned out to have perfect 37-marker matches. None of those four have
ever met. Two of the four have a clear paper genealogy trail to Absalom Hurst
born in 1750 in Stafford County,
Virginia. The other two are also
members of the family usually called the “Hursts of
Shenandoah.” There are now 15 project members from this family who have matching
Y-DNA – half of the matches are perfect.
There were two Hurst
families in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia during the 1700s. One which
included Absalom Hurst, his brother John “Mill Creek” Hurst, and their father
Thomas, originally from Stafford County, lived in the southern part of Shenandoah County
which is now Page
County. The other family
headed by William “Brindle Bill” Hurst, which
included his two sons William and Capt. John, lived in the northern part which
is now Warren County. For decades the theory was that these
families were related, but as of the beginning of the DNA testing a respected
genealogist had concluded that they were not related. The Y-DNA results proved
they were definitely related, again demonstrated by perfect 37-marker matches.
A century-old theory was that the “Hursts
of Shenandoah” were descended from an English Henry Hurst
of a particular line from Leckhampstead Parish, Buckinghamshire, England. Although English
genealogists had presented evidence against this, it was (and, unfortunately,
still is) believed by many American Hurst genealogists. But Y-DNA test results
for three Hursts
from this line proved to be completely different from our line. It’s difficult
to get people to give up a “paper trail” going back to the year 1500.
Of course, not all American Hursts
have the same Y-DNA. We have now identified seven easily distinguishable lines,
most represented by one test with a unique “haplotype” or DNA signature. One of
these “singletons” is a claimed descendant of Tobias Hurst, the first Hurst to come to American
in 1618.
Another man from Northern Virginia
started as a singleton. Quite independently tests were run on known descendants
of two men from Southwest Virginia. One of the
ancestors was William Hurst Jr., son of William Hurst Sr. They were the
founders of a line known as the “Carroll County Hursts.”
The other ancestor, Joseph Hurst, lived in nearby Wythe County,
so he had not been accepted as another son of William Sr., even though there
was one deed connecting all three. Not only did the two descendants have a
perfect match, but they were very close to the Hurst
from Northern Virginia. That was not
surprising because William Sr. had married in Northern
Virginia. Another possible son of William Sr. was a Samuel Hurst
who also lived across the line in Wythe
County. The test results
for his descendant came out in between the Carroll and Northern Virginia Hursts, so it’s unclear how Samuel was related to the
others. There are now a total of eight men who have results in this group; the
others have not established a connection with Virginia. Two have a perfect match, but have
not found a connection – yet. For background, see Carroll County Hursts.
While most of our members have the surname Hurst, we also have members named Hirst, Hust, and Husk.
Eight men and women have tested their mitochondrial DNA
(mtDNA), which tracks the direct maternal line, with the Hurst project. Some of the women had previously
sponsored Y-DNA tests for male relatives. Others, with female Hurst
ancestors, were part of a project originally designed to determine whether two
women named Kelly, probably born in Wythe
County, Virginia, 200
years ago, were sisters. Matching mtDNA test results, along with paper
genealogy, showed that they were. The mother of those two was named Elizabeth
Cummins. Since the wife of William Hurst Sr. above was named Rachel Cummins and
there were other connections with the Cummins-Kelly family in Wythe County,
a direct maternal descendant of Rachel Cummins Hurst was found and tested. Her
mtDNA was one marker off from the Kelly descendants, showing a relationship,
but not exactly what it was. For details, see Kelly
Sisters Project Results.
Results for Y-DNA and mtDNA are posted on the Hurst Surname DNA Project
Website. Note that the “Hursts of Shenandoah” are
Group A, with codes beginning with A01. The English Hursts
are Group B. The Carroll County/Northern Virginia Hursts
are Group E. The other groups usually have only one member - so far.