Hadley Society DNA Project’s 2022 in Review
OVERVIEW
We were able to make some progress in our DNA research with the Hadley surname project this past
year. Over the course of 2022, we reached the 200-member threshold by adding 17 new participants.
This project originally focused on trying to determine if the two largest Hadley family groups in the United States shared a common origin. We have since determined that the New England line descending
from George Hadley of Massachusetts and the Quaker Hadleys descending from Simon Hadley of Ireland and Delaware are separate families. In addition to these two largest groups, the Hadleys of Eastern
Shore, MD, and southcentral KY descending from John Hadley of Talbot County, Maryland have been added as a third subgroup to the project.
Participating members and I have continued to reach out to Hadleys all over the world over this past year. While Hadleys from lineages ranging from Australia to the Caribbean have been added over the
past few years, the majority of our outreach efforts have been focused on the West Midlands of England. In order to expand these efforts, we added a third administrator to the FTDNA project, Mr.
David Hall, based in England. David has been a great partner in outreach efforts in England to Hadleys
and related families.
Over the years, we’ve been able to reach several conclusions:
- Verifying that Simon Hadley of Dublin’s origins were likely in the West Midlands region of
England, and not in Ireland. - Identifying that John Hadley of Eastern Shore, Maryland was not the same person or a near
relative of Simon Hadley’s son John Hadley of Ireland. - Confirming that all three families (Quaker, Eastern Shore, and Halesowen/Oldbury) of Hadleys share a common paternal ancestor in England as long ago as 1400 AD.
- Concluding that it is very unlikely that the Hadleys of Hadley, Withycombe, Somerset had any surviving male line descendants beyond the mid-1500s.
- Proving that the son Simon named in John Hadley of Quatt, Shropshire’s 1630 will died c1647 without children, and therefore, could not have been the father of Simon Hadley living in Dublin,
Ireland in the 1670s.
PROJECT LINEAGE TEST COVERAGE
The Hadley DNA project has identified at least 6 distinct lineages, each with its own Y-DNA signature.
The most represented Hadley subgroup in the project continues to be the Simon/John/West Midlands lineage. This group has been the most active over the past few years and has nearly doubled its members from about 20 to over 40. We have so far identified six branches of this family in the Black Country region west of Birmingham, England. So far, Y-DNA testing suggests the branches of these Hadley families separated as long ago as the early 1400s. FamilyTreeDNA has built a new visualization tool showing the relationship between these branches going back to the Middle Ages here.
As we expand our testing coverage in England and around the world, we continue to verify and identify previously unknown Hadley lineages interspersed with the main group from villages around the West Midlands region. In 2022, two new testers, one from Canada and one from New Zealand, were thought likely to connect to the large West Midlands group, but instead were perfect matches with one another forming a previously unidentified Hadley lineage in the Rowley/Halesowen area going back to the early 1800s.
Slightly to the south, a recently added participant’s Y-DNA test results helped to verify the Y-DNA signature of Hadleys descending from Edward Hadley, b. 1735 in the Cradley, Herefordshire area of England. Several Hadley landmarks to the north, near Salwarpe, are suggestive that this Hadley family had a separate origin in the area going back many years.
In addition to these groupings, data from additional participants tracing their Hadleys back to other villages in Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Herefordshire is beginning to suggest that a second large grouping of Hadleys sharing a common ancestry distinct from these others groups might have arisen in the West Midlands. Determining whether these disparate Hadleys do in fact share a common origin within a genealogically relevant time frame will be one of our goals in 2023.
Finally, it now appears the origins of George Hadley of Ipswich, Massachusetts are likely to have been in the north of England, near the Scottish borders. We have recently come across Y-DNA matches of men having the Hall surname that appear likely to share a close enough connection with this Hadley subgroup to suggest they share a common origin. We are currently waiting for this Hall participant’s Big Y 700 results to reveal just how close this relationship with these Hadleys might have been.
Research Questions
While we have made some progress this past year, a number of gaps remain in our knowledge of the various Hadley families and their origins. Below is a summary of key research questions we’re hoping to make progress toward answering in 2023 (organized by lineage subgroup):
George Hadley of Ipswich, Massachusetts
- Are George’s origins in the north of England? And if so, does this lineage connect to the Headleys and Halls living in the vicinity of Elsdon, Northumberland? Did the surname change from Headley to Hadley at some point?
Simon/John/West Midlands
- Do the Hadley lineages centering on Halesowen, Oldbury, and the surrounding villages of the Black Country region represent only a branch of the overall Hadleys of the region?
- Does the fact that the Simon Hadley and John Hadley of MD lineages seem to have branched off from the main group of English Hadleys around Halesowen and Oldbury as long ago as the late Middle Ages suggest they shared an origin point further afield in the West Midlands?
- Do Hadleys from villages further to the north and west (Wolverhampton, Kidderminster, Shrewsbury, Wednesbury, Uttoxeter, etc) share the same origin as the Hadleys from the Halesowen and Oldbury areas?
- Were the prominent gunmaker and clockmaker Hadleys from Birmingham connected to this group in some way? Do any male line descendants of these craftsmen still exist?
Hadleys of North Nibley, Gloucestershire
- Do the Hadleys of North Nibley, Cam, Droitwich, and Salwarpe represent a separate Hadley family taking its name from the local village of the name?
- How far back can the appearance of the Hadley surname in this area be estimated using Y-DNA?
Other Hadley groups
- As the project has expanded its coverage of Hadley participants from villages around England, the Anzac diaspora, and more recent emigrants to the United States, we have continued to come across Y-DNA signatures that have yet to be grouped into a single family tree.
- Do these Hadleys represent a yet-to-be-discovered Hadley lineage?
Looking ahead
As we move into 2023, we remain focused on increasing the reach of our project membership into Hadley families not yet represented in our project database. We are also committed to being strategic in our testing strategies so that we make the most efficient use of limited monetary resources. In practical terms, this will mean identifying willing project participants from each of our major lineages whose family trees are well documented and whose results would provide the most insight into the origins and specific Y-DNA markers representing each Hadley family group. We encourage our current membership as well as any Hadleys or Hadley descendants interested in learning more about their family history to reach out to us to see how they can contribute to or join the project. Please continue to monitor our website www.hadleysociety.com and our Facebook group page Hadley Society 3.0 for updates.
We wish you all the best for the New Year. May it be one of new connections and discoveries for our Hadley families.
Today, the Hadley Society supports all Hadleys regardless of ancestry, working to research their family trees using traditional genealogy and through the Hadley Surname DNA Project.
Contact us:
If you would like to learn more about your deep roots and are a male Hadley (or know one who could provide YDNA), we would love to work together to provide the key to your branch's past.
Are you new at researching or a seasoned family historian? You can work with us to verify your research or ask questions about our extensive database of Hadley history.
Please contact us and tell us your family story - we love to hear from all Hadleys and learn together!