Hurst Family in the Oxford and Near Area

[doverrog]

The Hurst family has a number of branches around Oxford including such villages as Great Milton, Great Haseley, Coombe, Wheately and Leckhamstead.
If you are researching the Hursts you may like to consider joining a project which is endevouring to establish firm links between our various branches and link us back to the 1400's.
There is a Hurst Family DNA project which has already got contributors from both the UK and the USA,
The Hurst Family DNA project is dedicated to helping genealogists find lost relatives when the paper trail ends and the brick wall takes its place. It uses a painless cheek scraping to obtain DNA that can help accurately determine a relationship with either a 99.9% probability of YES or a 100% certainly that no near term relationship existed.
Males can join:
A Surname Project which could be very helpful to verify relationships with individuals that share a similar surname.
There is also a one Y-DNA Geographical Project to verify a possible point of origin for the paternal line.
Females and Males can join:
A one mtDNA Lineage Project that researches individuals that have or suspect having the same maternal line.
Also a one mtDNA Geographical Project to verify a possible point of origin for the maternal line.
As a participant in this project I would love to hear from others who may like to join in linking our various family branches together. We already have good research from Parish Records etc but this 21st century method looks set to be a valuable aid yo our further research.
Please let me know if you are at a 'brick wall' or would like to participate.

[vjhur57]

Hello, I am new to this board but am a Hurst and this DNA project is the one on GenWeb right?  I would like my brother to do this.  MY direct line in USA is through a possible James Hurst from Isle of Wright (this is a new thought) would have left early to mid 1700's.  I had always focused on Leicestershire, Warwickshire or Suffolk due to research and the fact they married a family that arrived in mid 1700's name of Badley...for some reason Leicestershire has always been my thought.   

So, thought I'd throw out my info and see if there is anyone out there that would like to discuss possible USA connection.  My Hursts were in Maryland then moved to OH.

[doverrog]

Hi vjhurst. The Hurst DNA project can be found here https://www.familytreedna.com/public/hurst/
Joy is the administrator and will be happy to provide more information.
The vast majority of participants are in the USA and I think it can certainly help with your research.
I've checked my records and can't find any of the people you mention, but if you would like to post some more details I will certainly look further.
My own Hurst roots are in Oxfordshire though.

[vjhur57]

Hello Doverrog,
Thank you for your reply.  Problem is I have no idea where they came from so I appreciate you looking.  Recently, I've gotten some info that may indicate that a James Hurst immigrated mid 1700's sometime before 1790 which actually would make sense and explain why he can't be found in the Revolutionary War.  Past unproved info was that they had arrived prior to 1700 and the line went from a John (b 1671?) to Joseph to a James 1 to James 2 to Levi James (my known ancestor) who was born 1790 in Maryland.  Charles, Joseph, Samuel, James, Levi, Thomas, Sarah & Mary are all common names in this family. Charles was their first b son which makes me think that Levi's gfather's name might have been Charles.  The second son is James.  I know his wife's f name is William which their 4th son is named that.  They could have named their 1st son after Charles Wesley as they were early Methodists which actually makes sense.  Hope that adds some light.

  Of those early immigrants I have really NO proven information.  So it is all speculation at this time.  My hope is to find someone from UK who has jumped across and has similar family and/or roots in MD.  Early Hursts were in northern VA.  I really need to get my brother to do DNA!

thanks

[vjhur57]

OOPs Sorry Levi was born 1770 which means father DID have to be in US prior that date.

[doverrog]

Sorry but nothing which fits in the UK in my records.
However can I suggest you check some Jewish records as Levi is definitely Jewish and Samuel as well.
That doesn't mean a Jewish link though as biblical names were in wide use.
I would look at the Mormon IGI site https://familysearch.org/search for a shot but beware as many entries are not accurate and cannot be relied on, Perhaps local newspapers may have a BMD record worth looking into around the time. Also if you have access to Maryland records it may turn something up, try the official Maryland public records web site for more info. http://msa.maryland.gov

Please let me know if you have anything in the UK I may be able to help with,

[vjhur57]

Thanks for the warning...I've been using Family search for a long time...and gosh they are a mess sometimes...  Good to remind so that newer genealogists will know to take everything there with a grain of salt.  Yes, everyone did use all those Biblical names and Levi seemed to be a new addition to the repertoire about that time of 1770 to 1800 still not very popular and would be interested to know where it came from (aside from the Bible)

thanks for the link to the MD records...let me know if you need anything too!

[doverrog]

I hope you find some links. Thanks for the offer. Let us know how you get on, especially with the DNA info, and good luck.

[vjhur57]

Will do!!  Feel free to pass my info on if you run into any other Hursts with similar names.