Which Henry Lock are you speaking of? Henry Lock father of Matthew Lock is no doubts Romany, I am in contact with one of his descendants. Your Henry Lock of Aberford, I don't know if he is Romany or not.
DNA testing on Matthew Lock's male descendant proves he is in Y Haplo Group H1a, which appears to have originated in India / Pakistan area, and the Romany are thought to have been Indian descendants according to linguistics experts and historians.
So besides the language base being Indian in origin, because they are in fact Indian descendants, they obviously carried over with them Indian DNA in them.
It is when you add the history, language, and DNA together, you can clearly identify the European Romany as Indian descendants.
Riley and Smith are typical Romany / Traveler surnames yes, as is Lock(e), Boswell, and lots of others. Not all travelers are Romany though, but may have close or distant ties to the Romany families, while other travelers may not have blood ties to the Romany what so ever.
Did you read the private message I sent to you? There is no longer any need to be frustrated in the paper trail research. With a simple DNA test, we can tell if your Lock(e)'s are a DNA match to the Romany Lock(e)'s. Even with out a solid paper trail, DNA testing being done on us males can help prove a family connection.
DNA testing will not tell us how 2 men are related, but will tell us if they shared a common male ancestor. If one of your Lock(e) men gets DNA tested, we can compare his Y chromosome to 61 other Lock(e) men who have already DNA tested from England and the USA.
Of the 61 men, 2 Romany Lock branches are represented in the Locke DNA project already.
If your Lock(e)'s are Romany, they should be in this rare Y Haplo Group H1a, and if in fact they are in Y Haplo H1a, you will have your proof because H1a is not native to Europe, it is native to India.
Of 61 Lock(e) men of England and the USA whom have DNA tested to date, the only 2 lineages in this rare Y Haplo Group H1a is Henry Lock father of Matthew Lock and Richard Lock.
So 2 Romany Lock branches are already DNA tested to compare to your Lock(e) lineage.
And what you speak of with Jack Lock having been involved in the fairs, is another good indicator of a Romany connection. Like I said before, if we ignore the fact that your Henry Lock was settled as early as he was, with the marriages to Riley and Smith's is a good indicator this is a Rom Lock branch. Add in the fair part of the history tells me you could in fact be related to us.
Some of the Rom Lock's were settled as early as 1841 according to the census records, so I would presume others likely settled far earlier then 1841. The settled branches are harder to tell if they are Romany because they are no longer traveling.
DNA testing your male Lock(e)'s is the key here. 6 Lock(e)'s in the USA and 1 in England have already DNA tested and confirmed we are all a good DNA match to one another, and all 7 of us are in Y Haplo Group H1a. So you have the perfect opportunity here to prove a blood connection to our tree with a simple DNA test on one of your males. What you have shared with me so far, seems to clearly indicate you could very well be correct, that your Henry Lock just maybe the son of Henry Lock and Sarah Peters of South Cerney. If your Henry Lock is in fact the son of Henry Lock and Sarah Peters, then Matthew Lock would be a brother to your Henry Lock.
Even with out a solid paper trail, DNA can at least confirm your Henry Lock is a Rom by comparing your male Locke's to Matthew Lock and Richard Lock's male descendants.
The Lock(e)'s are not the only Roms in this rare Y Haplo H1a either, we have since discovered
2 Lee branches and 1 Burton branch are also in this rare H1a. And a Mr. Smith has recently ordered a DNA test and will will get to see his test results in the next month or so.
Feel free to email me privately for more details regarding DNA testing.
Donald Locke
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