DNA Project - Hollyer, Hollier and Holyer

This is to announce a major new venture for the One-Name Study. I have started a DNA Project with Family Tree DNA. Information about the DNA project is available here.

In terms of the Hollyer, Hollier and Holyer One-Name Study, the objective of the DNA study is to confirm or otherwise the possibility of common ancestral links between branches where the paper records have not yet established a link and may never do, as well as confirming that many of the southern instances of the name are entirely independent of the groups in the Midlands.

So, I'm hoping that over time we can answer the following sort of questions:

• Do the two groups of Holliers from Leicestershire link to those in Warwickshire?
• Likewise, with the separate groups of Holliers in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Oxfordshire;
• In particular, do the three groups of Oxfordshire Holliers from Deddington, Sydenham and Lewknor have a common origin, as the paper records are beginning to suggest?
• Do the Coventry Hollyers link to the main group of Warwickshire Holliers?
• Do the large group of Somerset Holliers, which first appeared as late as the mid 18th century, relate to any others?
• Are the Kent Holyer/Hollyers and the Hampshire Holliers completely separate lines?
• If you are a US Hollier, are you part of the large group from Louisiana that originally came from France, or are your origins elsewhere, such as England, Germany or Sweden?

If you are male and have the surname Hollyer, Hollier or Holyer, you can take part. If you are female, perhaps you can find a male family member who could participate?

I'm hoping that as many of you as possible will support this exciting new venture, which I expect will provide many fascinating insights into our early ancestral origins.

Peter Walker