Last Updated on 15 Dec 2024

We are a small collective of genealogy researchers who are attempting to “join the dots” connecting 14 Harrell families having roots in Northern Virginia whose Y-DNA donors are identified by FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) as having “matching” Y-DNA profiles.

As background, FTDNA’s Harrell Group represents a large number of male individuals, most of which have the Harrell (or related spellings) surname, who have taken FTDNA’s Y-DNA test(s). Identified within this Group are sub-groups wherein each sub-group member possesses a similar or matching Y-DNA profile. Therefore, each sub-group is defined by a set of unique Y-DNA profiles that FTDNA believes are matching. To date (as of December 2024), the largest sub-group within the Harrell Group has 70 Y-DNA donors and has their American roots in early Virginia’s Nansemond County and North Carolina’s Bertie County. The second largest sub-group has 35 Y-DNA donors whose American ancestors reportedly lived in Northern Virginia counties (viz., Northumberland, Prince William, Orange, Augusta, Frederick, Shenandoah). The Y-DNA donors comprising the 14 Harrell families mentioned above are all members of this second largest sub-group. In the current listing of FTDNA Y-DNA profiles of the Harrell Group, there are 15 Harrell sub-groups with the two largest mentioned above.

Collective research by the Harrell Collaborative Team (HCT) took place over 20 years and focused on finding how these 14 Harrell families linked together. Their Y-DNA profiles matched (as declared by FTDNA) so they were considered blood related. Throughout their search, the HCT acquired information from the following sources including: Y-DNA donors; libraries; federal, state and county records; family archives; internet postings; and Ancestry.com. Each of the 14 families is identified by their Earliest Known Ancestor (EKA). Since each EKA is blood related to other EKAs in their sub-group, theoretically there should be a common ancestor among all 14 families (i.e., among all 14 EKAs). The grand challenge to the HCT was to find this common EKA—the progenitor of our Northern Virginia group.

In the year 2000, when FTDNA first began the reporting Y-DNA profiles within the Harrell Group, the HCT began their collaborative work collecting information on early Virginia Harrell families. Their effort concluded in 2023 with the documentation of the 14 Harrell Families contained herein. Over this span of time the science of DNA testing and the interpretation of results relative to genealogy expanded greatly. In the beginning, FTDNA’s Y-DNA testing and subsequent identification of a male’s Y-DNA profile was limited by existing technology. FTDNA’s first Y-DNA profile constituted information on only 12 markers of the person’s (the male’s) entire Y chromosome. This information helped to narrow Harrell family relationships but being matched to someone with the same or similar 12 markers only meant the possibility of a distant relationship; it would take a match with many more markers to increase the probability of a more recent and meaningful relationship. Fortunately, the value of knowing one’s Y-DNA profile within a family spread quickly within the genealogy research community and within a few years the technology had advanced sufficiently to allow FTDNA to expand the number of markers to 24, and then to 37. Today, FTDNA offers their Big Y test which produces information on 700 markers.

It is worth mentioning that the identification of Y-DNA matches by the HCT as related to the 14 families in this Collaborative was made using markers up to and including 37 – the only information provided by FTDNA at the time. It remains to be seen whether today’s advanced Y-DNA information will change anything reported in this Collaborative.

One of the many problems facing the HCT was a lack of Y-DNA donors within the Northern Virginia Harrell sub-group; reasons varied from cost to privacy. Without Y-DNA profiles it was sometimes difficult separating Harrells living in Nansemond and Bertie counties (largest sub-group) from Harrells living in Northern Virginia. Living Harrell descendants from the Northern Virginia sub-group often had limited knowledge of their EKA making extra work for the HCT to fill the information gap (if possible) and confirm the EKA’s status. Making matters worse, many Harrell families living in Northern Virginia eventually migrated and settled in mid-western states like Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio – the only places where records were found. Not knowing where EKAs lived before they migrated made it difficult/impossible linking them to other EKAs.

The Harrell Collaborative represents the best source of assembled information for these 14 families. After 20 plus years of collecting information on these 14 families, the resources of the HCT have been essentially depleted and no further research is contemplated. Speculation about the relationships between and within each family’s EKA, and the identity of a possible common ancestor has been greatly reduced but not eliminated. Even though the parents/siblings of all EKAs have not been identified, a strong case can be made for all EKAs to have descended from Richard Harrell born abt. 1700 (Family#5) and his brother Jacob Harrell born about 1710, who is the assumed father of EKAs William Harrell (Family#1) and Reuben Harrell (Family#2). What is not known is the identity of all sons of Jacob Harrell 1710 and his spouse Martha Calfee. However, there is strong speculation that William Harrell and Reuben Harrell are sons of Jacob Harrell 1710. In addition, there is speculation that Jacob’s sons could include Simon Harrell, David Harrell, John Harrell from Hawkins Co., TN (Family#3), and Jacob Harrell born 1761 (Family#4). Information about Simon Harrell and David Harrell have not been included in the Collaborative because they are not as yet considered EKAs – there is not a Y-DNA profile from a male descendent of Simon and/or David Harrell so it cannot be proven they are blood related to the 14 families.

Again, if any reader of this updated information has comments on any of the 14 families, please log on and post your thoughts. Speculation is allowed, and will be identified as such, provided some form of credible or compelling evidence is offered.

Information about each of the 14 families, including DNA kit numbers of associated donors (FamilyTreeDNA) and their related EKA(s) is (or will be) provided in this collection.

Note: Several individuals contributed significant time in researching these Harrell families but there was one who stood out above others: his name is Garnett Lee Hearl (Lee) who passed away in 2023. Lee was a master storyteller of early Virginia history and the first to organize FTDNA’s early Harrell Y-DNA test results; he was also the first FTDNA Harrell Group Administrator. Without Lee’s contributions, the contents of this Collaborative would not have been written.

Contributors are welcome to join our collaborative effort, while everyone is asked to advise of any errors and necessary revisions or updates!

-The Harrell Collaborative Administrators,

Bill Thielbahr (descended from Family #1)
John Harrell (descended from Family #1)

Have a question, correction, or comment? Please let us know