FTDNA groups men surnamed Townsend into this haplogroup. They remain unconnected by traditional research and documentation and no common ancestor has been identified. Recently several persons with other surnames match Townsends and are trying to find their Townsend connection. The 'h' in the Irish branch was only adopted in the 1870s and by a minority of that large family.

An early known ancestor in England is Colonel Richard Townsend born about 1618, died 1692 whose home was Castletown, Ireland. His line is documented by Richard Baxter Townsend and his wife Dorothea who collected various accounts and records, both public and private, and published in 1892 a book entitled "An Officer of the Long Parliament...
http://user.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/tree/home.php or see our Links page.
Several persons in the US south whose earliest known ancestor is Thomas Townsend d 1796 Cumberland Co., NC.
An Australian.

Click Here to access downloadable information on this family sub-group.

Background and Comments

Haplogroup

See FTDNA on their public view website where results are grouped by surname or geographical location. The I-M223 haplogroup is based on the hundredsd of men who have tested at FTDNA. For information on this haplogroup go to Wikipedia.

Monty Groves, TSA member, visited CastleTownshend, Ireland. Click here for his pictures.