I had always thought that as my surname is Evans I must have Welsh ancestry. Besides,
Welsh men are renowned for their singing, and I LOVE singing! Oh dear, it’s
time to think again!
About three years ago I decided that it was about time to
have my DNA tested. I had heard about how some people had matched their DNA
with others of the same surname and had established common descent from
ancestors in specific areas. I hoped that I could do the same.
My problem was that I had traced my Evans line back to my great great grandfather, John Evans, who lived and married in
Manchester in the 1850’s. According to the information I had he was the son of another
John Evans and was born in about 1835
in Ireland. I speculated that being Protestant, he was possibly born in
Northern Ireland. Unfortunately my
research has revealed that there are untold numbers of men born in Ireland named
John Evans who could be my ancestor.
I had thought that by testing my DNA I could hopefully
establish the area where my John came from by matching my DNA with other Evans descendants whose ancestors came
from the same area.
In December 2011 I submitted a sample to FamilyTreeDNA® for Y-DNA
testing requesting a 37 marker test. I waited patiently for matches, and
although there were several 12 marker and one 25 marker match, there were no 37
marker matches. After about two years, an email arrived from a man whose
surname is Jourdan. He had a 37
marker match with me. We speculated that one of us probably had an illegitimate
ancestor and that we both could have been descended from either Evans or Jourdon/Jordan; but then he told me he had a 37 marker match with an
American man whose surname is Evins.
This really got me thinking, so I contacted Mr Evins to see how we might be related.
He had traced his great great grandfather, also John Evins/Evans, back to 1803, but found records showing that he had
changed his name from Nevins to Evins.
His ancestors had originated in Scotland then moved to Northern Ireland in the
early 1600’s. He had also seen evidence of other Nevins’s who had changed their name to Evans or Evins.
It’s easy to imagine how the surname could have changed if
an illiterate John Nevins spoke his
name to someone who wrote it down as John Evans
and I am convinced that this is very likely to have happened in the case of one
of my Evans ancestors. Further
research will hopefully provide some confirmation.
Oh well, so much for singing 'Men of Harlech'. Now I’ll have
to learn 'Scotland the Brave'!
