A one-name study is the study of a particular surname (or surnames where it has variants), which researches and documents all persons bearing that surname, as distinct from researching all the ancestors or descendants of one person. A study can be confined to a country, or sometimes to a state, province or UK county, but surnames registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies are researched and documented on a worldwide basis.
A considerable database of people with the Halstead/Halsted name and its variants has been built up over the past 20 years and that includes those who have the name as a given name. Research however is still on-going and the new research website when released will be renewed on a regular basis. For further details see http://halstedresearch.org.uk/ui74.htm
The surname HALSTED and its variants were originally registered with the Guild in 1994 and subsequently transferred into the name of the Secretary of the Halsted Trust. Registration now covers the following surnames variants: Halstead, Halsted, Holstead, Alstead, Olstead.
Where do DNA tests fit into the research conducted by the Halsted Trust?
John Hanson, our Research Director, is co-administrator of the Halstead surname project hosted by FTDNA. Legitimately born males of those who use the surname of Halsted (and its spelling variants), will have inherited their Y-chromosome from their genealogical father. That chromosome causes humans to develop as men. The Y-chromosome can be tested in living men through a DNA test from FTDNA, the only company that currently offers such a test for genealogists. Do all current men who are now called Halsted (or one of its variants) have the same form of Y-chromosome suggesting that they all ultimately have just one male ancestor? Alternatively, do multiple current forms of the Y-chromosome suggest that the same surname was assumed by several different, geographically diverse, regional families, some seven centuries ago? What does this tell us about where those who emigrated to America, or elsewhere in the World, lived in Britain before they left its shores.
Further information about our DNA study can be found here
