My Cloyd Heritage

     There is some confusion over where the Cloyd Surname originates.  An internet search will retrieve several differing opinions as to the origins of the family name.  Wikipedia says that Cloyd is the anglicized form of the Welsh Clwyd, referring to the River Clwyd in northeast Wales.  Others believe that the name was possibly changed from Clyde, and refers to people living on or near the Clyde river which runs through Glasgow Scotland.  The traditionally held belief is that the Cloyd name is an anglicized form of Clan MacLeod from the Highlands of Scotland.  I personally hold to the latter view based on much research of my own which I will present here.  The reason there is confusion as to the origins of the Cloyd Surname stems from the fact that many personal records of James Cloyd (a Scotchman who migrated to or was born in the Ulster Plantation scheme of the mid 1600s) were destroyed, burned, or lost.  Many (but not all) of the Cloyd lines in the U.S. can trace their lineage back to this individual, but run into a genealogical road block ending in Londonderry Ireland.  There may well be other lines of Cloyds who descend from either the siblings of James Cloyd or possibly from some of the other suggested name sources. 

     One such reference is recorded in a book compiled by A.D. Cloyd called:  Genealogy of the Cloyd, Basye and Tapp Families in America.  page 197 describes an immigrant named Daniel Clyde, a Scotchman who also came from Londonderry Ireland in 1832.  Daniel Clyde settled in Windham New Hampshire (then called Londonderry). and had five sons and a daughter.  Most were born in Ireland and some of them and their children changed their name from Clyde to Cloyd for some reason unknown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

click image to visit http:houseofnames.com

 

 

CLOYD DNA PROJECT

 

    Another family researcher named Mark Cloyd has a website devoted to Cloyd genealogy as well.  He is a descendant of John Cloyd, father of Ninian Cloyd.  Mark has discovered that the Cloyd surname has existed for centuries in England, and he believes that his lineage may be from there.  While Mark and I present different opinions as to the origin of the Cloyd surname,  DNA evidence may prove us both right!   I encourage you to visit his site as well.  by clicking the link below.

 

   

 

 

 

 

click image to visit thecloydhouse.com

 

 

Mark has initiated the Cloyd DNA Project with Family Tree DNA in hopes of assisting those of us who want to take our genealogical research a step further.  I have recently joined the group, and when my DNA test results came back, I was shocked to see that Mark Cloyd and I are not related!  This new DNA evidence should cause all Cloyds to question some of the early supposed relationships that are given in A.D. Cloyd's book, and I encourage all Cloyds to submit DNA for testing and join the Cloyd DNA Project as well.