The goal is to determine if the Sherburn and Thornholme Owston family groups have a common paternal origin that extends back prior to the keeping of English parish registers. The three groups are from the same geographic region; however, there are no existing records that tie the two groups together. DNA testing has confirmed that the Ganton family, once thought of as a separate family, is descended from the Sherburn family.

Challenges

Some members of these families will not have Y-DNA that matches the majority of the members of their family group. These include the following:

1. Known non paternal events where the surname followed a daughter.
2. Several adoptions where the Owston / Ouston surnames were carried forward by an individual with a non-genetic link.
3. The Owston name has been hyphenated with other names to create a new surname such as Owston-Doyle and Owston-Smith.