The Purdy Project objective is to identify others who are related, prove or disprove theories regarding ancestors, and validate existing research. Although the first members and administrators were descendants of Francis Purdy of Fairfield CT, and many more members are needed to define the large descendant field of Francis, we intend to help establish the relationship of other lines of Purdys.

There is a line which is first known in Maryland around the beginning of the American Revolution (c1770), and many Purdy families from Ireland and England who arrived after the Revolution. So far there is no long line extending back into Irish and English history; the Maryland Purdys don't know their ancestry, the Francis Purdys suspect that Suffolk is the origin of Francis (with Norfolk and York rumored), and the origin of Irish Purdys is unknown. Somewhere we have some common relation(s).

There are several spellings of Purdy in England, but only one persistent spelling in North America. Are all the new world Purdys from only one ancestry, and the English Purdys / Purdeys / Purdies / Purdays all from different ancestry?

DNA testing illuminates these questions and focuses research in more efficient directions. Anything discovered about one line helps the others.