Everything Vess

Welcome! If you’re researching the Vess name, you’ll likely find what you’re looking for right here!

This research site primarily focuses on the R1a2 Vess lineage (below); however, it also contains research on other Vess families whose origins are still a mystery; in addition to families with similar surnames, like Vest, Voss, and Vass.

There are a ton of Vess families, many of which, who have been incorrectly connected to earlier Vest families. Through extensive traditional and genetic genealogical methods, we hope to identify and sort out the different earlier Vess/Vest families who have been entangled into each other’s family trees for generations.

Vess genealogy is challenging, because of the surname. A remarkably fascinating surname that nobody seems to know where it came from or what it means, and has a notorious track record of being mispronounced and misspelled (even today).

For the R1a2 Vess family, Y-DNA testing has revealed a connection to an earlier Travers family, which suggests that our Vess surname may have evolved from the Travis (Travess) surname, a variant of Travers.

However, the Vess name may not be exclusive to the R1a2 Vess family, suggesting the name itself, may have several different origins, evolving independently from other families unrelated to the R1a2 Vess family. Therefore, this site also explores the intriguing history and origin of the VESS surname itself.

Earliest Known R1a2 Vess Ancestors

Click boxes below to see Ancestor Profile

Tracking The “Vess” Name

With traditional genealogy and genetic genealogy research, we are slowly beginning to piece together the R1a2 Vess family lineage (shown below). So far, research strongly suggests that our earliest known ancestors (Peter, Willis, Nathaniel, and Jonathan) to be related to the early Vess family of Patrick County, Virginia (1780-1796). Hopefully, one day, we will be able to fill in all the gaps, completing a more detailed and accurate Vess family tree!

In the meantime, please be sure to subscribe to this blog, check out our Vess Family DNA Project, and don’t forget to join our Vess Genealogy FaceBook Group!

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