Founded in 1978, Withrow Family Association (WFA) was organized to promote research and understanding of Withrow and Witherow family history through periodic gatherings and a newsletter that proudly continues today.
The Withrow name originated in the British Isles, with ancestors found in the 16th and 17th Centuries in Northern Ireland (Ulster), Scotland, and England. The first known Withrow in the Americas was Robert Withrow, born 1692 in Ulster. Using family bible birth records and known migration patterns, Robert and his wife Jennet (or Janet) sailed to America most likely in 1717 or 1718, though no known records exist of their crossing or the location of their ship’s landing. Robert and Jennet settled in western Chester Co., Pennsylvania where they raised 5 children: William, John, James, Robert, and Jane. Family bible records indicate that William was born in Ulster in 1717 and their remaining children were born in Pennsylvania. Members and descendants of this original family migrated both south and west and today can be found in nearly every state in the U.S.
Through years of research shared among members of the Withrow Family Association, as well as an ongoing DNA project, we at WFA have come to believe that most American Withrows and many Witherows descend from this first-known Withrow family led by Robert and Jennet. However, other Withrow clans exist in North America, most notably the so-called “Canadian” Withrows. The first-known ancestor of the Canadian Withrows was Jacob Withrow, born circa 1730 in the American mid-Atlantic region. Jacob and his wife Elizabeth Alder are known to have lived in both North Carolina and South Carolina, raising 5 children: John, Jacob, Sarah Jane, David, and James. Jacob and oldest sons John and Jacob, Jr. fought as loyalists during the American Revolution. At the close of the war, the four oldest Jacob Withrow children were forced to leave South Carolina with other loyalists, resettling in Nova Scotia – hence, the term “Canadian” Withrows. Jacob Sr. died in South Carolina in 1782 while still a loyalist militia soldier. The fate of wife Elizabeth and youngest son James are not known. Descendants of the Jacob Withrow family today can be found throughout Canada, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington (state), Alaska and other states in the U.S.
The name Withrow has been described as deriving from the profession ‘Wood-reeve’, an overseer of a royal forest.
A Withrow yDNA Project currently is underway to establish better understanding of relationships between Withrows, Witherows and associated names such as Woodrow and Wodrow. Anyone wishing to join the project should go to the website Family Tree DNA
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