Is the TURNER family name Jewish ?

The equivalent is asking if the name Smith is a Baptist name. In fact, a last name has nothing to do at all with what religion a person might be. SOME last names are historically linked to certain groups..but it is not a rule, at all.


Your goal would be to think in terms of INDIVIDUAL persons who are related to you. Example..if gr gr grandpa was John Turner, and he HAPPENED TO be Jewish, then he is. His brother may have chosen to attend the Catholic church. And their cousin could have been affiliated with Lutherans. All are still related. That does not mean that ALL Turners are related, since that is not true anyway.

Is the TURNER family name Jewish ?
ANY name can be "Jewish". Through DNA testing, I have learned that my ancestors included Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews, and "Mosaic" Jews.


In his book, "A History of the Jews in the Modern World", Howard M. Sachar shows that Jews often adopted the names (and many of the customs) in whatever country they abided in, whether Russia, Poland, Germany, Syria, Turkey, France, Spain, England, or North Africa.


So, if you can't find out through the paper trail, go for a DNA test.


You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history. Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department. Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc. Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).


Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers. They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).


A third option is one of the following websites:


http://www.searchforancestors.com/...





http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...





www dot usgenweb dot com/





www dot census dot gov/





http://www.rootsweb.com/





www dot ukgenweb dot com/





www dot archives dot gov/





http://www.familysearch.org/





http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...





http://www.cyndislist.com/





www dot geni dot com/





Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.





Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.





Good luck and have fun!





Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:





www dot associatedcontent dot com/article...





Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.


I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.





Don't give up, keep looking!