This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/WWC.2ACI/481.780.1 Message Board Post: Hi Stephen, Maybe I can help. I am researching Bowes (a Bowe variant) for my family. We are also from Kilkenny, near Ballyragget. In my research I've learned that Bowes/Bowe is not a very common name in Ireland, and most were located in Kilkenny and adjacent counties. There is an old story said to describe the Gaelic origins of our surname(s). You can read it at http://www.genealogyvault.net/irishbowes/history.php (you can also look at other Bowes/Bowe related stuff there). After learning this old story I set up a Bowes genetic geneology project to research our various lines by DNA. You can join that project at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/irishbowes . Interestingly, after my father joined, we learned that his genetic markers match the Vikings, not the Gaels, so my particular line does not confirm the story about Irish Bowes with Gaelic ties to the Cronin sept. Your Bowe line may or may not match my Bowes line genetically. If it does, you too would have Viking rather than Gaelic ! "deep ancestry." If it does not, then we could work to interpret the results. The more Bowes/Bowe who join my project over time the more we can learn. Well that's it for now! Keep me posted!