Martin of Watertown, Massachusetts is the earliest known ancestor. Research done a century ago claimed he belonged to the landed-gentry family in Hinton in the Hedges, Northamptonshire, England however he is not found in any records relating to this family. Martin described himself as a weaver and there are recent YDNA matches to men whose family can be traced to the West Riding of Yorkshire, an area with a long history of weaving with many families named Townsend or Townend, particularly north of Halifax.

The DNA results of this group match no other Townsends but have high resolution matches with surnames Morrow, Lawrence, and Conley who do not match others of their surnames.

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