The Dudley families of America are hard to research. There is a lot of speculation and unsubstantiated family trees connecting various Dudley families.

This project's goals are as follows:

• List the early New England Dudley families
• Provide reliable resources for interested researchers of these families
• Summarize the current state of research into how the various Dudley families are or are not related

Dudley Families of early New England

• Governor Thomas Dudley yDNA haplogroup: R-M269
• William Dudley, of Guilford, CT yDNA haplogroup: I-M253

Ancestry of Governor Thomas Dudley

Noted genealogist Allen Curtis believes he has proven the case for Thomas Dudley as a grandson of Capt. Henry Dudley. See The Mystery of Thomas Dudley's Paternal Ancestors By H. Allen Curtis and Roger Dudley’s Father Proved to be Captain Henry Dudley by H. Allen Curtis for a good overview of the currently accepted ancestry of Governor Thomas Dudley,

1. Edmund Dudley (first son), d. 1487, m. Joyce Tiptoft.
2. Edward Dudley (first son), b. 1459, d. 1531, m. Cecily Willoughby.
3. John Dudley (first son), b. ca. 1495, buried on 18 Sep. 1553, m. Cecily Grey, b. ca. 1497, buried with her husband on 28 Apr. 1554.
4. Capt. Henry Dudley (second son, requiring crescent on arms) b. ca, 1517, d. between 1568 and 1570, m. 1545-1550 Miss Ashton.
5. Capt. Roger Dudley, b. ca. 1550, d. in battle bef. Oct. 1588, m. 8 June 1575 Susanna Thorne, baptized 5 Mar. 1559/60, d. aft. 29 Oct. 1588.
6. Governor Thomas Dudley.

There was another version of the ancestry that was put forth in the 1800s that claimed that Roger Dudley's parents were John Dudley, d. 1545, m. Elizabeth Clerke.

Ancestry of William Dudley, of Guilford, Connecticut

William Dudley (Jr.) was baptized 22 January 1608/9 at Dorking and died 16 March 1684 at Guilford, Connecticut. He married at Ockley, Surrey on 24 August 1636, Jane Lutman, born about 1615 and died about 1674 at Guildford, daughter of William and Jane (Hastings) Lutman.

William was the son of William Dudley and Eleanor Hooker, both of Dorking, according to Martin E. Hollick, who has written on this family for The American Genealogist and other journals. (See the link to Martin E. Hollick's article below.)

Earlier accounts assumed that William of Guilford was the son of David Dudley. There were several, possibly related Dudley families in Dorking, Surrey. David Dudley's son William Dudley is documented as David's in his christening record from September 11, 1608. William Dudley, of Guilford's baptismal record documents him as the son of William Dudley of Dorking and is from January 22,1608/9. Furthermore, there is other supporting evidence for this from family wills and given names that repeat in the two distinct families.

Sources

• William Dudley 1609-1684 of Guilford, Connecticut (online article about his origins) by Martin E. Hollick
• Full Text of History of the Dudley Family
• On-line readable version of History of the Dudley Family
• Re: William Dudley of Guilford, Connecticut
• The Mystery of Thomas Dudley's Paternal Ancestors By H. Allen Curtis
• Roger Dudley’s Father Proved to be Captain Henry Dudley by H. Allen Curtis
• Re: Detailed Proof of the Paternal Ancestry of Thomas Dudley
• Dudley project at ftDNA