The Heyward Family Association maintains an online genealogy database of the descendants of the immigrant Daniel Heyward (c. 1640 – 1684). In this database each descendant has a webpage that’s linked to similar webpages for the individual’s parents, children and spouses. Information on an individual’s webpage may include dates and places of birth, death and marriages; pictures related to the individual; and biographical data, including source material and links to external websites.

It is important to note that the database is a descendant tree. That means that it shows descendants of descendants, but in general, only the ancestors that lead back to the progenitor, Daniel Heyward, the immigrant.

How to Access and Navigate the Genealogy Database

The Heyward family genalogical database utilizes The Next Generation (TNG) software for management of genealogical data. TNG also provides a number of options for graphical presentation of family connections.

To get started exploring the Heyward family, you may click here to search for an individual by name. Be prepared to select from several similar names.

If you don’t have an individual in mind, you might try the suggested entry points listed in the section below. Once you have called up the webpage for a particular individual, you can use the on-screen links to display the webpage of a parent, child or spouse.

From the webpage of an individual of interest, try out the “Ancestors” tab to see a pedigree chart with hyperlinks to the individual’s ancestors. Note that you can change the number of generations shown and select among five formats. Also, try out the “Descendants” tab, where you also have options for formats and number of generations. (Be aware: the Ancestors and Descendants charts work best with a VERY BIG screen!)

You might experiment with the “Relationship” tab, which allows you to compute the family relationship (such as third cousin twice removed) between two individuals in the database.

Also, note the “Suggest” tab. Use this to send a message to the genealogist. Suggestions (and corrections) of all sorts are welcomed.

Some Suggested Entry Points to the Database

1. The individual search page, mentioned above.

2. The top of the descendant tree: Daniel Heyward, the immigrant.

3. The top of one of the nine branches of the Heyward family. By family convention, the nine branches have been named “A” through “I” corresponding to nine great-great grandchilden of the immigrant Daniel Heyward (b. c. 1640). These include four children of Daniel Heyward (1720 – 1777) and five children of Thomas Heyward (1723 – 1795).

• A-Branch: Thomas Heyward (1746 – 1809)
• B-Branch: William Heyward (1753 – 1786)
• C-Branch: Nathaniel Heyward (1766 – 1851)
• D-Branch: Maria Heyward (1767 – 1837)
• E-Branch: Margaret Heyward (1753 – 1831)
• F-Branch: Anne Miles Heyward (1757 – ?)
• G-Branch: William Miles Heyward (1763 – 1809)
• H-Branch: Mary DuPre Heyward (1771 – 1828)
• I-Branch: Josias Heyward (1775 – c. 1819)

How to View Living People in the Database

Because the Heyward genealogy database is online, there is some danger that personal data posted there could be viewed by Internet trolls with malevolent intentions. So, to protect the privacy of living descendants, they are flagged as “living” in the database and do not appear to unregistered visitors at the database website heywardgenealogy.org.

Consequently, users of the database must log in to the database to see living individuals there. This login is distinct from the login at the Heyward Family Association website heywardfamilyassociation.org.

At the top of all database webpages is a “Login” button, as shown below.

Click on the Login button (at the database screen, not this screen!) and a prompt will appear asking for a login ID and password. (Clicking on the Home button brings up a database administrative screen.) Once logged in, living people, in addition to the dead ones, will appear in the visitor’s searches, pedigree charts and ancestor charts. In addtion, living people will be available for relationship calculations. In other words, if your name is in the database and you want to calculate your family relationship to a famous movie actress, also living and in the database, then you must have an account in the database.

Please note: if you log in to the database, please log out when you’re finished with your session.

If you can already log in to the Heyward Family Association website, then go here to get instructions on logging into the database. (You must be logged in at the HFA site to view these instructions.)

If you are already a member of the Heyward Family Association and would like to register at its website, then contact the HFA Recording Secretary via the contact form here. You will be given login-id/passwords for both the HFA website and for the genealogy database.

If you are not a member of the Heyward Family Association and want to join, then look at the membership requirements here and apply as instructed. As a new member, you will be offered accounts at the HFA website and at the genealogy database, along with their associated login-id/passwords.

Problems With Determining Who’s Living

If the Heyward Family Association genealogist has credible evidence that a Heyward descendant is dead, then that descendant will not be flagged as “living” in the database. That means the descendant will be visible to database visitors regardless of whether they are logged on to the database. However, for many descendants in the database, the genealogist does not know whether the descendant has died or not.

The following rules will apply for descendants whose death is not known.

Descendants in Generations One through Nine are assumed to be dead, i.e. not living, and therefore visible without login to the database.

Descendants in Generations Ten and higher will be be flagged as living unless (1) their birth date is known and (2) their age at the time their name was added to the database would be greater than 104 years.

If you know of a descendant who you think is, or might be, incorrectly flagged as living, then please contact the genealogist. You can do this by using the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of the database admin page or the “Suggest” tab at the top of database webpages for individual descendants.

Database Status and Statistics

The Heyward genealogy database is an on-going and open-ended project. Names, dates, pictures, histories and citations remain to be added. Corrections need to be made.

Use the “Suggest” tab to suggest a database change or addition to the administrator.

To see the latest database statistics, click here.