Clan Douglas - Are You A Douglas?

Are You a Douglas?

There are many ways to discover your kinship with Clan Douglas, but often you may not know where to start. This short guide will introduce you to great information resources and get you set on the right path.

Start With Your Genealogy

Tracing your lineage is a fun, but daunting quest. Many people will eventually be impeded by missing information on a relative. The Clan Douglas Society of North America encourages prospective and current members to discover their genealogy, but we must clarify that we do not have the all resources available on our website to help you determine it. We suggest you try the following resources:

DOUGLAS Y-DNA PROJECT

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DOUGLAS Y-DNA PROJECT by clicking here!

This project has arisen because many modern Douglas families have lost their genealogical connections to the Old Douglas lineages. Many of us can trace our families into the 1700s or even 1600s, and have family stories linking us to one of the old lines. But because of migration or lost records, we cannot find our Scottish ancestors or prove our descent from one of the old lines.

Goals:

1.We seek to characterize the Old Douglas lines (eg Red, Black, and Morton Douglases and others). We are seeking Y DNA samples from Douglas males who can trace their lines to William De Douglas c1174.
We hope that with enough samples we can “define” these lines so that modern Douglases who have lost their connections with the Douglas lines can compare their results and be re-united (genealogically) with their origins.

2.We will also define the profiles of those families who cannot yet establish their connections to the Old Lines. We may be able to establish previously unknown connections in the modern families. However as we establish the genetic profiles of the modern lines it will be interesting to see if they can connect into the Old Lines.

3.With enough data we may be able to learn something about the origins of the Douglas clan. It has been thought that all of the modern Douglases are descended from Willem de Duglis (1174) and his sons. But there was at least one other Douglas who pre-dated Willem. This was Sholto, and his descendants are now in Italy and use the name of Scotti-Douglas, or Douglas-Scotti. In other clans a number of families grouped together, taking the name of the local area, and formed the clan. Did this happen in the Douglases? Were there a number of early Douglas progenitors?

4.Willem De Duglis was thought to be a Viking. We may be able to add more data to this discussion.

Clan Douglas Society of North America Discussion Boards

The Douglas Archives

This wonderful and free community network has a collection of over 2,500 user submitted files. You may find biographies, anecdotes, and historical material solely about the Douglas family here.

Ancestry.com

The world's largest online community of people interested in their family histories. This subscription based service retains over 7 billion historical records and 28 million family trees.

A Douglas! A Douglas!

If you've succesfully traced a Douglas relative, your quest is done! If you suspect you found a Scottish surname, but didn't immediately see a Douglas, try looking at the Septs and Allied Families that were a part of Clan Douglas. You may find a list of accepted Septs and Allied Families by clicking here.