Farewell to the Laird of Islay

For our Sinclair DNA friends who hail from Islay - Bagpipes "Farewell to the Laird of Islay" played by Andrew Carlisle

St Clair Sinclair DNA L193

The L193 marker has led to a great deal of understanding for one lineage of our family, the descendants of Alexander Sinkler. Alexander came over in 1698. He was born in Glasgow about 1666. This video and recent discoveries make it clear that Alexander's family likely never spent time in the highlands. Instead, we were likely in the border regions and then, further back, in England.


Click here if you can't see the video above.

Sinclair DNA Video

A quick overview of ancient DNA discoveries in the last few years.


If you have trouble seeing the above video, click here.

Recent discoveries in the field are adding new understanding to our Sinclair DNA study and, of course, many others around the world.

Sinclair DNA Exposing Some Myths

This slide show hosted on Slide Share helps to explain some of the myths of the Sinclair family. Our Sinclair DNA study is adding a bright light to many of these myths.

 

Sinclair Dna from Steve Clair

If you can't see the one above, click here.

For instance:

• There weren't Templars at Bannockburn. 
• The stone in Rosslyn Chapel which refers to William de St. Clair as a Knight Templar was put there in the 20th Century.
• The Westford Knight is difficult to see, but the sword there is very convincing.
• The Newport Tower is very convincing, but there's no evidence it was built by Sinclairs.
• The carving of "two knights on a horse" in Rosslyn is one man on a horse and one behind. I've seen it in person.
• Some Sinclairs testified against the Templars in Scotland, but some testified on their behalf.
• Our Sinclair DNA study is beginning to prove the real facts of our family.

In Praise of FTDNA

What Family Tree DNA has made available has been incredible for the St. Clair Family:

1. We've found a path towards the true history of our family. We don't all descend, as the dusty old books say, from Rollo or William the Conqueror. We have 12 distinct lineages, and a much more complex history. 
2. FTDNA's Family Finder test has helped 3 of our family members solve, or start to solve, their questions about adoption. 
3. With continued SNP testing, we're getting much closer to "connecting the branches to the leaves" as Bennet Greenspan said. In two cases, we feel there's a chance we may solve the entire history of family lines back to the very early medieval period. None of this would have been possible without the ongoing advancements of FTDNA.

That list could go on an on. When I think back to the time 10 years ago, before Stan St. Clair and I took the first tests in the family, genealogy was so inexact. People argued over competing documents and made wild claims. And no one had any certainty before the 1600s.

Now, using FTDNA and SNP research, many of us have a direction of where to look and when we might connect to much older records.

By making the complicated science of DNA easy for the masses, Family Tree DNA has truly helped genealogists overcome brick walls in their families.

Sinclair DNA in East Lothian, Scotland

I recently got back from a whirlwind trip around East Lothian Scotland. Among the stops were Dirlton Castle, second castle of the de Vaux in Scotland.

The de Vaux's first (named Tarbet Castle) was on Fidra Island, formerly called Elbottle, about a mile off-shore in the Firth of Forth. All this land (the barony of Dirleton) was given to the de Vaux family by King David I of Scotland.  Later, the island was given by William de Vaux to Dryburgh Abbey in 1220.  Dryburgh is the beautiful Border Region abbey founded by Hugh de Morville.

Sinclair DNA is very interested in the de Morvilles, the St Clairs of Herdmanstoun, the de Vaux, the Seatons and the Giffards. Note some of the witnesses of the gift of Fidra Island (Elbottle) to Dryburgh Abbey -

• Alexander Seaton
• Henry Sinclair
• John of Fenton
• Nocholas of May
• Patrick of Herdmanstoun
• Robert of Keith
• and others

I'll be posting video from this trip soon.

 Wikipedia page on Fidra / Elbottle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidra

 Source for Fidra gift information -
PoMS, H3/586/4 (http://db.poms.ac.uk accessed 03 November 2012)

Sinclair DNA on Family Tree DNA, Our Most Listened-to Blog Talk Radio Show

I've hosted quite a few Blog Talk Radio shows about our Sinclair family DNA study. Of them all, the one with the most listeners featured Bennett Greenspan, one of the founders of Family Tree DNA.

Click here to launch the show.

Bennett makes this complex subject easy. I highly recommend listening in, no matter what level you are in your own DNA.

How Sinclair DNA members avoid getting pulled into the hype

As in many aspects of life, there's a tremendous amount of hype that happens in particular parts of the DNA world. This blog post is about avoiding the hype and staying focused on the facts.

1. No one, I repeat, NO ONE knows with any real certainty who their ancient ancestors were. When I say ancient, I mean sometime around or before the 1300s. Genealogists who are good at what they do, know that records before the 1600s are incredibly scarce. So if someone is claiming that they know with absolute certainty who their ancestors were in the 1300s, it means that they must be of a royal family in England, France, or elsewhere. Or they're simply making it up.

While records run out sometime around or before the 1600s, DNA cannot get close enough to that time period to finish the story. There are currently a few SNP tests which can give you some sense of the geography of a common ancestor who might have lived about 1000 AD. But that leaves a 600 year gap. And lots of things could've happened during that 600 year gap.

Traditional records-based genealogy research works backwards in time. DNA research works forward, from our exit out of Africa, to where we are today. The advent of SNPs has allowed us to get much closer towards the 1600s. And while it is tempting to think that you have solved it,  you will most likely be proven wrong. For this reason, I offer point number two.

2. Watch for words which signal proclamations. There are a bunch of Yahoo groups out there, many of which contain very solid researchers. But often, lurking in the shadows, are some of what I call "true believers."

How do you recognize a true believer? You will see people using words like:

• We've solved it
• Certain
• Absolute
• Definite
• Finally
• Merovingians
• Holy Grail
• Bloodline
• Knights Templar
• Da Vinci Code

And here are some words you will not see them using:

• Possibly
• Probability
• Evidence
• Footnote
• Chance
• More research
• Lewis C.  Loyd
• K.S.B Keats-Rohan
• Non-Internet research
• Library
• Trip to the NAS
• I'm not sure

3. Choose your Sinclair researchers carefully. I don't blame Dan Brown, really. He could not have known the effect his book, The Da Vinci Code, would have on the genealogy and DNA world. A quick look around the Internet will show you many families (with only the slightest of links to the Sinclair family) who have decided that they are in fact our blood relations. Even within our own family the book has caused huge divisions. A few members of our family are utterly convinced they descend from a supposed union of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. This is not a subject which should even be discussed when one is working on DNA. If you doubt me, look at how your local library (there's that word again) puts The Da Vinci Code on its shelves. It's in the fiction section.

We have a wonderful group of people researching the history of the Sinclair St. Clair family. We host this group on Google Groups, and we maintain high standards. If you are a serious researcher, and have some reason to be researching the Sinclair St. Clair family, please get in touch with us at our website StClairResearch.com

Our methodology page at the Sinclair DNA website

Keep up with our Sinclair family DNA study on Facebook

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The Sinclair DNA study puts out frequent YouTube videos.

Our First Sinclair DNA Video

Back when I first made a major overhaul of the Sinclair DNA website, this video was on it. Parts of one of the charts has changed, and we've certainly learned a lot more, but the basic approach has proven true - Let the data lead where it may.
Click here to see it on YouTube - http://youtu.be/hafEg--GWlE

Sinclair DNA U106 SNP

This week on Tumblr, I've put up an article about the Sinclair DNA Study's U106 Lineage. In it, I cover our 4 very different SNPs -
U106*, Z9*, Z1 and Z1.

If you're a member of the family and are thinking of taking our DNA test, please learn more about the power of SNP testing.

Click here to learn more about the U106 SNP in the Sinclair DNA study.

There's a great deal more on the U106 SNP at the Sinclair DNA website.

Thinking of joining the Sinclair DNA study? Click Here.

Our original video that we put up on the launch of the Sinclair DNA website.

Rosslyn Chapel, built by William St. Clair

This is a beautiful video about Rosslyn Chapel. The protective canopy is now removed. William St Clair directed the construction of Rosslyn in the mid-1400s.

Joining Sinclair DNA

If your last name is St. Clair, Sinceler, Sinkler, Sinclair, or any other variant, then the Sinclair DNA test is a good bet for you to get answers to your genealogy. We manage the DNA of over 200 participants. We've got a great group on Google Groups that can help to point you in the right direction for your research.

Click here to join the Sinclair DNA study.

Sinclair DNA Mystery Lineage on Blog Talk Radio

For many years now, we've had a lineage that goes through part of Virginia, through Pennsylvania, Ireland, and southern Scotland. Yet we haven't found a common ancestor, so we've referred to them as our "Mystery Lineage." We're not yet sure where their common geography in the UK is.

Now, thanks to hard work of several of the members of this lineage, and some lucky breaks, the DNA of this Sinclair lineage seems to be pointing to some common areas.

Keep an eye on our website as we get the genealogists of this group together to discuss their research and how the DNA seems to be corroborating it.

You can hear several of our "radio shows" in which we discuss Sinclair DNA at this link.

In this next show, listen for clues that can help your own DNA study. This Sinclair lineage has definitely shown patience and inventiveness in their approach to DNA.

Sinclair DNA on Tumblr

Today, I opened a Tumblr account. I explain why on my first post. It's all based on the fact that genealogy is now so completely dependent upon the Internet, on digitization of files, etc.

Visit Sinclair DNA on Tumblr

To succeed, the Sinclair DNA study must continue to attract those who are searching for help online. With more online assets, we're better able to intersect with those who are looking for historical information on their Sinclair / St. Clair / Sinceler families and who might consider using DNA to get more answers.

Getting more and more data is the key. While difficult to maintain all these digital assets, it's beginning to pay off. We're now signing up an average of 1 new member every two weeks. More date equals more clarity. I wrote about this several years ago on the StClairResearch.com website under the "Methodology" link on the left hand side.  On that page I urge Sinclair members to test more DNA markers tests to give us a more clear picture of our background. The same can be said of signing up more Sinclairs worldwide in our DNA study - more member data gives us a much better idea of our family's history.

Sinclair DNA on Pinterest

Do you follow Pinterest? I'm posting some beautiful photos of religious buildings from medieval England on my Sinclair DNA board there.

I've put up photos of the priories and abbeys in which the St Clair family were involved. They signed charters and were benefactors to these religious houses with other important families. Many also show up in the Sinclair DNA study matching some of our Lineages.

Some of the families involved:
Urtaico
de Vaux
Newton
Mortain
Malet
Meulan (kin of Roger Beaumont)
Croc
Vilers
Luci
Talebot
fitzWalter
Longespee (earl of Salisbury)
Warenne

For now, I've only visited these on the Internet. I hope to go over in September to see at least a few of them in person.

New Sinclair DNA Members Joining

This is exciting news. We have some very interesting new Sinclair family members joining our DNA study.

Yesterday, I made contact with a genealogists who has very good documents which appear to point back to Gen. Arthur Sinclair. She and several other distant cousins have pooled their resources so as to test someone they believe is a direct descendent of the general. If their genealogy is correct, then this will be a wonderful addition to our knowledge base in the Sinclair DNA study.

General Arthur Sinclair hails from the Caithness region in northern Scotland. Participants in our DNA study can probably guess as easily as I can which type of DNA this person will have. Our current members in the DNA study, who have good documents research pointing back to Caithness, all show a particular SNP - Z1. However, we do have one person with extremely good documents research pointing back to Caithness who has a completely different SNP - Z9*

My bet is on Z1.

The wonderful thing about finding great researchers is that it gives our Lineages a great deal more data. And the Gen. Arthur Sinclair story definitely Requires more data. In fact, all of our lineages do.

Sinclair DNA Templar Myths

Because our Sinclair DNA website is easily searched out on the Internet and because my contact information is right out in the open, I get a lot of emails about the St. Clair / Sinclair family.

Tonight I received another email about the St. Clair family being on crusade and being members of the Knights Templar about 1118 AD. Here's my reply:

I've never seen a single record which proves that a St. Clair was on Crusade, and I've looked at everything written since the 1800s. Much of this confusion probably comes from the 1700s when a charlatan was going around to the Scottish earls selling them false genealogies. Ours said we all connect to Rollo, the viking who invaded Normandy in 911 AD. Another myth was a supposed connection to the Templars, again never really proven. Or it's more recent revisionist history.

In 1118, when these St. Clairs 'of Rosslyn' were supposedly related to one of the knights on crusade, the 'St. Clairs of Rosslyn' had not yet gone to Scotland and had not yet received the lands of Rosslyn from Hugh de Morville. The earliest evidence that any credible genealogist has of a St. Clair obtaining lands in Rosslyn is a charter from 1244, over 100 years later than 1118.

There was supposedly a Henri de St Clair who accompanied Godefroi de Bouillon to the Holy Land on the 1st Crusade in 1096 and was subsequently granted Rosslyn by Malcolm III. I have this on the wall of my office, and it states this (among other things) about our family in a beautifully framed poster. There isn't a single sentence in that particular passage that's true. Supposedly Godefroi married a Catherine St. Clair. Not true. Supposedly Henri de St Clair went on crusade and became known as Henri "the Holy." Not true. It's all fake. All make-believe.

Can the DNA of the Sinclair Family Help?

Now, that said, I have some interesting evidence of Templar surname connections to the St. Clair family in our DNA study, and that could point to a very distant connection. But so far, no one has produced an actual document connecting our family to the Templars. Many people believe the myth-making books about Rosslyn Chapel as proof of a connection but, again, there is no credible source, like an actual written document. Being important people in England at this time, one would expect to find grants of land or actual participation in a crusade, but no proof has yet surfaced.

In the case of the St. Clair family and the Templars, many resort to this approach - absence of evidence is evidence of absence. It's the oldest trick in the book. There is an absence of evidence that our family were Templars. There is an absence of evidence that Rosslyn is a Templar building (I've been there). Conspiracy theorists try to say that this absence of evidence is proof that there was critical, heretical evidence these Templars were forced to hide. I say bunk.

Working on the Sinclair DNA study, I find it very rewarding to have new evidence that can shine a bright light on all these theories. Maybe someday we can finally prove or disprove the Sinclair Templar story.

We did some work on possible Templar connections to the Sinclair family using DNA name matches.

The original YouTube video we put up on the Sinclair DNA website.

Are you thinking of joining the Sinclair DNA website?

Sinclair DNA Basic Training Had Wide Following

So far, the DNA training we had for the Sinclair / St Clair / Siceler family has had 203 listeners. The ability to track your success (or failure) is one of the great features of online properties. For instance, here are our overall statistics:

492 Listeners - "St Clair DNA Research & Prince Henry Sinclair" - 2/17/2011 - This was the interview with Richard White, author of the book on Prince Henry Sinclair.

317 Listeners - "Sinclair DNA and SNPs, the Next Step - Terry Barton" - 3/8/2012 - This was the interview with Terry Barton, founder of WorldFamilies.net

1,435 Listeners - "Sinclair DNA and Bennett Greenspan, Founder of FTDNA" - 4/14/2012 - I promoted this one heavily before the show and the recorded version got a very good following.

778 Listeners - "Sinclair DNA Interviews Andrea Di Robilant" - 12/29/2011 - This was a very fun show about Andrea's new book, "Irresistible North, From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers," regarding the voyage of the Zeno Brothers.

203 Listeners - "Sinclair DNA Basic Discussion" - 3/03/2012 - The DNA training session.

Naturally, those shows which have been up for a long time will continue to built up "listeners" because they continue to attract attention.

It's gratifying that we're putting up content that people find useful. The latest one, the DNA training session, will definitely help those who are new to DNA testing.

Other ways Sinclair DNA can help out beginners

On our website, www.StClairResearch.com, you'll notice the links to the left. There, if you click the link "New Visitors Click Here," you'll see a series of 6 pages you can visit. I highly recommend two of these -
About DNA Testing - This page has 2 videos on it from Family Tree DNA, our testing lab. It also covers the basics of what will happen with your results.

Privacy Concerns Answered - Early in our DNA study, several people expressed concerns about giving something so private as their very DNA to a testing company. After a lot of research on the question, I answered all this openly and honestly.

Another link down that left hand side of our website is "Methodology." This is a lengthy page that approaches the subject scientifically, starting with 2 hypotheses. On this page I show you what your results page offers; I define a Lineage; discuss the limits of YDNA versus mtDNA; and generally lay out the overall approach of this or any DNA study.

On the left hand side of the Sinclair DNA website, you'll notice 3 other links where we get into the meat of the study. As we move forward in time, you'll notice more links at each of these 3 sections of the website. That's because we're working our way from the "trunk" of the family tree out to the disparate "branches."

Early Path Through Time - This page takes you all the way back to the origins of man and begins the journey forward. The chart you'll find there needs to be updated for some of our SNPs. For families to have arrived at a place during a time period, they had to have come from somewhere. The locations of their travels were effected over long periods of time by outside events, like the last glacial maxim, 18,000 years ago. If you're alive today, then your ancestors were, in some way, effected by that event.

Lineages - More Recent Path - This page is in the process of being updated and re-structured. The big changes that have effected our study and the way the results must be displayed is SNP studies. This page and the links on it are all the result of our being split into Lineages by SNP studies.

Genealogy Groups - 1600 AD+ - This is the most recent of the 3 pages that get into our path through time. As genealogy must, this page divides our family based on where they migrated since the 1500s. Accurate records research before the 1600s is nearly impossible. But the combination of SNP studies plus honest records research can begin to point the way to understanding who our ancestors were.

The final DNA step

On the Sinclair DNA website, you'll see a page called "A Confluence of Surnames - SNP Connections." This is my attempt to connect the dots between SNP studies and ancient documents. An important part of this 24-page document is the statement that I'm not making any claims in this research. This particular paper took me about 9 months of ongoing research into ancient documents, DNA connections and more. The great joy of the project for me was in not making any claims, but simply looking to see if medieval records also connected in similar patterns to our SNP connections.

Every St Clair / Sinclair DNA participant can take the same approach

If you're in a DNA study, don't just focus on your DNA. Instead, look into the records of your ancestors. If you decide to look back in the medieval period, then you might find people of different surnames circulating around each other. Remember that the use of surnames was very fluid in the medieval period. I found several records in which people were clearly using a different second name based on where they lived. Too many "purists" think their ancestors used the same surnames since the 1100s. It's highly unlikely.

If you look through that "Confluence" section on the Sinclair DNA website, you'll see 14 mentions of the name Ashley. This is one that shows up in my STR matches. My next stop would be to go look at their DNA results. Click here.

There you'll see they have quiet a large group who show the R1b1a2a1a1b4 SNP. This is the L21 group. Many of them claim ancestry back to England. I only count 3 participants who look like they'll show the U106 SNP, a clear divide in our family.

This is all very interesting because, in my STR connections, I have the Ashley name. Also, I'm a part of the L21 SNP, just like the Ashley family. And to top it off, in my medieval records research I found 13 different mentions of the Ashley family in close proximity to the St Clair family, likely descendants of Bretel de St Clair. They signed documents together at Wells Cathedral, the Benedictine Priory of St. James at Bristol, and Montacute Priory. The Ashley family received all but one of the Domesday properties of Bretel St Clair upon his death.

And to really seal the deal, there is a record of a Willelm de Sancto Claro (St Clair) who had 2 sons: one was Philip de St Claro, and the other was Walter de Esselega (Ashley). That second son took a different surname.

As you can see, DNA is fun, but the real satisfaction comes when you see strong coincidences between your DNA and ancient documents. When you find medieval records which clearly connect people with different surnames, and you see the same surname connections in your DNA SNP matches, then you may be on your way to some real discoveries.

Sinclair DNA Participation, Getting More from Your DNA

On our website, you'll see me mention again and again that DNA is just a string of numbers. On our recent DNA training session, the least interesting page in the show notes was the one that showed the DNA results. There was almost nothing to say about the string of 111 markers.

DNA gets interesting when you can compare it to other data; and there's a lot out there with which to compare.

Ancient:
Archaeology
 - Burial methods
 - Pottery techniques
 - Burial artefacts
 - Other artifacts
Linguistics
Documents
 - Roman
 - Greek
 - etc.

Medieval:
Archaeology
 - Artefacts
 - Tombstones
Documents
 - Land transfers
 - Monastic beneficence
 - Shipping records
 - Business records
 - Burgh records
 - Guild records
 - Maps
 - Chargers
 - Cartularies
 - Wills

Recent: (1600s onwards)
Documents
 - Business papers
 - Birth/Death
 - Marriage
 - Wills
 - Diaries
 - Letters
 - Newspapers
 - Books
 - War records
 - Slave records
 - Land records
 - Tax records
 - Indentures

Finding resources for your search for more Sinclair DNA data

More and more, I find myself going to Google books to type in particular phrases which interest me, and then finding amazing, old out-of-print books which pop up in the search results.

Another often overlooked resource is academic papers, which have been written by medieval experts. One of my favorite experts is K.S.B. Keats-Rohan. Quite by accident, I found a paper which she wrote entitled Doomsday Book and the Malets: Patrimony and the Private Histories of Public Lives. This has been an extraordinary resource, pointing to a "super family" which was living in Normandy before the use of surnames or place-names.

A book by K.S.B. Keats- Rohan entitled Doomsday Decendents a Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066 to 1166. My copy of this book already has tattered pages. Another place to look is in the work of other family experts. Having an SNP match with the Vance / de Vaux family, I ran into a wonderful paper by J David Vance entitled Notes on the Norman de Vaux. With a little digging, you might find papers or books written about the other surnames you match in your DNA matches.

Working your way back further in time, it's wonderful to find overview books such as that by Peter Brown. His book, The Rise of Western Christendom, Second Edition, has been a great resource to help me understand the wider context of what was going on in western Europe before the middle ages.

I have many such books. Another which helped me a great deal was The History of the Goths by Herwig Wolfram.
When I was still working in the 1700s on my genealogy, I found a book by David Hackett Fischer. The title, Albion's Seed, Four British Folkways in America. This book is simply extraordinary. He takes a totally different approach to understanding the broader migration patterns of America's early settlers.

Working in that same time frame for my own genealogy, I ran into the records of Landon Carter. The Sinkler / St. Clair family of Northern Virginia had business dealings with Landon Carter. I ordered the book Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom with great excitement, hoping for any knowledge I could glean. While nothing stood out which directly connected my ancestor with Landon Carter, I did learn a great deal about life during this time period.

One of my favorite obscure books regarding 18th century history is by Eric J Graham. His book, A Maritime History of Scotland, 1652-1790, was incredibly useful for me; especially considering that my ancestor traveled toNorth America on a ship in 1698.

For obsessive Sinclair DNA participants

If you truly want to become as obsessive as I am, you must look for all sorts of obscure books. One of my favorites is a two volume set by Jacob M price. This set entitled France and the Chesapeake, a History of the French Tobacco Monopoly 1674 to 1791, and its Relationship to the British and American Tobacco Trades, paints a tremendously detailed picture of what was going on between France, England, Scotland, and Virginia during the time my ancestor lived there. Alexander Sinkler became an important tobacco grower in Overwharton Parish, Prince William County, Virginia. So you can imagine, being as obsessive as I am, that I have dug into at least 15 different books on tobacco trade in the Chesapeake, France, Scotland, and England. And I'm digging into other resources as well.

About a year ago, using Google books, I found an old book which mentions a great tobacco company being formed in Glasgow to treat tobacco to Virginia, the Caribbean Islands, Barbados, New England, St. Christopher's, Montserrat, and other colonies in America. This reference mentions a tremendous number of names who had later business dealings with my ancestor, Alexander Sinkler.

When I'm doing research on a subject, I always look for their source material and go get them myself. First, it confirms that the researcher quoted the source correctly. Also, it gives me more resources for further study.

Here are just a few examples -

http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/reference/normbib/index.htm

http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/

http://bit.ly/y3BFbM - PDF of K.S.B. Keats-Rohan's paper. Look at the sources for her work.

http://bit.ly/zvaM9h - Loyd's great book, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families

Happy hunting!

Steve St. Clair
St Clair Research - the Sinclair DNA Study

Sinclair DNA by Any Other Name

When participants first get their DNA results back from the Sinclair DNA study, they are often surprised to find that their DNA matches other families with completely different surnames.

It is important to remember that the use of second names has only been around for about 1000 years. And when they first came out, especially among the Norman people, they were often changed based upon the land one found themselves living on.

For instance I have found records that indicate the family named Villers lived on different land and therefore changed their name. They may in fact be direct brothers of the St. Clair family of England.

Another very interesting name change occurred in about 1164. Willelm de Sancto Claro occurred in the pipe role of 1129 in Dorset in Wiltshire England. He was apparently the successor, and perhaps the son, of Bretel de St Clair in the barony of Stoke Trister, held of Robert Mortain in 1086.

This Willelm was probably the father of Philip de St. Clair and Walter de Ashley who held the barony of Stoke Trister in 1166. There you have a father named St. Clair with a son who had the second name Ashley. This seems to have happened often among the Norman people.

So, if you find a lot of different names appearing in your DNA matches, don't immediately assume that it means one of them is your surname and that you are the product of infidelity somewhere back in time. In the case of the St. Clair family, I believe that the St. Clair's of England were in fact part of a larger group who moved to different land and took many different surnames as a result. Many of these surnames continue to be used to this day, which is why we now match them in our DNA study.

Sinclair DNA SNPs Keep Changing Things

Like many families who derive their surname from a place, our family has many different Lineages. In our case, our DNA lineages don't share a common Sinclair ancestor for at least 2,300 years. In some cases, the time frame is more like 50,000 years. And yet, SNP studies are proving that many of our Lineages could have been at the right place at the right time to acquire the surname from the land they lived on or the lord who owned it.

Sinclair DNA, St. Clair DNA, Sinkler DNA, Sinceler DNA and More

Our family has many different spellings. We are seeing distinct places associated with the different spellings -
Sinclair - Northern Scotland
St Clair - England
St Claire - Southwestern England
Sinkler - Southwestern Scotland
And so on.

By visiting the St Clair Research website, you can find deeper information on the spelling derivations and where they can be found in England and Europe.

Sinclair DNA Basic Discussion Via BlogTalkRadio

The date is set for our BlogTalkRadio discussion.

Saturday, March 3rd at 1:00 PM Eastern Time (New York City).

Click here to launch the show

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Sinclair DNA Blog Up & Running

It's rather difficult to put up new pages on the Sinclair DNA website, so I'm going to use this blog to work out ideas as they develop. I'll link to this from the main website.

Look for a lot of new updates as things develop. The most urgent issue now is to add clarity to our U106 Lineages.

Our DNA study has interesting developments thanks to SNP testing. The U106 Lineages have been very lucky over the past year thanks to the Z-series of SNPs. None have been more lucky than our Argyle lineage which is now proven to be positive for a SNP called Z2. We've now tested 4 people who show this SNP and it's now the definitive Argyle DNA signature.

Stay tuned as the Sinclair DNA study continues to explore our various Lineages

We currently manage 12 distinct Sinclair Lineages in our DNA study. None share a common ancestor for at least 2,300 years. This is quite normal for a surname that takes its origins based on land. France has had as many as 29 places with this name.