New book coming which mentions Sinclair DNA in North America

My friend Zena Halpern is finishing up research which mentions that Prince Henry Sinclair was in North America, or at least on Oak Island. I've seen large parts of her research and must say it's definitely interesting. I have not seen the actual manuscript nor all of her research.

Zena Halpern has her hands on a fascinating story

The story follows particular families from England, to the Temple Mount and from there to a large mountain on the east coast of North America. I was part of the group who found what appeared to be very old carvings of symbols on large boulders high on this very steep mountain. Other artifacts were found as part of this story which are fascinating. While Prince Henry Sinclair fits only slightly into this story, I encourage our family to keep their eye on Zena Halpern's website for a link to purchase her incredible story. This is very new research, not a re-hash like so many others.

As most of you know, I'm a skeptic of such a voyage. We are sorely lacking in actual actual physical, inarguable evidence of any such journey. But that doesn't mean we should stop looking, as long as it's done in a scientific way. We're also sorely lacking in that.

I'll keep you posted.

St. Clair Malet Connections in Medieval England

The St. Clairs of Butleigh, Somerset

I’ve been reading about an interesting branch of the Saint-Clair family in Butleigh, Somerset, near Ashcott. The land was held by the Malet family. The early St. Clairs had connections with the Malet family. For instance, Sir John Malet married Sybil de St. Clare.  

Butleigh Moor

 K.S.B. Keats-Rohan wrote about the Malet family in great detail in her paper about Robert I Malet, the domesday landholder:
"Robert's intended foundation of Eye priory received a charter of assent from his sister Beatrice, who mentioned also their brother Gilbert. A later precept of Henry I in respect of Beatrice Malet's charter furnishes the additional information that she was the wife of Robert's Suffolk tenant William of Arques. He was the Domesday lord of Folkestone in Kent, where the dominant landholder had been Odo of Bayeux, the Conqueror's disgraced half-brother. It is immediately striking that one of those who attested Beatrice's charter was Ansgod of Canterbury, but other Kent connexions can be demonstrated for the other witnesses. Ralph of Bellicia named from the unidentified manor of Belice in Hayne Hundred. was doubtless one of the Ralphs who held land in Kent from Hugh de Montfort, probably Ralph de Courbépine. Alfred de Combia was probably the steward Alfred who was one of William d'Arques tenants in 1086. Main of Saint-Clair was doubtless another Kentish landholder, tenant of Hugh de Montfort. The Saint-Clair from which Main took his name was probably the same as that mentioned in connexion with the abbey of Préaux, to which it had been willed by Richard Croc and his wife Benceline c.1035-45. It subsequently had to be restored to Préaux by Robert [of Mortain], brother of Odo of Bayeux and half-brother of the Conqueror.”

That paragraph mentions many names you’ve read in my writing before - Mortain, Montfort, Préaux Abbey, d’Arques, Eye Priory, Odo of Bayeux, and of course Malet.

Robert I Malet was the founder of Eye Priory in 1105.

Shepton-Malet

The St. Clairs of Shepton-Malet 

A Robert de St. Clair was the first holder of Stapleton and held Shepton-Malet in the 12th century. Before 1195, the manor passed to Robert’s son William. William may have died without children. The manor passed to his son Geoffrey who held Stapleton “of the king by the of holding a towel before the queen at Easter, Pentecost and Christmas, and also on the occasion of the coronation of the king.”

In the 1100s, the Malet family were tenants-in-chief of this land. Some generations later, the part of the estate containing Shepton Mallet was sold to a relative, Sir Thomas Gournay.(wiki) That is certainly interesting. Remember Thomas Sinclair’s book, “Sinclairs of England?” He wrote that Walter Sinclair (St Clair) of Medway was an under-tenant of the Gournays who he says were married into the Warennes.

The church pictured here is The Parish Church of All Saints from the 13th century. This is the site of an earlier Norman church.

The Parish Church of All Saints

Sources -

Image from Patrick Mackie - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/96734

Image of All Saints - http://www.westcountrychurches.co.uk/page2.htm

Keats-Rohan, K.S.B., “Domesday Book and the Malets: patrimony and the private histories of public lives,” Printed Nottingham Medieval Studies 41 (1997) 13-56  http://www.coelweb.co.uk/NMSMalet.pdf

M C Siraut, A T Thacker and Elizabeth Williamson, 'Parishes: Butleigh', in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 9, Glastonbury and Street, ed. R W Dunning (London, 2006), pp. 82-102 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol9/pp82-102 [accessed 8 March 2016].

Pearce, Edwin, “Index to Collinson's History of Somerset,” Barnicott and Pearce, 1898 Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepton_Mallet#Saxon_and_Norman_period Williams, C.L. Sinclair “The Manor of Stapleton in Martock, and the St Clairs” Published by SOMERSET ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY (1992)

Sinclair DNA Conclusions Are Sound

Recently I contacted Bennett Greenspan, President and CEO of Family Tree DNA with the following request - 

“The last time we spoke, you were on my online radio show explaining how FTDNA would soon connect the branches to the leaves.

And now, with Big Y, you’re doing just that. It’s been a wonderful journey and we’re really closing up the gaps now in the Saint-Clair family.

I wonder if I can ask your opinion on an approach I’ve been using in our study?

St Clair is one of those older Norman names. The Normans were meticulous records keepers. What I began to notice in our SNP results for the last few years (since confirmed with the Big Y results) is the same surnames showing up as witnesses to historical documents.

For example, the de Vaux family share the L193 SNP with my own SNPs. That one has been dated within the time frame of Norman records.

The de Vaux also showed up in tons of records as closely allied with the St. Clairs of England.

Multiple independent connections point to near certainty that we’re looking at the descendants of those medieval people.

I’ve put up a lengthy website page about our P310 lineage, if you’re having trouble sleeping one night - http://stclairresearch.com/content/Sinclair-Templar-Proof.html

I’m curious to see what you think of this approach.”

Using FTDNA as a resource

We couldn’t ask for a better person to run Family Tree DNA than Bennett Greenspan. His curiosity and helpfulness in the family studies is wonderful. As a result, they’ve become the most successful testing lab for genealogy in the world.

Knowing what would help the most, Bennett wrote back, “Hi Steve, I’m going to refer this to one of our customer service people with an Anthropology degree.”

The answer is in

Just today, the note came back -

“Dear Steve,

I have been able to review your page and conclusions.  Your research is interesting and it sounds like you've had a lot of fun with it.  I love seeing these kinds of stories.  From what I see on your page, your conclusions are sound. I think one of the benefits of having so many great haplogroup projects, Big Y, and in-depth research such as yours is that we do eventually get to see family lines intersect with specific SNPs. Have you connected with any of our P310 haplogroup admins to date on the subject?”

There you have it from a trusted employee of FTDNA who has an anthropology degree, referred by Bennett Greenspan.

“Your conclusions are sound.”

More work to do

Not all SNP studies are created equal. Unfortunately, the P310 SNP study has been through a chaotic time. They have new leadership, but the energy level has not been as high as the L193 or U106 groups who, as well as other groups, have doggedly uncovered the deep SNP connections between surnames in their group.

I’ve been in touch with others who can help, but it’s slow going. More recent connections between the SNPs below P310 are being slowly discovered and our P310 Herdmanston participant is part of this work. And more recent SNP connections are necessary to be absolutely certain of connections.

UPDATE: The Herdmanston lineage now clearly connects in the late middle ages with the surname Forrester. This surname has clearly traceable ties in southern Scotland.

Another Sinclair Lineage as an example

The fact that our Caithness Lineage is connected to John Thurso is beyond dispute. When Thurso’s DNA was SNP tested and proven to be Z346*, then we all knew that our Caithness Lineage matched Thurso. Irrefutable. Beyond argument.

UPDATE: Thurso has been Big Y tested and matches our Caithness lineage. 

But there’s more work needed

Look back up the page at #2 - medieval records.

As of October, 2013, our Caithness participants match:

• Wildey - England
• Cummings - unknown
• Beckes - USA
• Kinkead (Kincaid) - Ireland
• Frenckinck - Germany
• Dirksen - Netherlands
• Mitchell - England
• Wheadon - England
• Gilbert - Scotland

Our Caithness researchers need to try and find medieval records of those people who match the narrative of the Sinclair story in Scottish, English, and/or Norman history. Then those names need to be DNA SNP tested to see if they share the Z346* SNP at least, and hopefully some downstream SNPs.

All our Saint-Clair lineages need to take this approach

I'm very excited about research I'm doing on our Exeter Sinclair Lineage and a particular soldier in the Battle of Dunbar.

In another lineage, I’m currently working on a surname that has, to my knowledge, been overlooked. It shows up in the narrative of the Sinclairs of Rosslyn, as well as in English and Norman history. The other surnames this family were circling around are quite exciting and, in many cases, different that those the Herdmanston Saint-Clairs were associated with.

In both cases, if the surnames I’m studying have living descendants who can be tested for DNA SNPs with Family Tree DNA, and they turn out matching the appropriate lineage, then we’ll have something close to 100% certainty that they connect back to Normandy.

Then, the anthropologist will once again be able to say, “your conclusions are sound.”

Surname Soup

The Engrailed Cross on a St Clair grave in
Herdmanston Chapel.
Photo by Steve St. Clair, October 2012.
(click to enlarge)

Digging around in medieval records can be both fascinating and frustrating at the same time.

The newest page on the St Clair / Sinclair DNA website is about our recently proven Herdmanston St Clairs, now proven to be P310+, U106-, P312- (otherwise known as L11*).

Today, as I was looking through the lengthy list of names on the Family Tree DNA study page that includes L11, I was struck by two names -

• Mandeville
• Wishart

Because they share the L11* SNP (Wishart needs to confirm) with our Herdmanston St Clairs, it's safe to say they share a common ancestor - at least until further SNPs are discovered. But then I remembered the witnesses to a particular record of some importance in our family - the granting of the lands of Roslin to the Sinclair family.

14 September 1279, Traquair - "Alexander, king of Scots, gives notice that, since Henry of Roslin, tenant of his lands of Roslin (MLO) and Catcune (nr Borthwick, MLO), has resigned and quitclaimed these lands to him by rod and staff, he has given to William Sinclair, knight, said lands of Roslin and Catcune, doing service of half a knight"
The witnesses to this grant of land could be instructive:

• Robert Wishart, bishop of Glasgow (d.1316) 
• William Fraser, bishop of St Andrews (d.1297) 
• Gilbert de Umfraville, earl of Angus (d.1307)
• William Comyn of Kilbride (d.c.1283)
• Simon Fraser (d.1291×92)
• Bernard Mowat (son of Michael)
• William Bisset, knight (late 13C)
• Patrick Graham, knight (d.1296)

Source - People of Medieval Scotland. Their source, Newbattle Registrum, Cartae originales, no. 6 - RRS, iv, no. 126

Saint-Clair-sur-Elle, in the department of Manche,
on the Cotetin Peninsula, France (click to enlarge)

Witnesses to land records often had a personal connection with the grantee; sometimes a blood connection. For instance, Hamo St. Clair (who received the creation of the baronies of Eaton Socon and Walkern) was closely allied with de Mandeville (Vincent, p. 243). There's a great article on Eaton Socon at British History Online. 

There's a great paper on this St. Clair / Mandeville connection in the 1998 Proceedings of the Battle Conference.  I own this book and highly recommend you buy it. A footnote on page 243 states "The St Clair family, for whom the baronies of Eaton Socon and Walkern were created, were former tenants of Eudo Dapifer, both in England and their birthplace, Saint-Clair-sur-Elle, dep. Manche;" (Anglo Norman Studies, p. 243)  They credit Lewis C. Loyd's Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, which I also recommend buying.

In another blog post I wrote back in February 2013, I discussed how some of these same names all showed up in a DNA SNP group called L257+. That SNP isn't in our Sinclair DNA study at all.

But now these surnames are showing a direct hit with our St Clair Herdmanston Lineage.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Sources - 
"Anglo-Norman Studies XXI: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1998" edited by Christopher Harper-Bill, Boydell & Brewer, 1999  ISBN 0 85115 745 9

POMS - website, People of Medieval Scotland

Vincent, Nicholas, "Warin and Henry Fitz Gerald, The King's Chamberlains" The Origins of the Fitzgeralds Revisited. Presented to "Anglo-Norman Studies 21: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1998," edited by Christopher Harper-Bill, Boydell & Brewer, 1999

An Open and Shut Case?

Axiom: As classically conceived, an axiom is a premise so evident as to be accepted as true without controversy. As used in modern logic, an axiom is simply a premise or starting point for reasoning. source

 Proving connections between medieval people is quite difficult. Often the records no longer exist and even the best genealogists must be content with an educated guess. Luckily, there are techniques one can use to make these guesses more certain.

In 2011, I began research, now on the Sinclair DNA website, into possible name connections. The page is called A Confluence of Surnames. The approach was to look for consistencies in families who gifted land to abbeys and priories.

In late January, I found a blog posting on a Yahoo group, called Crispin Cousins, which validated this approach. They had written several research axioms. Two are listed here:

1. Benefactors to ecclesiastical institutions are kin of the founder 
2. Primary witnesses (ie, not including those witnessing on behalf of the of institution) of ecclesiastical charters are invariably kin of the primary benefactor; by extension, of course, also kin of the founder source

There have been strong reasons to believe in connections between the Vaux family of Scotland and the Vere family of England. But the Vaux / Vance family DNA project administrators are careful to make no claims without documented facts.

If one starts with the above axioms, then researches Monasticon Anglicanum and Keats-Rohan, it's easy to claim that Aubrey de Vere, who founded Colne Priory c. 1100, is directly related to Herueus de Vallibus (Vaux) who gave land of Belcamp, Essex to Colne Priory.(Keats, p.756)

Aubrey de Vere founded Colne Priory.
Herueus de Vaux, a tenant of Bigod in Essex, gave lands to Colne Priory.
Open and shut case, right?

Furthermore, starting with those axioms, it's easy to claim other names are directly related by blood to Aubrey de Vere:
Hugh de Munchensi
Richard de Beauchamp
Roger Bigot (of whom the Vaux held much land)
William de Mandeville earl of Essex
Adeliza de Vere
Peter de Burgate

It's certainly very interesting. But I don't think we can prove it as a fact unless we have more data; such as DNA data.


Further Reading:
Apparently, nothing much remains of Colne Priory. There's a great article on it at this link.

Sources -
Keats-Rohan, K.S.B. Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 II: Pipe Rolls to `Cartae Baronum' (Vol 2) (Hardcover), Boydell Press (April 15, 2002) ISBN-10: 0851158633, ISBN-13: 978-0851158631

Monasticon Anglicanum: A History of the Abbies and Other Monasteries ... By John Caley, Bulkeley Bandinel, Sir Henry Ellis, Longman, 1823 via Google Books

Sinclair DNA Follows the Money

The latest video outlines a way to track down ancient family connections. It seems our St. Clair ancestors in England were attempting to buy their way into heaven. Hopefully our Sinclair DNA study will be able to prove or disprove a historic connection between these surnames.

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.

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

.

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.

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?