We have so far been unable to identify the father of our earliest known Douglas ancestor,  Alexander Douglas, who was in Reeth in 1603. We have some clues- He was granted land near Reeth by the King.  According to Burke’s he came to Scotland with the King, and was in the court of the King. Also according to Burke he was of the Morton line of Douglas's.

From court records of the early 1600s there was an Alexander. He had two brothers. We do not know exactly who this Alexander was, and we have no way of linking him to our Alexander or to Reeth.

One of our family researchers has identified a possible father, of the Morton line of Douglas's. This is James Douglas of Drumlanrig. This is the line of the 1^st earl of Queensberry.

It possible to use DNA to determine whether this is the correct line for us to be researching.

We have identified a direct descendant of the 1^st Earl of Queensberry , and he has agreed to be DNA tested.  We will then compare his DNA to that belonging to a male descendant of our Alexander. If they match- then Bingo! We know we are descended from the 1st Earl of Queensberry, and James of Drumlanrig.

Click here for a summary of the information we have at this time.

Further testing is currently underway.

Similar projects are also underway for other Douglas lines. If you would like more information or to participate in a DNA study please try the following links:

Douglas DNA studies 

Other surname studies   

If you would like to know more about our own Douglas DNA study, or if you think you might be related to us and might want a DNA study to prove it,  please contact Beryl Turner  

This study began when an American family of Turners was looking for its roots and related families within USA. Maurice Turner submitted a DNA sample and was surprised to learn that of the 160 Turners tested in the USA he was related to none of them. In fact his DNA group was quite unusual.  (Haplogroup J2)

Then Beryl Turner was browsing the web and noticed Maurice’s information on the web and thought we might be related. Conventional genealogy did indicate a probable relationship, but it was not proven.

So Douglas Turner was persuaded to submit a DNA sample – and we were very pleased that he matched Maurice very closely.

Our aim now is to find why we are so different from all of the other Turners in the USA study. We would now like to find Scottish Turners to submit DNA samples to see if we can find any other relatives and perhaps identify the family of our earliest known ancestor, William Turner who married Elizabeth Pringle in 1786.

We would particularly like to find Turners originating from Scotland and especially from Berwickshire or nearby to do the test. We want to find other with haplogroup J2- there is a very good chance we are related. So if you come from around that area please contact us, or submit a DNA sample here.

 

Contact Beryl Turner

Click here to see more about Turner DNA