Evolution of Clan Barclay Lines
The Barclays of Scotland
Click Here for High Resolution Image of Chart (Note that it will be updated as more informaiton is received.)
The seventeenth century is generally recognised as a period of great uncertainty for genealogical research. Surviving records of the general population at the time are few and those that do remain often lack the detail of later records. Given this, it is hardly surprising assumptions based on a combination of names, dates, locations, and associations, are frequently employed in an attempt to connect one’s ancestors with a better recorded family of the same surname. Often, the logic of such assumptions is indisputable. However, as numerous examples can testify, even the most logical assumption can be entirely incorrect.
The Barclay family occupies a somewhat unique position in genealogical terms. As members of the lower nobility, records of individuals from various branches are found frequently throughout Scotland in the pre- and post-sixteenth century eras. Their arrival in England in 1066 from Normandy is well recorded, as is their migration to Scotland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, all of which has been confirmed by DNA analysis. However, one result of such an ancient origin is the production of many cadet lineages, frequently confounding attempts by genealogists to distinguish between them. Often these are the same problems faced by the family historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that produced what are now well-recognised as erroneous accounts.
Modern genealogists need modern tools if they are to overcome the problems outlined above. To this end, Clan Barclay encourages members to avail themselves of Y-DNA testing at Family Tree DNA, to join the Barclay Surname Project at FTDNA, and to compare their results to those of other members at the FTDNA Clan Barclay International DNA Database. Clan administrators with the assistance of individual members have developed this database to a point where descendants of each of the major Barclay houses of Kilbirnie-Ladyland, Perceton, Collairnie, Touch, Gartly, Mathers-Ury and Towie, may now be distinguished from one another with certainty. Even the most basic of Y-DNA testing allows for members to be accurately placed into one of two larger groups (i.e. the Barclays of Gartly and Mathers-Ury in one group and the Barclays from other houses in another), though testing at a 67 or 111 marker level is required to distinguish between the houses within each group.
The age of myths in the history of the Barclays is now finished. An outline of the relationships between the various Barclay houses as determined by current research is included above. Each member who contributes to the Clan’s Y-DNA database provides information by which these relationships may be further defined, and in return receives vital information about their own origins. Members who are yet to undergo Y-DNA testing are strongly encouraged to do so and to take their rightful place in the Clan.
The Barclay family occupies a somewhat unique position in genealogical terms. As members of the lower nobility, records of individuals from various branches are found frequently throughout Scotland in the pre- and post-sixteenth century eras. Their arrival in England in 1066 from Normandy is well recorded, as is their migration to Scotland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, all of which has been confirmed by DNA analysis. However, one result of such an ancient origin is the production of many cadet lineages, frequently confounding attempts by genealogists to distinguish between them. Often these are the same problems faced by the family historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that produced what are now well-recognised as erroneous accounts.
Modern genealogists need modern tools if they are to overcome the problems outlined above. To this end, Clan Barclay encourages members to avail themselves of Y-DNA testing at Family Tree DNA, to join the Barclay Surname Project at FTDNA, and to compare their results to those of other members at the FTDNA Clan Barclay International DNA Database. Clan administrators with the assistance of individual members have developed this database to a point where descendants of each of the major Barclay houses of Kilbirnie-Ladyland, Perceton, Collairnie, Touch, Gartly, Mathers-Ury and Towie, may now be distinguished from one another with certainty. Even the most basic of Y-DNA testing allows for members to be accurately placed into one of two larger groups (i.e. the Barclays of Gartly and Mathers-Ury in one group and the Barclays from other houses in another), though testing at a 67 or 111 marker level is required to distinguish between the houses within each group.
The age of myths in the history of the Barclays is now finished. An outline of the relationships between the various Barclay houses as determined by current research is included above. Each member who contributes to the Clan’s Y-DNA database provides information by which these relationships may be further defined, and in return receives vital information about their own origins. Members who are yet to undergo Y-DNA testing are strongly encouraged to do so and to take their rightful place in the Clan.
A History of the Barclay Family, Parts II and III are available for free in full text online.
A History of the Barclay Family, Parts I, II, and III are available for purchase as hard copies.
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