The Other Flemish Origin Families in Scotland: Next Steps

Amy Eberlin
Friday 14 March 2014

Some of the key issues that the project team would like to address over the next 2 years relate to the Flemish origin families in Scotland that do not carry the name Fleming, or what we call here “the other Flemish families”.  In this posting we show the current list of such families and discuss next steps in validating their Flemish origins.

The Other Flemish Families

Over the past eighteen months a regularly updated list of “probable” and “possible” Flemish origin families has been kept.  The list contained the name Fleming and its numerous variants but most families on the list were what might be called the “other Flemish families” in Scotland

Some family names have been found in relevant books/documents and others have been communicated to us by family members or family history specialists.  This list has been published in earlier blog postings (dated 27 September and 8 November 2013), but the current list—Box 1 below—differs from the earlier one in that it excludes the Fleming name but also:

  1. It includes some new families that have been communicated to us recently, and excludes some that have already been found to be non-Flemish, and
  2. It eliminates the distinction between “probable” and “possible” because the Flemish origins of some names on the original probable list have been questioned.  Accordingly all names are considered, for now, to be “possible”.

 

Box 1: Other Possible Flemish Origin Families in Scotland
Abernethy
Anstruther
Baird
Baitchler/Bachelor
Balliol/Bell and variants
Bart
Beaton
Binnie/Binning and variants
Bishop/Byschop
Boswell
Bremner/Bremmer and variants
Brodie
Bruce
Cameron
Campbell
Cant
Clasen
Cleland
Clemmet
Clow
Comyn
Cowart
Crawford and variants
Deurs
Dewar/De War
Douglas
Dowie
Erskine
Flucker/Flockhart
Frizall
Hally
Hamilton
Hazel and variants
Henman
Holm
Houbron
Imrie
Innes
Kessen
Landreth
Leith
Leslie
Lindsay
Lochore
Montgomery
Morrens/Morran
Murray
Mutch
Oliphant
Petrie
Plender/Plenderleith
Preynne/Prain and variants
Pundler
Scott
Seton
Spalding
Stein
Stewart
Stirling
Sturman
Sutherland
Swankie
Vermont
Waddell, Woodall and variants
Younger/Junker

Next Steps

Over the next two years we plan to make contact with as many as possible of the above families—or people familiar with them—in order to document work that has already been done to identify their origins.  We are hoping to be able to examine for specific families the results of genealogical/family history research as well as any genetic genealogical analyses that have been carried out to date. Other information we would like to glean is when the family may have come to Scotland, where the family settled, and if possible what they did. We would publish the findings as a series of blog postings.

As a second strand of our investigations we want to encourage as many male members of the above families as possible to test as part of our Y-DNA project.  This will help us discern any common ancestors among participating families and also possibly determine, as genetic science advances, whether a family had its roots in Flanders.  Details of how to join the Y-DNA project are shown in Box 2 at the end of this posting.

We would like to enlist your support in this work.  So if you have have any information of the type mentioned above about any of the listed families (or indeed any other families not in the list but which you believe may have a Flemish origin), please contact Alex Fleming at the following Email address:

[email protected]

 

Box 2: DNA Testing for the Scotland and the Flemish People Project

The DNA test involves a simple swab on the inside of the cheek. There are two levels of test for genealogical research. If you are interested in getting tested we recommend you purchase the 37 marker Y-DNA test as the minimum for surname research which may well identify distant relatives within Family Tree DNA’s extensive database. The 67 marker test provides extra data and will help us in our analytic work.

This test may give you an indication of your “deep ancestry” by matching with other participants who have been found positive for advanced “deep ancestry” markers. These advanced markers can be ordered at a later date if required. The test kit can be obtained direct by contacting Alasdair Macdonald or via the join tab at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Flemish_in_Scotland There is a small discount by ordering through either route (£13-£20 or $20-$30).

The project is administered by Alasdair Macdonald from the University of Strathclyde (Department of Genealogical Studies). He is a leading authority in Scotland on DNA. Should you have any questions please contact Alasdair at [email protected]. Alternatively feel free to contact co-administrator Alex Fleming [email protected].

Alex Fleming

March 2014

Share this story