William Douglas's Blog (611)

The Monteath Douglas Mausoleum is a grand Victorian monument, standing starkly on the skyline in the Scottish Borders near the village of Ancrum It is semi-derelict, and on the Buildings at Risk Scotland Register.

This magnificent, largely forgotten building is the last resting place of General Sir Thomas Monteath Douglas (1788 - 1868). The entrance is guarded…

I received the following message with the request to share it:

I just wanted to share with as many of you as I could that T George Douglas passed away this morning (Tuesday, November 4) at his home in Altamonte Springs Fl.  His wife, Pat , called my husband George this afternoon to let him know the sad news. 

Some of you receiving this email may not have known T George well.  However he was one of the great ones within Clan Douglas.  I can still remember all the…

Can you tell me if you kept witches in your dungeon as I have a sister who believes she was a witch in a past life..?

I was asked this a couple of years ago, and it came to mind again as I considered the fact that Hallowe'en is upon us again.

Do we have witches in the Douglas family, I wondered?

Archibald, 6th Earl of Angus's sister, Lady Janet Douglas of Glamis, was accused of witchcraft and treason and was burned at the stake in…

The following leave unclaimed estates:

Congratulations to Terri Douglas Ventress, a senior design engineer at Oklahoma State University, captured her third consecutive Masters World Championships at the 2014 Highland Games in Inverness, Scotland. Ventress is the only one in the world to simultaneously hold all the Highland Games World Records in her age group.

Above Terri, and Larry…

Douglas, C S $937.97
Douglas, Dorothy Angela $349.45
Douglas, Ian $116.00
Douglas, J F Mr $506.51
Douglas, J G $1,350.00
Douglas, Joyce Alice $102.35
Douglas, Maureen Anne $984.64
Douglas, N L $1,589.48
Douglas, Stephanie Diane $155.95

Further details from: http://www.ird.govt.nz/unclaimed-money/monies-d.html

  I am considering how best to commemorate the fallen from the First World War, and was looking at the scale of the project. The first name that I came across was Rifleman John Sholto Douglas Douglas, who was listed as Alias Watts.  Intrigued, I tried to find out more about him.

15881 Rifleman John Sholto Douglas Douglas died in France on 6th October 1918 and is 'Remembered with Honour' in the Grevillers British Cemetery.

Born John Sholto Douglas Watts, in France,…

Orchardton House was built in about 1761 by Robert Maxwell. He married a McLellan of Kirkcudbright Castle and it is alleged that the roof timbers from the castle were used in the construction of the new mansion at Orchardton. In 1785, the estate came into the possession of James Douglas, brother of William, founder of Castle Douglas. The house was substantially embellished…

The Trials of Lady Jane Douglas

The scandal that divided 18th century Britain

by Karl Sabbagh

The truth about what happened to the beautiful Lady Jane Douglas in Paris in 1748 has never been established. Did she give birth to twin boys in a bug-infested boarding house, or did she buy her two sons from poor French peasants to ensure that the distinguished line…

1864 - 1870 Photograph Album of Ella and Archibald Douglas Pennant

330 albumen photographs

A list of 'Rival clans' has recently been added to Wikipedia.

How much to we agree that this was the case? Rivalary with the Royal Stewarts, is fairly obvious, but what about the rest?

Clan Stewart
Clan Crichton
Clan Gordon
Clan Sandilands
Clan Charteris
Clan Johnstone
Clan Colville
Clan Scott
Clan MacLellan
Clan Ramsay
Clan Maxwell (17th century)

I came across this interesting version of the origins of the Douglas family...…

Starting Sept. 30, 2014, Genealogy.com will be making a big change. GenForum message boards, Family Tree Maker homepages, and the most popular articles will be preserved in a read-only format, while several other features will no longer be available, including member subscriptions and the Shop.

I, for one, will be missing the closure of the forums, to which i have contributed over several years, both posing questions and providing responses.

I guess they were not providing a…

http://j.mp/1tluICw
Up for sale a very interesting unique survivor
For pendicle rent and smith work done by henry drysdale Of strathedry 1805
Paid by the guardians of mr douglas of strathendry

The genealogy database has been updated this evening.

The Douglas Archives genealogy database contains details of 169501 individuals and 70998 families, all linked to the Douglas family.

There are 8,944 people listed for whom the 'Last Name' contains Douglas, eg Douglas, Douglass, Douglas-Hamilton.

Death Record

DRYSDALE Alexander Accident 1846 Alexander, only son of late Captain Alex Drysdale, Port Glasgow, died from a fall on the brig ‘ William Hutt’ of Glasgow, on 18th September 1846 at Liverpool (Greenock Advertiser 5.9.1846)

Death Record

DRYSDALE Alexander Accident 1835 Captain Alex Drysdale died from a fall on his ship at Port Glasgow on 14th February 1835. Lived at Mearns. (Greenock Advertiser 16.2.1835) 

Death Record

DRYSDALE James Accident…

This week, Piping Live! welcomes visitors from 26 countries including France, Spain, the US, Australia, and Macedonia to Glasgow, attracting 50,000 spectators.

Five-year-old Grace Carruthers, from Kilmarnock, opened the festival by playing with Andrew Douglas, Pipe Sergeant of the Stuart Highlanders, who have travelled from Boston to play the…

History of the House of Douglas, Vol. I. (Expanded)

History of the House of Douglas, Volume 1 



The popular "Game of Thrones" series by…

The two reports from March 1784 on the marriage of daughters of Lewis Douglas of Garvald need some explaining...!

1. Scots Magazine:

2.  Edinburgh Advertiser:

Tuesday last…

I have received this email, and thought that it might be useful to share my response - in the hope that other researchers may be able to add to it.

I am having difficulty knowing where to go to find my ancestor Samuel Douglass. I have traced him to the 1730 immigration from Scotland with his father and son. I can not find where/who in Scotland he descended from. 

Can you direct me to where I go on this site to find…