The Douglas Archives

A collection of historical and genalogical records

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Protesters being removed from Douglas estate

Tree-houses have been built, the tunnels dug, the barricades erected and the arm-locks secured to branches.



Mainshill Wood, in the Lanarkshire countryside, has become Scotland's new environmental battleground this morning as an army of bailiffs moved in to evict protesters against a huge opencast mine. Scottish Coal was last year given permission to extract 1.7 million tonnes of coal from the site located on Lord Home's Douglas estate. If it goes ahead, South Lanarkshire will become… Continue

Added by William Douglas on January 25, 2010 at 16:53 — 1 Comment

Are all Sawny's evil?

I hope not! Sawney is a Scots version of Sandy, itself a shortened version of Alexander, so perhaps it was in common usage, but I have only found three examples of the name, and the stories that go with them are certainly not fairy tales.



SAWNEY BEAN was reportedly an incredible monster who, with his Wife, lived by murder and cannibalism in a cave. He was executed at Leith along with his whole Family in the Reign of James the First.





SAWNEY CUNNINGHAM was an abandoned… Continue

Added by William Douglas on January 24, 2010 at 17:30 — No Comments

Robert Burns and the Douglas Connection

Robert Burns

Burns Night, when Scots go daft over their national bard (no, I am not a fan!) is fast approaching, and it seemed appropriate to review the family links with Robert, or Rabbie, Burns.



Robert Burns had everything needed to become an icon in his native Scotland. He was working class and had to overcome grinding poverty before finding success. He was also, to put it mildly, a bit of a lad - part incorrigible womaniser, part dashing romantic -… Continue

Added by William Douglas on January 16, 2010 at 18:30 — No Comments

Douglas watch and clock makers

There appear to be two separate branches of the family tree who were watch and clock makers. but are they separate? Or is there a 'missing link' that binds then together?



I found these two extracts, but please note that details here differ from records in the Douglas Archives!



James Douglass was born around 1730-1733 to John Douglass (unfortunately I don’t know where, though family stories suggest the Douglasses… Continue

Added by William Douglas on January 12, 2010 at 12:56 — No Comments

Obituary collections now on-line

GenealogyBuff.com http://www.genealogybuff.com has recently placed several considerable data collections with DOUGLAS data online.

Here's the list:



ALABAMA - Madison County Obituary Collection

http://www.genealogybuff.com/al/madison/webbbs_config.pl



ARKANSAS - Clark County Obituary Collection …

Continue

Added by William Douglas on January 8, 2010 at 11:00 — No Comments

Mount Douglas - no points in the family quiz!

Have you ever played Scattegories, the quiz game where answers all begin with the same letter of the alphabet?



So if the 'scattegory' is 'D', all answers must begin with a 'D'.



It is a favouite family game of ours, played at family gatherings. Questions are devised to include authors, plants, body parts - and, this year, mountains.



My answer of Mount Douglas was… Continue

Added by William Douglas on January 2, 2010 at 20:36 — No Comments

UK New Year Honours 2010

Our congratulations go to:
Lady Caroline Douglas-Home who received a MBE for voluntary service to the British Red Cross and Macmillan Cancer Support in the Scottish Borders.
Mrs Muriel Margaret Douglas, Manager, Scottish NHS Central Register, General Register Office for Scotland, Scottish Executive, who received a MBE

Added by William Douglas on December 31, 2009 at 12:00 — No Comments

Murray H. Douglas and Mount Douglas

Mount Douglas is a striking pyramidal peak in Antarctica, 1,750 m, near the head of Fry Glacier, on the divide between the Fry and Mawson Glaciers. The New Zealand Northern Survey Party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1956-58) established a survey station on its summit in December 1957.

Mount Douglas is named for Murray H. Douglas, a member of the party.

Can anyone identify Murray Douglas?

Added by William Douglas on December 29, 2009 at 21:59 — No Comments

Help wanted to interpret a death notice

Ruby E. Douglas, 85, of Gerry died, December 19, 2009.



Born April 20, 1924 in Alexander, daughter of the late Harry and Nora Roth. Wife of the late Kenneth P. Douglas; mother of, Waldo (Donna) Douglas, Paul (Willa) Douglas; grand-mother of, Mark and Kevin (Hope) Douglas and Jill (John) Mulholland; great-grandmother of five; sister of the late, Harrison Roth and Charlotte Start.



Funeral service 11 a.m. Wednesday in Jordan Funeral Home, Sinclairville. Visitation 4-6 p.m.… Continue

Added by William Douglas on December 28, 2009 at 19:47 — 3 Comments

The Douglas Pringle link

Following a request for information about Thomas Pringle b~1763 d 1848, who married 1787 Jean Douglas b~1763- d 1837 and had one surviving child - Euphemia, I noted my lack of knowledge on the Pringles. Some research was clearly needed!



A Pringle was a shield bearer for James Douglas at Otterburn, and links between the two families existed for generations afterwards. I have added an entry on… Continue

Added by William Douglas on December 22, 2009 at 23:13 — 1 Comment

Bonnie Prince Henry?

Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, the man who in life was hailed by his Jacobite followers as the Young Pretender and disguised himself as an Irish maid to escape the clutches of his foes is the victim of mistaken identity.



Prince Henry?

The painting, by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, has hung in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery since it was bought for £22,000 in 1994.



Now a leading expert believes the pastel… Continue

Added by William Douglas on December 15, 2009 at 19:17 — No Comments

Protection against identity theft

I thought that I should review the website's privacy policy. It is not something I look at very often, and, according to Google Analytics, nor does anyone else! However, safeguarding information is important and it seemed prudent to have another look.



Our privacy policy covers data collected through marketing, registration and similar methods. It does not focus on the content of the genealogy database. Perhaps it should?



Principal concerns with genealogy data are how it… Continue

Added by William Douglas on December 7, 2009 at 15:24 — No Comments

Scot's £220,000 bequest to 20 towns called Douglas

A man has left about £220,000 in his will to towns across the world which share his Douglas surname.



Solicitors acting on behalf of Eric Gordon Douglas, from Edinburgh, have sent a cheque for £10,887.73 to Douglas Borough Council on the Isle of Man as part of the bequest.



But the council for the island's capital has appealed for more information on Mr Douglas in order to recognise his donation.



Council leader David Christian said: "There was around £220,000 left… Continue

Added by William Douglas on December 6, 2009 at 11:00 — 1 Comment

Douglases of Dalmahoy

I recently visit St Mary's Church, at Dalmahoy, in the graveyard of which are buried several members of the earl of Morton's family, amongst them my grandfather.



This led me to reviewing the entries in the database, updating some of the biographies in the history section, and developing an entry on Wikipedaia. It has also drawn attention to some holes in the Douglas Archives, which I am working to fill.



I am helped in this task by the 81st edition of Burkes Peerage. I… Continue

Added by William Douglas on November 30, 2009 at 22:59 — No Comments

Whose cousin am I?

Sorting out the difference between once removed and 2nd cousins, etc, has always been a challenge for me.



There is a chart in the Douglas Archives, but this one from Wikipedia is very helpful:

Family tree showing the relationship of each person to the orange person.

Cousins are colored green. Generations are shown by alternating stripes of gray and… Continue

Added by William Douglas on November 28, 2009 at 12:00 — 1 Comment

Admiral Sir Charles Douglas - a new biography

It is always exciting when a new biography apppears, charting the history of one of the family who made an imprint on world history.



Fortune's Favorite: Sir Charles Douglas and the Breaking of the Line

Sir Charles Douglas played a pivotal role in many of the most important events of the late eighteenth century, and yet his name appears only in short passages and… Continue

Added by William Douglas on November 12, 2009 at 19:00 — 3 Comments

Is Google Wave the future of collabrative genealogy research?

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.



A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and… Continue

Added by William Douglas on November 6, 2009 at 14:00 — No Comments

Marksberry/Marksbury family name a Douglas derivative?

I recently came across the following story:



The "Queensbury" title, one of many with which the Scottish house of Douglas is associated, originated in the creation of Sir William Douglas (d. 1640) as Earl of Queensbury in 1633. He was the eldest son of Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig (d. 1616). His grandson William the 3rd Earl (1637-1695), was created "Marquess of Queenserry" in 1682 and "Duke of Queensberry" in 1684. All of these titles and positions were created under the rule… Continue

Added by William Douglas on November 3, 2009 at 20:57 — 4 Comments

Douglas Barony for sale

I have been working on the Douglases of Brigton, and their connection with Dudhope Castle. As I was writing up the ancestry and history, I did not know that there is an opportunity to buy the Barony of Dudhope!



But checking on some amendments on peerage.com, I went back to my research and found that The Lordship and Barony of Dudhope are being offered for sale at a cool £75,000.



Any takers?



Further details can… Continue

Added by William Douglas on October 30, 2009 at 0:00 — No Comments

New Scotland history site goes live

A wealth of information about Scotland's past is now freely available through an online resource developed for the use of pupils, teachers and those seeking to put their ancestors into an historical context.



Scotland's History Online covers a range of subjects, from prehistoric through to 21st Century Scotland. With more than 200 topics that include links to over 1,000 other online sources and a wide range… Continue

Added by William Douglas on October 28, 2009 at 13:30 — No Comments

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Making conections

The more information you can give about the people you mention, the more chance there is of someone else connecting with your family.

Dates and places of births, deaths and marriages all help to place families.

Professions also help.

'My great-grandmother mother was a Douglas from Montrose' does not give many clues to follow up! But a bit of flesh on the bones makes further research possible. But if we are told who she married, what his profession was and where the children were baptised, then we can get to work.

Maybe it is time to update the information in your profile?


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