The Douglas Archives

A collection of historical and genalogical records

William Douglas's Blog (598)

New source for Canada’s documentary heritage

The Canadiana Discovery Portal is a new source for Canada’s documentary heritage, providing access to a huge assortment of historical artifacts from across the country.

The Canadiana Discovery Portal is a free service that enables users to search across the valuable and…

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Added by William Douglas on September 9, 2011 at 9:30 — No Comments

Douglases in Ayrshire

I was researching Douglas of Cunninghamhead (near Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, Scotland) whose daughter and heiress married a Cunningham, when I came across the following entries on Wikipedia (not all on the same page).

Warrix (now Warrick) Hill formed part of the demesne of the De Morvilles who forfeited their lands to Robert the Bruce. Sir James, son of Sir James Stewart of Bonkill, son of Alexander the High Steward of Scotland, obtained Peirstoun and…

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Added by William Douglas on September 8, 2011 at 16:35 — 1 Comment

Duke's aeroplane gifted to museum

A HISTORIC aircraft used to scatter the ashes of Scotland's most prominent peer over his ancestral Haddington home has been gifted to the National Museum of Scotland.

The Bulldog military trainer was owned by the late Duke of Hamilton of Lennoxlove House, and was the first of its kind to be built in Scotland.

 Angus Douglas-Hamilton, who passed away…

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Added by William Douglas on September 3, 2011 at 7:30 — No Comments

Douglas-Hunt 'toughest competitor alive'

Less than eight months after she was almost killed on the job, Victoria police Const. Lane Douglas-Hunt has stunned family and friends by winning the gold medal in the "toughest competitor alive" event at the World Police & Fire Games in New York on Wednesday.

 

Douglas-Hunt gave new meaning to the name of the competition, which requires athletes to…

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Added by William Douglas on September 2, 2011 at 12:23 — No Comments

Merchant Navy Seamen records now online

Findmypast.co.uk has just published 1 million 20th century Merchant Navy Seamen records, the first time ever that these records have been made available online.



The records are index cards which the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman used between the two world wars to produce a centralised index of merchant seamen serving on British merchant navy vessels. They cover the period 1918-1941.



The merchant navy consists… Continue

Added by William Douglas on September 2, 2011 at 9:32 — No Comments

John Douglas, Provost Marshall General of Grenada

A tale of two Johns.



In 'The House of Commons 1790-1820' By Roland G. Thorne, History of Parliament Trust (Great Britain) an assumption is made that it was John Douglas of Grantham, an MP, who became Provost Marshall of Grenada in 1836, and died there in 1838.

However, following an enquiry drawing my attention to evidence on a gravestone in Kelton graveyard, I am now convinced that Thorne got it…

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Added by William Douglas on August 27, 2011 at 20:30 — 24 Comments

The Gough Map

The Gough Map is internationally-renowned as one of the earliest maps to show Britain in a geographically-recognizable form. Yet to date, questions remain of how the map was made, who made it, when and why.

Gough map

The map can be found here: http://www.goughmap.org

Added by William Douglas on August 27, 2011 at 13:47 — No Comments

Douglas heraldry

I received a request today for more information on the use of the three stars on the Douglas coat arms.

Here is an explanation:

A star depicted on a coat of arms, in some cases, may represent a falling star and denote a divine quality bestowed from above, whereby men shine in virtue like bright stars on the earth. The star symbolizes honor, achievement and…

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Added by William Douglas on August 19, 2011 at 21:54 — 2 Comments

Peter Douglas to retire from California Coastal Commission

The announcement by Peter Douglas as head of the California Coastal Commission has received mixed responses.

Whilst all regret the reason for his retiral, in November (he has cancer), there are those who say that there are few individuals who have done more to singlehandedly destroy jobs, wealth, and opportunities in California -- all in the name of advancing a…

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Added by William Douglas on August 12, 2011 at 13:00 — No Comments

Einstein says...

Added by William Douglas on August 9, 2011 at 11:14 — 1 Comment

Pit Ponies and Other Curiosities

This article has been contributed.

Although I’m in my seventies, I’m Young Davie Dalton, or at least that what I was when I nearly lost a leg and a bit of an arm with the pit ponies.

I’d been sent to Douglas Castle Colliery, the bit down near Castle Dangerous managed by Tam Hamilton. I was to be there for three months between getting my mining engineering degree from university and going…

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Added by William Douglas on August 1, 2011 at 17:23 — No Comments

Amber Douglas eliminated from New Zealand reality show

20-year-old Amber Douglas is the latest model-wannabe eliminated from the New Zealand TV3's Next Top Model show. Nine models remain.

Amber won the make-up challenge on Friday night's episode but her photo failed to impress the judges and she was sent home. The judges had repeatedly told Amber she needed to show more of her personality and relax.

But in an interview with Stuff.co.nz, Amber hit… Continue

Added by William Douglas on July 22, 2011 at 17:00 — No Comments

Douglas branches

There is an interesting discussion on Wikipedia about branches of 'Clan Douglas'.

Now, many do not realise that Wikipedia has a number of people who challenge the content, and enter into discussions with others about the veracity of the that content.

There were some strange 'branches' of 'Clan Douglas' listed, and I raised the question as to why they were there.

If you want to follow the dicusion, you can do do on the…

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Added by William Douglas on July 19, 2011 at 11:20 — No Comments

Fence Jumping

There has been a wonderful discussion on the Douglas dna forum regarding why so many family names seem to have the same dna as the Douglases. Piligaging and plundering might be one reason, says Julie.

Gordon, Marksberry, St Clair, Morton and Barrack are just some of the names that crop up.  The discussion has centred on 'fence jumping', but genealogist Belinda Dettman has put forward a number of other…

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Added by William Douglas on July 5, 2011 at 21:52 — No Comments

William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus, buried Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris.

William Douglas, 10th Earl of Angus (1552 – 3 March 1611) was the son of William, the 9th Earl (1533–1591). He was a direct descendant of King James I through his paternal grandmother, Lady Agnes Keith, a daughter of William Keith, 3rd Earl Marischal.He studied at St. Andrews University and joined the household of the Earl of Morton. Subsequently, while visiting the French court, he became a Roman Catholic, and was in consequence, upon his return, disinherited and placed under restraint.A…

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Added by William Douglas on June 21, 2011 at 1:30 — No Comments

Lord James Douglas, buried in Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris.

Lord James Douglas (1617–1645) was a Scottish nobleman and soldier.He was born at Douglas Castle, Douglas, South Lanarkshire, the son of William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas, and his wife Margaret Hamilton, a daughter of Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley.Douglas was sent at an early age to the court of Louis XIII, where he was served the King as a Page, where he steadily moved through the levels of the Maison du Roi.A fine memorial was erected to his memory in the Chapelle de…

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Added by William Douglas on June 20, 2011 at 20:00 — No Comments

Melanie and Mike Douglas successful bidders at Alpaca sale

Ravenshaw Gracia L34 3800g The first ever on-farm sale of Alpacas took place at the home of Campsie Camelids breeders, Freddie and Janet Small, of Ballochruin Farm, Balfron. Included in the sale was the major reduction sale from Campsie, along with invited herds.

Buyers travelled from Elgin in the North of Scotland and came from Corwen in Wales to invest in some of Scotlands quality prize winning animals.

Heading the line up at 3,800gns was a light brown maiden female from the Ravenshaw herd. This two… Continue

Added by William Douglas on June 17, 2011 at 18:32 — No Comments

Who was Dame Margaret Douglas of Balmakelly, who built Queensberry House?

There follows a brief early history of Queensberry House, in Edinburgh, then a T-plan structure originally erected by Dame Margaret Douglas of Balmakelly as a ‘Grand Lodging’.

 

1667

Queensberry House was first built for Dame Margaret Douglas of…
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Added by William Douglas on June 10, 2011 at 11:31 — 2 Comments

Sir Howard Douglas navigational quadrant for sale on eBay

A rare navigational instrument signed 'Cary, London', patent 73, dating from around 1825.As a result of clever design, this instrument can be used to take instantaneous sightings of objects separated by up to 120 degrees, so facilitating a rapid determination of a given position.

The 110mm. Linear plotting scale under the semi-circular scale (reading to one minute of the…
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Added by William Douglas on June 7, 2011 at 19:00 — 1 Comment

Should more have been done to save Lord Milo Douglas?

When Lord Milo Douglas, the bipolar son of the Marquess of Queensberry, killed himself, the health authorities were well aware of his suicidal feelings. His family want to know how he slipped through the net. For Lady Queensberry, no official explanation can answer the abiding question. 'My question is, what else could Milo have done to make himself heard? And that question wasn’t answered. How much more do you have to do to show that you…

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Added by William Douglas on May 30, 2011 at 16:41 — 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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