William Douglas's Page

I've found the RNLI site that recounts the story (but no mention of Kilclief): https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/newcastle-lifeboat-station/station-history-newcastle

Fantastic! Another lead to poke at - thanks William

Hi William, 

I just found the website after a google search sent me to your post from last year with a picture of the gravestone of a John Douglas de Fenzi. Do you know where the gravestone is located? I'd be more than happy to help with any questions you might have although I'm only just starting to do some digging into my family name and don't know a great deal. I've not heard of the Douglas of Garvald family either. 

Look forward to hearing from you,

Jevon

Thanks William!  Someone else found him; are you able to see what other's post to me?  I am new to this site, as well as Family Search...... trying to figure it all out :)-

Everything I know about Thomas Douglas:

I will link a scan of the work done by my grandmother for viewing.
Thomas_Douglas.pdf

My grandmother's genealogy work states that Thomas Douglas was born in 1738 in Augusta County, Virginia, and died in 1792 in Highland County, Virginia. I found a similar entry for a Thomas Douglas on familysearch.org, and this Thomas Douglas had a son also named Thomas Douglas, and these matches continued for Two Generations. The dates on the matching names seemed to line up, so I thought this sufficient to establish this Thomas Douglas as being the same Thomas Douglas talked about in my grandmothers genealogy. Now, Familysearch.org said that the father of Thomas Douglas was John Douglas Sr. The evidence used to establish this was that there was a mention of one sone whose name was Thomas in the will of John Douglas Sr. I searched your database of Douglases and found a John Douglas (1709 - 1780) that had many of the other children mentioned on Familysearch.org, but not Thomas.

Hey i know this is like a few years after the fact. But I have a book that states that John Doulass (1695) was infact kidnapped and brought to America. I have had ancestry dna done along with my mom her sister and all my kids how do I link that to my john douglass?

Thanks for the tip. I have established a Marksbury/Marksberry tree with factual evidence tied to Samuel Marksbury of Virginia/Kentucky who served in the militia or army in the American Revolution but who his parents are remains unverified. It is a pleasant thought there may be a family tie to the distinguished Douglas clan but so far what is out there comes from research based on hearsay as far as I can tell. Time for a an advanced DNA test!

Hi William, I am still working on confirming my research but what I do know so far is that John and James Douglas arrived in Australia on the Great Britain in 1864.  They resided in Laanecoorie and Woodstock in Victoria.

John Douglas is my great great grandfather who resided in Lannecoorie.  There are some references and photos of his family home and him in the below links.

https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/5d44d45721ea673c5848dddb

https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/5d44ded821ea673c5854aaaf

http://www.tarnagulla.com/photogallery/gallery3/index.php/District-Towns/Laanecoorie/DSC_0790

There is also a book available in the State Library of Victoria, "Douglas, a family history 1843 - 1981" which gives a full history of James Douglas.

Hi William,

Just noticed the photo and that is definitely him. He had four children made up of two gentleman's families. Two sets of a boy and a girl born in Scotland and Ireland. Walter and Isabella born in Scotland. Robert and Agnes born in Ireland.

Apparently, this John Scott Douglas was from a family ancestry of many Douglas's bearing the John Scott Christian names and from the Hawick, Jedburgh, Peebles areas. Even my late father wasa John Scott Douglas. Correctly or incorrectly, we have always regarded the family ancestry to have come from the Cavers estates. My grandfather Robert Domingo Douglas 1894-1977[third child born in Cork,Ireland]. He did extensive research in the 1960's. He went to a house which I feel was in the center of Peebles with steps up into it. He wished to talk to a lady who I vaguely recall as an auntie Madge who may have been Margaret. She answered the door but he was shunned at the door. My grandfather Robert Domingo Douglas then later discovered a family secret. He then one day threw the whole family tree research papers in to the fireplace and the whole lot went up in smoke. We have never gotten to the bottom of what was the issue, but needless to say rumors have been rife over the years. Were we related to the famous Dr John Scott Douglas and MP?? There was some infidelity some where that in the 1960's was better left in the past. Things were so bad that nobody in our immediate Scottish Douglas family wanted the family heirloom of the grandfather clock that bears that heart emblem of the Douglas family. Being the eldest my Grand Uncle Walter Douglas was offered the clock and took it. He got the clock cased and imported it from Scotland by sea in the 1950's or 60's. He ultimately gave it to my grandfather as it required major restoration works. Anyway our history remains a mystery. God bless all. Robin