Hay, Saint-Clair and the Rosslyn Sinclair Family - Brian Dreadon has penned an interesting page for our website about a likely genealogy for the Rosslyn Sinclairs. Also, he corrects many misconceptions along the way. Click here to read the report.

Our Herdmanston Family DNA is now Known - With the testing of a direct descendant of the Herdmanston family, we now know the DNA of the first family with our surname to arrive in Scotland, about 1162. They received the lands of Herdmanston and were closely allied to the de Morville family. Full Research Here

News on Our U106 Z346* Caithness Lineage - Shawn Sinclair and Steve St. Clair have worked together to bring you this update on the testing of John Thurso and what it means for our family to date. Click here

Yet another social media icon. There's a new social media icon on our homepage. This one will become very serious in 2013. It's Google+, their version of social sharing. If you haven't already, you might want to consider starting a Google+ account and sharing our Sinclair DNA pages on it.

News for the Sinclairs of Caithness. Shawn Sinclair has convinced John Thurso to test his DNA, providing good evidence that the Z1 / Z346 Sinclair Lineage is related to the Earls of Caithness and Rosslyn - at least back in about 400 AD. Great work Shawn. The Z346 SNP is currently  believed to have mutated about 1600 and 2800 years ago. While the SNP mutation is old, the STR distance is close in some cases. We're currently testing more members of this lineage for Z346.

Sinclair DNA on Tumblr and Pinterest. DNA for genealogy owes its existence to the Internet. Without it, Genetics for Genealogy wouldn't be a viable business. Sinclair DNA is using social media to get more participants, and thus more data on our worldwide family. Social media is a great way to intersect with those who we can help, and who can help our study in return. In 2012, we've increased our average number of new monthly test participants and we clearly owe that to how well we're intersecting with genealogy enthusiasts.
Find Sinclair DNA on Tumblr
Find Sinclair DNA on Pinterest

Blog Sites Launched. We now have 2 new blogs to keep up with. Making changes to this more permanent website is difficult and time consuming. But on a blog I can jot down notes and put up content that's fast and easy. It's like thinking out loud. The spelling of the names on the two blogs don't mean anything. It's simply easier to publish lots of work on two blogs.
Sinclair DNA blog
St Clair DNA blog

What 2012 might bring. The holiday season gives people more time to work on their genealogy research. As a result of that, I've had several conversations with people around the world who are ready to take the next step in our DNA study. Usually it's SNP testing. In January I'll be putting up the latest results of the U106 Linages. We have lots of news in those - our Argyle Lineage in particular.

Andrea Di Robilant on the Zen Brothers. Over the 2011 Christmas holiday, Andrea Di Robilant spent an hour with us on our Blog Talk Radio show discussing his first-person research into the Zen (Zeno) Brothers, Zichimi (Prince Henry Sinclair) and their voyage to North America. Click Here >>

It had to happen eventually. With the discovery of an SNP in a lineage of our family which is within the timeframe of Medieval English records, we're able to compare the irrefutable SNP name matches with STR name matches AND with lots of Medieval records in France and England. Click here to read >>

New SNPs for the U106 L-48 Lineages - New work is being done on SNPs that effect our three L-48 Lineages. If you recall, this lineage was the first to be lucky enough to branch out of the R1b Atlantic Modal Haplogroup with what used to be called S21. FTDNA took the lead on it and broke it down further to U106, L-48. Early on, I noticed extreme genetic distance between our Caithness and Argyle groups, as well as a stand-alone participant. These 3 groups didn't seem to share a common ancestor for at least 2,000 years, before the time of genealogical records.

Now, a new series of SNPs has come out of the Walk The Y project. This Z-series is going to be of real value to the L-48 Lineage because it's already splitting up our three groups and will soon reveal a guess at the timing for a common ancestor between these Sinclairs. More info here >>

New R-L193 SNP - When a new SNP is discovered, all sorts of pronouncements begin to fly around the Internet. I'm avoiding doing that with L193. Some of what we know so far is explained in the homepage video. Also, some speculation about what it may mean is thrown in as well. New evidence to consider comes in weekly. The cool thing about this one is that it's within a timeframe of  historical documents - about 800 years ago. The actual place where the most recent common ancestor of L193 lived is still not known. I'll be posting an article soon, but I'm taking my time with it because so much is being learned so quickly. When more definitive information is known, you'll see it here. For now, please view the video on this page of our website >>

Unique methods of research - Peter Sinclair has approached his research into the Sinclairs of Perthshire with a unique method of research. He's done extensive records research and is looking for patterns for how the Sinclair family settled into Perthshire.  More Info Here >>>

News on the Descendants of Alexander Sinkler - I'll soon be posting a writeup on the results of the new SNP test that tells us a lot more about the ancestors of Alexander Sinkler, the 1698 immigrant who was born in Glasgow in 1666. We now can be almost certain his ancestors spent time in Normandy, then migrated into England; and then came north into the Border region between England and Scotland. All of this is thanks to our newly confirmed SNP R1b1a2a1a1b4g, otherwise known as R-L193.  It's the latest SNP test out there and brings the results of DNA closer to the timeline of recent genealogy than any haplogroup to date. We can now be certain that the most recent common ancestor of those who are R-L193 lived between 800 and 1,200 years ago, likely in Normandy or lower England.

We've tested our 174th YDNA participant - Having a large sample base is critical to better understanding our widely dispersed family. With at least 7 lineages, some of which have only 2 members, we've got to continue to recruit new members to fill out our knowledge base.  More Info Here >>>

Are the Merovingians Haplotype G2a? - Watch for an iteresting development involving a gourd, a severed head, and a rare haplotype in Western Europe. More Info Here >>

New Subclades for S21 U106 - David Weston, group admin for the S21 U106 study group announced the discovery of two new R-U106 subclades: R-L257 and R-L46/L164.  The parent clade of R-L257 is R-U106.  Those of you who have previously tested L48- will be interested in this one.  Group participants who have previously tested L48- and were designated R-U106x are now designated as R-U106xL48. Only participants who have tested both L48- and L257- will be designated as R-U106x.

The parent of R-L45/L164 is R-L46. R-L45/L164 are at the bottom of the clade branch R-U106 > R-L48 > R-L47 > R-L46. L45 and L164 are thus far equivalent YSNPs.  A + result for either L45 or L164 will be used for the R-L45/L164 subclade designation. A - result for either L45 or L164 will be use for the R-L46x subclade designation.

L257, L45 and L164 are available for order through your individual FTDNA results page on the Advanced YSNP order menu for $29US each as of this date.

If all the above seems like gibberish - Contact us at the "Contact" link above if you're a S21 (U106) haplotype and we'll let you know how to order the SNP test.


Sinclair DNA joins the Guild of One Name Studies - Some folks who set out to study their genealogy are looking for every ancestor in their past, regardless of surname. Others, like us, attempt to find as much as possible about the direct descendants of a particular surname as far back into history as possible. This is the purpose of the group known as the Guild of One Name Studies. Their main goal is 'to promote the preservation and publication of the resultant data, and to maximize its accessibility to interested members of the public.' The Guild has a DNA Advisory Panel and a keen interest in how DNA fits into genealogy.

Change Is In the Air - At the recent Atlantic Conference, Rick Osmon presented a paper called C.O.P.S., which will change the way amateur researchers approach their work. I encourage everyone to study Rick's presentation. It will be causing me to go back into my research on this project to re-assess my approach.
Click here >>

Definite Family Connections to Ancient Bones in Ergolding, Bavaria, Germany - A novel DNA testing technique and an open mind among this group of archaeologists, led them to test these bones with Family Tree DNA, thus allowing folks all over the world to see if they're related.  I think three of our Lineages are at least distantly related to the men in these very ancient graves. Click Here >>

St. Clair Research to Help with Native Cherokee Testing - A tribe in Tennessee has contacted me to help them better understand their unusual results. They have a high percentage of markers which indicate a European and/or Fertile Crescent background. If you're following the work of the Atlantic Conference, this won't be a surprise to you.

St. Clair Research Interviewed by Coast To Coast AM Radio - As part of a wider interview with Scott Wolter, Steve was interviewed about any possible DNA proofs of Prince Henry St. Clair's visit to North America. You can find the interview at this link. Once there, search for "Steven St. Clair" using their search bar.

The Atlantic Conference 2009 - The latest research on early trans-Atlantic contact before Columbus. The conference was widely considered a success. Held on October 9, 10 and 11, right in your living room. This conference requires no plane ticket to attend - it's online.  You can "attend" any time.

New SNP for S21 U106 - The folks at FTDNA have found a new SNP (G) to look into called L48 which helps drill down into the S21 U106 group. While it does apparently separate the group between western and eastern Europe, the experts say it's too early to pin a date on the MRCA (G) of these two groups. All indications are that it's still quite old as the split seems to be in northern Europe, therefore likely before the time of the migration south for the Goths. Stay tuned for more. You'll see this new discovery reflected in the links at left in the Full Report, expecially in the "Lineages" section.

Please join the Clan Sinclair DNA Discussion Group - We feel it's time to have a group just for those in our project and those who can help us figure the DNA out. Click here to join.  This group will avoid the pitfalls of certain other groups and discuss only those topics that will further our understanding of our family history as might pertain to DNA, and that leaves a huge amount to discuss.

We have a Mystery Grouping - Members with the password can see a grouping that Includes folks from Sinclair Bottom (Virginia), Pennsylvania, Ireland and some who never left Scotland. This grouping will very soon make it possible to finally understand the branch that became the Sinclair Bottom family.

Niall of the Nine Hostages DNA in the Sinclair Family? - Below, you see FTDNA's marker set defining the descendents of Naill of the Nine Hostages, the 5th century warlord who established a dynasty of powerful Irish chieftains who controlled Ireland for six hundred years. When I saw the DYS390=25 marker, I got very curious. Members of our project can see the conparison behind the password on that link at left "Shortcut to Results." For non-members, suffice it to say, I'm confident our participants do not descend from Niall. However, we may be looking at a shared ancestor with him far back in southern Europe.


St. Clair Research Tests Our 150th Person - We continue to test folks to build out our data points within the family.

New Testing Push in England - In the link at left, "Genealogy Groups," you'll see a report on England. I've found an unusual bit of evidence there that leads me to believe this must be our next major initiative. Now that this report is done, I can focus on new recruits and will aggressively recruit new participants there.

News for I1 Participants - A Sinclair I1 Haplogroup members is matching one of Ken Nordtvedt's I1 modal haplogroups (G) This participant is 23 of 28 markers (the modal group is defined by limited alleles) which is significant given the time period and the mutation rate of these particular markers. It tells us where this I1's ancestors were during a more recent point in time and pins it to geography. Members with the password can learn more on this at the "Shortcut to Results" link at the left, near the top of the link list. Given how difficult it is to find SNPs of I1, Nordtvedt's work should be like Christmas for these guys.

Home |  Contact