DNA marker link to Battle of Bannockburn identified

A couple of years ago I blogged about the University of Strathclyde's Bannockburn Family History Project (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/battle-of-bannockburn-family-history.html), which attempts to find DNA connections to folk living today with many of the participants at the medieval battle.

The latest annoucnement from the project was made today, concerning a connection established between a Stirlingshire based businessman and the line of King Robert III, thanks to a newly identified marker called ZZ52 specific to the lineage of his son, Sir John Stewart of Blackhall and Ardgowan. John grandfather was Walter Stewart, who particpated in the battle on the side of the Bruce.

The full story is available in the National newspaper at www.thenational.scot/news/grandfathers-royal-roots-revealed-by-advanced-dna-test.18074, with the BBC picking up on it also at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-36396531.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.