Blair of Blair

[Kerr of Kersland]

Hi

I have seen lots of talk of Blair of Blair in various Blair websites and I have located the family tree down to the last hieress but does anyone have the family trees of anyother Blairs who have descended down through second sons of Blair of Blair?

I took a DNA test and my results (on 37 markers) match the 'Blair of Blair' line and I would like to check if this line is documented or whether it is unsubstantiated.

Until now it was believed that my family(who have been Kerrs in Ireland for over 300 years) were Kerrs of Kersland (neighbouring Baron to Blair of Blair in Dalry) and I would like to confirm if we are really Blairs....or in the case of lack of documentation are the people who are testing for 'Blair of Blair' really Kerrs...Im open to discussion...unfortunately at the moment there too few actual Kerrs being tested and the sample size is small plus without the documentation of the Blair of Blair line to modern times we cant really be certain.

hopefully we can have a good open discussion here and clear up the puzzle..

thanks

Daithi

[cbsadmin]

{Posted for Bill Blair by CBS Admin}

I am aware of only one connection between the Ker or Kerr Family and the Blairs of Blair, but with your 37 DNA matches with Blair of Blair this looks like your connection to the Blair of Blair Family

John Blair of Blair, Chief of the Blair of Blair family who lived at Blair (Blair House) Dalry, Ayrshire, born c1547 and died 11 Nov. 1609 married Grisel Sempill, daughter of Robert Lord Semple III. They had 6 sons and 3 daughters. Their 2nd daughter, Margaret Blair born after 1566 married a Mr. Ker of Kersland and received a charter under the great seal to her and their son Robert Ker of the lands of Frearn (or Trearne?) in Ayrshire, dated 2 January 1594. I regret I do not have additional information on the Ker or Kerr Family descendants of this line, but further information might be found in the James Paterson reference below.

Source of this information is from the Book "The Blair Surname" Its Ancient Scottish Origins and the Genealogies of Three Blair Families by Jack Richard Blair 1999, ISBN: 0-646-36975-X. (This book is available through the Clan Blair Store, Clan Blair Society: http://www.Clanblair.org).

Identical information is found in "History of the County of Ayr" with a genealogical account of the Families of Ayrshire by James Paterson, Vol. 1 dated MDCCCXLVII in the section Families in the Parish of Dalry; entitled Blair of that Ilk.

Regarding the Blair DNA Project (http://www.blairdna.com), the connection with the Blair of Blair identity is documented by the DNA obtained by the only proven direct male lineal descendant of the Blair of Blair or Blair of that Ilk line known to me, the current Lord Dundonald, the 15th Earl of Dundonald, Chief of Clan Cochrane, of Lochnell Castle, Argyll, Scotland. The largest group in the Blair DNA study are descendants of the Blair of Blair line, but the connection through the Cochrane's is to my knowledge the only documented connection to the Blair of Blair line.

Douglas as he is known, has the surname Cochrane, because in 1603 the 4th son of John Blair of Blair, and Grisel Sempill (and brother of Margaret Blair who married Mr Kerr--see above) married the heiress of the Chief of Clan Cochrane, Elizabeth Cochrane (their only daughter, no sons), and upon marriage Alexander Blair assumed the surname and arms of Cochrane, but is biologically a Blair of Blair. In each generation this line has placed Blair just before Cochrane in recognition of their Blair of Blair ancestry. The most famous of this Cochrane line was the gallant British Admiral Lord Thomas John Blair Cochrane, the 10th Earl of Dundonald. More information on Adm. Lord Thomas Cochrane, a Blair of Blair descendant can be found in an article I wrote for the Clan Blair Newsletter, the Blair Bruidhinn, Third Quarter, August 2004. Sources for the Cochrane information can be found in the book "The Fighting Cochranes": a Scottish Clan over six hundred years of naval and military history by Alexander Cochrane, 1983, Quilter Press London; also in The book "The Blair Surname" by Jack Richard Blair of Sydney Australia, (mentioned above), and in an article I wrote which can be found on the BSGR web page, http://www.blairgenealogy.com

Please let me know if this is of help. I am Bill Blair, and my e-mail is bbblair@comcast.net.