Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Lindsay
Variants: Lindesay, Lindsey, Linzee, Linzey
Category: 2 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way, but currently in some countries only.
Website: www.clanlindsay.com
DNA website: www.familytreedna.com/groups/lindsey-lindsay
Contact: Mr Joseph Lindsey
The Lindsay Surname One-Name Study was registered with the Guild in 2010. This was done by the late Ron Lindsay who also instigated the Lindsay International Surname DNA Project in 2001. This was the result of two years of dialog taking place on internet mailing lists. The Internet was young. DNA methods had been developed for forensics, and those low cost methods had immediate application to genealogy. This was a straw at which to grasp in the face of as many brick walls as there were Lindsay genealogists. Ron got buy-in from 22 initial testers.
Ron's vision was to determine just how many biological Lindsay lineages were extant and to help any Lindsay investigator to determine which was his "Group", in other words, his genetic family. Through matching Y-DNA results the Groups discovered themselves. After many rounds of testing. Their number reached an asymptote of maybe two dozen Lindsay "species" (depending on how you count). Each Lindsay family acquired the surname at their own time and under their own circumstances.
We know of three Lindsay Groups with continuity of surname reaching back into the Middle Ages. DNA Group-01 traces to Walter Lindsay who affixed his signature to multiple charters of David Prince of Cumbria from 1116 to 1120. This is the oldest and largest family in the Lindsay Clan. Walter was from Lindsey in Lincolnshire, England, but from his association with the future King, David I of Scotland, Lindsay became a surname associated with Scotland. That said, we have three Lindsey Groups who are inherently Irish. We have several American Groups with brick walls in Maryland or Virginia.
We collaborate via the paper trail, attacking the brick wall from the near side. We use Y-DNA to attack the brick wall from the far side. We have hundreds of GEDCOMs. This is a large Clan. Our TNG provides a gathering place. This is a multi-generational project. We could use some help.
In 1840, Alexander William Crawford Lindsay (1812-1880), 25th Earl of Crawford and Chief of Clan Lindsay, first published his historic, 3-volume, LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Based on his extensive research, it was revealed that one Walter de Lindsay, in the earliest usage of the surname, was found in Scotland signing the charters of David, Prince of the Cumbrians (later King David I) in the years of 1116 to 1120. Lord Crawford asserted in his Lives that the Lindsays were of Norman descent, based primarily upon the given names observed to be used by the Lindsay family. In this same publication, Lord Crawford rejected the notion by the 1753 biographer/historian, Richard Rolt, and other historians, who asserted the Scottish House of Lindsay descended from the Saxon Earls of Lindsey of Lincolnshire. The Norman view was favored within the Clan but certain historians held to the former view. In 1985/1990, British historian, Beryl Platts, published her account of the origin of the Lindsays using land records coupled with heavy emphasis on heraldic devices. She concluded that Gilbert de Ghent, a Flemish knight, was the likely father of our Walter de Lindsay and thus an early progenitor of the House of Lindsay in Scotland. The current Earl of Crawford (29th) communicated directly with Ms. Platts during her study but does not necessarily agree or disagree with her conclusions. The Flemish theory was popular for 25 years. The DNA Study indicates, but not conclusively, that the Group-01 Lindsays were British rather than Continental. All of this pertains just to the main House, the descendants of Walter, which we call DNA Group-01, but they account for just 25% of the bearers of the surname worldwide, and maybe 50% in Scotland. Through Genetic Genealogy we have localized, on the European Family Tree (Genetic), the branch origins of all the Lindsay Groups-- English, Irish and Scottish. The branch-resolution is ever increasing, and genealogists of the paper trail continue to chip away at the brick wall. In time we expect to associate more of those branch origins to historical personages.
In 1840, Alexander William Crawford Lindsay (1812-1880), 25th Earl of Crawford and Chief of Clan Lindsay, first published his historic, 3-volume, LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS. Based on his extensive research, it was revealed that one Walter de Lindsay, in the earliest usage of the surname, was found in Scotland signing the charters of David, Prince of the Cumbrians (later King David I) in the years of 1116 to 1120.
Lord Crawford asserted in his Lives that the Lindsays were of Norman descent, based primarily upon the given names observed to be used by the Lindsay family. In this same publication, Lord Crawford rejected the notion by the 1753 biographer/historian, Richard Rolt, and other historians, who asserted the Scottish House of Lindsay descended from the Saxon Earls of Lindsey of Lincolnshire.
The Norman view was favored within the Clan but certain historians held to the former view.
In 1985/1990, British historian, Beryl Platts, published her account of the origin of the Lindsays using land records coupled with heavy emphasis on heraldic devices. She concluded that Gilbert de Ghent, a Flemish knight, was the likely father of our Walter de Lindsay and thus an early progenitor of the House of Lindsay in Scotland. The current Earl of Crawford (29th) communicated directly with Ms. Platts during her study but does not necessarily agree or disagree with her conclusions.
The Flemish theory was popular for 25 years.
The DNA Study indicates, but not conclusively, that the Group-01 Lindsays were British rather than Continental.
All of this pertains just to the main House, the descendants of Walter, which we call DNA Group-01, but they account for just 25% of the bearers of the surname worldwide, and maybe 50% in Scotland. Through Genetic Genealogy we have localized, on the European Family Tree (Genetic), the branch origins of all the Lindsay Groups-- English, Irish and Scottish. The branch-resolution is ever increasing, and genealogists of the paper trail continue to chip away at the brick wall. In time we expect to associate more of those branch origins to historical personages.
As stated above, Lindsay first occurred in historical documents of the early 12th Century. The Scottish House of Lindsay was prominent in the Royal Court and in Science and Literature ever since. English and Irish Lindseys are also notable in Industry, the Arts, Publishing, Politics. They are all over the diaspora, but not just confined to the English speaking world.
After 900 years of the Surname, we enjoy identifying and reuniting Lindsay families from around the world. Many of the Groups are globally dispersed. Some mighty large Groups are confined to the United States. Some bear the surname through adoption, name change, etc. We support non-Lindsays who are biologically Lindsays. We support Lindsays who learn they have a different biological surname. We help everyone find their family.
The driving force behind this effort is the strong belief that the more we know about those ancestors who preceded us, the more we know about ourselves.
Lindsey Great Britain (1881 Census) Total: 1524 Rank: 2777 Frequency: 0.005 United States (1990 Census) Total: 67,149 Rank: 411 Frequency: 0.027
The International Lindsay Surname DNA Project was initiated June 2001 to provide a tool to compliment our on-going traditional genealogical efforts.
The initial years used probabilistic methods, examining a few dozen locations on the male-only Y-chromosome where short sequences of nucleotides were known to repeat, or "stutter". The collection of the numbers of stutters at these locations constitute a family signature, or "haplotype". The number of locations was progressively increased to 111. The resolution and fidelity of the signature became such that participants could be confidently assigned to their most probable genetic family. Think of it this way. We have two dozen reference "Signatures" up on the wall. A new tester comes in. He gives us a sample. We extract a signature. We compare it to all the reference signatures. We figure out which family the new tester most likely fits into.
In 2014, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) became commercially viable. Rather than targeting 111 locations and counting repeats, NGS compares approximately 15 million nucleotides to the reference genome. There will be hundreds of thousands of discrepancies. Most of them are known. They are inherited from all past forefathers, a new discrepancy contributed every few generations. Its the discrepancies that tell which branch of the Human family tree the tester falls to. Beyond that, though, each tester is bound to have a handful of new discrepancies which have never been noted, never cataloged. They are downstream from the last documented "branch". These constitute a portfolio, a portfolio of "Private Variants".
The important facts are these: 1) each participant receives back a portfolio of discrepancies; 2) analysis of numerous portfolios identifies and orders the branching points of the paternal descendency tree. On a large scale, that is how the various anthropological lineages of Europe, Asia, etc, were discovered. On a more familial level, we can understand something of the internal branching of a family Group if the pedigree is deep enough (18th century or earlier) and if there are a plurality of portfolios for the population.
After 20 years we have a pretty good handle on the Lindsay/Lindsey/Lindesay/.... landscape world-wide. Anyone who joins the study will not be breaking new ground. They will have ample support with interpretation of results. Members of the fair sex can also participate by finding a male relative of the Surname to serve as proxy tester.
If you would like to learn more about the Lindsay DNA Project and the DNA sample collection process, please contact joseph.lindsey@one-name.org