Janet Douglas, of Dalkeith

JACOBA DOUGLAS

Jacobum de Douglas (1388) Jacobe de Douglas (1389 x 1390) Jacobe de Douglas (1390) Jacobe filie mee [Jacobus de Douglas dominus de Dalketh] (1392)

Evidence from the National Records of Scotland

1 November 1388: Marriage contract of Sir John Hamilton, lord of Cadyow, and Jacoba Douglas, daughter of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith. National Records of Scotland, Papers of the Earls of Morton, reference GD150/55

Note: The contract of marriage between Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith and Sir John Hamilton of Cadzow is printed in full in volume one of the Morton Registrum. See below.

Evidence from the Register of the Honor of Morton

                   1

1 November 1388: Marriage Contract of Sir John Hamilton, lord of Cadzow, and Jacobam de Douglas, second daughter of James de Douglas, lord of Dalkeith. Morton Registrum I: pp. xxxviii-xl

                   2

1389 x 1390: Charter issued by Robert III, King of Scots, made in favour of John Hamilton of Cadzow and his wife Jacoba Douglas: "Johi (de hamiltoue de Cadyhow militi) t Jacobe de Douglas filie dilecti fris nri Jacobi de Douglas de Dalketh fponfe fue." Morton Registrum II: pp. 162-3

                   3

19 December 1392: The Last Will and Testament of Sir James Douglas. Among the bequests was a gold bracelet valued at forty merks which he left to his daughter Jacoba in respect of the money promised but still owed to her husband as part of the marriage contract: "Item do lego Jacobe filie mee meum cerclet de auro in precio quadraginta marcarum in plenam folucionem illius fumme pecunie marito ipfius Jacobe per me debito pro maritagio ejufdem." Morton Registrum: 172

Printed Evidence

1. Registrum Honoris de Morton; A Series of Ancient Charters of the Earldom of Morton, with other Original Papers. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. - Original Papers. (Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, MDCCCLIII), 202 pp. including indices
2. Registrum Honoris de Morton; A Series of Ancient Charters of the Earldom of Morton, with other Original Papers. In Two Volumes. Vol. II. - Ancient Charters. (Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, MDCCCLIII), 354 pp. including index

Genealogy

1. The Scots Peerage III: 349
2. The Scots Peerage IV: p. 346

Biographical Summary by Darryl Lundy's Peerage

Janet Douglas. She was the daughter of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith and Agnes Dunbar. Janet Douglas used the stage-name of Jacoba. A contract for the marriage of Janet Douglas and Sir John Hamilton, 4th of Cadzow was signed on 15 August 1381. She and Sir William Douglas of Drumlanrig obtained a marriage license on 12 June 1410. Children of Janet Douglas and Sir John Hamilton, 4th of Cadzow. (1} Sir James Hamilton, 5th of Cadzow+ d. b May 1441 (2) Elizabeth Hamilton. Darryl Lundy's Peerage

Biographical Summary for John Hamilton

John Hamilton married Janet or Jacoba Douglas, daughter of Sir James Douglas, 1st Lord Dalkeith, prior to 1388. It was thought that he had three sons by her:

• 1. James Hamilton of Cadzow
• 2. David Hamilton of Dalserf
• 3. Walter Hamilton of Raploch

However DNA testing of descendants of James and Walter in the Hamilton Surname DNA Project show that these two did not have the same father. The DNA project shows that the descendants of Walter and his uncle John Hamilton of Fingalton are related, which suggests that James's biological father was not from the same family.[1]

References

• 1. ^ "Hamilton surname DNA results". Hamilton Surname DNA Project. Last updated November 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  • http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/g/a/gah4/HamDNA/Results.html

HAMILTON SURNAME DNA RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/g/a/gah4/HamDNA/Results.html

It is of some interest that the mother of James1 was Jacoba (Janet) Douglas (probably born about 1372), daughter of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith and his first wife Agnes Dunbar. Agnes apparently died about 1378. By the time of Jacoba's marriage on 1 November 1388 to Sir John Hamilton, 4th of Cadzow, Sir James Douglas was married to Egidia Stewart, a half sister of King Robert II. Since the Douglas, Dunbar (Agnes was a sister of the Earl of March) and Stewart families were so prominent in that era in Scotland, the marriage of Jacoba to Sir John Hamilton of Cadzow undoubtedly brought prestige to the Hamilton family and ultimately led to future generations of the family playing such a prominent role in Scottish society. It may be that Jacoba knew her first born son was not fathered by her husband so rather than naming him after the Hamiltons she named him after her father. James as a first name was not used by any male line descendants of Walter Fitzgilbert de Hamilton up to that time but in subsequent generations James was used for all first born sons up to the first Duke of Hamilton.

Who was the father of James1? That is not known but one can speculate. If he or other relatives left male line descendants then they should show up with the Group B profile but with a different surname. The Group B DNA profile has unusual STR values at some sites, so unusual in fact that the presence of a combination of these values for a known haplogroup I1 individual virtually ensures that the person must be closely related to the Group B Hamiltons, regardless of surname. These unusual STR values are: 7 at DYS459a, 18 at YCAIIa, and 12 at DYS640. There are individuals with 5 other surnames known to have this Group B profile and who do not have a known connection to a Hamilton; they are A-214 (surname Arthurs), F-204 (surname Frame), F-313 (surname Filby), M-183 (surname Morrison) and B-324 (surname Baker). Of these, a Frame would seem to be the most likely father for James1. There are now three Frames (Frame Group B) known to have the Hamilton Group B profile. Also, the possible close connection of the Hamiltons and the Frames is accentuated by the fact that most of those with the Frame surname (Frame Group A) have a DNA profile very similar to the Group C Hamiltons. Furthermore, the Frames like the Hamiltons, Stewarts and Douglases have had a presence in Lanarkshire and other counties of Lowland Scotland for several centuries. It should be emphasized that a Frame as the father of James1 has not been proven; it is just a current working hypothesis.

The foregoing analysis suggests that all Hamilton participants in Group B are male line descendants of just one person, namely James1. This is consistent with the limited dispersion of marker values observed for those in Group B; the dispersion is about what would be expected for a 600 year (or about 20 generation) time period. The dispersion of marker values in Group A is greater indicating that the common ancestor for all those in Group A lived in an earlier time period. Also, the fact that there are considerably more participants in Group A than in Group B implies that the Group A line was initiated earlier. It is likely that Walter Fitzgilbert himself is the ancestor for most Hamiltons in Group A but the results would be consistent with some in Group A being derived from earlier male ancestors or male cousins of Walter Fitzgilbert.

Links

• http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getper...
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p2483.htm#i24828
• https://histfam.familysearch.org//getperson.php?personID=I999&tree=...
• [The Peerage] http://www.thepeerage.com/p2483.htm#i24827
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Douglas-588
• Balfour Paul, J. (1909). The Scots Peerage: Founded on Wood's ed. of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland; Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom (Vol. IV, p. 346). Edinburgh: D. Douglas. <Archive.Org>
• http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p146.htm#i...
• Wikitree - <“Hamilton DNA notes”>