by Sandy Teller
The Hamiltons in early Scottish history formed a lowland clan with a geographic distribution mostly in Ayreshire, Lanarkshire, and the Lothians. I looked into the history of Clan Hamilton because my family is from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, and at last count my tree contains 21 Hamiltons. Elspeth Hamilton (b. about 1691) is my 7x grandmother.
Walter fitz Gilbert of Cadzow is the first historically confirmed progenitor of the House of Hamilton. He died circa 1346.
"The family is descended from Walter fitz Gilbert of Cadzow, an Anglo-Norman comrade of Robert the Bruce, and rose in power to be the leading noble family in Scotland, second only to the royal House of Stewart, to whom they were closely related. Members of the family have held a number of titles in the peerages of both Scotland and Great Britain, the principal title being Duke of Hamilton, the Duke himself being the senior representative of the family." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Hamilton)
Clan Hamilton participates in DNA testing. In the Hamilton clan, it's a
big deal to be descended from Walter fitz Gilbert. If you use the standard 20 years per generation, the current descendants of the progenitor are perhaps the 34th generation. In any case, the line of descent below
from Generation I through Generation IV shows only the firstborn sons in order to keep the descent easy to understand. In case you didn't know, fitz means 'son of' in Anglo-Norman ancestry.
Generation I
Walter fitz Gilbert Hamilton, 1st of Cadzow died before 1346.
Generation II
David fitz Walter fitz Gilbert Hamilton, 2nd of Cadzow died circa 1374 /1378.
Generation III
Sir David Hamilton, 3rd of Cadzow died before 14 May 1392.
Generation IV
Sir John Hamilton, 4th of Cadzow died before 1410 - Married Jacoba (Janet) Douglas.
Generation V (all children shown)
1 Sir James Hamilton, 5th of Cadzow died before May 1441
2 David Hamilton
3 Catherine Hamilton
4 Walter Hamilton mentioned 1441
Here's the Interesting Part
Jacoba (Janet) Douglas, daughter of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith, married Sir John Hamilton on November 1, 1388. (see Generation IV above) This was probably a very prestigious union for the Hamiltons because Jacoba's father, Sir James Douglas, was married to Egidia Stewart, a half sister of King Robert II. The Stewart and Douglas families were extremely prominent in that time and place.
Jacoba gave birth to 3 males and 1 female. The DNA testing of descendants of Sir John and Jacoba shows that Sir John Hamilton (4th of Cadzow) is NOT the father of Sir James (5th of Cadzow) and therefore, descendants of Sir James are not Hamiltons.
This is called, in polite society, 'a non-paternal event'. The best guess based on DNA testing is that the father of Sir James Hamilton is actually a Frame.
"...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 [5th of Cadzow] has not been proven; it is just a current working hypothesis."
All those Hamiltons who thought they were descended Walter fitz Gilbert through Sir. James Hamilton suffered quite a disappointment after DNA testing.
Jacoba's secret was safe for several centuries until modern science
revealed it. And the 5th Earl of Cadzow should have been David
Hamilton, not James!
One More Hamilton Tidbit
"Another Hamilton line thought to be derived from Walter Fitzgilbert is the line leading to Alexander Hamilton (the first Secretary of the Treasury and one of the founding fathers of the US)".
Long story short here: the DNA of his descendants does not match the other Haplogroup I1 line.
Therefore, "There is some doubt whether Alexander Hamilton is biologically really a Hamilton...."
Alexander's mother was living with a James Hamilton c.1750 in the West Indies when Alexander was born. It has been suggested that Alexander's father was a Stevens, but the Stevens line from BWI may not yet have been tested. "Thus, at this time we cannot come to any definite conclusions whether Alexander Hamilton's father was, or was not, a Hamilton."
Note: all direct quotes above not otherwise attributed are from
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/a/gah4/HamDNA/Results.html which is the official "HAMILTON SURNAME DNA RESULTS".
