The Library

We have members in the project who connect very far back.
We often err on the side of over-simplifying things. In the case of DNA, we assume
we're looking for ONE common ancestor; Rollo for instance. In fact, there are likely
many as I'll explain below.

Our first point of departure might well have been when
the people of Normandy took place names as their surnames.

St. Clair was a Place Name, meaning people took it from the place they lived. Some people,
the Cooper family, for instance, took their name from their trade. Many people settled in
St. Clair-sur-Lo and in St. Clair-sur-Epte. In the 11th century, surnames first began to appear.
The first use of the name in my records is 1026 by Malger-le-Jeune Compte de St. Clair, a direct
descendant of Rollo. But, others living in these places might well have taken the name St. Clair
due to the fact they lived there, even though they were of no blood relation to Malger-le-Jeune.

So, if the above paragraph is true, in the Normandy of the 11th century you might have had
many people with St..Clair as their Place Name. Some related, some not.

  St. Clair sur Lo      St. Clair sur Epte
  0  0  0  0  0  0       0  0  0  0  0  0     <- - Different bloodlines
  /l\ /l\  /l\  /l\ /l\ /l\       /l\ /l\  /l\ /l\  /l\ /l\     <- - Children, some to Scotland, some elsewhere

Each different blood line began to have children. I've never seen the family fully, and absolutely
explained during the years preceding William's invasion. Perhaps someone knows exactly how
many lines of our family there were at that time. But my guess is that many people took the name
St. Clair simply because it was where they lived.

While William 'The Seemly' St. Clair was the first of our line in Scotland, we'd be naive to
believe him the only St. Clair to arrive there from Normandy. If he was, many more of us
would have matching DNA. So, from the very beginnings of the name to our arrival in
Scotland and England could likely mean up to 9 St. Clair blood lines.

The second point of departure -

In midevil Scotland, many people took the name of whomever the current landowner
happened to be. So when William St. Clair, who was Earl of Orkney in 1455, was granted
the Earldom of Caithness, many people living on his new lands took his name. This was
customary at the time.

This fact has led to many cautions from Scottish Genealogists to those seeking to connect
to Scottish clans. Good documents research can take you part of the way to answering
this question, but DNA can certainly take you the rest of the way.
 

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