Burnett Y-DNA Genealogy Projects

Linking Our Family Trees Back to Our Ancient Burnett Lines
For many years, our family trees relied solely on hours of tedious research online and in archives. Many brick walls were permanent, with most researchers stuck in the 1700’s.  A relatively new DNA test, called the Y-DNA test, has broken these barriers wide open.  While historical records will always be required, this new test can instantly identify your ancient Burnett family line.
In this month’s “Banner”, Shaun Burnett of New Zealand shares his recent success story. Shaun had always thought that his Burnett line descended from the family “Burnett of Barns”.  He and other testers had traced their lines through historical records to Alexander Burnett b. 1729 in Ettrick, Selkirkshire, Scotland, but no records could be found to link this man to the Burnett of Barns line.
A few weeks ago, he connected with a tester with whom his results matched, proving they shared a common male Burnett ancestor. This tester had proved his line all the way back to John Burnet b. 1390 in Burnetland, Peeblesshire, Scotland.  Since this tester matched Shaun and the others in his group, it proved that the entire group descends from Burnet of Barns!
This is an enormous success for the Burnett Project that we hope to replicate across other groups. From the test results, it appears that there were between 5 and 10 separate Burnett lines.  If our project can find testers who can prove their lines, using historical records, back to the original Burnett lines, we will not only all have the benefit of knowing which clan we descend from, but we will also identify which clans were part of the original Burnet of Leys group and which have other origins.
The Burnett’s of Leys are the biggest Burnett family in Scotland today and most Burnett’s of Scottish descent will be from various lines originating from the Burnett’s of Leys.  A number of these lines became significant families in their own right, holding their own Burnett coat of arms and official titles and offices.  Much of their history has been carefully recorded in the books available on the House of Burnett website, but now far removed in various nations around the globe many of us are asking, from which line do we belong?  With Y-DNA testing we will one day learn the answers.
Shaun’s story is a very exciting achievement for the project. We hope to identify more testers in Scotland that have proven pedigrees back to these ancient Burnett families.  Testers must be male and must be fathered by a Burnett who is of a pure male Burnett pedigree.  The Y-Chromosome is passed only from father to son, to son, and so on.
If you have suggestions on how we can find these testers, or would like to participate in the Burnett Project, please contact terrybarwin@gmail.com. Terry is a volunteer administrator in the Burnett YDNA Project.
 
The Burnett’s of Barns Y-DNA News
Every so often something comes along in your life and boom!  It changes everything. For me this happened not on the scale of solving world peace or winning the lottery but as a recent DNA revelation in the quiet backwater of my life.  Like many of you, my surname is Burnett, a proud and honourable name, but for me it’s always been of an unknown origin. When I say ‘unknown’ I mean, from which Scottish Burnett pedigree did my ancestors originate: Leys, Leys of Craigmyle, or Burnett’s of Barns, or who?  For many years I’ve known my great grandfathers spent almost two centuries in the Ettrick valley on the Scottish Borders, but now I’m far removed in New Zealand where I’ve struggled to find any hint of their earlier origins.
As a first port of call some family members travelled to Crathes castle near Aberdeen, Scotland, the ancient home and famous gardens of the Burnett’s of Leys, and like all Burnett’s they were well received but ultimately came away with the message “Sorry, we can’t place you.”  Our story just didn’t fit the Leys family tree.