Burnett and Ramsay of Edinburgh, Scotland and Durham, England (J‑M172B)
This paternal Burnett line embraces testers of multiple surnames: Ramsays who came from Edinburgh, possibly Glasgow and Durham, Burnetts who are found in Virginia in the 1700s, and Maddison testers, believed to be descended from the Ramsay surname. The Burnett Project has two sub-groups descending from haplogroup J‑M172: J‑M172A – Burnett of Leys, and this group, J‑M172B. Oddly, both groups include the Burnett and Ramsay surnames.
Within J‑M172A, there are descendants of the name Ramsay who we know descend from Alexander Burnett who changed his name to Ramsay. J‑M172B is comprised primarily of Ramsays but includes Burnett testers. We know from Big Y testing that the most recent common ancestor shared by the Ramsay and Burnett testers lived about 1,000 years ago. There are currently 7 Y‑DNA testers, located in the USA, Norway and New Zealand.
Major Haplogroup: J‑M172 dated 25860 BC. All descendants of this line belong to major haplogroup J‑M172.
Note: the separate paternal line of the Burnetts of Leys also traces back to this major haplogroup, but the two lines split in about 2481 BC, over 4,000 years ago.
Later haplogroups/SNPs:
J‑FTA24859 dated 1074 +/- 80 years, associated with the Burnetts
J‑FT397385 dated 1112 +/- 80 years, associated with the Ramsays
The link between the Burnetts and Ramsays in this paternal line pre-dates the genealogical period: FTDNA shows an earlier haplogroup connected to both these haplogroups: J‑FT398048, dated 998 ± 80 years.
Y‑DNA‑verified Paternal Ancestors
From the family trees of our testers, the paternal ancestors listed below are confirmed members of this paternal line. Note that the surname Madison appears to have originated from an illegitimate birth in the Ramsay line. If your Burnett/Ramsay/Madison ancestor is listed below, it means you also descend from this paternal Burnett line. Many of the birth and death years are circa/estimated. Living ancestors are not included.
| Ancestor | Birth | Death | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Burnett | 1774 | 1849, Madison, VA | Sarah Dulaney |
| Charles A Burnett | 1818, Culpepper, VA | 1893, Lafayette, MO | Susan Dougherty |
| John W Burnett | 1842, Rockingham, VA | 1925, St Louis, MO | Sarah E Helmas |
| Charles A Burnett | 1864, Monroe, MO | 1940, Monroe, MO | Mary E Gatson |
| Charles R Burnett | 1879, Franklin, AR | 1941, Cross, AR | Hallie R Biles |
| Harry E Burnett | 1887, Carroll, MO | 1942, Lawrence, MO | Dollie Patton |
| Alexander Ramsay | 1795, Edinburgh, Scotland | 1853, Jefferson, IA | Euphemia Patterson |
| Mungo Ramsay | 1825, Washington, PA | 1871, Jefferson, IA | Elizabeth McComb |
| David P Ramsay | 1850, Jefferson, IA | 1921, Muscatine, IA | Sophronia Terhune |
| Herbert T Ramsay | 1891, Taylor, IA | 1946, Los Angeles, CA | Nellie Burton |
| David B Ramsay | 1923, Muscatine, IA | 1990, San Bernardino, CA | Phyllis Martin |
| David Ramsay | Scotland | — | Kath Proctor |
| William Ramsay | 1780, Forfar, Scotland | — | Elisabeth Miller |
| James P Ramsay | 1829, Lanarkshire, Scotland | 1870, Hamilton, OH | Elizabeth Sumerville |
| Charles H Ramsay | 1867, Hamilton, OH | 1943, Hamilton, OH | Doretta Stapleton |
| Charles O Ramsay | 1897, Campbell, KY | 1959, Highland, OH | Rae Condo |
| Richard O Ramsay | 1922, Hamilton, OH | 1997, Hamilton, OH | Rose A Smith |
| Ramsay? | 1740 | — | Isabel Maddison |
| John Maddison | 1760, Northumberland | 1829, Durham, England | Barbara Fenwick |
| William Maddison | 1800, Durham, England | 1849, Durham, England | Elizabeth Hall |
| Edward Maddison | 1828, Durham, England | 1888, NSW, Australia | Mary Mason |
| William Maddison | 1857, Durham, England | 1924, New Zealand | Elizabeth Ridley |
| Edward Maddison | 1891, NSW, Australia | 1956, New Zealand | Edith I Rowling |
| Matthew Max Maddison | 1911, New Zealand | 1989, New Zealand | Christina F Rolland |