About the Dunbar family
The family of Dunbar boasts probably one of the longest unbroken British documented male line ancestries, descending from Crinan the Thane, born around the late 10th century. He has been supposed by many to be one and the same as Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, father of King Duncan, made famous through Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
The general view of scholarship is now that they were different individuals, but the fact remains that Crinan the Thane was born around the late 10th century and leaves male line descendants to this day, a fact that is supported by both documentary and DNA evidence. Genetically the Dunbar family is part of the most commonly found male genetic group in Western Europe, R1b.
Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, who is named in the Declaration of Arbroath, left no male line descendants, but three baronetcies still exist, held by descendants of his brother Alexander. Holders of such inherited titles often benefit from documentary evidence of their descent. Two of the baronets have taken Y-chromosome DNA tests and research shows that SNP FT29439 is carried by descendants of the cadet line founded by David Dunbar of Durris (b ca1460).
Since it is not currently known in which generation this SNP was formed, some of his descendants may not carry the SNP. There are a number of other more recent SNPs which have been identified, two of which are indicated on the accompanying chart. Many non-documented descendants of Alexander Dunbar have been identified in the UK and North America, including Martin Dunbar, a consultant clinical psychologist from Glasgow.