About us
The Duke surname DNA study has identified several significant family groups bearing the surname "Duke" (and similar variants) through distinctive Y-DNA patterns. A history of the group study, including some individuals who are not represented in the FamilyTreeDNA database, is available here:
One of our families is believed to derive its name from the leDuc family who traveled to England with William the Conqueror from Rouen. That family was established in England by Roger Duke, Sheriff of London in 1190 and is recorded in Burke's from that point forward to more recent ancestors in England. Roger Duke had several cousins and/or brothers who were members of the Knights Templar. The origins of the other families are not yet known, which is part of what is making our research so fascinating. At this point, we are particularly interested in members of the Duke family in Otterton, Devonshire; Lake, Wiltshire; and Suffolk England and their descendants, as well as American members of the Duke family.
There is also a large group of descendants from Thomas Duke and his son Col. Henry Duke from Henrico Co., Virginia. Recent Big Y testing has recently traced some of them down to haplogroup R-FT47001 or even R-FTA4515 (ca. 1737).
Another large group includes the descendants of John Duke from Isle of Wight, Virginia in 1640. He had at least three grandsons with descendants who fall into haplogroup I-BY62571 (ca. 1659), and a few testers have revealed more recent branches with Big Y testing, but there are many in that group who have not yet been able to determine how they connect back to the patriarch.
The Big Y test is a game-changer for paternal DNA testing, and we hope that more testers will join us soon and help answer more questions about our ancestors.
For more information, please see: