About us
It is estimated that in the 17th century there were 800-30,000 Scottish families living in Poland.
Many of them shaped the history of Poland giving birth to politicians, academics, poets or military leaders.
Few of their modern-day Polish descendants are aware of their Scottish roots. Even fewer Scots know about their long-lost Polish cousins.
Let's rediscover the history of Polish Scots together.
If you belong to any of the following groups and have taken a DNA test you can join the genetic part of the Scottish-Polish Project hosted by Family Tree DNA.
If you belong to any of the following groups and have taken a DNA test you can join the genetic part of the Scottish-Polish Project hosted by Family Tree DNA.
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The project is open not only to Poles of Scottish descent but also to all Scots and their descendants worldwide. Any male whose direct paternal line (i.e. father, father’s father, father’s father’s father…) or any person whose direct maternal line (i.e. mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother’s mother…) originates from Scotland can join the project. This will help in identifying or confirming the original surname of the Polish descendants of the Scottish settlers and placing them on the correct branch of the tree pre-migration. Although in some cases the Scottish surname can be easily deduced (e.g. Czochron – Cochrane), many families adopted new surnames that bear very little, if any, resemblance to their forefathers’ surname.
For patrilineal descent: Y-DNA covering at least 37 STRs, although full Y chromosome sequencing is ideal
For matrilineal descent: Full mitochondrial sequencing
Any male who is Polish (or of Polish descent) and has either proved genealogical patrilineal descent from a Scotsman who settled in Poland between the 16th and 19th century or who bears a surname listed in the table of Polish surnames of Scottish origin. Bear in mind that in some cases similar sounding surnames may have been adopted independently so without genetic or genealogical verification it may not be possible to determine whether a person has indeed Scottish ancestry.
Any person who is Polish (or of Polish descent) and has either proved genealogical matrilineal descent from a Scotswoman who settled in Poland between the 16th and 19th century or whose most distant known matrilineal ancestress bears a surname listed in the table of Polish surnames of Scottish origin.
For patrilineal descent: Y-DNA covering at least 37 STRs, full Y chromosome sequencing is ideal
For matrilineal descent: Full mitochondrial sequencing
Any male of Polish descent who after taking a Y-DNA finds out that he matches Scottish people sufficiently close for the relationship to be around or slightly beyond the genealogical timeframe (time estimates of specific clades may vary but common ancestry earlier than the 5th century CE in general lies outside the definition of genealogical timeframe for the scope of this project). If you are not sure whether your DNA match qualifies, you can ask directly via the contact form.
For patrilineal descent: Y-DNA covering at least 37 STRs, full Y chromosome sequencing is ideal
If you have a fully Scottish ancestor living in Poland within the last 9 generations (up to the generation of your 7th great-grandparents) it is more likely than not (~63% chance) that you have inherited some autosomal DNA from them. Even if the ancestor is more distant you might have still inherited their DNA - but confirming this may be impossible in some cases, and in other cases require extensive research and testing multiple lineages descending from that ancestor. If your descent is neither patrilineal nor matrilineal but mixed but you have tested your autosomal DNA – you can join as a group D member as long as you are able to specify the exact kinship (line of descent) when applying (ideally including an ancestry chart on all sides, not just your Scottish side).
Most autosomal DNA tests are suitable.