Hi everyone!

I've been researching my family tree. The more present days we are named Dagless - all from Norfolk, the further back I go, the name mutates to Dagles, Dagley, Daglis, Daglos, Duglasse and probably many other spelling variants, this drives me crazy!!

The thing is I have gone back as far as 1566 in Potter Heigham Norfolk, and his father is named as Willm, Willm has no birth entry, no marriage, there is nothing on him at all, he is just named on his son's birth entry in 1566.

My Mum is adamant we are descendants from The Black Douglas's.
The thing is shouldn't I have found one of our ancestors in Scotland by now at 1566?

I'm looking at other peoples trees and none of my ancestors seem to fit with The Black Douglas's.

Does anyone know if any of the Douglas clan moved and settled in Norfolk, England, and from which clan, Black or Red?

Thanks in advance.

I do not have an answer to your question, Stella, but I do have an interesting connection that does not quite make sense to me.

One of our 'gateway' ancestors is Wiliam Douglas, b1610, who married Anne Mattie or Mattle. She was born in Ringstead, Northamptonshire. His place of birth and parentage is uncertain.

It is suggested by some that their daughter married Sir Thomas Kinne, or Kinney, of King's Lynn. It is suggested that her name was Ann, but Ann, daughter of William b1610 appears to have emigrated with her family to America.

Might there have been another daughter? Or is this a descendant of 'your William, born in Douglas Castle?

Thankyou for your reply.
I think my William Douglas shall remain a mystery! I think my Douglas's are too complicated to trace.
Especially with all the surname variants within the same branches of the family tree.
I wanted to go as far back as I could, so the future generations had access to the information.
I'm hoping that I find more information and piece together where our Douglas side was from.