The Murray Family Tree DNA project is a huge undertaking and is managed in the USA by an Australian historian Alexandrina Murray (alexandrina.murray@gmail.com). Ross Murray and Leigh Murray (Murray Clan Society of New South Wales, Australia) have reportedly both done the tests, which have proved among other things that they are descended from the very first identifiable Murray, Archibald de Moravia (circa 1250 AD). Leigh contributed his thoughts on the project in their newsletter in November 2021:

"We all know the Murray family is a BIG family. Of course, we all believe every Murray is related. I am writing this today to let you know that we may not ALL be related. No, I am not referring to the illegitimate ways that can occur – but yes that is also possible. What I am referring to is the way our name came to be. Thankfully, like many Scottish clans, we have a very proud history, indeed, a very rich history. There is a great deal written about the Murrays and it seems the Murray name goes back at least to around 1200 AD. It was around that time, the people in the British Isles started using and passing on the surname as we do today. Before that time, the names people used could have come about by the location where they lived; it could be based on the area they fought for, controlled and farmed; it could have arisen because they were forced to join a marauding clan for their “safety”; it could be they took the name of the clan’s chieftain … the methods for naming were many and varied. Of course, we all know of famous Murrays from those eras – people recorded their names, people recorded their family trees, a history was created. A history we believed to be true. Today, we have many family trees that claim descendance from royalty, or from someone famous. Sadly, many of those family trees are wrong, just plain wrong. You see, no-one did a genetic test before being accepted as a Murray; no-one did a genetic test before being accepted as a Stuart (or is that a Stewart?). No-one did a genetic test before being accepted as a Campbell, or Cameron, or Ross, etc. The reality is every surname contains people who are not genetically related.

There is, however, some good news. Ross Murray and I have very similar genetics on our Y Chromosome. Which means that the Murray line (which can only be proven from the Y Chromosome) from John Murray (1784-1845) who died in Scotland, and his wife Isabella, nee Scott (1801-1866) who came to Australia in 1851, appears to be confirmed. With another match we have there seems to be a connection back to the John Murray who was born in 1670. You will note that I am using terms like “appears to be” and “seems to be”. That is because at the moment we really need to have some more males (those with a Y Chromosome) agree to undertake a YDNA test with “Family Tree DNA” to confirm our line and then to ascertain where the branching of our family occurs. To make it clear, YDNA is passed from Father to Son – the Y Chromosome is passed from one male to their sons (possibly with a mutation – which occurs about every 80 years). So, the haplogroup to which Ross and I belong originated between say 250 and 500 years ago. The next main branching we see on our tree occurred about 2,000 years earlier. We have nothing to tell us of any other split in our tree for that 2,500 year but we know people named Morrow, Waldron, and one or two others had the same ancestors at some point. Right now, we don’t even know when we arrived in Scotland. We also aren’t that sure who came before the John Murray born in 1669 (the one we refer to as John Murray 1) because there were four generations of John Murray before our line came to Australia. Yes, there are some theories as to who John Murray 1’s father was, but we aren’t certain. It would be great if we had more male Murrays tested, particularly those who are descended from John Murray 1 or John Murray 2 or John Murray 3 but not from John Murray 4, although 1 or 2 more John Murray 4 descendants would not hurt.

Murrays, Morrows, Waldrons and any other people whose ancestors may be from Belgium or the Netherlands and nearby countries might also help us to break up that unknown 2000 years. Other surnames of interest include: Moray, Case, Laws, Love, Shelton, Slaton, Peel, Fenner, Bolin, Bulley, Hall, and of course many others. They are the names of people whose DNA results show that they may be more closely related to us, although that relationship may be from a long time ago. We also need to have two men at least to confirm the results before the experts believe a branching did occur. Now, I know that some people have reservations about doing DNA tests but there is really nothing to be afraid of. A big positive is contributing to our knowledge of where we came from. You do not have to share your results. If for any reason you are unhappy with what you discover, you don’t have to tell anyone. Not Ross’ name, nor my name, is recorded on our individual results. But should you decide to contact your matches then it is you making your details more public, even if only slightly.

The full Y700 is expensive. As I write this, the current price in US dollars for a Y700 test is, to quote FTDNA, “only $USD449”, which is equivalent to about $AUD600 on current exchange rates. As new “testers” match with you, all of your records will automatically be updated – so that one test does keep on giving. The YDNA test is not the same as the ancestry tests offered by the other genealogical companies. What they are offering is called an autosomal test and it can only identify “recent” relatives – ie from the last few generations. FTDNA (Family Tree DNA) do offer those tests too. If you do follow that path you will no doubt find lots of unpronounceable names of people to whom you are supposedly related. You will also find a number of adopted people seeking their close family. You never know, you could be the person that can help them. 7 Another test available through FTDNA is the Mitochondrial DNA test which follows your mother’s line – however it is far more difficult to find close relatives with that test. Your group, identified through the mitochondrial DNA test, could be 20,000 years old. The Mitochondrial test can be done by men and women, and FTDNA are encouraging more people to undertake the Full Sequence Test so they can create a tree similar to the YDNA tree – with a hierarchy, branches, etc. If you do the YDNA test you do not need to do the autosomal test (called “Family Finder”) or the mitochondrial test unless you wish to do so. At this time, only FTDNA do the Y700 test, and FTDNA are where the mitochondrial tests need to be done to grow the mitochondrial DNA tree. The FTDNA test requires only a cheek swab which you do yourself at home. It is easy and simple, but it does take a long time for your sample to get back to the USA for testing. Unfortunately, the actual testing too can take some months – possibly 3 to 4 months. With all of that said, if you are interested in confirming your part in the Murray family, please seriously consider undertaking, or asking, kindly of course, a male member of your family, or some of the other families mentioned, to do the YDNA test. Ross and I would appreciate more people being tested and it will help to fill in OUR FAMILY’S STORY. You can wait for the sales - that isn’t an issue - but if you can join us, or encourage others from the Edinburgh area or Europe to join us in this journey, it will be greatly welcomed". Leigh Murray.