We’re ringing in the New Year of 2026 with a brand new Guthrie Family Group. One that has been 20 years in the making. A descendant of Robert Guthrie and Catherine Broomfield of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and St. Louis, Missouri, USA, sent in his YDNA 37 marker test in 2015. No matches were found to any established genetic group, so it was placed in an Ungrouped Family Status where it has remained until now..

Finally, another Guthrie decided to answer his niece’s request for a YDNA test in order to search for connections for their own ancestral line, the descendants of Hugh Guthrie, a coach proprietor, and Catharine McGregor, of Edinburgh, Scotland and Ontario, Canada. The test resulted in a 36/37 match considered to be “Tightly Related” to our first participant.

There are several reasons any direct paternal line can be isolated from a match to any of the major Guthrie Family Groups. Non-paternal events, adoptions, integration of stepsons into the family, and feudal Scottish laws are all potential causes. Sometimes the family lines may be so old that they coincide with the development of family names. For example, people known as “of Guthrie” (the hamlet/village/location) took it on as a surname. This particular Guthrie group is simply underrepresented at this point. More clues are needed to determine if one causal event may be at play.

We’ve done some digging into the ancestral lines of both branches extending them back even further, but not quite discovering or confirming the identity of their Most Recent Common Ancestor.

The newly established group has been added to the project’s Y-DNA Results Overview Chart.

Guthrie Family Group 19
Haplogroup: R1b – RM269
Branch A: (Aberdeenshire) Descendants of Donald Guthrie (b. bef.1762 – d.abt.1830) and Mary Matthew
Branch B: (Inverness-shire) Descendants of Donald Guthrie (b. bef.1780 – d.1811-1816) and Grace Clark

It is no coincidence that the earliest known ancestors for both branches bear the same name. Donald is a key name for both families and may be a clue for earlier generations.

The Guthrie Genealogy site has added the home and branch pages for Guthrie Family Group 19. Follow the links above to review the early notes. Adding current research on the branch descendants is a Work-in-Progress.

PENDING BIG-Y RESULTS

Guthrie Family Group 1
A descendant of GFG1A – Branch B – The Middlesex Guthries has upgraded to Big-Y.
This will be the first Big-Y for this branch.
Goal: Determine a more specific time period for the Most Recent Common Ancestor compared to the Craigie line.

11 Jan 2026 ETA: A second GFG1A participant from the Middlesex Guthrie line has upgraded his kit to the Big-Y level. The important factor for his test is that he is a descendant of Garritt Guthrie. The participant above descends from the Middlesex line via his brother Henry Guthrie
Goal: Since the known MRCA for Garritt and Henry’s descendants is John Guthrie Jr (m. Mary Shay) their tests should give us some results that verify if the Big-Y timeline projections are in the correct period, plus or minus a certain number of years. We can apply that to the rest of the projections for the group’s current testers, including the Craigie line and the Amherst VA line.

Guthrie Family Group 2
A descendant of GFG2A – Branch K – Robert Guttery 1752SC-1799GA / Elizabeth MNU.
This is the first Big-Y test for this branch of the family.
Goal: Determine whether the test indicates likely descent from one of the northern branches of the family group or if the projected MRCA is more distant.

Guthrie Family Group 11A
A descendant of John Franklin Guthrie 1802TN-1858TX and Mary Swoap has upgraded to Big-Y.
There is one other GFG11 participant with a Big-Y.
This group’s most common surname match is Ballew/Ballou and variations.
Goals: Determine estimated time to the MRCA between the two branches. Assess the estimated time the the MRCA to men of the Ballew/Ballou surname.

GUTHRIE GENEALOGY SITE UPDATES

Guthrie Family Group 5 – Expanded pages are finally complete.

Guthrie Family Group 18 – Partially added. Still a Work-in-Progress. Basic research completed.

Guthrie Family Group 19 – New group added. Group’s home page and branch pages added. Research in progress.

The Guthrie Name Study at Wikitree – I assumed the coordinator role for the study in order to add basic data for several major historical Guthrie lineages.

What are your Genealogy Goals for the New Year?