Lynn Teague
June 2008
Many researchers have studied the Duke families of Virginia
and Maryland. Evelyn Duke Brandenberger (often referred to in my notes as EDB)
was the most prominent among them. We owe a great debt to all of the early
students of these families.
However, the growth of the internet now provides fast access
to information acquired by others as well as primary documentation that has
been scanned and made available through this most accessible of media. A lively
network of Duke family researchers has developed through the internet, and has
made considerable progress in sorting out the various families that have
carried the name Duke and its variants.
Another major source of change in genealogy has been the
growth of DNA studies. A very active Duke surname study through Family Tree DNA
has led to many surprising breakthroughs in Duke research, as well as to new
questions that remain unresolved. The webpages reporting these DNA studies are
found at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dukedna/dukedna.htm
The notes on these pages represent personal research into the Duke families of Virginia and Maryland. This work largely predates the impact of the yDNA studies that have created a revolution in our understanding of the Duke families, but the documentary evidence remains an indispensable partner in understanding our history.
These individual files address groups of Duke families in Virginia and Maryland.