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my family are the current owners of Smithy Cottage which was bought from a family called Duncan in the 1960s. Is this relevant?  If you think so I will look at the deeds

Yes, I'd like to know the particulars of the previous Duncan owners of Smithy Cottage, if you still have it.  Since my last post we have done full genome testing, and so did the Duncans.  We Martins and Duncan's are definitely closely related, and also both closely related to McLeans genetically. Big Y tests (full genome) at Family Tree DNA were taken by all at cost of about $500 US each. However, the genealogy records only go back to early 1700s. There's also some McDonalds and Dugger's at same level of closeness.

We also know that all the above have distant male cousins in the Drummonds whose daughter married Robert III of Scotland. Our common paternal connection to the Drummonds is Y Haplogroup R1b-L193, a single male likely born between 300-700 AD,  greater UK Isles.  The L193 man descends from R1b-L21 man whom we suspect could have been born in the greater UK Isles around 2300-2800 BC. The L21 Haplogroup (SNP) are strongly suspected as the Britons of old with highest current day % concentrations in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales respectively.

Suspected L193/L21 cousins can do single Haplogroup SNP testing for as low as $20 US, or an array of 150 SNPs for around $99 US. Note that FTDNA (above) requires a minimum 12 marker STR entry test -- before the SNP Haplogroup tests can be taken -- for about $60 US. However, since STR panel tests can often predict which Haplogroup (SNP) you belong ( from A -T inclusive) it's best to test a minimum of 67 STR markers (costs about $268 US) as this will save money in the long run.

To summarize, the  Haplogroup (SNP) foundation has been laid down by testees over last few years to greatly reduce costs for newcomers who want to trace their paternal ancestors via Y-DNA testing (the most efficient testing route) -- especially for greater UK Isles men and their male descendants throughout the world.

 Bones of three L21 men, radiocarbon aged to about 1500-2200 BC, are commonly referred to as Rathlin1-3 men, as their bones were found in one spot on Rathlin Island between Northern Ireland and the Kintyre peninsula of Scotland.

Hi Sue:  Thanks for your reply.  If its not much trouble, I'd like very much to know who lived there as far back as the records take you.  I'm not sure how common the Duncan surname is, but our paternal Martins have Y-DNA tested very close to some Duncans in the USA who have not been able to make a genealogical connection back to Scotland (they appeared there in the early 1700's).  Any information you can share will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.  How would a person determine who lived there from the beginning? When was it built?  Would there be any access to those records online that I could research? Or would there be some better method?

Best,
Daryl
BC, Canada