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1760-1850 U.K. John Bellenden Gawler/John Bellenden Ker/John Ker/John Kerr - how many men?

1760-1850 U.K. John Bellenden Gawler/John Bellenden Ker/John Ker/John Kerr - how many men?

Posted: 6 Mar 2014 8:35PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 14 Mar 2014 3:37AM GMT
Surnames: Ker, Kerr
I would love to know if these men were separate personalities, if they were related by blood, or if any of them lived double lives, with both legitimate and illegitimate families.

John Bellenden Gawler was of the family of the Duke of Roxburgh through his mother Caroline.
He was given the right to change his name to Ker Bellenden, but usually signed as Bellenden Ker.
Due to the interest the Duke took in him, a rumour persists that he was the natural son of the Duke with an Austrian lady. This Ker claimed to be the rightful inheritor of the Duke's title, but this was disallowed by the House of Lords. He was an author and writer, and botanist.

During this same period, there lived with his author wife Ann, another by the name of John Ker, who also published within a book by his wife that he was a son of the Duke and had been promised an inheritance. Which was denied him. He was thought to be a writer and publisher.

Thirdly, there is John Kerr, my gr gr grandfather, gentleman and writer, according to the only information I have on him. However, I have found a tenuous link with John Bellenden Gawler/Bellenden Ker as well, through john Kerr's daughter Frances, my gr. Grandmother.

Are there any descendants out there, through a male line, who might be willing to consider a DNA
test to try to sort this out?
I understand there are Courtenays, Petersons and Uhrs who might be connected through females, as I am through Frances. The lines might be both legitimate or illegitimate, of course.

Can anyone throw light on this mystery for me? My family name through Frances is Young.
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