Bloodline question.

[jebrooks76]

Well I know a love for kilts and red hair don't make you Scottish by any means. So 2 days I have spent on ancestry.com trying to trace things back. It was difficult starting off as my dad was adopted by the 2nd husband of my grandma and was never close to his real dad.
So I started out with his real dad's( my grandfather) name and was lucky to find a relative that had basically done the work for me to an extent, i am still trying to fill in the blanks. She said about 6 generations ago lived in Ireland and 3-4 after that were Scottish and help build the Castle of Dean.
So I get on House of Tartan and am able to find the Boyd family tartan as well as it saying they were associated with the Town of Kilmarnock and we're from Southwest Scotland.
Now she went back through the male side it appears to maintain "blood". My question is this, Since my dad was legally adopted by United States rules. Can I still claim a direct bloodline to the Boyd Clan even though my last name is not legally Boyd?

I have used the Search but still couldn't find anything regarding this specific issue. I'm new to this genealogy thing.

[Tarheel]

Searches like yours, are a treasure hunt with the great feeling of belonging as the prize. That was my experience and I hope yours as well.

[jebrooks76]

That's is exactly how I felt. Like I had won the stinking lottery.

[Hexdef101]

Good job, That said Watch out for the pitfalls. Never take anything on the Internet with 100% Certainty, That said Don't ignore something just because the internet says something slightly different. Use best Judgement To decide which things are true.


As to your actual question... Claiming a specific Clans bloodline isn't like claiming benefits like say Native American Ancestry. I would say If you are, you are. Though I suggest you do like many and simply claim blood ties to all of the clans you are related to not a specific one alone.

[Downunder Kilt]

In Scottish custom your clan comes through your paternal line. If you find one in that line,stick with it.You may have maternal lines also, but you can only swear allegiance to one chief, in all honesty. It is not a matterof collecting all the clans you can and he who has the most clans wins. Cheers

[Hexdef101]

Sorry Downunder kilt, I didn't mean to imply that you could . All I really meant was to claim "Kinship" with those closest to you. Though If you are kin to the Donald/MacDonald clan your probably already kin to all the clans.