Re: Tartan Question

[EagleJCS]

It's enough for me and it's important to realize that this is my own perspective and I'm comfortable with it, but as my expert geneologist and historian friend said, "Bill, they didn't keep records of peasants and sadly, you qualify, but if you think with that history you're not a Sinclair, you're in la-la land," so I've thrown my lot in with the clan, consider myself a member, wear the tartan, and have been welcomed by all as a long-lost cousin... of indeterminate but never disputed lineage.

So relax. It's not as big a thing as some folks (and admittedly some clans and some clan chiefs) like to make it. In this day and age, anyone who honestly thinks they are utterly unrelated to any other given person is well deluded and self-deluded at that.

Enjoy and live a happy life with your own chosen delusions as I do.

That goes along with what I've been told. If you have the name (or a variant), you're a clansman, however long ago your ancestors departed the environs of Scotland. I'm fortunate (maybe - unrelated story there) enough to have the name of the clan as my family name (Scott), which makes clan membership somewhat easier to figure out.

However, as I've mentioned in other threads (one just recently), I've been told there are three lines of Scotts - Irish, English, and of course, Scottish - and none of the three are related. There are also Scotts that resided up around Inverness (specifically Elgin) that were not part of the Borders clan. Despite all that, our chief welcomes one and all with the name (or one of the septs/related families) who desire membership in the extended clan.

[Pat Stephens]

That goes along with what I've been told. If you have the name (or a variant), you're a clansman, however long ago your ancestors departed the environs of Scotland. I'm fortunate (maybe - unrelated story there) enough to have the name of the clan as my family name (Scott), which makes clan membership somewhat easier to figure out.

However, as I've mentioned in other threads (one just recently), I've been told there are three lines of Scotts - Irish, English, and of course, Scottish - and none of the three are related. There are also Scotts that resided up around Inverness (specifically Elgin) that were not part of the Borders clan. Despite all that, our chief welcomes one and all with the name (or one of the septs/related families) who desire membership in the extended clan.

Nice! Based on what I have researched, perhaps it is more towards my family being Irish-Scot (or is it Scots-Irish; Ulster Scot ). As my possible Northern Ireland DNA might be quite old via Geno 2.0, perhaps the Scottish lineage married in when they moved over towards the Ulster region (of which even Highland Scots were known to move to Ulster). Yet I think I will elevate this towards a professional genealogist as my family and I are still wondering.

[EagleJCS]

My grandfather used to laugh when he said we were Scots-Irish (or maybe that was "Scott"s-Irish). I used to think he was trying to make a joke (a pun based on our family name and the fact that his mother was originally from Ireland - County Antrim). Looking back 30+ years later, I'm not so sure. Maybe he was being serious and just laughed off any further inquiries to avoid embarrassment. (I have since found out why he obscured some things and didn't encourage my father and my aunt to ask a lot of questions about their lineage.)

Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to be able to hire anyone to untangle the web my cousin hit when he was doing research on the Scott line. There are few surviving records for the Clinch River valley of SW Virginia from the mid to late 1700's that indicate place of origin of the settlers, their ancestry, nor even if they were related to one another. (There are at least three Scott families I'm aware of from the records available online, but there's no readily apparent relationship between them, nor from whence they came).

Best of luck unraveling your threads, Pat!