Maternal Clan/tartan links?

[MacWage]

I guess I should ask this here.
So, how far back do most clan societies like/accept members? I.E.-> could a great, great, great grandmother (all maternal) on the mothers side be "just as good" as a father's mother? Do non-paternal line members tend to get a "second class" membership, even id not so officially?
I am curoius, as like many here, I have a lot of my Scottish blood though maternal lines. I have heard MANY variations of opinion on this topic over the years and was wondering what some of the clan society folks here thought.
THIS is less relevant in actual tartan wearing, but may be an issue in some clan societies.
My MacNeil links are through my mother's father's mother Kate Neel (who married a Wilson), while the Wallace link is HER mother. Yet, I favor (in many ways, including physically) that part of my family. When I visited the town where they lived, I was asked if I was related to the Neels, even before I said who I was. BUT, because they are maternal links, would I be "blackballed" from some societies?
(Yeh, I know I'd be fine in the Wallace group, as they are pretty open to all even interested in the Wallace family.)

In hopes, this thread may help others,

[Riverkilt]

Me, I don't see any difference. But, out here in Navajo Country the Maternal Clan is the important one...

I figure if I'm descended from an ancestor of either sex then their blood/dna flows in my veins.

The Scottsmen on my maternal side were no less Scottsmen because they fathered daughters who I am descended from...perhaps by way of their sons or grandsons.

No way I'm gonna forsake all the maternal clans on my father's side either.

ALL my ancestors are important.

And, I doubt any American branch of a clan would deny you membership because of clan lineage through your mother or any female ancestors.

That's my thinking.

Ron

[beloitpiper]

I am fiercely proud of the Gordon's, but my Grandmother came from Clan Hume. They're good in my book too!

[Riverkilt]

Ah! See? Great example.

My House of Gordon line is through my father, and his father...but then through my grandfather's mother to my great great grandmother.

It just don't matter. I have 16 great great grandparents and one of them was Ellen Louise Gordon who married William Asbury Fletcher and came from Alleghany County, New York to Virginia City, Montana over the Bozeman Trail in the summer of 1866. Ellen, who went by Nellie, kept a diary and wrote many letters home. Many have been published and republished to show how life truely was back then. The lady had spunk and I'm proud to have 1/16 of her blood and dna in my body...that's about 15 pounds of Gordon courage if you're going by weight.

The Fletcher blood and the Gordon blood made that trip together. Ain't one better than the other because it flowed through a couple women before being passed on to my grandfather and my father and I.

Sorry...stepping of my soapbox now.

Ron

[Deil the Yin]

Well, I would be VERY surprised if a Clan Society put you off because of your links being "not proper." (then again there's the AMERICAN Clan Gregor Society). By and large, in my experience, these Societies are more than happy to have any new member, and I think because you do have at least some blood link and an honest interest that you would not be denied full membership. On the contrary I feel you would be warmly welcome!

[Andrew Green]

"ALL my ancestors are important."
How very native Ron, and also very respectful. It could just be me, but the few people whom I know who have strong native ties, and are fiercely proud of that tend to have a similar mindset...even if they cannot determine all of their ancestors, that air of overall respect tends to be there. It isn't common, but it's a good thing to have...the fact that you can trace most of them is also another positive thing...you don't have to dig as much as some to find the bloodlines you are searching for. I only got partially lucky in my searching in the fact that someone else did a bit before me, and I was able to find the bloodline traced back a ways... when I determined the bloodline to be correct, all I had to do was print two pages. Of course, that only covers the part of the whole. I have to still bug my mother about some of her relatvies... and of course, if I ever get the addresses, I could email my cousins for more information (as some of them did a little on that side of things... but it is a little harder to trace because some of the documents got destroyed, or lost during WWII).

As far as maternal lines go: There is precedents of men inheriting through the maternal bloodline. A couple of Gordon's had done it. One even took the Gordon name I believe, in order to preserve his maternal heritage. I think in one of the Gordon videos I have, one gentleman obtained a higher ranking position within the clan MacLeod through his mother's bloodline. So it isn't unheard of, historically, or even by modern times.

On my end of the deal, the Gordon/Muir line comes from my father, but from his mother. We're still having a hard time determining where Green comes from, since it is English, apparently Scottish (found primarily in the border country), as well as Irish. But as far as I know, we don't have Irish in us. What a conundrum eh?
Other meternal lines are Spicer, Lee, and Johnson, very little research has been done on my end on that, but I do have the names, which is a start to go by. Some of them trace back to colonial US, others to England in the same period. When you start branching out is when things start to get really hard to keep track of. Props to all of you who have managed to do this!

[neo71665]

dads side- scott and navajo--- 1/2 and 1/2

moms-irish-scott---1/2 and 1/2

I'm 1/4 irish, 1/4 navajo, 1/2 scott (2 clans)


never had a problem with any of them getting claimed (us gov only needs 1/16 to get a card to be native american nowdays) I also lucked out to having things easy traced, lol

[beowulf67]

Let's see...
My last name traces back through my father, obviously, to a sept of House of Gordon, so I claim that.
His mother's family traces back to England.

My mother's family, through her father goes back to Clan Davidson, though they were originally from Wales, then moved to Scotland. So some say they don't belong in Davidson, but they did reside in the same area for a number of years with other Davis's.
Through her mother we go back to Ireland through the Hayes line.

Also have some native American mixed in as well, but not enough to make an official claim on it.

OH yeah, and most of the USA clan groups I've talked with pretty much accept anyone as long as the check doesn't bounce.

[Rampant Lion]

I don't about most clan societies, but the Clan Grant Society of the US say the following:

"Membership in the Society is open to any person who is lineally descended from the surname "Grant", a recognized Clan Grant sept name, or anyone who is generally interested in or in sympathy with the purposes of the Clan Grant Society. An entire family is covered under one membership. A family is considered to be the parents and any children under the age of 18 years."

Seems pretty open to me.

[Frog]

So far as I know (still diggin'), father's family's from central Europe (German and Polish), mother's family's from the UK (English/Irish/Scottish); maternal grandfather linked to a sept of the Farquharson clan - interesting stuff, but slow-going - looking at the site, it didn't seem like I'd have any trouble signing up.

Frog