Help with Tartan Ferret Please?

**macwilkin** · 5th January 08, 10:19 AM

Moffat is also a Borders surname, and was a Border family. It's only been in recent times that the Lord Lyon recognised a Chief of the Moffats (Francis Moffat, if I remember right).

T.

**Bryan** · 5th January 08, 03:14 PM

Isn't Warthen a German name?

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 24th January 08, 08:06 PM

WARTHEN TARTAN
Sorry for the delay in getting back into the fray, but only just got a reply from my pal Tom Warden, who suggests that Warthen/Warden are most likely variant spellings (based on pronunciation) of the same surname. He also pointed out that all of the Wardens he knew in Scotland wore the Angus Tartan...

**SteveB** · 24th January 08, 08:37 PM

A have at my fingertips a rather large index of families, septs, and clans compiled by several noted experts on Scot history. None of these volumes shows the Warthen family as a sept of any clan. The only reference I can find is the family name appearing on recent documents.
My professor of Scottish Studies is not familiar with the name either

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 24th January 08, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by SteveB

A have at my fingertips a rather large index of families, septs, and clans compiled by several noted experts on Scot history. None of these volumes shows the Warthen family as a sept of any clan. The only reference I can find is the family name appearing on recent documents.
My professor of Scottish Studies is not familiar with the name either

Having checked my paltry resources I don't find Warthen either. I suspect it may be one of those names like Butter (derived from "bothar" meaning road) or is a varient spelling of some other name. Regional pronunciation is such a bugbear! Tonight at dinner I was offered what sounded like "turros" for dessert. Where I grew up it was pronounced "churros". Same food, just different parts of Mexico...
Anyhow, we know one thing for certain. Tom Warden wears Angus tartan.

**SFCRick** · 24th January 08, 09:10 PM

no luck, sorry

**A Hay** · 25th January 08, 12:08 PM

Thanks for the help, everyone.

I really think Warthen is more english that anything else. Walter Warthen (could also have been Warthan) was definitely in Prince William County Virginia in the mid-1700's. Family oral tradition says there was a link to Thomas Jefferson's Family. If so, it may have been through Jefferson's wife's family.

I think I'll look up the Angus tartan.

Tom