Clan MacMillan

[jbaker42j]

I recently sent an email to The Clan MacMillan Centre that I've been waiting a few years to send. It basically said:

"I am inquiring about the relationship between the surname Baker and the MacMillan Clan. Studies show the links between them but the Clan website doesn't recognize this connection. Ive always been told that my family has links to the MacMillan Clan and Ive been proud of this fact. I am hoping that maybe you can give a nod to the Bakers on your site and maybe recognize us as part of your Clan. One study that I base some of my information on is by Peter J. Roberts. He found MacMillan and Bakers to be linked by DNA. http://home.comcast.net/~libpjr1/clandna.html.

.......I also was wondering if it is acceptable for a Baker to wear the MacMillan tartan. I am a firefighter and we have a Society where we show our Scottish heritage and I am looking at purchasing a kilt. Thank you for your time!"

Graeme Mackenzie, Clan MacMillan historian & genealogist, ( whose work I respect greatly) quickly responded back and said that I am right to suggest that the Clan ought to have Baker listed amongst the names connected with the MacMillans since it is another form of Bacasdair/Baxter which has long been recognised as a sept of Clan MacMillan. He also said that it's entirely accceptable to have a Baker wearing the MacMillan tartan - especially in the light of the DNA match. He also hoped that I would join a Clan MacMillan Society.

I am curious to see what some of you MacMillans out there think about this. It would be great to wear the MacMillan tartan, I fully understand the MacKarrots and the MacOnions and dont want to design a new tartan. Many online sites have given false or misleading information on my surname's history. This is the closest to what I know but still doesn't cut it http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp/s...wledgebase.htm Thanks!

[Riverkilt]

Well, I'm okay with it for sure....but my MacMillan blood is pretty thin now. Like many in the U.S. I trace back to John McMillan b. 1736 who moved from Edinburgh to Ireland for a while then on to New York State.

I have the MacMillan Dress tartan (red and yellow/gold) high on my wish list.

If a Macdonald can wear MacMillan I'm sure Bakers can too. If you get Jay's okay you're home free.

Ron

[jbaker42j]

Yeah, Ive got Shaw, Alvis, and Maxwell blood thats runnin in my veins but that Baker blood is the thickest and Ive always been told of my MacMillan links and Im pretty proud. Now I just need to find out which MacMillan tartan to get and a store that wont mislead me with the infamous MacMillan Black tartan ( even though it looks pretty sharp)

[Riverkilt]

Think Rocky has a MacMillan tartan from Marton Mills...had it on my wish list for a semi-traditional, but farther down the list than the Red/Yellow MacMillan dress.

Sorry, just noticed you were a new poster - welcome. And Rocky is USA Kilts. Link it at the top of the page, left side. Click on semi-traditional or casual and you'll see the tartan...I think...pretty sure...maybe...

Ron

[SteveB]

Hello and a warm Celtic from Boston, Massachusetts.
Wear the tartan proudly and all will be happy to see you in it.

Thank you for your service to our nation, from a very old P-2 mechanic.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Kinsman,

Of course you're a MacMillan-- as our clan genealogist has pointed out, your name is another form of Baxter. According to our Chief, George Macmillan of Macmillan and Knap, there are three authorized MacMillan tartans: Dress MacMillan, Ancient MacMillan, and MacMillan Hunting. These are available in modern, ancient, and weathered colours, and you are free to wear whichever tartan or colour you choose.

Welcome aboard!

[jbaker42j]

Tough decisions!!! Do you go with the Ancient MacMillan or MacMillan Hunting? I think Im going to put the MacMillan Hunting Old Colors on my wish list. How would it look best pleated? And I need to find a good vendor that isnt too too pricey ( Im a poor fireman, who's expecting a baby in the next month) but I would still like it to be nice.

Maybe I could start out with a special MacMillan tartan gift for my baby girl thats due!!

[Morris at Heathfield]

There is also a Baxter tartan. Its ITI number is 3664, and it is, as far as I can tell, indistinguishable from the symmetrical Buchanan variant. And there's a Baker tartan as well, but it is classed as a fashion tartan, rather than a clan/family tartan.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The Baxter tartan is essentially the old symmetrical Buchanan tartan. Why it is also called Baxter is anyone's guess, but the association goes back to the mid nineteenth century. According to the STA notes on the tartan, "It appears in a description as Baxter in D.Macgregor Peter's Baronage of Angus & Mearns 1856. The principal branch of the clan is the Baxters of Earlshall who live at Leuchars in north Fife."

(As an aside, it is interesting to me that the Baxter name is a sept of the MacMillan clan, and that the Baxter name would be associated with this Buchanan tartan, when the MacMillan old tartan is so similar to the assymetrical Buchanan tartan -- coincidence?)

As for the Baker tartan, it was originally designed in the 1980s, according to the STA information, by West Coast Woolen Mills in Canada, which is now Fraser & Kirkbright. They say it was woven for Aljean, a Canadian clothing manufacturer. F&K reintroduced the tartan in 2002, again, according to the STA notes. So yes, this would appear to be a modern fashion tartan.

Of course, if your family is associated with the MacMillans, why not simply wear one of the recognized tartans of your clan, which are pretty readily available?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

The Baxter tartan is essentially the old symmetrical Buchanan tartan. Why it is also called Baxter is anyone's guess, but the association goes back to the mid nineteenth century. According to the STA notes on the tartan, "It appears in a description as Baxter in D.Macgregor Peter's Baronage of Angus & Mearns 1856. The principal branch of the clan is the Baxters of Earlshall who live at Leuchars in north Fife."

(As an aside, it is interesting to me that the Baxter name is a sept of the MacMillan clan, and that the Baxter name would be associated with this Buchanan tartan, when the MacMillan old tartan is so similar to the assymetrical Buchanan tartan -- coincidence?)

As for the Baker tartan, it was originally designed in the 1980s, according to the STA information, by West Coast Woolen Mills in Canada, which is now Fraser & Kirkbright. They say it was woven for Aljean, a Canadian clothing manufacturer. F&K reintroduced the tartan in 2002, again, according to the STA notes. So yes, this would appear to be a modern fashion tartan.

Of course, if your family is associated with the MacMillans, why not simply wear one of the recognized tartans of your clan, which are pretty readily available?

Circa 1892 Donald MacMillan, kilt maker and one of the founders of the Clan MacMillan Society, patented a symmetrical version of the Ancient MacMillan tartan which he supplied as "Clan MacMillan Society" tartan. This tartan found a great deal of favour with both Baxters and Bells, which may account for it's listing under the heading of "Baxter", once the second most common name in the CMS. There is also a strong argument to be made that Buchanan may be a sept of MacMillan-- that being the case the ever resourceful Donald added a white stripe to the Clan MacMillan Society tartan for those Buchanans seeking kilts.

Interestingly it was this "Buchanan" tartan that recently appeared under the guise of a fashion tartan called "Black MacMillan"-- on the fabric sample I inspected the faint white line of the "Buchanan" was visible.

I hope this has been of some interest---