I have a question for you geneaology folk.

[TheNaughtyScot]

If you have trouble finding all of the connections from your wife back to Scotland, as many do, I would suggest searching for the origin of the name and from which clan it sprouted. You have the option of either clan in your case, but if you can't decide I would suggest going with the earliest.

I know that for my heritage, there have been diasporic Todds in Scotland, England, and Ireland for hundreds of years and people argue over whether Todd (Todd, Todde) is a Scottish or English name. But the origins of the name are found in Berwickshire where they were a sept of the Gordons, before spreading across the isles. So I sport the Gordon tartan. Eventually, I might trace my ancestry all the way, but there are these wonderful ink smudges and the lack of universal registries that seem to make that goal a lofty one.

[Cawdorian]

Don't forget, the in-laws were part of the family (Clan).

If you really want to find your correct clan or sept it is necessary to trace the family bloodlines back to Scotland and determine the area where they actually lived. That should give you a clue about the correct clan affiliation.

If you can't do that, you may just have to take a guess at it.

[SteveB]

The possibilities are many. But the only real answer is in the genealogical research. A very time consuming and as addictive as kilt wearing hobby. An example is my spouse who is a MacLucas. Allegedly MacLucas can be either MacDougall or Lamont. Tracing my spouses family across the pond to Ulster, and tenants of the Earl of Donegal. Auld lease agreements, flax tax lists, Griffith's valuation lists, and tithing tax lists, with an occasional baptism thrown in has brought the family over from the Cowal peninsular of Scotland. The townlands are all at one time or another under the control of Clan Lamont. (Prior to the Campbell's massacre of the Lamonts.) To further certify the lineage, I traced the descent of the MacLucas families in the MacDougall territory. They eventually left the Macdougalls and moved into the land of the Campbells, took allegiance with the Campbell chief and assisted in the doings against the MacLucas families under the Clan Lamont.

This equates roughly with some of the families that were involved in the War Between the States here in the U.S. where one brother wore blue and another wore gray.

CajunScot is our resident Historian on Scotland. I have had the pleasure of researching and publishing the genealogies of a few of the Scottish Clans.

Slainte