How far back is too far?

[davidlpope]

Or to put it another way, I'm not going to petition to join a "family" unless I've decided that I really like the people.

Bingo. Meet the folks at the Lamont and MacMillan tents and see who is the best fit. I'm pulling for MacMillan...

[davidlpope]

I've been looking into my family tree recently. My maternal grandfather was a Douglas, but I haven't been able to trace his lineage past his father. A little further up my tree (still on my mother's side, father's side was all English), I come across McCulley, 3 generations back. Again, I haven't been able to trace this lineage to determine which of 3 different clans they were a sept of. Going further back, 6 generations, I get to McConnell, which I do have information goes back to the 6th generation descendant of the fourth chief of Clan Donald South. So I'm 15 generations from the fourth Donald chief (6 from a McConnell daughter), 3 generations from a McCulley daughter, and one generation from a Douglas daughter.

So how far back is too far? Should I stick with Douglas, being the nearest, even though they're the branch I have the least information about?

I'd go with the nearest major clan surname. If your mom's maiden name was Douglas (since your maternal grandfather is your mom's dad...), go with Douglas. Big clan, nice tartan, good participation in the clan tent scene at highland games. Done.