Time for a Clan Gathering ?? Scottish Clans Project

+24 votes
846 views
Are you a member of the  Scottish Clans Project ?  http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Scottish_Clans  If so we'd love to hear what you are currently working on or having problems with !!   If you are not a member of this project but would be interested in joining us just toss your caber in my direction and a warm Scottish welcome to the project will be yours.
in The Tree House by Maria Maxwell G2G6 Pilot (186k points)
I just joined, but I'm trying to gather what primary sources I can to try and ferret out the Robertsons of Muirton line as I believe (from circumstantial evidence that could prove to be wrong, but gotta start somewhere) my American immigrant ancestor (Col. John Henry, father of Gov. Patrick Henry) has a mother named Jean Robertson who is said to be connected to that line. (In the past she was said to be the sister of Rev. William Robertson, father of the historian, but I've found no evidence for this)
Hi Angela.  To give you a start.  Muirton was an estate in Elginshire (Moray), near the river Spey, just south of Lossiemouth.  Here is a map: http://maps.nls.uk/view/75203209

A good place to start might be Genealogy of the Robertson, Small and related families by Archibald Robertson Small.  He deals with Muirton at https://archive.org/stream/genealogyofrober00smal#page/17/mode/1up/search/muirton for ancestry and https://archive.org/stream/genealogyofrober00smal#page/33/mode/1up/search/muirton for his descendants.  As you have just joined you will need some help to set up this family pre-1500 so if you drop me a line with any firm detail and source material of an ancestor I'll see how I can help.

16 Answers

+12 votes
 
Best answer
The Duncan's Have Arrived!  After many hair-pulling months, pretty much everyone grouped under "Duncan" down to 1700 has been tagged; and duplicates merged; majority have Bios, sources, etc., or lack thereof and reasons noted.  We have some Gustav Anjou issues that have been picked up by others but most of these have also been identified, noted and/or reworked.

All have been "dated" down to Public Level - (edit 2015) -- if not with an actual -- at least best guess at the time date.  Some of the 1700's will probably be pre-1700.

Huge amount of difficulty in immigrants to America and ties to Scotland/Ireland Ancestor Families.(Little or no concrete documentation) outside of "Family Stories and websites" General Locations from Histories, etc., but working with what we have.

Free Space - Duncan Research Links -- Contains some links for obscure, or hard to find books that can be added to over time.

Hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel is not another train load of Duncan's. with "Issues."  Bring your flask and come for a visit -- the door's always open.

{{Scottish Clans |clan = Clan Duncan| tartan = Clan Tartans-14.gif }}

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Clan_Duncan

Regards, Sandy
by Sandy Edwards G2G6 Mach 7 (78.0k points)
selected by Debbie Jackson
Thanks Sandy,   good luck with your research.
I also found when my Porterfields moved to Ireland the records are much more spares if not non-existent.
My great-great-grandmother, Helen Ramsay Laird's middle name was Duncan! :)

Hi Tanya -- Here is a link to an Index at FHC -- Looks like quite a few Lairds here.  You can copy/paste the citation to respective profiles.

https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3A%22wallace%20ritchie%22~%20%2Bsurname%3Alaird~%20%2Bmarriage_place%3Ascotland~%20%2Bspouse_givenname%3Ahelen~%20%2Bspouse_surname%3Aramsey~

This is how the Marriage Reference would look for Helen & William

if they are the same as your folks.

<ref>"Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTJY-KQG : accessed 5 March 2016), Wallace Ritchie Laird and Hellen Ramsay, 20 Mar 1869; citing Arbroath,Angus,Scotland, reference ; FHL microfilm 6,035,516.</ref>

Best regards,

Sandy

I was somewhat bemused to see that there is a - no doubt very well intentioned - “Clan” Duncan project on Wikitree. Congratulations on their excellent efforts. 

However, as a Scot, and as a Duncan descendant, the idea of a “clan” Duncan with their own tartan seems to me to be rather like Brigadoon - a romanticised American idea of what people want Scotland to be, with very little connection to reality. 

I sincerely hope we can keep the tartans and fantasy history off the pages of our own coal-mining Duncans here in Scotland, as they would only have recognised the concept if they had read (and testaments reveal that some of them were very literate) Sir Walter Scott's excellent novels which started off the international craze for clans and tartans. Let's stick to family history and leave the tartan merchandising to the tourist shops on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. ;-)

In my extensive search for Moses Duncan, I found a biographical sketch of his nephew William in  "Indiana County, Pennsylvania; her people, past and present, embracing a history of the county" VOLUME II CHICAGO J. H. BEERS & CO. 1913

Mapping out the names in the write up:

Moses ( Born 1814) Parents were from Virginia moved to Indiana County, Pennsylvania.

His siblings were

  • William
  • Joseph
  • James
  • John
  • David ( who married Margaret Pierce)
    • Sophia ( Duncan) Stifler
    • William Duncan Nov 19 1840
      • By first wife Sarah Douglass
        • Lucy ( Duncan) Conner
        • Ellen ( Duncan) McAnulty
        • George- Died in Infancy
        • Rosie- Died in Childhood
        • Benjamin Franklin married Ada (Douglas) Duncan
      • by second wife Elmira Lydic
        • Inez Elva
        • Norman Lynn
    • Elizabeth ( Duncan) Bracken
    • Ellen ( Duncan) Fee
    • Sarah Jane ( Duncan) Boring
    • Maria ( Duncan) Perry
    • Harrison- died in Civil
    • Elias
  • Betsey (McKisick)

 

 

This is a ton of names and I hope one of them pops out at a Duncan researcher. If so please contact me.

+12 votes
Scottish welcomes may be warm but it's pretty chilly on Speyside this morning!

After many months on my Scottish clan / ONS family I have logged all the members I can find - and I hope all their source references - but I still have to enter the categories for place of birth etc. However,  I have temporarily moved on to tidying up other members of my tree, as sources did not come down correctly from the original gedcom and  feel that should be a priority - I dislike unsourced trees!!

So my only problem is time!  Happily beavering away.
by Christine Searle G2G6 Mach 4 (41.2k points)
Thanks for this Christine.
+9 votes
I'm just picking away at the MacLeans and MacDonalds. I've gone through my 3000+ profiles, added dates, places, sources and additional info where I could. I also dropped a lot of profiles that were "overmanaged".
by Eugene Quigley G2G6 Mach 8 (80.6k points)
Thanks Eugene,   very much appreciated.
+10 votes
Hello:

 

Jim Walker from Campbell California - I am currently attempting to connect the Walkers of St Fort, Fife to the Walkers of East Lothian. We know the connection is factual but a paper connection has not been found. It is a fun mystery but has been a long one of 20 years.

 

Other than that, we just learned that our daughter Audrey Rose will receive a Wish from the make A Wish foundation and for her that is incredible born blind (no eyeballs) and severe heart disease>

 

Hope all is well with everyone.

 

Regards,

 

Jim Walker
by
Hi Jim

Don't know your timeframe, but there are quite a few Walkers from St Fort in the mid - late 1500's in this ebook.

https://books.google.com/books?id=3YMLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=walker+family+st+fort+fife&source=bl&ots=DL0WVxV1K4&sig=wXsfZjXOli5pfg38saY7qTDi9NA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAmoVChMIofLE-YWVyQIVwyYmCh2ibg1r#v=onepage&q=walker&f=false

Hope your daughter is doing well.
Regards
+8 votes
I'm currently researching the Laird family, particularly the Findlay and Black families. :) I have some Findlays and Ritchies in my family tree. :)
by Tanya Kasim G2G6 Mach 1 (16.5k points)
Thanks Jim and Tanya.
You're welcome, Maria. :)
+7 votes
I recently sourced and merged many pre MacAlpin Scots ( dal Riada). It was a mess. Some of these profiles are rather suspect, but at least there is on one of many of these profiles  Most recently I am back to researching Porterfield surname as my maternal grandmother was Juanita Porterfield. The surname project is http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Porterfield_Name_Study. Porterfields are originally from Renfrewshire, specifically near Kilmacolm.
by Marty Acks G2G6 Pilot (152k points)
Thanks Marty,   Your work on sorting out the dal Riada profiles was amazing and so very much appreciated.   Good luck with your ongoing research.
+8 votes
I continue to work on my Cunningham Clan.. correcting LNABs, relationships and adding sources.. I work on merging and assist other people working on the Cunningham surname..
by Terri Rick G2G6 Mach 4 (42.9k points)
Thanks for this Terri.

My Porterfield research intersects with Cunnigham's at two places in the 16th century. with Cunningham. Beatrice (Beatrix) Porterfield (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cunninghame-21) married John Porterfield (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Porterfield-151) 

John's son, William (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Porterfield-56)   married Isabelle Porterfield formerly Cunningham (http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cunningham-1392)

Did a quick check on some of the Cunningham ancestors for these 2 and there are some issues. (son born in 1400s) to father born in 1800s, with wife born in 1600s.  

Of course there are.  You have ged coms that were down loaded w/o sourcing creating duplicates.  You have members helping out and attaching children that should not be attached, you have members editing bios because they believe and want a specific ancestor and with the Cunninghams using the same first and last names for generations, they get confused.  Perhaps your Porterfields us connected to one of the erroneous lines, or perhaps they are connected to duplicates. Perhaps your line stayed in Scotland/Ireland and then again perhaps they did not.  Did your Porterfields connect into the Shenandoah Valley lines or into Pennsylvania, Indiana or another line?  Yes, there are many questions and few answers.  I'm concentrating on the Shenandoah Valley/Virginia lines... right now.
Terri,

I have sourced some of the Cunningham's with books from the 1800s. Let me keep going back on those two Cunningham lines.

So you know the Porterfield line? Cool. I think I would say Pennsylvania to answer your question, though the did spread out quickly. Mine connected through what appears to be the largest, if not it seems to be the best documented line of John Porterfield. http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Porterfield-53. He had seven sons and 1 daughter. I have a surname page at http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Porterfield_Name_Study

There is one questionable leap in my Porterfield lineage in Ireland, but everyone else seems to accept it. I kept the relationship intact but documented that the evidence was sparse.

Everything I enter is sourced, but that is whole other conversation.

Marty
+8 votes

I came across a connection to this interesting character: NICHOLSON, DONALD M.A. REVEREND, the 12th Chief of the Scorrybreac Nicholsons in Skye. He was Episcopal minister of Kilmuir from 1663 to 1696, and died in 1697. Reverend Donald Nicholson had 32 of his descendants been ministers. He married 3 times, and left 23, or as some say, 25 children. 17 of them were by his 3rd wife MARGARET MORRISON, d/o Reverend Kenneth Morrison of Stornaway.  His first wife was MARGARET ROBERTSON, the 2nd was Unknown. Anyone working on this family? There have to tons of descendants.

by Eugene Quigley G2G6 Mach 8 (80.6k points)
+7 votes
I'm currently still working on the Laird family, which includes the Findlay and Ritchie clans, as well as Maxwell, Ramsay, and Black.
by Tanya Kasim G2G6 Mach 1 (16.5k points)
Thanks for this Tanya.   Do you have any Blacks in Stirlingshire by any chance ?
Arbroath, I think. I'd have to check again. You're welcome, by the way. :) I checked Family Search and it checks out that Mary Black and her family were born in County Angus (a.k.a. Forfarshire). I don't know whether I have any surviving Blacks in Stirlingshire, though.
+7 votes
Clan Hunter Gatherings are arranged for all those with Hunter ancestry who wish to connect with their roots and their Clan Seat, Hunterston Castle.

Our Clan Chief, Pauline Hunter of Hunterston, 30th Laird, has invited you to join them at their International Clan Gathering at Hunterston Castle over the weekend of 28th, 29th and 30th July 2017.
by Carol Sullivan G2G6 Mach 3 (35.8k points)
+6 votes

Howdy from Texas Ya'll, Clan Edmonstone a Sub-Project of Scottish Clans now has 85 Profiles, but still only one member. :-(

There still needs to be a few more mergers as there was a bit of Consanguinity (Cousin Marriages) to be sorted. All Profiles that are labeled Clan Edmonstone have at least some Sourcing completed, I have more Sourcing yet to do. 

Most all of these Profiles lack simple Categories / Categorization, any help with this will be much appreciated.

Maria Maxwell , has been very patient with my newness in this endeavor, I am forever grateful!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a Question about: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Edmundiston-1 &

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Edmundiston-2

both Profiles fall within Clan Edmonstone Project & European Aristocrats Project . How do I go about getting or making "House Assignments" ? 

Thank Ya'll & HAGD = (Have A Great Day), JPV IV :)

by Anonymous Vickery G2G6 Pilot (256k points)
Thank you John - but really there is no rush !!

Not sure what you mean by House Assignments though.   You HAGD too !!

Maria, on this page:

 http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:European_Aristocrats

There is a box at the top right side of the above page, with 

House Assignments when clicked it takes you to: 

  http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:European_Aristocrats_House_Assignments . It shows (as an example): 

LNABs Managed by Sir William Arbuthnot

Arbuthnot , and others. 

Should there also be: 

LNABs Managed by John P Vickery IV (w/ a link to me)

Edmundiston

As there are two profiles in the Project? 

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Edmundiston-2 

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Edmundiston-1

Or even possibly Edmonstone (as some of this surname also qualify for the European Aristocrats Project ) instead of Edmundiston ? 

Further... Should I ask this same Question A-new in G2G ?

You all have my apology for such a long comment / Question. 

JPV IV :) 

Ah - now I understand.   Not one of my projects though.   You need to approach one of the two contacts shown in the House Assignment page for guidance on this.
Maria, okie dokie. I'll Get-Er-Done.

Thanks for all you do for WikiTree, JPV IV :)
+6 votes
hi everyone i've been working on my Lindsay clan but am stuck trying to find the connection after the mid 1800s my grandfather was Alexander Lindsay born 1910 in Motherwell and his parents where Alexander Lindsay born 1873 at coatbridge and his wife was Agnes Gray born 1884 at uddingston but i have been unable to find anything beyond this due to a lack of funds so any help would be great   thanks Sandra
by Living Hopkins G2G6 (6.7k points)
+5 votes
I am having a ridiculous time finding anyone farther back than Skene-186 for my own line, but I want to help all my cousins globally to connect back as far as we can! Also, I'm pretty excited about the upcoming highland games in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It will be bittersweet because the Skene clan chief recently passed. Are any American Scottish descendants going? We can gather there!
by Nicole Skeen G2G5 (5.1k points)
Hi! My grandmother was a Skeen. I'm trying to connect her line back to Scotland but a bit stuck in the 1700s. Is there a Skeen/Skene clan page?
+2 votes
I've been collecting Murray/Moray profiles and putting them in the Clan. It's a slow process, though, because I find other things to do on many of them as I find them. Ran onto Stirnet.com a while back and have been sloooowly adding lineages from their lists, identifying existing Wikitree profiles and filling in the gaps with my own.

I've recently been appointed Genealogist-USA for the Murray Clan Society of North America. I'll pick up some records, today as a matter of fact, and will begin to get an idea of what's involved in resurrecting the Clan's archives. Don't know yet what time constraints I'll end up with on Wikitree. There is another person working on Clan records for Canada.

I've been contacted by the newly-installed Commander of Clan McAlpine, Michael Todd McAlpin, who was approved in February by Lord Lyon. I will be doing some work on the Wikitree McAlpine category page with him and expanding what is online about the Clan.

Planning for our six weeks in Ireland, England and Scotland is reaching the crunch point, with just over a month before we leave. Time seems to fly as you get older, but really flies when you're getting ready to travel!

Other than the above, still trying to put out brush fires on other profiles I haven't worked with in weeks or months. Considering dropping out of a few projects so I can concentrate on the Clans and a couple others.
by Michael Thomas G2G6 (10.0k points)
+2 votes
Hi,  I'm just starting but it's difficult for me to find primary sources for my Ross ancestors.  I don't find the names I got from not-source-oriented "genealogists" in the Scottish church registry.  It's really hard because everyone and their father seems to be called Alexander Ross in like 4-5 generations heheheh.  And to help me, all references to the area where my ancestors are from doesn't seem to have existed.  In my not-sourced tree, I have "Pergestin" or "Pergiston" but I never found anything remotely similar in the list of parishes.  I'll come back to it as soon as I finish dealing with my australian visa application.  Glad to meet you all!!!
by Michaël Gagné G2G Rookie (260 points)
+3 votes
Most of my families come from the Aberdeenshire area of NE Scotland.

A lot of small hamlet names like Rathen, Strichen, Old Deer, New Deer, Tyvie, and New Pitsligo.

Surnames include Roberton, Kerr, Mitchell, Henderson, Mackie, Hayden, Cheyne, Bruce, Farquhar, Tait, and more.  A number of these married into the Penny line of Rathen.  That family has been their since the 1600s.  

Anyone else looking in this area?
by Laura Bozzay G2G6 Pilot (824k points)

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