Coming Aboard the Board from Virginia

**Breabadair Drochaidean** · 1st August 23, 08:20 AM

Beannachd dha na h-uile,

My reasons upon entering this fine group of enthusiasts is to further explore topics concerning Scottish heritage. While not a kilt fashioner myself (although my given name comes from Old English for weaver and my forum display name is a play on my full name in Scots Gaelic), I am on occasion a wearer of the plaid.

My father had a great interest in genealogy well back in time before there were computers and e-mail. He amassed boxes of documents, copies of deeds and wills and such. After he passed I inherited those boxes and subsequently used a computer based data system to enter his findings and expand upon them. My ancestral link to Scotland come primarily through Alexander Brown, born in Darvel, Ayrshire in 1831. In 1853 Alexander emigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada and was soon after married. One of his sons, Charles Noble Brown, emigrated from Canada to Massachusetts. His daughter, Hazel Christine Brown, is my paternal grandmother. But what is most interesting is that Alexander's paternal grandfather, John Brown of Mauchline, married Helen "Nelly" Armour. Helen's sister Jean "Bonnie" Armour married none other than Robert "Rabbie" Burns, making the bard my 4th great-granduncle by marriage.

Besides Rabbie, I have a significant other connections to Scotland (while my mother was Irish through-and-through and through my father's side I have some Plantagenet blood lurking, a far distant cousin having met his demise at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, with others ending up residing in the Tower, which usually ended rather badly for them) and have been fascinated by its history and culture since I was a wee lad. I can pinpoint that to watching on the TV the film 'Culloden' (titled as 'The Battle of Culloden' here in the U.S.), a 1964 docudrama written and directed by Peter Watkins for BBC TV (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057982/. It's a very interesting film). I was 10ish when I saw it and was utterly taken in, to the point I cut the listing out of the TV Guide and went on a mission to discover all I could about it. Unfortunately, living in a small village in the wilds of New Hampshire decades before Google (and before Larry Page and Sergey Brin were even born) made it a rather momentous task. I did get hold of John Prebble's book 'Culloden' which together with Watkins' film sent me on an historical journey that continues to this day.

A bit about me. From growing up in New Hampshire (actually, I do refuse to "grow up") I spent over 20 years on active service with the Marines. Spent over 15 years overseas in many places both good, bad, and ugly (alas Scotland was not one of them, Norway being as close as I got, much of my time was in various parts of Asia). After retiring from the Corps I worked for a private military contractor for a time on work that was "interesting" to say the least. Through some twist of fate I ended up in the Pentagon where I am still today.

Cheers,
WEB