Census poll: What is your cultural / historical connection to the kilt?

[Brock63]

Maternal ties....grandfather was Scot-Irish with an injection of native american as well after they came to the New World. Had eyes and hair like coal...Malcolm O'Neill Williamson. Great man...I miss him.

[unixken]

On my father's side...
My grandfather, Arthur Sr. (my dad was Jr.) was born in Scotland, in 1901 and emigrated to the U.S, in 1904. His parents, both Scottish-born, were a Cormack (Buchanan Clan) and a Sangster (Aberdeen District). My grandmother Florence (Arthur Sr.'s wife) was first generation U.S. born in the U.S., from the Ellis family, of Wales.

Mom's side of the family is English (Street and Learned). Neither of those families appear tied to any tartan.

[lassmanac]

well, they way I understand it - and my father is currently doing the geoneolical research to verify - is that my great great grandmother (German) married a Scotsman and they moved to the US in the late 1800s. My great great grandfather's lineage is said to have been traced back to Mary Tudor.

Years ago when my grandfather would tell me about this, he would pull out this very old bible and show me what he said was Queen Mary Tudor's very own signature and the signatures of her decendents as the Bible had been passed down through the generations. He told me the bible was passed from first born to first born over generations and someday it would be mine.

Now... at the moment, i cannot confirm or deny the historical accuracy of all that he claimed, but it has certainly stuck with me over the years.

[MacSpadger]

Years ago when my grandfather would tell me about this, he would pull out this very old bible and show me what he said was Queen Mary Tudor's very own signature and the signatures of her decendents as the Bible had been passed down through the generations. He told me the bible was passed from first born to first born over generations and someday it would be mine.

Now... at the moment, i cannot confirm or deny the historical accuracy of all that he claimed, but it has certainly stuck with me over the years.

I'm sorry to say that Mary Tudor very famously had no descendants. Her line died with her in 1558.
It was the lack of lineage that led to her half-sister becoming Elizabeth the 1st.

[lassmanac]

I'm sorry to say that Mary Tudor very famously had no descendants. Her line died with her in 1558.
It was the lack of lineage that led to her half-sister becoming Elizabeth the 1st.

My rememberence of the details is a bit fuzzy, but yes - Mary Tudor did not have children. Mary's and Margarets, Stuarts and Tudors... enough to make one's head spin! I'll certainly be posting more reliable details once the research results start coming in.

[davidlpope]

I had to vote "distant, tenuous connections" because my first Hay predecessor came to the U.S. South in the late 1600s.

I am descended from a Peter Hays/Hayes family that was born in Virginia in the mid-17th century. He lived in Isle of Wight County, but was of English descent, not Scots. I wonder if there is a connection?

[O'Callaghan]

I have Irish ancestry. Both the Irish and Scottish wear kilts. This poll is limited.

I think I was trying to make that point much earlier in the thread (and it is a very long one), but the OP, CDNSushi, merely noted that I do have Scottish relatives and suggested a category.

Yes, I have cousins in Scotland, but I personally have zero Scottish ancestry, only English plus 1/8 Irish (and possibly a trace of Dutch or Belgian). I am a member of an Irish clan (guess which one, LOL!) via the maternal line. My wife has Scottish ancestry and is a member of a Scottish clan (Davidson).

In short, there are Scots in my family tree, but none of them are in any line that I descend from. However, I am of Irish descent, and wear Irish kilts, not my wife's clan tartan and not my cousins' clan tartan.

[Blackrose87]

I think I was trying to make that point much earlier in the thread (and it is a very long one), but the OP, CDNSushi, merely noted that I do have Scottish relatives and suggested a category.

Yes, I have cousins in Scotland, but I personally have zero Scottish ancestry, only English plus 1/8 Irish (and possibly a trace of Dutch or Belgian). I am a member of an Irish clan (guess which one, LOL!) via the maternal line. My wife has Scottish ancestry and is a member of a Scottish clan (Davidson).

In short, there are Scots in my family tree, but none of them are in any line that I descend from. However, I am of Irish descent, and wear Irish kilts, not my wife's clan tartan and not my cousins' clan tartan.

I hope this doesn't descend into a discussion on the history of ( or lack of) the kilt in Ireland.

I first wore a kilt going to one of the university ceilidhs here. Seeing that I am Irish, and have no Scottish ancestors who I had known (possibly great great father was from Caithness, but it may have been even further back than this) I felt it would not be appropriate to wear a Scottish tartan. So I chose to wear the Irish national tartan. However, I don't see how I could wear it to commemorate my Airish ancestors, as they would not have worn a kilt.

I'm currently having a kilt made in the Ulster tartan, as at least there is some history to this kilt. I guess it represents the province which I was born and raised. And seeing that my fathers family are Ulster-Scots, there is a slim chance that maybe someone in the family might have worn it.

[Father Bill]

My rememberence of the details is a bit fuzzy, but yes - Mary Tudor did not have children. Mary's and Margarets, Stuarts and Tudors... enough to make one's head spin! I'll certainly be posting more reliable details once the research results start coming in.

Ah, but let's not let lassmanic's balloon deflate completely. The route by which this Bible was received is obviously then, not as described over the years, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't any connection at all as had been posited by the ancestors!

Family stories tend to get twisted and yet often have truth layered between the folds!

[MacSpadger]

Ah, but let's not let lassmanic's balloon deflate completely. The route by which this Bible was received is obviously then, not as described over the years, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't any connection at all as had been posited by the ancestors!

Family stories tend to get twisted and yet often have truth layered between the folds!

Oh, no intent to deflate any balloons, it's just that if you are born over here then it's common knowledge that Mary Tudor died without an heir paving the way for Elizabeth 1.
It's perfectly true that family stories get twisted. I spent well over 20 years on my family tree and found this to be true, I also found that the old adage about truth being stranger than fiction to hold true, including two name changes.

I met an American girl years ago who told me that she was the direct descendent of William Wallace. I hadn't the heart to tell her how unlikely that was.........................