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

[DavidB80911]

From what I can find out - I am of Scott / Irish / Black Irish / English / and Native American. To put it in a Nut-Shell, I am a MUTT and proud of every thing I am.

[cable scot]

My grandmother & grandfather were as they said " ulster scots".
second or third gen. Northern Irish but to them and their friends scots first irish second. For me I guess it's how we were raised, tartan kilts & orange armbands on St. patty's day. my mom's side county tyrone

[Geoff Withnell]

My paternal grandmother was born a Davies (or Davis, the records show both spellings). Davis/Davies are septs of Davidson, and I am a member of the Clan Davidson Association USA. Withnell is a Welsh name, but family tradition is that my grandmother was Scottish. I have Irish and northern English in the mix as well. My paternal grandfather said "We are all descended from Vikings, which is why all the Withnell men are tall, broad, and red-gold in hair and beard." My beard and hair were red at least until it went gray. My grandparent lived in Northern England, and my Dad was born there.

All that said, I feel I have a direct familial connection to Scotland.

[McMurdo]

My parents were born in Scotland they came to Canada in the 1950's. We were brought up in a home where our heritage was front and centre. Every weekend my parents would listen to Ray Sonin and his radio show Calling All Britons on CFRB in Toronto. We were taught from an early age to be proud of our background. It really has shaped my character and some choices in my life, and my hobbies.

[OC Richard]

I've got some very cool pictures of various family members in Black Watch kilted uniform.

It would be wonderful if you could share some of those, if you feel comfortable with making family photos public.

About the poll, I was caught between two answers, for although my Scottish connexion is direct it is at the same time somewhat tenuous.

My surname Cook comes from John Cooke, who was kidnapped and sold into Indentured Servitude in the Virginia colony in 1762. He eventually married the girl who was kidnapped with him, Nellie Pemberton, when their period of servitude was over. They were kidnapped in London. John Cooke was born in London, Nellie Pemberton in Scotland. However, family legend has it that John was from Scotland, specifically Kintyre. As it happens, the surname Cook is fairly common in Kintyre, Arran, and Ayrshire.

Once here the Cooks (the "e" was swiftly dropped) intermarried with Stuarts and several other families of Scottish and English origin.

So my family was purely British, full of names such as Cooper, Stanley, Clay, Reed, Varcoe (the Cornish Connexion) etc etc until my maternal Grandfather married an Irish-American girl, a Glancy, whose family came from Cavan in the 1840s.

[Joshua]

My paternal grandmother was born a Davies (or Davis, the records show both spellings). Davis/Davies are septs of Davidson, and I am a member of the Clan Davidson Association USA.

My last name is Davis, and I am also a member of Clan Davidson (and wear the Davidson tartan), but besides the "sept" information I've found on Clan sites, every piece of evidence I can find points to Davis as a Welsh name. Doesn't matter much to me, Clan Davidson gave me a "home" and I enjoy being a member. I have two, totally separate lines of Davis in my family line, one descending from Davis' on the 4th trip of the Mayflower, and the others coming directly from Wales just prior to the American revolution.

My Scottish lineage actually turns up descendants of Bruces in the New World (South Carolina) in 1716. This line through a muddled Ancestry search shows lineage to Bruces in Scotland, by way of England.

My American lineage runs deep... in fact with the exception of the Bruce line, I have yet to find a single paternal family line that wasn't here in the 1600's... which would explain why Scottish ancestry runs so scant in my own family tree. Sure, there are some McKaye, McMillians, and even Urquharts trolling around in there but all Matrilineal to descendants of mine.

I wear the kilt because I associate with Scottish religious and political history, compete in the Athletics, and feel a strong kinship with Scotland.

Last, but certainly not least, this garment is powerful, and bestows powers on me I previously didn't have...

[Mike S]

Don't sweat it. The Wallaces were originally from Wales, as were the Walshes. Both are now very much associated with other Celtic nations after centuries there.

[ForresterModern]

Since there is only one true PATRILINEAL line of descent, by definition we would each more likely have more opportunity for scottish connections via MATRILINEAL relations. With every succeeding generation of relatives we chase backwards in our geneology we maintain only a single true patrilineal line of descent, while our various matrilineal relations expand by a factor of 2. Example, even if my father was full blooded native scot and my mother of some other heritage, I would be 1/2 Scot, although my name would remain scottish in heritage. At the level of grandparents, if my father's father was fullblooded scottish but all others not I would be 1/4 Scot, but still with my scottish name. If my father's father's father was native scot and all others at that generation of other heritage I would be 1/8 scot. Father's father's father's father scot, I would be 1/16 Scot, and so fourth as the generations go backward. Let's turn the math around a moment. At the level of my parents, my non-scot mother (matrilineal lineage) would make me 1/2 NOT scot. Grandparents, 3/4 NOT scot, greatgrandparents 7/8s not scot, great great grandparents 15/16ths NOT scot, again assuming that all my relations other than my direct patrilineal line were NOT scottish. And the number of direct descendants goes up by a factor of two for every generation we go backward in our geneology. All these non-patrilineal descendants are then technically considered MATRILINEAL at some point, therefore we each have a far greater percentage of matrilineal relations than direct patrilineal, so it is natural that we would each more likely have other matrilineal branches of our families that might be also of scottish origin. Just makes simple mathematical and social sense, those of scots heritage would be more likely to marry those with similar scots heritage, background, social standing, religious and other beliefs. So I think our desire, as scots diaspora and kiltwearers of varying patrilineal descent but most/many with some scottish matrilineal relations, to wear the tartans of our matrilineal scottish predecessors (in addition to or in lieu of patrilineal predecessor tartans) is only natural, even though that is not the way of the true highlander, whose patrilineal line is intact and in place in its native land of Scotland.

In short, whether or not we have patrilineal scottish connections, there is a far greater chance that we have matrilineal scottish connections, possibly/likely multiple. So I personally think that for us diaspora with more distant and often less distinct and strong connection to Scotland there is no wrong in honoring those non-patrilineal scottish relations by wearing their tartan as well as any patrilineal tartan we are "entitled" to.

Although I wear my patrilineal Forrester tartans (a late 20th century contrivance anyway as my family did not define itself as a clan or have a tartan until then), since three consecutive generations of my Foster patrilineal predecessors married scots-descent (albeit distant) Allen women (all closely related, by the way---the hillbily influence), statistically I have more Allen blood flowing through my veins than Foster, and I proudly wear the Allen 1996 tartan (another 20th century contrivance as Allens, like Forresters, were scattered and non-clan organized about Scotland). There are at least a half dozen other matrilineal relations who had scottish surnames as well in my geneology, but their connections to my part of the family are more distant and their likely relations with Scotland no closer than any others in my long American geneology, so I have at this point chosen NOT to pursue their tartans, although I could and at some point in my life may, if I do further research into their backgrounds and am touched by something I find there.

So don't be surprised if you find that your strongest Scots relation may be from a matrilineal line, if your patrilineal heritage is of a different nationality. Statistically it is highly likely that you would have more potential scots matrilineal descendants than patrilineal, exponentially growing by a factor of two for each generation of your geneology that you are able to trace backwards.

[Geoff Withnell]

My last name is Davis, and I am also a member of Clan Davidson (and wear the Davidson tartan), but besides the "sept" information I've found on Clan sites, every piece of evidence I can find points to Davis as a Welsh name. Doesn't matter much to me, Clan Davidson gave me a "home" and I enjoy being a member. I have two, totally separate lines of Davis in my family line, one descending from Davis' on the 4th trip of the Mayflower, and the others coming directly from Wales just prior to the American revolution.
...

I think the connection of Davis/Davies to Davidson comes from the obvious shortening of "Davy's son" to "Davy's", and with spelling being as freehand as is was before such advances as spellcheck , various spellings were common. As I noted, my own grandmother in the 20th century spelled her name several different ways. Davis is usually thought of as a Welsh name, but the family verbal history from several accounts is that Mary Davis came from Scotland, and married Harold Withnell in Leigh, England. Their first born was my dad.

[Lime]

Oh, did I mention I was born on St. Patrick's Day?

So was I! I always enjoy that the world seems to be celebrating my birthday. Nat King Cole also shares it and I tease my wife relentlessly because she shares her birthday with 'W' (Bush)!

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