[lethearen]

A recent thread talking about a gathering of MacLeans made me wonder if there were ever any similar Ferguson gatherings going on, so I started poking around trying to find info. I stumbled across these books scanned into PDF files and thought that some people here might have interest in them.

What's My Tartan? or The Clans of Scotland, With Their Septs and Dependents, 1896. Mostly a list of names, but there is some textual information interspersed throughout that has some history. Ok, at the beginning and at the end

Records of the Clan and Name of Fergusson, Ferguson, and Fergus, 1895. This one is just for us Fergus(s)ons It's 700 pages of just about anything you could have wanted to know about the clan prior to its publication.

I hope some of you find the info useful. I'll be poking through it as I can, but it's a lot of material to read

What's My Tartan is an interesting book. This is the first reference I've seen that lists distinctive clan pipe music. Thanks for the info.

[KFCarter]

Great links, thanks. I've heard of "What's My Tartan" but never seen a copy.

[BEEDEE]

Was able to print 'What's my Tartan" for my reference library. Great fine, thanks.

Brian

[celt72]

Thanks for the link. "What's My Tartan" is a very interesting read.

[IRISH]

cheers, ferg.

[Redshank]

Interesting read from Frank Adams,

I will follow this thread with great interest, though I fear it will die a quick death as some of Mr Adams quoted observations conflict with todays
expert(s)

[Redshank]

Originally Posted by Redshank

Interesting read from Frank Adams,

I will follow this thread with great interest, though I fear it will die a quick death as some of Mr Adams quoted observations conflict with todays
expert(s)

died a quicker death than I expected, so therefore I guess that thos who rewrite Scottish history to suit their business plan feel that Frank Adam talks utter nonsense ?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Originally Posted by Redshank

died a quicker death than I expected, so therefore I guess that thos who rewrite Scottish history to suit their business plan feel that Frank Adam talks utter nonsense ?

Adams hardly talks "utter nonsense"-- however, if you read his book "The Clans Septs & Regiments of the Scottish Highlands" (published in 1908) you will see that, in light of information that subsequently came to his attention, Adams both modified and expanded his 1896 thesis on the clans and tartans. This book became the bible for the larger Scottish community, going through three editions, with the last published in 1934. By this time it was thought necessary to up date Adams' book due to the wealth of material discovered since the first edition appeared in 1908. The task of doing this fell to Thomas Innes of Learney (later Lord Lyon, King of Arms) who applied himself to this monumental effort during the dark days of the Second World War. In 1954 the revised edition of Adams' "Clans Septs & Regiments of the Scottish Highlands" hit the book sellers and became the standard reference on the subject until 1994 when "The Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopedia" by George Way of Plean and Romilly Squire (now Squire of Rubislaw) came rolling off the presses and into the hands of a delighted Scottish public.

Now I don't understand what you mean about "re-writing Scottish history to suit [their] business plan", but I do know that we now have a better understanding of Scottish history, and how that history shaped Highland attire, today than Adams had more that 110 years ago. Some of what Adams wrote about the garb of the ancient Highlanders was just plain wrong; we know that today because we have the benefit of 100 years of more scholarly research into the subject. What he wrote was interesting, and led others to do more research-- the fact that their research refuted some of Adams' work had nothing to do with "business plans", and everything to do with wanting to get the history of the Highlands, and of the Highland people, as accurate as possible.

[MacDonnell1973]

Interesting, I hadn't heard of MacDonald of Staffa before. I am fairly new to the study of my heritage, so, there is more to read. Thanks for the lead

Slainte,

Bill