Tartan? What tartan?

[biblemonkey]

I have been planning on a Graham of Mentieth Weathered kilt soon but I may have to slightly change my order. I have found that the Mentieth is an offshoot or historically connected clan while the Montrose is the head. I will be doing a little more research on my own family to verify whether the Mentieth really is the one I want but I have run into a few dead ends as far as which one our family is connected to. Since the Montrose is the head would I be safer going with that one? I want this tartan so I can have our family’s tartan honorably represented and have a variation that I find visually appealing. Not even my Scottish grandmother knows whether we are Montrose or Mentieth as the Grahams are on my (deceased) grandfathers side.

Oh, on another note. I found out that my grandmother wears the Maclean in place of the Hynde because of tartans being similar, the Hynde is very rare and expensive, and Maclean was her grandmother’s maiden name. I know some of you were curious and took offense to her wearing the Maclean as a substitute for her own family’s tartan. Now we can see that she is indeed connected to the Macleans so those "purists" among you can relax. In another post I will write about an interesting book she gave me about tartan and the clans.

Hugh

[xman]

You can trace your family back to the Scottish lands they came from and determine which clan held those lands when they left.

If there is an oral tradition of being associated with a specific clan then I'd just go with that one. In fact, that's what I am doing. It would be almost impossible to determine with certainty where my ancestors lived before they came to these shores in 1803(ish?) due to spotty record keeping in the Hebrides in those days, so I must trust the claim of my forefathers.

[Nighthawk]

You can trace your family back to the Scottish lands they came from and determine which clan held those lands when they left.

If there is an oral tradition of being associated with a specific clan then I'd just go with that one. In fact, that's what I am doing. It would be almost impossible to determine with certainty where my ancestors lived before they came to these shores in 1803(ish?) due to spotty record keeping in the Hebrides in those days, so I must trust the claim of my forefathers.

Same here. My grandmother's maiden name was Wolfe. She was born on the Isle of Skye, and claimed descent from the MacLeod clan, and although Wolfe is not a tracable sept of MacLeod, and most often associated with Ireland, she was insistant that we are part of the MacLeod clan. So I go with that, and the oral tradition and place of birth are good enough for me!

[figheadair]

I have been planning on a Graham of Mentieth Weathered kilt soon but I may have to slightly change my order. I have found that the Mentieth is an offshoot or historically connected clan while the Montrose is the head. I will be doing a little more research on my own family to verify whether the Mentieth really is the one I want but I have run into a few dead ends as far as which one our family is connected to. Since the Montrose is the head would I be safer going with that one? I want this tartan so I can have our family’s tartan honorably represented and have a variation that I find visually appealing. Not even my Scottish grandmother knows whether we are Montrose or Mentieth as the Grahams are on my (deceased) grandfathers side.

As neither setts were Graham tartans before c1840 neither is hitorically more correct. Yes, the Montroses are the senior branch but if you cannot find which one you belong to I'd suggest wearing the one you prefer.

Oh, on another note. I found out that my grandmother wears the Maclean in place of the Hynde because of tartans being similar, the Hynde is very rare and expensive, and Maclean was her grandmother’s maiden name. I know some of you were curious and took offense to her wearing the Maclean as a substitute for her own family’s tartan. Now we can see that she is indeed connected to the Macleans so those "purists" among you can relax. In another post I will write about an interesting book she gave me about tartan and the clans.

There is not a Hynde tartan. This is a misattribution of one of the tartans in a suit of Highland clothes made for the English Jacobite Sir John HyndeCotton in 1744. Note the double barrelled surname.