Bloodline question.

[jebrooks76]

Well I know a love for kilts and red hair don't make you Scottish by any means. So 2 days I have spent on ancestry.com trying to trace things back. It was difficult starting off as my dad was adopted by the 2nd husband of my grandma and was never close to his real dad.
So I started out with his real dad's( my grandfather) name and was lucky to find a relative that had basically done the work for me to an extent, i am still trying to fill in the blanks. She said about 6 generations ago lived in Ireland and 3-4 after that were Scottish and help build the Castle of Dean.
So I get on House of Tartan and am able to find the Boyd family tartan as well as it saying they were associated with the Town of Kilmarnock and we're from Southwest Scotland.
Now she went back through the male side it appears to maintain "blood". My question is this, Since my dad was legally adopted by United States rules. Can I still claim a direct bloodline to the Boyd Clan even though my last name is not legally Boyd?

I have used the Search but still couldn't find anything regarding this specific issue. I'm new to this genealogy thing.

[Tarheel]

Searches like yours, are a treasure hunt with the great feeling of belonging as the prize. That was my experience and I hope yours as well.

[jebrooks76]

That's is exactly how I felt. Like I had won the stinking lottery.

[Hexdef101]

Good job, That said Watch out for the pitfalls. Never take anything on the Internet with 100% Certainty, That said Don't ignore something just because the internet says something slightly different. Use best Judgement To decide which things are true.


As to your actual question... Claiming a specific Clans bloodline isn't like claiming benefits like say Native American Ancestry. I would say If you are, you are. Though I suggest you do like many and simply claim blood ties to all of the clans you are related to not a specific one alone.

[Downunder Kilt]

In Scottish custom your clan comes through your paternal line. If you find one in that line,stick with it.You may have maternal lines also, but you can only swear allegiance to one chief, in all honesty. It is not a matterof collecting all the clans you can and he who has the most clans wins. Cheers

[Hexdef101]

Sorry Downunder kilt, I didn't mean to imply that you could . All I really meant was to claim "Kinship" with those closest to you. Though If you are kin to the Donald/MacDonald clan your probably already kin to all the clans.

[freep]

I was adopted also. Found my father's line some years ago through DNA, found my father this last year as well as my mother. Tracing things back I've a lot of Scots, some 30 or so clan affiliations at various distances. For my purposes I decided to concentrate on two clans, one distaff and one paternal. Needing a rubric to choose, I decided the closest to me for each side which left me Gunn via my ggGrandmother paternally and Cunningham via my grandmother maternally. For the purposes of gatherings and such I'm going to just stick with the Gunns, but visit other clans with whom I've some relation. Contrary to what some friends have suggested this is through honest curiosity and not an effort on my part to get as many free drams as I can. ;)

[jebrooks76]

Thanks for all the help. I have decided to just bite the bullet, or swab actually, and ordered the 67YDNA marker test. This should help along the lines anyway. 6-8 weeks to get it back once I get it. Can't wait.

[GrainReaper]

All this talk of bloodlines....

Strictly from a genetic level I'm Scottish, Irish, Germanic, Russian, Eastern European, Italian-Greek, French, British, Scandinavian.....

I'm a mix of all of Europe it would seem! Does my pie-slice of Scot make me ineligible to feel connected to the kilt than others?

The important thing for me is family, upbringing, and a love of the kilt, as opposed to composition, I'm reminded of recent story of the island of proud Scottish people who discovered that they aren't scots at all but of Viking heritage.

Besides... some of the best turned out gents in kilts I know aren't even Scottish, but rather honor the kilt by their pride in wearing it.

[Mike S]

We are no longer bound to swear allegiance to a chief and feudal clan system, and haven't for many centuries. Those of us with Scottish blood now honor our history and heritage only. Therefore one doesn't have to neglect all of the clans that may exist in your family tree save for just one.

Regarding the implication that only paternal heritage counts, my reply to such silliness is always the same: If the present titles Lord of the Isles and Duke of Edinburgh can be bestowed upon a Royal family of primarily German/Danish ancestry, with the only Scottish heritage existing on the maternal side (and most of that lowland), then the rest of us can damned well count ours as fully acceptable and legitimate thank you very much. Not to mention a few Scottish Earls/Countesses and Clan Chiefs currently in place, and also pending, who inherited such honors through their maternal side, or that of their maternal ancestor.