James MacCash, founder of the Order of Scottish Clans in America, now having 20,000 members, was born August 16th, 1834, in Springburn, Glasgow, Scotland, a hand loom weaving district. He was a draw boy to a hand loom weaver. The Jacquerd machine was being adopted that did the work of the boys, and he was put on the loom and wove different cloths, including Tartans, from the Menzies of two colors to the Royal Stuart of six colors -- this is the lowest and highest number of colors in all the Tartans; the Menzies has thirty-two checks and the Stuart forty-two checks in their design. Mr. MacCash is still hale and hearty and makes his home in St. Louis, Mo.
Tartan is a name given to the cloth of different families in the North of Scotland, known as the Scottish Clans. There are ninety families that have their own cloth or Tartan, all different from each other in design. Thirty-five families use the name "Mac" the name "Mac" having been passed down from the early clan days in Scotland and from them are many descendants. "Mac" means "child or children of" and the "O" in some Celtic names means the "grand child of grand children of." Fifty-five families, having names without the "Mac," have their own Tartan. There are also many fancy designs of Tartan.
"Tartan" is said not to be a Gaelic word: "Breacan" is a Gaelic word and means "spots or checks." "Tartan" is a word that has been used by the people of the Lowlands of Scotland when applied to the cloths of the families of the North. The word, "Tartan" means "proportion."
There are eighty-four family cloths, all proportionate in their design in reading or counting the threads or checks from center to outside or from outside to center. The four sides of the eighty-four designs (as east, west, north, south) are the same in threads, checks and colors: that is "proportion" and means, "Tartan." There are seven family cloths that are double patterns or designs; they are also Tartan: Sutherland, Murray, Gordon, Forbes, Campbell of Argyle, Campbell of Loudon, and the 42nd of Black Watch, the main pattern of which is the Sutherland Tartan.
Breacan, as cloth for wearing by the people, was home spun, home wove, home made from the wool of the sheep. The design of Tartan is a square or squares, of different colors, checking themselves at the corners of the square. The rule or plan of making these designs of Tartan has been two threads of home spun wool to the sixteenth of an inch, or thirty-two threads to one inch of the pattern. A pattern can be made larger by increasing the number of threads proportionately. There are cotton and silk Tartans, with many different sizes and patterns; but the home spun wool is the standard for the Scottish Clans.
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