More on Septs

[MacSpadger]

But to add to the confusion the Morrison's of Perthshire are specifically mentioned as a sept of the Clan Buchanan. But how a Morrison family living here in the USA for, say, 200 years is supposed to know his family came from Perthshire I'll never know. So I just send all the Morrisons over to the Clan Morrison tent.

This is exactly the kind of thing that got me pondering. I have 5 separate direct ancestors (so far!), that have either Morrison or Morison spellings. They were living in Buchan and Banff in the 1700s and 1800's, not Perthshire ot the Western isles. But there again, Morrison is a very common name, simply meaning "son of Maurice", there are many English families with the surname Morrison who have no Scottish connections at all, in fact under the old spelling Moryson it is a very old English name that arrived with William the Conqueror. It's been pointed out that there were Morysons in Ireland, as Sir Richard Moryson was the Vice-President of Munster, but Moryson was born in England to an old English family, and he returned to England to live out his retirement and die. His son Francis emigrated from England in the 1600's and became Governor of Virginia. Two of his sons, Richard and Robert, emigrated to Virginia too.

So, hypothetically, some Virginian Morrisons could go to a USA highland games and see information that might make them think they were of Gaelic Highland extract, and buy some kilts, etc, while in fact it is the blood of Normans, Vikings, Angles and Saxons that courses through their veins.

I do see this kind of thing happening a lot. Even at piping competitions that I help run, we get American tourists come in on a fairly regular basis, (and by that I mean maybe 2 to 4 a day), saying "my surname is XXXXXXXXXXXXX, what tartan am I entitled to wear". If that question gets asked at a piping competition, I can only imagine that it gets asked far more frequently at a tartan shop.

Even if someone has researched their family tree thoroughly, the name might have no connection at all with any clan link. As I pointed out earlier, names of members of the MacDonald of Glencoe clan included MacAlasdair, MacEanruig, (MacHenry/ Henderson), MacStarken, Robertson, Rankin, Don, Matheson, Kennedy, MacIntyre and several other common Scottish names. Surname doesn't come into it.
The Gaelic naming system is also ignored, where the children do/did not inherit the family name, but only their father's. The chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe, for example, was known as Alasdair Maclain, not Alasdair MacDonald.
My proper name would be Adhamh MacGhabhain mic Alasdair, my father was Gabhran MacAdhamh mic Alasdair, as his father had the same name forename as me, Adhamh, but had the patronymic MacTeàrlaidh as his father was Teàrlaidh, so he was Adhamh MacTeàrlaidh, etc. Explain that with septs, if you will

Looking at my own personal history records, on my Mother's side I have ancestors who paid rent rolls to Gordons, Skenes, Forbes and Grants, so no doubt would have counted as members of those clans. That's certainly how at least two of them ended up on Drumossie Moor one April morning in 1746. However, no name links them with any of the banners they fought under.

In more recent times both of my Grandparents, (my Father's parents) worked for the Lord Lyon on his estate in Perthshire. They worked for him, lived in a cottage provided for him, my Grandad worked his land and ploughed his fields, my Granny was "in service" to him. At the time the Lord Lyon was Sir Francis Grant, would that have made my Grandparents part of Clan Grant? Some would say yes, under the old "bond of man-rent".

Ultimately I think the whole "sept" business could be a bit of harmless fun, (as many in Scotland view the whole business of kilt wearing/Clan membership, to be honest), but I meet many who take the whole thing as if it is gospel truth and it does kind of sadden me on two levels:
1. People are being taken advantage of.
2. People are happy to be taken advantage of just so long as it gives them a sense of belonging to something that they want to be part of, for whatever personal reasons they may have.

But that's just human nature, I guess. We are all still tribal somewhere deep within ourselves. We demonstrate this in many different ways, including joining forums like this where the thing that unites is is a bittie of coloured cloth we buckle round our waists.

Cheers to you all.