While I do not know much about my Scottish ancestors, I do know that they were part of the Rutherford clan. Since I have Scottish ancestors, I decided to learn more about exactly what the Scottish Clans are all about. My search took me to www.scotclans.com, where I found quite a bit of information about my ancestors’ clan and about the clan system.
The clan system in Scotland is a means by which Scots and their descendants all over the world can share a sense of common identity. The clans originated from geographical areas that were controlled by the clan chiefs. Many of these regions have an ancestral castle, or they did at one time. Each clan started as a large group of people that lived on each chief’s land, an extended family all of whom supposedly descended from one progenitor. Over time, as people migrated onto and off of each chief’s land, unrelated people became part of the clans. Most of these people eventually adopted the clan’s surname. Today, anyone who has a clan chief’s surname may become a part of that clan, if the chief accepts that person’s allegiance.
Unfortunately, as I was learning about Scottish clans, I learned that I am not a part of my ancestors’ clan because clan membership goes through the surname. In other words, it does not pass to the children of a married woman who has taken her husband’s surname, as my mother has. Even though I am not a member of my ancestors’ clan, I did want to learn more about clan tartans, the plaid fabrics that are traditionally worn by the Scottish clans as identifying garments.
When I looked into how the clan tartans had come into use, I was surprised to learn that many clans became associated with their clan tartans as the result of a 19th century hoax. The Allen brothers from England decided to claim that they were descendants of Scottish royalty, and adopted names that went along with that. Using those names, they wrote what they claimed to be an illustrated reproduction of an ancient manuscript on clan tartans. The book, which was called the Vestiarium Scoticum, was later revealed to be a hoax. Even though the tartans associated with the clans in the Vestiarium Scoticum had not been chosen by the clans, many clans went on to make the tartans that they had been “assigned” in the book their “official tartan”.
What interesting historical information have you learned about your ancestors?