Clan membership

[Gillg]

I was always told that the ancestors of my gt-gt-grandfather George Adamson, born 1806 in Ruthwell, Dumfries and Galloway, were members of the MacDonald clan, but looking at lists of clan membership surnames, that doesn't seem likely.  However my mother had a clan badge saying "Touch not the cat bot a glove", which is the Macdonald motto.  I read that they were a Highland clan, yet George was born a Lowland Scot.  I suppose it's possible that his ancestors came from further north, but I'm afraid I have no further evidence.

Can anyone explain this conundrum to me, please?

[Forfarian]

The modern lists of if-your-name-is-xxx-you-are-a-member-of-Clan-zzz are largely a load of hogwash invented in the 19th and 20th centuries by the Brigadoon industry as a means of generating sales. Certainly there are some - even many - nuggets of truth lurking among the rubbish, but the clans were a social feature of the Gaelic-speaking Highlands that did not extend into the Lowlands. Most Scots lived in the Lowlands and did not belong to any Highland clan.

You are absolutely right to question this if your grandfather was born in the southern extremity of the country, as far from the Highlands as it is possible to get and still be in Scotland.

Usually, these lists say that Adamson is a sept of Clan Gordon. This is based on the fact that yes, the given name Adam was common among Gordons, and yes, there were Adamsons who belonged to Clan Gordon. But the name Adam is of biblical original and was used all over the Judaeo-Christian world, so there must be countless sons of Adam who have no connection whatsoever to Clan Gordon.

I'm a bit surprised that you say that Touch not the Cat bot a Glove is a Macdonald motto, because it is generally said to be the motto of Clan MacPherson or by extension of the Clan Chattan confederation, which included Clan MacPherson, Clan MacIntosh and others. I've always understood the Clan Donald motto to be Per mare per terras ('by sea and by land') but it's quite possible that a branch of Clan Donald might have used Touch not the Cat bot a Glove.

It is quite likely that somewhere among the forebears of your gt-gt-grandfather George Adamson there were Gordons or MacDonalds or members of Clan Chattan, that his ancestors had moved south at some point, and that the family story of the clan links was handed down over generations.

I suggest that you concentrate on finding out definite facts, and put any possible clan connections on the back burner unless and until you come up with a definite link.

[Gillg]

Forfarian, you are absolutely right, of course, the motto is that of the Mackintosh clan.  That was my error, though not a deliberate one. 
At the moment I am trying to reconnect with a distant relative who is descended from another branch of the family, but who has an extensive family tree which might suggest earlier Highland Scots connections.  These family stories are so hard to prove, especially now that those who perhaps knew more are no longer with us.
Thank you for your helpful comments. 

[Forfarian]

Your relative's chart sound like a good starting point.

Check it out as far as possible by viewing the original records at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk which is the source of the majority of Scottish birth/baptism, banns/marriage and death (but not burial) records, plus the census and many other documents.

Another point. You say "Ruthwell, Dumfries and Galloway". This has been correct for less than half a century. Dumfries and Galloway is a local government area invented as such in 1975. Historical documents are mainly based on the traditional counties that were swept away (except for 'ceremonial' purposes) by the reorganisation of local government that year. In the case of Ruthwell, it is a parish in Dumfries-shire, also known as the County of Dumfries.

[Gillg]

Yes, it is annoying to find references to modern county names replacing the older names.  I have connections with the old county of Westmorland, now irritatingly named Cumbria, lumped together with old Cumberland. Relatives there give their address as Appleby-in-Westmorland,  Cumbria to show their displeasure at the new name.

[Forfarian]

Yes, it is annoying to find references to modern county names replacing the older names.  I have connections with the old county of Westmorland, now irritatingly named Cumbria, lumped together with old Cumberland. Relatives there give their address as Appleby-in-Westmorland,  Cumbria to show their displeasure at the new name.

Yes, I have friends who do the same.

But it's much more worrying when genealogy web sites use the modern areas, because for example Banff is now in Aberdeenshire, but two-thirds of the County of Banff is in Moray, all of which is potentially very confusing if you are looking for ancestors in Banffshire.

[GrahamSimons]

Yes, it is annoying to find references to modern county names replacing the older names.  I have connections with the old county of Westmorland, now irritatingly named Cumbria, lumped together with old Cumberland. Relatives there give their address as Appleby-in-Westmorland,  Cumbria to show their displeasure at the new name.

....and Cumbria was abolished on 1st April 2023! There are now two unitary authorities neither of which has boundaries which match the earlier counties of Westmorland and Cumberland.

[Forfarian]

....and Cumbria was abolished on 1st April 2023!

Good heavens, that had escaped me.

The BBC doesn't seem to have noticed - its news web site still has a section for Cumbria. But then it has to make space for six items on football in that section alone, so I suppose there wasn't room for a report on the abolition of Cumbria.

Or .... you did say 1 April didn't you?

[hdw]

Gillg, you may be interested to know, if you don't already, that Ruthwell is the site of a famous relic of the past, the Ruthwell Cross, which has an inscription in Old English (Anglo-Saxon), carved in runes. I learned about it in the course of my English Language studies at university many years ago. That's a bit of genuine history for you! You'll see from the Wikipedia article that Ruthwell was part of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Before that, the local language would have been Brythonic, a sort of Old Welsh. A far cry from the Highlands and their clans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthwell_Cross

As for Lowland names being associated with Highland clans, books on the subject will tell you that my surname, Watson, is a "sept" of Clan Buchanan. But my Watsons were fisherfolk in the East Neuk of Fife, and the Buchanans were a clan in the area of Loch Lomond in the west of Scotland. Yes, there may have been people called Watson in the Loch Lomond area who sought the protection of the local bigwig, the chief of the Buchanans, but they were no relation to other Watsons throughout Lowland Scotland, not to mention England.

I once corresponded with a Canadian whose Davidson ancestors came from my Fife village, and he knew all about the Highland Davidsons and their clan battles, etc., so I had a job on my hands persuading him that his Davidsons were Lowlanders like my Watsons who wouldn't have known a word of Gaelic and never wore tartan of any description in their lives.

Harry