smokingboot (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smokingboot) wrote2018-06-18 07:43 am
smokingboot) wrote2018-06-18 07:43 am
Old Names
The wine didn't happen but a good night's sleep did, and it makes all the difference.
I still don't know what to do about the bro, and will forget it until a solution occurs to me. Today is for work and a champagne tasting tonight. But first, diversion.
I've been doing a little genealogy recently on my father's side because it's the easiest for me to access at the moment. His mother's line quickly moves west of the waves, my great-great-grandparents coming from Ireland and Londonderry. Dad always told me we had links to the Campbells of Argyle, and it seems true, though possibly remote. Campbell as a name is obviously that of the famous clan (apparently it comes from the gaelic, meaning 'crooked mouth,' ie 'liar' or from the Irish MacCathmhaoil meaning 'battle chief') the movement of Celtic folk across the Mull of Kintyre seems to have been constant since ancient times, but the reason the Campbell name is common around the Ulster area is due to the influx of redshanks from the clan, moving in during the Plantation. But GGGrandfather's mother was an O'Neil, GGGrandmother's parents surnames are solidly Irish, and suddenly we are into Emerald Isle ancestors, which I want to do properly. I thought I'd back up and try something easy, like the Scottish ancestors.
What an idiot I was. One line reveals three, count them, three James MacPherson MacLachlans one after the other. Well, GGrandad,GGGrandad and GGGGrandad, I'd like to thank you all but the truth is I am agog at either your unwavering traditionalism or unilateral lack of originality. And to help things along, just in case the family was in any danger of running out of Jameses, brothers might be given the same name, only with the second name first, so one brother could be James William while the other might be William James. Both would, in all likelihood, be named after a father and a grandfather who did exactly the same thing. And then they'd stick surnames on, and you'd think it would generally be Mother's surname and Dad's which of course it could be but don't go counting on it. It could be some other ancestral name. So you might have a quite narrow allocation of first names endlessly reiterated then followed by a plethora of surnames and the only thing to be sure of is that there's a precedent in the family line somewhere. After a sea of Jameses I find William. William's father was called William. I've gone back 200 years down one line of the family tree, and I have only found two male first names. Oh, and we're MacLachlans, so that's not so bad.
I haven't pursued MacPherson yet, but it's got a very cool motto on the family coat of arms; 'Touch not the cat but a glove,' with a distinctly temperamental looking moggie in the middle of it. MacLachlan's coat of arms displays a fortress build on strawberry leaves. I have no idea why, and am going nowhere near heraldry, lest I lose my mind.
But the whole thing is like studying in a very old library. However intriguing, the dust gets to you, and anyway, why do it? Does it please obscure ancestors? I prefer stuff about human migrations etc rather than actual genealogy, but having started this, I feel a peculiar compunction to just chase as far back as I possibly can, even if it's only a couple of lines. Trouble is, I just dashed through it, and didn't take proper notes of the dates. I am at 1809 right now. To do it properly I should go back and check all the certificates. Not sure I have the discipline.
And that really must be the end of this diversion for now.
I still don't know what to do about the bro, and will forget it until a solution occurs to me. Today is for work and a champagne tasting tonight. But first, diversion.
I've been doing a little genealogy recently on my father's side because it's the easiest for me to access at the moment. His mother's line quickly moves west of the waves, my great-great-grandparents coming from Ireland and Londonderry. Dad always told me we had links to the Campbells of Argyle, and it seems true, though possibly remote. Campbell as a name is obviously that of the famous clan (apparently it comes from the gaelic, meaning 'crooked mouth,' ie 'liar' or from the Irish MacCathmhaoil meaning 'battle chief') the movement of Celtic folk across the Mull of Kintyre seems to have been constant since ancient times, but the reason the Campbell name is common around the Ulster area is due to the influx of redshanks from the clan, moving in during the Plantation. But GGGrandfather's mother was an O'Neil, GGGrandmother's parents surnames are solidly Irish, and suddenly we are into Emerald Isle ancestors, which I want to do properly. I thought I'd back up and try something easy, like the Scottish ancestors.
What an idiot I was. One line reveals three, count them, three James MacPherson MacLachlans one after the other. Well, GGrandad,GGGrandad and GGGGrandad, I'd like to thank you all but the truth is I am agog at either your unwavering traditionalism or unilateral lack of originality. And to help things along, just in case the family was in any danger of running out of Jameses, brothers might be given the same name, only with the second name first, so one brother could be James William while the other might be William James. Both would, in all likelihood, be named after a father and a grandfather who did exactly the same thing. And then they'd stick surnames on, and you'd think it would generally be Mother's surname and Dad's which of course it could be but don't go counting on it. It could be some other ancestral name. So you might have a quite narrow allocation of first names endlessly reiterated then followed by a plethora of surnames and the only thing to be sure of is that there's a precedent in the family line somewhere. After a sea of Jameses I find William. William's father was called William. I've gone back 200 years down one line of the family tree, and I have only found two male first names. Oh, and we're MacLachlans, so that's not so bad.
I haven't pursued MacPherson yet, but it's got a very cool motto on the family coat of arms; 'Touch not the cat but a glove,' with a distinctly temperamental looking moggie in the middle of it. MacLachlan's coat of arms displays a fortress build on strawberry leaves. I have no idea why, and am going nowhere near heraldry, lest I lose my mind.
But the whole thing is like studying in a very old library. However intriguing, the dust gets to you, and anyway, why do it? Does it please obscure ancestors? I prefer stuff about human migrations etc rather than actual genealogy, but having started this, I feel a peculiar compunction to just chase as far back as I possibly can, even if it's only a couple of lines. Trouble is, I just dashed through it, and didn't take proper notes of the dates. I am at 1809 right now. To do it properly I should go back and check all the certificates. Not sure I have the discipline.
And that really must be the end of this diversion for now.