"O I wish I was a Lassie" : National Tartan Day! :)

"Oh ye tak' the high road
And I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye...."

So today is the day every American who observes such holidays digs up their Scottish genealogy and displays their clan tartan proudly. Or, if you are like me, you bemoan the fact that you came from the Irish MacWilliams, and look up your Scottish cousin's tartans! :P
So pretty much, here we are! These are the MacLeod Clan's crests! (MacWilliams being an offshoot of the MacLeod clan) The motto: Murus Aheneus Esto means: "Hold Fast" which relates to the time when the Clan Chieftain wrestled a bull to the ground and the crowd shouted "Hold Fast!" *Swoons at thought* ;)
I love the language of heraldry, and learning what various symbols mean. The crest within the crest badge is blazoned a bull's head cabossed sable, horned Or, between two flags gules, staved at the first. Basically, all these various symbols stand for such tangible things as diamonds, gold, rubies, and topaz, and for such virtues as faith, obedience, and gentility. Better and better! :)
As a clan badge, we can also wear a sprig of juniper in our hats, or for ladys, at the shoulder of our tartan sash. Which brings me to our tartan! :)

"What an unusual dress, Molly. Is that the tartan of your father's clan?"
"Oh...no, Mrs. Hamley. Papa said it was not like any proper tartan he'd ever seen. But Miss Rose said it was the latest fashion in London last season."
~Molly Gibson of Wives and Daughters


These are the tartans of the MacLeod clan. The loud yellow one was designed in 1841 under the name "MacLeod". It is sometimes called Dress MacLeod, or MacLeod of Lewis, supposedly to come from that side of the family. (though it was designed after the family of Lewes had ceased to be chiefs)
The blue tartan was recorded in 1831 but is thought to be much older. It is sometimes called MacLeod of Harris.
So here I am, sitting on National Tartan day wearing a bright and springy plaid shirt....and hoping that there is some genealogical mistake and we are actually from the Scottish MacWilliams. However it is, I have enjoyed the research I did! :)
~Rachel

The Family "Museum"

I love family history-things! :D For the past couple of days, Anna and I have been at my Grandmama and Grandaddy' house, helping Grandaddy clean after their church's VBS. During the in-between-times, Grandmama showed us a ton of family "artifacts". ;) We saw a dress from the `40's that my Great-Great-Grandmother had made, still in perfect condition. And then we were shown a bunch of sweet paintings that had hung in her house. They were not rich, so they are not originals, but framed prints. There is one great gorgeous one of the singer Jenny Lind, and then a few others. Also a huge framed print of some famous Revolutionary War painting. These things were really fun to see, but my favorites were the papers and photographs, and the stories that went along with them! My great-great-great-grandfather was a city jailer in Norfolk, Virginia. One night the prisoners broke out, and were about to shoot him, but one said, 'Don't shoot him- he was nice to me." So they locked him in a closet instead! :P It was all over the papers, and there are pictures of him, just as Grandmama has always described him; bowler hat, glasses, smart cane, and dapper suit. From what I hear, Great-great-great-grandfather was a bit of a dandy! :D
We were shown pictures of relatives, some unmarked. It was rather funny to see the "bathing suits" of the day, because they look like ruffly pillow-cases! :) Just like any other story there was some tragedy mixed up in the bunch. The lovely Gertie, with the most delicious dimples in her cheeks, traveled for years to try to recover from her tuberculosis, but ended up dying of it. Previously, her husband was killed by a cargo hook in a riot! :O One uncle, a police officer, was kicked by a drunken woman and died of blood poisoning! :( Rather gruesome ways of dying! But then there were some sweet stories to go along with the sadness! My Great-great-grandmother married one Gates brother, and they had my Great-grandmother. But only two years later, that Gates brother died. A couple of years later my Great-great-grandmother married the other Gates brother, and they had two more children and lived happily ever after! :) I love stories like that! :) And then there were pictures of the most deliciously adorable babies, and we aren't even sure who they are! Anyway, this may not be interesting to anyone but myself, but I just LOVE family history! The little oddities that surface when rummaging through attics, and the secrets lying on the pages of long-forgotten papers...it's enthralling! I got a peep at my Great-great-grandmother's marriage certificates! On one of them, the clerk had not finished the year! All it said was "September (something or another), 190-". He probably just forgot to finish it! But it is much more funny to imagine something about that clerk. Maybe it was a quiet wedding, and he had had a little too much of a nip at the champagne provided for the wedding party! During the ceremony, the pastor' droning voice lulled him to sleep over his pen. A few minutes later with a loud"ahem!" the clerk woke to the gruff pastor, and the loving couple watching him anxiously. With an incoherent mumble, and a rough rubbing of his suspiciously rosy nose, the clerk took up his pen again, and, not being quite himself, could not remember the year, and so skipped it, and quickly finished the certificate, hoping no one would notice. There! I have incriminated the poor clerk of over 100 years agone! Justice comes someday! ;D Hey! Wouldn't it be fun if each family could have a sort of family museum, where all the treasures were displayed? It would be so much the better to be able to enjoy and learn about the things from people who knew the owners of them, than to wait till they've all died off, and everything is merely speculation! :) Just an idea! -Rachel