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NEWSLETTER OF THE SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF TIDEWATER The Thistledown Volume 17, Issue 2 March-April 2001
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| President’s Message | ||||
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As I write this, my final President’s message, I am astonished at how swiftly my two years in office have gone by. I am also inclined to reflect upon our many accomplishments as a Society over that time. None of these achievements would have been possible without the creativity, support and involvement of our members.
The Society now has a presence on the Internet thanks to Scott MacGregor’s development of our website. The Board has augmented our by-laws by writing a Procedures Manual to further guide the everyday operation of our Society and to make the transition to new leadership smoother. We’ve had beautiful new medallions, depicting the Society logo, produced for our past, current, and future Presidents to wear as they attend various Scottish functions near and far. Last, but not least, we’ve hosted a well-attended Tartan Day, laying the groundwork for future celebrations of our rich heritage. We are also using email more and more to communicate with our membership. Please, if you haven’t notified the Society of your email address, please let me know immediately. If you haven’t been getting regular announcements from the Society, then we don’t have an address for you. My tenure as President has been a wonderful experience personally. I have learned and grown, and gotten to know so many of you better, as a result. And so, I leave the responsibility of guiding our organization to my successor. I take with me the treasured friendships and memories of two extraordinary years. Thank you.
Your aye,
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| Celebrate! Tartan Day 2001 | ||||
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Full coverage of our celebration is available on the events page of the Society website http://www.TidewaterScots.com/tartan/SSTday2001.html Join us at Greenbrier Mall on Saturday, April 7th from 10:00am to 5:00pm for a day of demonstrations, history, and exchange of culture. Come visit the many society displays and check out the wonderful laddies and lassies giving demonstrations in Highland and country dance — visit them and inquire about becoming involved. Enjoy the unique sounds of the Highland bagpipes as played by a number of our local groups and solo players as well as the sounds of the Scottish fiddle.
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| Captain John McDowell | ||||
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Magdalene Woods, a daughter of Michael Woods, Senior, of Blair Park, and Mary Campbell, his wife, was born in 1706, and died in 1810.
She first married Captain John McDowell, who fell in battle with the Shawnee Indians at Balcony Falls, where the North River comes into the James, in 1743. She married secondly, Benjamin Borden, Jr., whom she survived, and thirdly, Colonel John Bowyer. From Waddell’s Annals of August County, Virginia, page 37: “On the 28th of February 1739, John McDowell, who settled in Borden’s Grant, made oath at Orange Court that ‘he imported himself, Magdaline, his wife, and Samuel McDowell, his son, and John Rutter, his servant, at his own charge from Great Britain in the year 1737, to dwell in this colony, and that this is the first time of proving their rights in order to obtain land pursuant to the royal instructions’”. Waddell further says, “Captain John McDowell, was a prominent Captain of a military force of Augusta County in 1742. Ephraim McDowell, then an old man, was a member of his son John’s company. All grown men were enrolled without respect to age.” “Captain John McDowell did not long enjoy the honor and perform the duties of his office. He and seven of his men were killed in a fight with Indians on December 14, 1742, on North River near Balcony Falls, within the present county of Rockbridge. A letter from Judge Samuel McDowell, son of Capt. McDowell, written to Colonel Arthur Campbell in 1808, gives a somewhat detailed account of this first conflict of whites with Indians. Judge McDowell states that about the first of Dec. 1742, a party of thirty three Delaware Indians came into the settlement in Borden’s Grant, saying they were on their way to assail the Catawba tribe, with which they were at war. They professed friendship for the whites, and were entertained for a day by Captain McDowell, who treated them with whisky.” “From McDowell’s they went down the south branch of the North River and encamped seven or eight days. They hunted, went to the homes of white people, scaring women and children, taking what they wanted, and shot horses running at large. Complaint being made to Colonel Patton, the County Lieutenant, he ordered Captain McDowell to call out his company and conduct the Indians beyond the white settlement. The company consisted of thirty three or four men, and embraced all the settlers in what is now Rockbridge county. In the meanwhile, the Indians moved their camp further south. The company of white men thirty three in number overtook the Indians and accompanied them beyond Peter Sallings, then the furthest white settlement. About one-half of the company were on horseback, and the remainder on foot. One of the Indians was lame, and fell behind, all the whites passing him except one. The lame Indian left the path and went into the woods, and the white man who was in the rear fired his gun at him. Immediately the Indians raised the war-whoop and the fight began.” As stated, the Captain and seven of his men were killed. For a time the result was doubtful, but finally the Indians gave way, leaving seventeen of their men dead on the ground. The survivors took to the Blue Ridge, and pursued it till they reached the Potomac River. Several who were wounded died on the way and it was learned that only ten of them reached their home in Pennsylvania. The people of the settlement gathered on the field of slaughter and says Foote ‘took the men (eight) bloody corpses, on horse back and laid them side by side near McDowell’s dwelling while they prepared their graves in overhwelming sorrow.’” “John McDowell’s grave may still be found in the family burying ground near Timber Ridge Church, marked by a rough stone.” From Robin Willis Capt. John McDowell is Robin Willis’ GGGGG grandfather, born in Ireland of a Scottish family. Her sister, Linda McDowell Swann found this article in a report on Capt. McDowell’s wife, Magdalene Woods.
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| News from Scotland | ||||
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The Scottish Parliament is to send an official all-party delegation to the United States to take part in Tartan Day celebrations for the first time. The move is designed to avoid a repeat of last year’s diplomatic incident when the British ambassador in Washington was accused of snubbing the SNP. But the plan for a high-profile group of party leaders to boost Scotland’s image in the US could fall flat because the April 6 event—seen as Scotland’s answer to St. Patrick’s Day—is likely to fall at the start of the General Election campaign. First Minister Henry McLeish is still expected to go to Washington as leader of a separate Scottish Executive delegation for Tartan Day. But SNP leader John Swinney, the Tories’ David McLetchie and Lib Dem Jim Wallace are unlikely to leave the country just as the election campaign is getting under way. Last year, the Scottish Parliament’s deputy presiding officers, George Reid and Patricia Ferguson, both attended the celebrations. But the then SNP leader Alex Salmond was furious when he and other Nationalist politicians were left off the guest list for a reception at the British embassy. The ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer was said to have remarked he “didn’t want them in my house”, although he later denied it. Mr. Salmond, complained at the time it was “totally out of order” if diplomats were getting involved in party politics. In the end, SNP politicians did attend the function and the party has no plans to rake up the incident again. A spokesman said : “They said they had mistakenly omitted us from the initial invitations.” The Nationalists welcome the decision to send an official delegation to this year’s event. “It is a positive development,” said the spokesman. Actor Sir Sean Connery is due to be presented with the prestigious William Wallace Award at the event for his contribution to Scottish-American relations. From Ian Swanson in the Evening News, 20 February 2001 Their ancestors fought for honour and glory in some of Scotland’s bloodiest battles. But now two of the country’s most distinguished families have found themselves in a new clash—for commercial advantage—over which has the older home. The dispute threatens to pit two dynasties and their historic houses against each other in an east-west feud over which property has been occupied longest. Patrick Boyle, the tenth Earl of Glasgow and the laird of Kelburn Castle, has taken exception to the description of Traquair House in the Borders as the “oldest inhabited house in Scotland, visited by 27 kings”. Catherine Maxwell Stuart, a descendant of the Stuart kings, whose title is the Lady of Traquair House, makes her claims on the Peebles-shire property’s website. However, the earl maintains the Maxwell Stuarts are relative new kids on the block when it comes to the Scottish aristocracy. He stressed that his home, at Fairlie, near Largs in Ayrshire, is the oldest house in Scotland to be continuously inhabited by the same family. The earl’s ancestors fought against the invading Norwegians at the battle of Largs in 1263, while the Maxwell Stuarts are descended from members of the family who fought the English at Flodden in 1513 and joined the Jacobites at Culloden in 1746. The family has lived at Kelburn since 1140 and he points out that while a royal charter indicates the existence of a structure at Traquair in 1107, the Maxwell Stuarts were relative newcomers who only moved to Traquair in 1491. The 61-year-old earl, who has lived at 70-roomed Kelburn with his family for 15 years, said; “If we had only had the castle for four generations, I don’t think I would feel so duty-bound to contest this claim … We are the oldest castle in Scotland to be inhabited by the same family. It is really quite a claim and something that makes us stand apart from a lot of the much grander castles in Scotland.” However, Mrs. Maxwell Stuart, 35, and husband Mark, also 35, remain unimpressed. She said: “We all like to lay claim to something or other and we are always looking for money to carry out repairs and so on. It’s important to be able to lay claim to something as a way of publicising your castle, and everyone wants more visitors. If people are going to make these claims they should have the evidence. We are used to people trying to defy us, but it’s never quite worked.” Traquair was a royal hunting lodge until 1478, when it passed to a branch of the Royal Stuart family, from whom the Maxwell Stuarts are descended. The famous Bear Gates at the house have remained closed since 1745 since Bonnie Prince Charlie walked through them. The fifth earl promised they would not be opened again until the restoration of the Stuart monarch. From Alistair Dalton in The Scotsman, 15 February 2001
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| Book Review | ||||
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Paterson, James. History of the Counties of Ayr & Wigton [Scotland]. Volume I: Kyle, Parts 1 and 2. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2000. A facsimile reprint of the 1863 edition, published in Edinburgh by James Stillie. This reprint of Paterson’s work is a “detailed parish history of the Scottish counties of Ayr and Wigton. Each parish … visited is described in terms of etymology, civil and ecclesiastical history … antiquities and a preponderance of anecdotes and sketches conveying much local color.” If you have family historical ties to this area of southwest Scotland, this book is a must. Detailed information on families including BARCLAY, BLAIR, BOYD, BRUCE, CAMPBELL, CRAWFORD, DOUGLAS, DUNBAR, EGLINTON, GLENCAIRN, HAMILTON, KENNEDY, MONTGOMERY, MUIR, STEWART and WALLACE, among other surnames, is provided. A detailed index provided in Part 2, provides access to the people and places in both parts. Volume 2 is available for Carrick ($29.20). Available from Heritage Books, Inc. (http://www.heritagebooks.com or 1-800-398-7709) for $81.00 plus $4.00 shipping and handling. Drake, Paul. What Did They Mean By That? A Dictionary of Historical & Genealogical Terms Old & New. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 2000. Ever wondered about the meaning of blue blood (arising from the blue appearance of the blood vessels when viewed through the fair and untanned skin of those not engaged in physical labor…) or yeoman (quite usually one who owned or had previously owned land in small quantity…). This is a wonderful source of definitions from early times to modern day that will be a constant source of assistance in research of all kinds. Available from Heritage Books, Inc. (http://www.heritagebooks.com or 1-800-398-7709) for $28.00 plus $4.00 shipping and handling.
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