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MY MATERNAL ANCESTORS - MALCOLM/MC KAY
My maternal grandfather, James Robertson Malcolm
About 1960, Brookline, Massachusetts
My grandfather was James Robertson Malcolm. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland on December 22, 1879. His was the son of Alexander Malcolm and Mary Robertson, both of Aberdeen. He came to this country with his mother, who was listed as "matron" in 1887 and resided some time after that in Milton, Massachusetts. He married my grandmother, (1)Minnie McKay of Nova Scotia, Canada, b. unknown, died in the influenza epidemic of 1918.
On the marriage register of his parents (Alexander Malcolm/Mary Robertson) his father was listed as a Stonemason, son of Alexander Malcolm and Barbara Donald of Aberdeen. View their marriage register.
"In September of 1918, soldiers at an army base near Boston suddenly began to die. The cause of death was identified as influenza, but it was unlike any strain ever seen. As the killer virus spread across the country, hospitals overfilled, death carts roamed the streets and helpless city officials dug mass graves. It was the worst epidemic in American history, killing over 600,000--until it disappeared as mysteriously as it had begun."
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SCOTLAND
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The music you hear is "The Flower of Scotland", the National Anthem. Aberdeen, Scotland was and is still called "The Flower of Scotland. |
THE TARTANS OF THE CLANS - "Tartans (woven plaids) have become synonymous with Scotland and Scottish clans and families in particular. However, tartans were originally a style of cloth intended to be decorative. They had patterns that were popular within certain districts of manufacture, they relied on a limited range of colour dyes and were made of the local coarser type of wool.
This has lead to the idea of district tartans being the original association, between the land, the community and its cloth. Where there was a strong clan within a district, as was often the case in the highlands, then visitors from other areas might well have been recognised as of a clan from their tartan. This must have been true of visitors from the Western Isles, for instance. It is this concept of clan tartans that today predominates, but the use of tartan is yet richer.
When tartan was proscribed by law, the Government or Black Watch pattern was the only legally one. This was used by the regiments raised within Scotland, forming the basis of the regimental tartans.
By the early 1800s, it was realised that the knowledge of tartans before the ´45 was being lost and, simultaneously, there was a romantic movement concerning Scotland's past. This lead to institutional and individual efforts to preserve tartan designs. Tartans were reconstructed from portraits, collected on pilgrimages, demanded from clan chiefs and recovered from weaver's notes.
Tartans became a backdrop. The weaving and tailoring industries were especially boosted by the visit to Edinburgh of George IV in 1822 and by Sir Walter Scott's statement, as the visit's manager, "Let every man wear his tartan". Queen Victoria gave considerable encouragement thereafter, though this encouraged both fantasy and fact in the study of tartan. (Some royal tartans remain the preserve of the House of Windsor or individual titles within it, just as clan chiefs sometimes have a chief's tartan.)
The significance of tartan as national dress, worn under various circumstances, created clan tartans for every "name", even those that previously had none. These were often supplemented by hunting tartans of subdued character and dress tartans which were brighter.
Further variety was added by fashion, fancy or trade tartans to fill any niche, including various colours of a single pattern, especially the more universal designs used for dancing. There were even some mourning tartans developed."
To view our families Tartan patterns see TARTANS OF SCOTLAND
SCOTLAND ON LINE
Welcome to Regionlink Scotland North East, the leading site for products, services and information from the North East of Scotland. The area is renowned throughout the world for quality products, including, whisky, haggis, seafood, salmon, game, arts & crafts. Aberdeen ,the main city, is the oil and gas capital of Europe resulting in many leading edge technology and engineering companies located throughout the North East. The traditional industries, farming and forestry, fishing and textiles still play a major role. The tourist industry is a large part in the area’s economy, with the coastline, rivers, mountains, castles, highland games and other tourist attractions enticing visitors to return time and again.
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©Joan Sholl Francis, 1999 - 2004. Email: joanfran@ptd.net
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