Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/08
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At 12:58 PM 3/8/03 -0800, Jerry Lehrer wrote:
>
>When we last visited Scotland and made a search of the Rutherford
>clan genealogy, we found out that the Rutherfords were border
>reivers, who pillaged the English near the border.
>
>My wife's mother was a MacDonald, and they had a different
>reputation. Bloodier yet, I believe.
>
>BTW, are we supposed to consider Marc the Small, as an arbiter
>of who are the real Scots? I'll wager that he can't drink Laphroig.:-)
Sorry, Jerry, but the Smalls are merely a minor sept (attendant family) of
Clan Murray. Two of my uncles died at Culloden, fighting under Lord George
Murray for the King Over The Water. They wouldn't let their baby brother
come along, and it is him from whom I am descended.
I haven't my Scots literature at hand so I cannot discuss your putative
"Clan" Rutherford, but a group which were Border reivers were not
Highlanders. See, inter multa alia, George MacDonald Fraser's book on the
borders for a rather explicit discussion of the difference. Some of these
reiver families were nasty enough to scare the Brits, though the
Highlanders kept them in line. We have a number of Rutherfords and
Rutherfoords locally, but they claim descent from the Highlands.
Don't fall for the grand commercialization of being either Scots or Irish,
Jerry. Put some effort into the study and you can learn much but merely
buying a plaque with the "family crest" and a mimeographed history doesn't
cut it. And, certainly, do NOT invest in a "Clan Lehrer" kilt, both as
you'd probably not be able to wear it properly ("you have to swing your
hips like a cheap whore", a retired Sergeant out of the Gordons once told
me) and because there isn't a "Clan Lehrer" -- but, to make a buck, the
wool merchants will quickly concoct such and swear by their mother's blood
that it is true and accurate. If you'll come and spend a weekend in my
delightful home, however, I will share with you the design of the Blue
Ridge Highlands tartan and you certainly can wear that.
Wearing a tartan is as decisive an act as putting a political bumper
sticker on a car -- and floral decorations count for as much or more among
the knowledgeable. If I showed up in a Royal Stewart, I would be a cad.
If I showed up in a Campbell sett, the current Duke of Argyll, if he heard
of it, would be shocked. If I wore a Fraser tartan, it would be (and is)
viewed as a fine respect for my paternal grandmother's family. (Jerry, do
you recall that Gary Cooper/Paulette Goddard vehicle, THE UNCONQUERED
(1947)? The characther played by Ward Bond therein is an historical
figure, one John Fraser -- and he is my fourth-great-grandfather.)
Learn the turf. Our Clan Chief recently died, and I know not the new
fellow, but the late Duke of Atholl welcomed all who came into the Clan. I
suspect that you'd look fine in a green Murray tartan, and I'd be glad to
take you to the Santa Rosa Games which are still, I believe, the largest in
the nation. My father ran the Murray tent there for some years, a
quarter-century and more back.
Beannacht leibh,
Marc
msmall@infi.net FAX: +276/343-7315
Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir!
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