[Leica] I am visiting Australia

[bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce)]

Clayton, please accept my excuses for not replying to your detailed  
account. I greatly enjoyed and appreciated it. I was busy working-out  
situations for my folks, 87 and 94.

I had a jacket made, many years ago, from an hunting McKay  
cloth .............. and still enjoy wearing it; much to the chagrin  
of those around me here. In Scotland, it fits fine! It's very similar  
to an hunting Graham .............. which is my father's  
line ............... and he had that tailored.

Many years ago (late late 60s), I met with the ladies of the family  
producing Whyte and McKay's and marketing it, from an office in  
Aberdeen. They allowed me to taste their new venture, a single malt,  
which was not yet on the market and a totally new products for them.  
I was traveling with the salesman from the company which produced the  
original cellulose seals for the paper US tax label for the world. We  
visited many distilleries that week ...............

Ta-ta the noo,
B.


On 18-mrt-2006, at 1:09, R. Clayton McKee wrote:

> On 17 Mar 2006 at 21:06, bruce wrote:
>
>> That's the beginning of the "clear-up" ............. thanks Clayton.
>>
>> What are the origins of the McKee .................. if you have a
>> moment.
>
>
> Well, I inherited it from Dad, who got it from his father; beyond
> that I really don't have any way to know.  My particular branch of
> the family is somewhat given to "improving" history in that regard,
> and so far none of the "old family stories" have ever actually held
> up when compared to verifiable facts in the historical record, so....
>
> As far as I can determine, it's originally Gaelic, but the origin
> name, approximately rendered as "Aoidh," would likely have been
> either a nickname or some sort of honorific bestowed on someone or
> other, probably as an apres-melee battlefield honor, and so it's
> likely that there was more than one such individual.
>
> Currently, there's a Clan McKay, which is where most of the McKees
> and McGees (the two are equivalent here since the Gaelic spelling has
> no direct English equivalent) and McKays and whatnot fall into the
> chart (there are about thirty or forty surnames in the clan).
> There's also a McKay that's a sept of Clan Donald, with again several
> variant spellings.  It's a smaller group but still fairly sizable,
> Donald being I believe the most numerous of the various
> distinguishable clans.  I'm also told there's a group of usually
> McGees and some McKees who are actually of traceable lineage who are
> NOT McKay descendants at all, but were related to one degree or
> another to a certain notorious gent by name of Rob Roy MacGregor (of
> Liam Neeson fame) who found it somewhat advantageous to hide the
> relationship for various reasons relating to keeping their heads and
> hearths out of the hands and gaols of the Sassenach.
>
> The McKay lands are in the north, I believe, just west of the Clan
> Ross (and just as a historical joke my best friend here is a lineal
> descendant of THAT line.)
>
> And then there's the Irish group, about whom I know nothing beyond
> that they exist and are probably not blood kin of any significant
> sort to the Scots.
>
> And somewhere in all that, I'm a very very dilute descendant.  I've
> no idea how that branch of the family tree came to the New World.
>
> Oh... and, probably of greatest significant interest on THIS list,
> MacKay and Whyte, one of the longest continuous production
> distilleries in the Highlands, produces The Dalmore Single Malt...
> which I recommend for various reasons.  (Unfortunately some decades
> ago the company  was sold to a larger company outside of the clan, I
> forget which, but it's still reasonably drinkable anyway.)
>
> --
>
>
> R. Clayton McKee                           http://www.rcmckee.com
> Photojournalist                               rcmckee@rcmckee.com
> P O Box 571900                           voice/fax   713/783-3502
> Houston, TX 77257-1900                   cell phone #  on request
>
>
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