Mary Ann Syer: My Handcart Hero

Ok, so now it's been a LONG time since I've posted a story. We lost my Grandma Haun to MSA in March and between that and school and work I just haven't had time. But, I am trying to get back on track. I still don't know how frequent I will be, but hey, at least I am trying. So to make up for my long absence, I thought I would share with you one of my most favorite ancestors. And I mean favorite.

Mary Ann Syer was a hardcore pioneer renegade woman. And that appeals to me greatly. I like to think that my particular badass streak comes from her.

She was born in Nacton, Suffolk, England on January 1st or 2nd. The year gets a little fuzzy because apparently she frequently "used a woman's privilege of being younger than she was" when asked. Near as I can tell, it's between 1793-1795.

Her parents were William Syer and a Mary Ann whose last name was probably Fenn but that's not official. Her mom died when she was two or three and around 1803-ish her dad remarried. William became the official wheelwright of Waldringfield. His second wife died, presumably of birth complications of a son in 1815. He remarried a third time in 1816.

I haven't been able to dig up a lot on her childhood, though several accounts I have read through all agree on one thing: she did not get along with her first stepmother. One account claims she worked as a dairy maid and sang songs to the cows to get them to make more milk.

What I do know, is she married a William Smith in 1820ish and he was a butt. Like a huge butt. A huge drunk butt who beat her up a lot. She had five little girls with him: Mary Ann, Charlotte, Emma, Percella, and Hannah. Emma was the only child to live to adulthood. Mary Ann lost Charlotte in 1823, and Mary Ann Jr, Percella, and Hannah in 1832. Three kids gone in one year must have tore mama Mary Ann apart. Whatever happened that year, she must have had enough. True fact, I havent been able to find out what happened to William Smith. He either died (I wouldn't blame her if she killed him. Who knows) or she just decided to leave his drunk butt.

Nonetheless, She and little Emma found themselves doing odd jobs for the next while until 1837 she married a pretty rich tailor names William White. He had three kids of his own and I bet Mary Ann was longing for some more kiddos. And on top of the step kids she got, she had three more kids of her own. Elizabeth (My ancestor), Barnard, and Richard. When I say William White was a pretty rich tailor I mean LOADED for the 1800s. He had a big ol' tailor shop of his very own. Then he freakin died in 1842. Poor Mary Ann. But he did leave her a lot of cash (though his sons from his first marriage got most). But she had enough.

Unfortunately, as one account puts it "A widow with some money is often the prey of an unscrupulous man." And so it was. She married a William Hill (Someone's got a thing for Williams) and he was almost a big a butt as the very first William. He basically took all her money, spent it all, and died. Well, presumably died. Again, no one is really quite sure what happened to him. And it is at this point that Mary Ann decided she aint need no man and opened her own little clothing/laundromat sort of thing. And it is here that we find one of my favorite stories, taken from the Barnard White Family Book.

A Fichus is like a lace shawl

"Mary Ann was an independent and shrewd business woman. When her fortunes were at a low ebb, she established a hand laundry for special laces, fishus, and dainty clothes. She hired a number of women to help her and carried on a very successful business. On one occasion some fichus disappeared. Mary Ann was sure that one of the women working for her had taken them. For all she was small in stature she was indomitable in will. She forced the women to undress and she searched their clothing. Under the skirts of a Mrs. Legbeater she found the missing articles. After that no one dared try to steal from Mary Ann."

AKA, my great grandma conducted a strip search in Victorian England and I LOVE HER.

Sometimes when a person faces a lot of tragedy early on and through out their life, like Mary Ann, one tends to lose whatever since of God or religion they might have. And Mary did. She was never really religious. And then some LDS missionaries came to her door. Mary was baptized on March 11th, 1854, with many of her children to follow.

Mary Ann's Entry in the Horizon Passenger Log

It became Mary Ann's dream to go to Zion to be with the Saints. But several deaths in the family and the sheer financial burden of crossing an ocean halted those dreams.

Now her son Barnard's only dream was to be in the Royal Navy, however he was cursed with my ancestors (and my own) continual curse of being small of stature. And he missed the Royal Navy's minimum height requirement by half an inch. Which I thoroughly believe was a higher powers doing because soon after being turned down by the Navy, some missionaries offered to take him to America so he could get his fill of the sea. And it would save Mary Anne the cost of taking him with her when she was able to cross. So she sent him off in 1855 to America where I believe he worked in a farm near New York until his mother and family where able to arrive. He was about 15 years old at the time.

Mary Ann, like most of the European Saints who wanted to come to America literally gave up almost everything. Mary Ann sold the houses she was left in William White's will. She sold her business, a 1775 china tea set, all her silver stuff, and many precious things. Finally, on May 25th, 1856. Mary Ann set sail from Liverpool aboard the Horizon, a ship filled with Latter Day Saints. I find it highly poetic that my dear Mary Ann sailed on the Horizon toward her Zion. I also stumbled on this beautiful painting by Kenneth L. Rasmussen of the Horizon docked at Liverpool. I adore it.

Elizabeth White, Mary Ann's daughter and my ancestor, remarked in her autobiography that "We had a pleasant voyage with the exception of one storm. We had three deaths and three weddings. We had 856 passengers on board, all of the Mormon faith" They landed in Boston on June 20th, 1856 where Mary Ann was reunited with her son Barnard, who she exclaimed had gone from a boy to Man. From Boston, they took a train 1500 miles to Iowa City. Which was less pleasant than the ship according to Elizabeth, in a car with no seats and crammed like sardines. From Iowa City they walked 4 miles in the rain to a Mormon campground, and then traveled with their wagons to Omaha, Nebraska.

Mary Ann and her family were fortunate enough to be able to afford their own wagon and oxen, thus joining an independent handcart company under the leadership of Captain John Hunt also made of members who could afford their own handcart or wagon. Being late in the season, the danger of not making it to Utah before harsh winters set in forced a choice. Winter in Omaha, or push forward. They, along with the other companies also in Omaha decided to push on. And they set forth for Zion on September 3rd, 1956. Two days behind the Martin and Willie Handcart companies.

All was relatively still ok until they came to the last crossing of the Platte River. And then it started to get cold, and they still had to cross. I would like to point out that at this time Mary Ann was around 63, Elizabeth was 18, and Barnard was 16.

"In a few days we caught up to the Martin Handcart Company and many of them were getting quite worn out. The weather was fair and we got along quite well until we were well up the Platte River. Then the weather turned cold and stormy, and the handcart company was on one half rations. We were about 400 miles from Salt Lake City. The poor souls were giving out every day and laying their bodies down by the wayside." -Barnard

"It was getting cold. We finally reached the last crossing of the Platte River. Our company camped on the east side and the handcart company passed over that night. All our able bodied men turned out to help them carry women and children over the river. Some of our men went through the river seventy-five times. During the night six inches of snow fell. It was a terrible night for them. This was on the 20th of October." -Elizabeth

"Their suffering was intense that night, and the next morning there were thirteen dead bodies in camp. An old gentleman went out to get some wood, and the wolves caught him and ate and carried off his body. All that remained was his shoes and the feet were in them." -Barnard

After the crossing food started to get scarce. Soon, the men in the Hunt company were forced to start killing their own oxen, who were dying anyway. What little meat they had was willingly shared with the Martin company, with whom they had caught up with. Even though they themselves were near starving, Barnard remarked on the Martin company:

"They would rather die than live; and so much was this the feeling that a strong guard was kept at the rear to drive them along. They appeared to be like a lot of worn out cattle, lost all modesty and had no feeling for anything except to eat and die, but I cannot find language to express the sufferings of these people, and God forbid that I should ever witness such scenes again. " -Barnard

"We reached Devil's Gate. We could go no farther. Three of our oxen and one cow had died, and the rest of the company were in about the same condition. We had nothing to burn, only the sage brush from under the snow, and melt the snow off the sage for water to make our tea. We made our bread with sage water and soda, what little we had. The snow was then from three to ten inches deep. The ground was frozen so hard they could not drive the tent pins, so they had to raise the tent poles and stretch out the flaps and bank them with snow." -Elizabeth

It was at this point that Mary Ann, believing herself to be near death gathered her family. She remarked that her last wish was that her children make it to Zion. She told them she had no doubt the Lord would provide. And her faith was rewarded.

For in early October Brigham Young , who had not known of the late starting handcart companies, heard of their condition and sent the famous rescue companies east to find the desperately struggling saints.

"We were almost out of provisions. Our dear mother said she had never seen her dear family want for bread, but said the Lord would provide. About midnight that night all had retired, and we were awakened with a noise and thought it was the yelling of Indians. We got up expecting they were upon us, but to our great surprise the noise was caused by the teamsters of a relief train and some of the camp shouting for joy. They were loaded with all kinds of provisions --flour, bread, butter, meat of all kinds, but all frozen very hard. Everything was so good. The bread was like cake so sweet and nice. I remember we had to cut everything with a hatchet, but, oh, how thankful we all were that the Lord had answered our prayers and saved us from starvation. Through the timely action of Brigham Young in organizing the company, we were saved." -Elizabeth

Elizabeth was then sent ahead to help with a group of the elderly and young. Mary Ann and the remainder of her family would struggle forward for two more weeks, still near starvation, before being forced to camp near For Bridger for ten days. Then another relief team arrived with more food.

"The next morning we started for Salt Lake City. It took us ten days to go 115 miles passing through heavy snows. At night we would clear away the snow and pile some logs up and set them on fire. They would burn all night and helped to keep us from freezing. Our journey over Big Mountain can never be forgotten. The snow had drifted 20 feet deep, and we had to cut channels as much as ten feet deep. I had no shoes or boots on; my feet were in rags. On the morning of the 13th of December 1856 we passed through Emigration Canyon, and as we emerged there from we beheld with joy Salt Lake City about five miles in the distance." -Barnard

"Mary Ann sank into the snow and cried--whether in disappointment or in joy or both no one will ever know. This was the first time her family had seen her show any emotion except courage and deep faith. After the storm of tears was over, she wiped her eyes and trudged on down the trail, chin up and proud of their achievement. This same staunch courage kept her head high as they went through the streets of Salt Lake City, starving, careworn and weary, while the curious looked on at the last remnant of the pioneers of 1856. " -Barnard White Family Book

The following spring a Cabin was built in Draper for Mary Ann and Barnard (Elizabeth had married). in 1861 she moved with Barnard to Cache Valley to a little town called Paradise. Where her she was faced with her ongoing struggle to quit drinking tea. When she did quit, her health went down fast and Barnard raced to Salt Lake City to buy his mom some tea. When she protested he said "there is wisdom in all things and that if she needed her tea she should drink it"

And she did. And she got better. She spent that last few years of her life living between Barnard and Elizabeth, surrounded by her grandchildren. In 1882 Mary Ann suffered a stroke, completely paralyzing her. She passed on August 22nd, 1882, surrounded by her family. She had stated many times that the only husband she wanted waiting for her was William White, and was thus buried with the surname White, instead of Hill.

"On the twenty second of August, 1882, in Ogden, Utah, my dear Mother died at 7:15 A.M. She was 89 and 8 months old. She fell asleep without a struggle which was predicted upon her head by Patriarch Thomas Richardson. She was beloved by all who knew her. This was a day of great sorrow for me and I might say mingled with joy that she had laid down her body to rest from her labors. I hope that I shall be able to live so that I may be worthy of her society.

She was a most excellent woman, of strong determination and executive ability and genial disposition. She made friends wherever she went. She was a kind and affectionate mother and a strong advocate of the principles of the Gospel. I never knew her to waver. She was always willing to suffer trials and privations for the Gospel's sake and will certainly gain . the reward of the faithful. I thank God that I have been true to her as her son under all circumstances. My conscience is clear, and I know that I shall meet her again on the other side if I am faithful to the end."

I would like to take this opportunity to share my testimony with whoever stumbles across this page. I know my church is true with all my heart. I know that up there is a Heavenly Father who loves me in an unfathomable way. I know that he only sends us trials to make us stronger and to teach us. And I know, without a doubt, that when it comes my time he will be waiting with open arms and that someday I will get to meet my amazingly strong Grandma Mary Ann.

"Let us never forget that we have a marvelous heritage received from great and courageous people who endured unimaginable suffering and demonstrated unbelievable courage for the cause they loved. You and I know what we should do. God help us to do it when it needs to be done." - Gordon B. Hinckley

Charles Polk II & Delilah Tyler: Patriots on the Frontier

I know it's been a while since I have done an actual ancestor story, so I really hope you enjoy this one. The reason I have been delaying so long is because I've been doing some in depth research on one line thats taking forever...but for this story, I ventured up a line I haven't done any research on and I was pleasantly surprised to find the Polk's and their story. And it's a great story.

WARING: This is one of my longer posts

Charles Polk II  and Delilah Tyler are my 6th great-grandparents on my Grandpa Wilson's side. Charles was born on the 2nd of February, 1745 in Frederick, Maryland. And coincidentally, Delilah was born on February 10th, 1755 in Frederick, Virginia. Two different Fredericks in two different states.

Anyways. Charles' father died when he was real young, leaving his mother and older brother to run their trading post thing-a-ma-jig. When Charles got old enough he left Maryland and was among the first "adventures" into the wild area around the Ohio River. 16 miles north of where Louisville, Kentucky is today. But back then it was all still part of the Virginia wilderness He was a regular ol' Daniel Boone. In fact, he was attempting to settle his area at the same time Daniel Boone was attempting his first settlement in the area as well. And since Charles became a prominent figure in the area, I have no doubts he actually met Daniel Boone.

Lucky for Charles, he did not immediately encounter the violent opposition from Native Americans that Daniel Boone did. Unfortunately for Charles, the Native American/Colonist conflict soon came to a head locally in 1774 when a band of drunk idiots, led by Daniel Greathouse, massacred a group of Native Americans in a needless show of death. This event, as well as the attack on Daniel Boone's settlement by the Delaware and Shawnee tribes, were some of the first events in what we call Lord Dunmore's war. In his book, William Harrison Polk stated "The frontier families would suffer a bloody penalty for Greathouse's infamy."

Charles wrote a sort of testimony down (overseen by a judge) that he sent to Thomas Jefferson, explaining what happened. Thomas Jefferson himself (FREAKIN THOMAS JEFFERSON) actually talks about Charles Polk, and includes his testimony in his "Appendix to the Notes on Virginia, Relative to the Murder of Logan's Family." Published in 1800. You can look at the whole thing here. But here is Charles Polk's entry. Note the publisher spelled his name wrong. Note that they use "f's" as "s's". Also note that Thomas freakin Jefferson said that Charles was a reputable character.

Charles fought under Colonel Andrew Lewis during Lord Dunmore's War, including the Battle of Point Pleasant. Where Daniel Boone also fought. This battle ended the conflict for a time and the Shawnee agreed to let the settlers....settle. After the fighting, Charles married one Delilah Tyler in the winter of 1774. And boy were they in for a ride. They moved down the Ohio River to the area that is now Nelson County, Kentucky. He built his own "station" which was like...a fort/settlement thingy. But nearby was a much better defended "station" called Kincheloe's Station and Polk had his family live there off and on when the "Indian Terror Level" was high and when he was gone fighting.

Charles Polk in the 1776/77 Muster Rolls

For back story, you need to know that Kentucky was the western front of the Revolutionary war. The British thought it would be a grand idea to arm the Native Americans in the wilderness of  Virginia against the settling colonists. Charles, and a lot of the other settlers in the area were not so happy about this. And they, under the command of George Rogers Clark, took up arms against the British AND the Native Americans in the area. Their plan: take back control of the area. Charles Polk was made a captain in the frontier militia, a branch that was considered part of the North Carolina Militia since there wasn't exactly a local one. It's in the records of the North Carolina militia that Charles Polk's service records can be found.

Charles fought locally under George Rogers Clark. And was able to return often to his growing family. A notable event was when he marched with Clark 200 miles, "much of it through freezing floodwaters, in February 1779" to Vincennes, Indiana. There, Clark's quick thinking and devilishly smart trickery led the British forces at Fort Sackville to surrender.

Even after the British surrendered over on the east coast, fighting on the frontier pretty much kept going. During his absence, several other families had settled near Charles. Things were pretty chill until the Battle of Blue Licks in August of 1782 happened. A butt-load of Loyalists and their Native American allies (prbably all really pissed at Cornwallis' surrender 10 months previous in the east) fought with a much small band of Kentucky militi-men. (Charles may or may not have been there, but Daniel Boone was!). The Native's won, and were pretty pumped about it

Clark's march to Vincennes

Well... As the Indians were coming back from the battle, they were so pumped up that they decided to sack Kincheloe's Station...which is where Charles' family was staying while he was gone. The events would come to be known as "Burnt Station." Everything was set on fire, any remaining adult men were killed, and everyone else taken prisoner. Including a very pregnant Delilah Polk (formally Tyler) and her four kids (Including Elizabeth, my 5th great-grandma who was like 5 at the time).

William, the eldest of Charles and Delilah and was also one of the four kids, wrote this all down, and its in his first hand account that I am getting a lot of my information. His account was included in William Harrison Polk's book (Which is owned by the National Archives) and can be found in full on pages 374-389 here.

William said the Indians found out they were the wife and children of Charles, the white chief and decided he would be pretty pissed off they had taken his family. This made them treat them better I guess, and William says their better treatment was the only reason his mother lived through it. They still marched them around 12 miles that day. 12 miles, pregnant, and carrying a kid still under 1. Delilah Tyler was no joke.

At some point on this march William remarked that his mother stopped and demanded something to quench her thirst. They gave all the prisoners some watermelon, but a Mrs Ash refused. This...didn't go over well with the Indian warriors. They took the baby she was carrying and stripped off her clothes. William said "After they had proceeded a short distance we distinctly heard the tomahawk strike her head. She uttered a scream simultaneous with their war-whoop, and all was silent."

"Taken Captive by Indians" by McClurg 1849, rumpored to be
based on Mrs Polk and the events at Burnt Station

They were marched 15 more miles that day until they stopped for the night. Delilah was threatened several times through the night by the Indian warrior who had "claimed her". They were marched two more days, at roughly the same distance. On the third day Delilah slipped. She did not get up, instead waited on the ground for what she assumed would be her immediate execution. She was helped up by the brother of the Indian who claimed her. He was much nicer. He helped her into a canoe and cut off her shoes. William says his mothers toe-nails and a "long portion of her skin" fell off. Which garnered the sympathy of the other Natives in the canoe. The nice Indian helped her wash her feet and rubbed buffalo bone marrow on them. She clung to her youngest daughter, not even one year old, the whole time.

The next day they were split up. Delilah went with one group, along with her two youngest, and her two oldest, William and Elizabeth went with another. They stayed in a Native American Village for some time. Until on September 25th, they got to Detroit and were handed over to the British forces under Colonel De Peyster. He treated them very nice and put them up in a house with some other prisoners. Delilah had her baby on October 27th, but was constantly worrying for William and Elizabeth, whom she had not seen since they split up. Coloner De Peyster sent out scouts and in the following July, they were able to secure Elizabeth and William from the Native Americans and bring them back to their mom in Detroit.

Charles Polk in the 1779/80 Muster Roll

So little did they know that Charles, upon returning to find his family gone, set out after them. He found the body of Mrs Ash, and apparently stopped looking for a time. That winter, Captain Polk, authorized by General George Rogers Clark, led men around to destroy Indian villages and take back any prisoners. Charles never found his family in any of these raids. But they did find out they were being held in Detroit.

Post-war legal stuff prevented Charles from immediately seeking his family. It took him quite a while to get himself a "passport" that allowed him to travel through the Indian territory between Kentucky and Detroit. Finally on October 10th 1783, Charles was reunited with Delilah, over a year since she had been taken prisoner. It wasn't until that December that they made it back to their cabin near Kincheloe's Station (it was spared from the burning). But apparently all of these events were quite costly, and to avoid poverty, Charles had to sell the majority of his property.

They lived in his cabin on that small property in peace for a long time. Delilah died on June 7th, 1797 in childbirth of their 12th child. Charles kept his family together there until his kids started getting married. He served on the Kentucky Legislature from 1806-07. After his term was up, he moved with his sons to Knox, Indiana. In 1816, Charles was elected to represent his county at the convention in Croydon to form the constitution of Indiana. Charles died on October 11, 1823.

Charles Polk original tombstone

Charles Polk new headstone, provided by the
Sons of the American Revolution

The Wilson Tartans

In my last post, I highlighted the Scottish ancestry and clan history of the Haun side of my family, which means it's only reasonable to also do this for the Wilson side. So here goes nothing (Actually here goes something, I actually work hard for some of this family history stuff).

So it is also important to note that I have far less Scottish ancestry on my Wilson side than my Haun side. And I mean FAR less. So much less, that I can't even include a map like I did on the Haun post. Because in my brief research, I only have two ancestor lines who came from Scotland to America. Elizabeth Boyack, Robert McKell, and their respective parents, etc.

As I have said before, I believe my specific Wilson line came from the Willsons of Scotland, who descended from William Gunn. But the lineage past one James Wilson is so debated that one can hardly be sure of anything.

So I guess I can't 100% say I am clan Gunn on my Wilson side.

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Wilson Clans

With all that being said, the Wilson surname can still be claimed under clan Gunn. The laws of the clans aren't exactly clear to me. I don't know if you HAVE to have direct Scottish ancestry of that surname to claim the clan, or if you have that surname, you can just claim the clan. I prefer to go with the explanation found on a Scottish GEnealogy site that says "belonging to a clan is not about the percentage of your blood but about an emotional bond. So if you feel Scottish, welcome to the Scott family"

Clan Gunn

I am just going to copy and paste Clan Gunn from my Haun side. Except I will note that we can claim it through our surname Wilson AND Robinson.

Gunn modern

Clan Gunn is "descendant from the Norse Jarls or Earls of Orkney and from the ancient Celtic Mormaers of Caithness through Ragnhild, daughter of Moddan in Dale, son of Moddan, Mormaer (High Steward) of Caithness, who was killed in 1040, and granddaughter of Saint Rognvald, Jarl of Orkney, who married Gunni, the reputed name-father of the Clan. Gunni was himself a grandson of Sweyn Asleif's-son, the 'Ultimate Viking' and hero of the Orkneyinga Saga."

Now I know that that sounded like you opened a "History of the Empire" book in Skyrim or like some strange-butt scroll in Lord of the Rings but yah...there's some stuff going on in ancient Scotland. If you want to read a lot longer history, you can go here, but here are the highlights.

So this Ragnhild chick inherited a bunch of land, which then went to Gunni's son Snaekoll which means white head, cool name bruh, but he had to forfeit the land because he murdered the Jarl in Orkney, not cool bruh. But Snake-man (As I have taken to call him) did build the first "Castle Gunn" which was like three twigs and some stones on the side of a cliff, but fancy for the time. And that castle was burned down by some angry Norwegians because Snake-man had a fake lighthouse and basically caused a whole boat of them to crash.

Gunn Ancient

Over the next few hundred years the Gunn's gradually lost more and more land to the Keith's and the Sinclair's. Then in the 1400's there was this dude named George Gunn, nickname "Am Braisdeach Mor" which means Big Broochy, and he fought with Clan Kieth in little battles. Most important the Battle at Tayre's Chapel where us Gunns kinda...tricked the Kieth's and then killed them all. Then there was a peace treaty. Then Big Broochy died and his three oldest sons kinda split up. One of his younger sons, William Gunn stayed in Caithness and it is from him we get the Wilson Gunns, which I believe is where my Wilson side came from.

Clan Gunn lives to modern times, though the majority of the clansmen do not have the name Gunn since everyone split up and then like...only had daughters. They meet in Caithness every three years for a big party. I've also included pictures of the Modern and Ancient Gunn Tartans. If you were to buy a Gunn kilt now, might I suggest the Modern one since, hate to break it to ya, we are modern.


Clan Cameron

Pretty much all my relatives already know that we are Clan Cameron. We can claim it through the McKell line.

Cameron Modern

Clan Cameron is "described as ‘fiercer than fierceness itself’, the Clan Cameron is said to be one of the most ancient of Scottish clans." So I guess we are pretty dang fierce. Now apparently it may be one of the oldest clans in Scotland, and as such, the origins aren't exactly clear. The first known clan chief, Donald Dubh, is said to have descended from a fellow by the name of Cambrun of Ballegarno.

At some point the clan chiefs married into a pretty wealthy family and inherited the lands of Lochaber. And if you go by modern boundary lines, that is approximately one butt-ton of land. It's also one of the most stunningly beautiful places in all of Scotland. Also, the cool railroad bridge from Harry Potter is there.

In 1528, King James V of Scotland created the barony of Lochiel and then we had a Captain of Cameron, instead of a chief of Cameron. Why we did not have a Baron of Cameron I do not know. Achnacarry Castle was built by Sir Ewen Cameron as the home for the captain/chiefs of clan Cameron. It's not like...the coolest castle, but hey, a castle is a castle.

Sir Ewen was apparently a big fierce man. He was described as the "Ulysses of the Highlands." And his battle-awesomeness was used to inspire one of Sir Walter Scott's poems. He spent a lot of his time as Captain/chief fighting with the Britains. He is again often described as a "Thorn in Cromwell's side". After Cromwell died, the Camerons feuded with some other clans, notably Clan Macintosh. The Macintosh/Cameron feud was known as the bloodies of the highlands. I expect I shall detail this particular event in a later post.

After that, stuff kind of calmed down for...ever... and modernly one Donald Angus of Lochiel is expected to take over the Captain-ship after his fathers death.

Fife District

So the Boyacks don't belong to a specific clan, but they belong to a Scottish district. That of Fife to be exact. So you can claim the Fife District and wear the Fife tartan.

The district of Fife is on the east side of Scotland. It is believed to be one of the major Pictish Kingdoms called the Kingdom of Fib. As far as I can tell the Picts were basically the ancient Scottish people of that area. I've mentioned them before in an earlier post.

The tartan is technically the Duke of Fife's tartan. That is currently David Carnegie, the 4th Duke of Fife who inherited that title from his father after his death in June of 2015. Technically David is part of the line of succession to the British throne as he is the great-great grandson of Edward VII. Will he ever get the throne? No.



And that's about it for the Wilsons. Using surnames only, and not blood, we could probably claim a few more clans but...these do just fine right?