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?

Moses & Prudence Tyler: Witch Hunters & Guardians of Ancient Weapons

I know. That title sounds straight up fiction right? Wrong. It's very much the truth, and let me elaborate in this story on Moses Tyler and Prudence Blake, my 9th great-grandparents on my maternal grandmother Gearldine Robinson Wilson's side.

First off, this story is going to pretty much focused on Moses Tyler. Simply because Prudence apparently wasn't important enough to have her story written down anywhere or her records maintained in as much detail as Moses. Moses played a role, a very small tiny little role, but a role in a major event in American history. So we get a lot more information on him.

Secondly, I would like to inform you that the records for Moses Tyler Sr. have been duplicated and filed under Moses Tyler Jr. in the LDS church research center. They are two different people, and the records for Moses Tyler Jr actually belong to his father, Moses Tyler Sr. The researchers at the center know this, and are working (slowly) to get it sorted. So if you get on Family Search and wonder why nothing makes sense, that's why. It's taken me weeks to get this sorted out. Mostly thanks to the sweet women of the Godfrey Memorial Library in Connecticut who run the AGBI and helped my locate the primary sources for the Tyler line.

But this post is about Moses Tyler Sr. from hence forward.

Andover in 1886, two centuries later and still a small town

Moses was born on February 16, 1641 in Andover, Massachusetts (start the guessing on which major historical event he might have been involved with). Andover was the definition of a sleepy little puritan village in the mid 1600s. The town itself was actually settled the year Moses was born. He grew up in a time when Andover and the surrounding area was pretty much in constant unrest with the local Native Americans. Google King Philip's War.

Moses also unfortunately grew up being raised by his father Job, who one genealogist describes as being "a salty kind of guy who always felt he was getting the short end of the stick and wasn't afraid to exploit the court system, or other means, to try to get his due." Not a good atmosphere to raise your six kids in. And Job's whole attitude rubbed off on Moses big time.

Moses married Prudence (who was born in 1647) on July 6, 1666. I cannot even being to describe what a horrible wedding date that is.  That's a lot of 6's, and it makes it worse when you discover the historical event!!!! These two had kids and stuff. Very Puritan, blue law level Puritan.

And then in 1689, stuff started going downhill real fast in Andover. Prudence died. Moses married a lady named Sarah. Moses was named the quartermaster of Andover, and I kid you not, his official title was "Custodian of Ancient Munitions of War" I hope with all my heart he had the only key to a shed that had like...maces and broadswords. I really don't know what that title means, but I want it. Within the next couple of years he also became constable, and then a leader within his Puritan church. He started buying up land like crazy, and then using the money made from the land to buy more land. Moses became a man, if not THE man, of power in the area.

Witch Thing

Needless to say this made him some enemies. And then in 1692, almost literally, all hell broke loose. If you haven't guessed it already, or you know that date. You would know that this is the time the Salem Witch Crisis was underway. Crazy Puritan fanatics were throwing around accusations of witchcraft like there was no tomorrow. And for the most part, despite the hysteria, the accusations didn't really stick...

...unless you were a man of extreme power who was raised to seek vengeance from anyone that he didn't like. It started with a sickness. Some horrible man's wife got sick and then a whole bunch of other people got ick and instead of blaming...the flu...they blamed witches. And then the accusations started. Moses Tyler accused over 11 of HIS OWN FAMILY as being witches. Sisters, sister-in-laws, nieces, a freaking baby, a mother-in-law, and some cousins. And what's the best way to prove that some witch in the town cursed your wife? Cart down two of those attention-seeking teenage "afflicted" girls from Salem, walk them around town, and whoever they sneeze at is obviously a witch.

Hopestill Tyler's bond for Martha & Hanna

Ok, I don't know exactly how these two girls were supposed to identify a witch in Andover, but one researcher states that "The people accused of witchcraft were ordered to come together at the meeting house in Andover where the Salem girls were being kept. A strange test was conducted. It was believed that if the hand of a witch touched the body of the person whom they had bewitched, that person would immediately become well and could identify the witch. Mr. Barnard blindfolded the accused. The afflicted girls fell into their fits when the accused person came into their presence. Then the hand of the accused was placed on each of the afflicted girls. The girls would immediately come out of their fit and identify the person touching them of being the one who afflicted them. This evidence was enough to cause the arrest of the accused as witches."

Now a lot of those people Moses accused of witchcraft were deemed not guilty...but his poor sister-in-law Martha (also known as Mary) Lovett Tyler and her daughter Hanna arrested. Martha's husband Hopestill Tyler (very manly name) was like...super bummed that his own brother would accuse his wife and daughter of witchcraft. Hopestill, as far as I am able to tell, was a really REALLY nice guy. He tried to have his brother recant his accusation several times.

Martha's Official Confession

But despite his efforts, Martha was shipped up to Salem. Her brother Bridges was allowed to ride with her. Hanna was also taken to Salem, though it is unknown if she traveled with her mother. Bridges reported that he urged his sister to confess the entire ride to Salem. He was pretty sure his sister was a witch too. But Martha refused. And once they got to Salem, she was taken to a room where a Mr. John Emerson stated he would "attempt to beat the devil from her eyes." I don't know how long he beat her, but he must have beat her pretty bad. Because it wasn't until she was near death that she gave up and confessed.

In the written confession filed with the courts as told by another researcher: "Mary (Martha) confessed to making a covenant with the Devil and signed the Devil’s book, promising to serve the Devil as long as she lived. She confessed to being baptized by the Devil and renouncing her former baptism and thus became a witch."

In a later confession to a Rev. Increase Mather (Another horrible Puritan male name, although the dude himself sounds like a decent person), Martha insisted to him that by falsely confessing to being a witch: "She wronged her conscience in so doing, was guilty of a great sin in belying herself & desired to mourn for it so long as she lived." I cannot imagine the length to which Martha was beaten but the Rev. Mather writes; "Her affliction, sorrow, relenting, grief and mourning, exceeds any pen to describe and express the same."

A witch-trial

More horrifying, knowing what Martha went through, is knowing her daughter Hanna was subject to the same type of interrogation. At some point Hanna also confessed and stated that her mother and a couple other ladies were responsible for the sickness that went around. She also renounced her Puritan baptism. She sounded like she cared about her faith significantly less than her mother...anyway...no judgments. The two were imprisoned in Salem to await trial. During this time Hopestill sent in petition after petition to the general court, the governor, and the colonial council begging that his wife and daughter, having confessed, "be released to him so he could care for them until their trial."

Apparently this worked, and Hopestill was allowed to post bond for them, promising they would return at the time of their trial. Martha and Hanna went home until their court date, at which they both recanted their confessions, pleaded not-guilty, and were found not guilty. I assume they went home, hugged Hopestill a lot, and never spoke to Moses again.

Moses' Death Listing

To this day no one knows what grudge would have caused Moses to accuse all those people. One Salem Witches researcher I talked to theorized that it was all part of his power grab since their small Andover church was kind of splitting in two and he wanted to control all of it or one part of it or something. Of all the people he did accuse, only one was found guilty of witchcraft and was subsequently hanged alongside two other Andover residents accused by others.

Prudence (Forget about her yet?) died on March 9th 1689. She was spared the struggle of living with Moses during his accusations phase. Moses married two more times before he died on October 12, 1727 at the age of 86. He is buried in North Andover. He had 10 confirmed children, most of them with Prudence. He was a kind of a horrible person, pretty much every historical reference I consulted during this research trip at least once called him a "scoundrel" at least ten times. But hey, not all of our ancestors can be saints right?

Now, if you want some good reads. I encourage you to check out this, It is a research article on the Tyler Family in duing the Salem Witch Trials. And this, which is a completely insane BOOK on a family reunion where the Tylers all got together in 1900 and signed constitutions and creepy cult-like stuff about how proud they are of their ancestors and somebody wrote some horrible poem things. I don't know. It's weird. And then this, completely unrelated but it came up when I googled "custodian of anceint weapons" and I kinda thought it was interesting. Its a proceedings book from the Royal Artillery Institution.

And that's all for Moses Tyler. Cool story but a no bueno guy.

James Boyack & Elizabeth Mealmaker: Sweethearts and Pioneers

Today we have a story from my maternal grandmother's side of the family. My great-great-great-great-great grandparents. Five greats. James and Elizabeth Boyack. Visual aid shows James all the way down to me, with birth years included for the males.

I decided to highlight their story today because it is one of my favorite ancestral stories. James and Elizabeth are the cutest pioneer couple ever. I swear they both came out of Scottish version of Bonanza or Little House on the Prairie. James was the definition of a hardworking, gentlemanly husband, and Elizabeth embodied straight up hardcore female pioneer power. I also share a bit with Elizabeth; the obvious being our names and we both were born on April 30th. 190 years apart. And let's admit it, I also embody straight up hardcore female pioneer power. Put me in a bonnet, give me a wagon, and call Laura my friend because we are heading west!

Ok, actually we are heading to Scotland first. To the county town of Forfar, in Angus, Scotland. Twas here on April 30th, 1805 that Elizabeth Mealmaker was born, and on August 25th, 1805 when James Boyack was born. I know I said in my last post that I was totally moving to Great Snoring in England but Forfar has it beat. One word y'all. Castles.

Forfar is just stunningly beautiful. It is surrounded by the five Angus Glens. Just green rolling hills and waterfalls. The city retains so much old Scottish architecture and has some of the most wonderful churches and chapels I've ever seen. Scattered around are these really cool things called Pictish stones which I highly recommend reading about here. Forfar is also the birthplace of the Forfar Bridie (which I attempted to make, see bottom of post) and Strathmore Bottled Water. Two castles are located near the town, Kinnettles Castle and Glamis Castle. Links: here.

Especially pleasing to me was the discovery that Glamis Castle is considered "One of the most haunted castles in Britain." According to the ever-so reliable source of mysteriousbritain.co.uk and their article on Glamis Castle, there are like 5 ghosts AND there is supposedly this secret room where the hideously deformed son of the 11th Early was bricked up in and he became some sort of monster boy who lives for hundreds of years and eats goats and stuff. And then I discovered that Forfar has this reputation in the 17th century for burning a butt load of witches whose ghosts still haunt the town. Definitely Elisabeth approved.

Not that it has anything to do with the Boyack's, but it's interesting to understand where they come from nonetheless. ANYWAYS...There isn't a whole lot of information on James or Elizabeth's childhood, but I would like to share a story told by their granddaughter, Ida Whiting:

"It happened one day when James was taking out a young girl, by the name of Elizabeth Mealmaker; at a carnival or fair which they gone to. A gypsy fortune teller told him and his sweetheart that they would marry and have a large family, that they would cross the ocean and in their old age they would have a house, land and gold, and eat white bread. As they left the fortune teller’s booth, the girl touched the young man’s arm and said, “What a lee (lie) Jeemmy”. The fortune teller’s words seemed so impossible to them that they laughed about it as they walked away, yet all of it came to pass for them."

ISN'T THAT ADORABLE!!!! Now, Ida also mentions that no one really believed the gypsy teller actually saw the future. But she thinks that maybe that event put a seed in their minds and started a desire to cross the ocean.

In November of 1827, James and Elizabeth got married and moved to a small cottage a bit further south near Dundee, Scotland. Together they had fourteen (yes, fourteen) children. The last two were twins, and they died young of a fever. It is completely unfathomable to me what it took to support 14 kids in 1800s Scotland, and I know James and Elizabeth did not have it easy. James was a foreman, and he was considered pretty well off...but that money spread out amidst 14 kids...still rough. That led to most of the children being sent to work while quite young. Ida says "Some worked on the large farms, or estates, some in the oatmeal and other mills, and one daughter clerked in a candy shop in Dundee." James often worked from sunup to sundown. Ida again says "As he placed his weekly earnings in her hands, he often said, “yours is the hardest part to make this money go around for all of our needs."

Despite all of their hardships, the Boyack's were a highly spiritual family. They attended their parish church regularly for services. They lived plain, but happy for a long time. And then in 1845 James heard the teachings of Elder Hugh Findlay from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was baptized that same year, by that same man. Elizabeth was not so easily convinced, she was not baptized until 1851. Link on early missionary work in Scotland.

Like most Saints in Scotland, they faced some harshness. James and Elizabeth wanted very badly to take their family to America, and to gather to Zion with the church. But transatlantic ship passage for that many people would be unfathomably expensive. They sure tried though. James and Elizabeth sent their son, James Jr., to America to try to earn money for the rest of them. After a few months James Jr. realized there wasn't a chance he would be able to earn that much money, so he signed his family up on the perpetual emigration fund, provided by the LDS church to help bring coverts from Europe to America.


They traveled on a small boat to Liverpool, and then on April 22nd, 1855 they set sail aboard the Samuel Curling for America. I've included a picture of the passenger manifest for the ship with their names (and the name of Margery Waterhouse, the girlfriend of James Jr. who went with the Boyacks to reunite with James Jr. in Utah). Ship life was suckish. They ate the same thing over and over again. Elizabeth had a hard time with laundry, she was a bit of a rebel on board and was "often reprimanded by the crew for hanging her laundry lines in dangerous places". And once one of their sons almost fell overboard and got spanked by a sailor. But they finally landed in New York on May 27th, 1855. From there they took a train and then a steam boat to St. Louis and then another boat to Atchison, Kansas.

On August 4, 1855, the Boyack family started west in the ox team company led by Milo Andrus. They walked most of the way, saving the oxen to pull the wagon. Despite extreme sickeness on the road, the Boyack family all survived and made it to Salt Lake City on October 4th, 1855 where they reunited with James Jr.. They stayed in SLC for a very short time before moving to Palmyra, just west of Spanish Fork. All 5 of James and Elizabeth's daughters were married within a year (Ida says: all to good Scots men). In 1856 they moved the short distance to Spanish Fork.

They lived quite happily, although still plain. Local Native Americans taught James to cultivate corn and how to bring water from the canyon and the lake. James learned to hunt, and often hunted up Spanish Fork Canyon. James played the fiddle, and Elizabeth was quite the singer. Their son Alexander, the only one who didn't wed went missing (never to be seen again) somewhere in the Black Hills, and left James and Elizabeth alone in their home where they lived for several years entertaining grandchildren every chance they got.

When they grew too old to live by themselves, they moved into a room in their daughter Mary's house where they lived out the rest of their days in peace. Elizabeth died in 1886, and James in 1888. They were laid to rest in the Spanish Fork City Cemetery. Since I live so close I decided to go visit and photograph the grave with my mom and brother on July 3rd, 2015.

I also decided I had to make one of these famous "Forfar Bridie's"  which were "invented" during the time the Boyack's lived near Forfar so maybe they had one! And I wanted to taste the kind of food my ancestors might have eaten, so a quick stop at the grocery store on the way home from work and an hour in the kitchen later I whipped up some Bridie's!!!

They were pretty good tasting too. I should note that I used beef, and not the traditional lamb. Because I don't eat lamb. I also didn't soak the meet in beer...because I don't drink beer. And I used half and half instead of beef stock. And I used premade pastry dough because who has the time. But everything else pretty much yes at the recipe found here. Then I brushed it with egg to get the outside crispy and yum. I even got picky eater Riley to eat one and he loved it!!! I will say it's pretty much an old fashioned version of a meatloaf hotpocket. Hooray for traditional Scottish food!!! And thanks for reading!