Burns Day!
Posted by on Sunday, January 26, 2014 Under: Events
Happy Burns Day to all of my friends and family in Scotland and abroad!
This year's celebration is especially meaningful to me as this is the first Burns Day that I have been aware of two lines of Scottish ancestry. I always knew my paternal grandmother's family was from Fife, Scotland, and had traced their family line back to the 1600s, but last summer I also learned that my maternal grandfather was part Scottish.
The Frazer family emigrated from an unknown part of Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century, but there were always rumors of Scottish, Spanish, and African ancestors in the distant past. One of those was confirmed, the other two are still left as family legends.
As it turns out, my gg-grandfather was born and raised in Boyle, Roscommon, Ireland. During the famines of the 1850s he and his brother came to North America. My gg-grandfather settled in Ontario, while his brother became a successful orchard owner in New York State. Their family had been land owners in Roscommon for two centuries.
In the 1650s, the Frazer family were Scottish lairds in Ayrshire, Scotland, but supported the monarchy when they were removed from power, and as such the Frazers had to flee to Ireland to escape execution.
Tracing back further, the Frazers were a wealthy clan in northern Scotland, and the clan chief was appointed a Lord by King Robert I of Scotland. In fact one of my Frazer ancestors married a descendant of the king, so I too am descended from the legendary Robert the Bruce.
Tracing the family line further back (which is surprisingly easy with nobility) I find that I am also descended from Lady MacBeth, who gained fame through the play, as well as several Pictish kings, English kings, and even back through Charlegmagne (the first Holy Roman Emperor) and back to Roman senators.
And so that is why I am feeling a little more proud of my Scottish heritage than usual this year. It is quite an interesting family tree!
This year's celebration is especially meaningful to me as this is the first Burns Day that I have been aware of two lines of Scottish ancestry. I always knew my paternal grandmother's family was from Fife, Scotland, and had traced their family line back to the 1600s, but last summer I also learned that my maternal grandfather was part Scottish.
The Frazer family emigrated from an unknown part of Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century, but there were always rumors of Scottish, Spanish, and African ancestors in the distant past. One of those was confirmed, the other two are still left as family legends.
As it turns out, my gg-grandfather was born and raised in Boyle, Roscommon, Ireland. During the famines of the 1850s he and his brother came to North America. My gg-grandfather settled in Ontario, while his brother became a successful orchard owner in New York State. Their family had been land owners in Roscommon for two centuries.
In the 1650s, the Frazer family were Scottish lairds in Ayrshire, Scotland, but supported the monarchy when they were removed from power, and as such the Frazers had to flee to Ireland to escape execution.
Tracing back further, the Frazers were a wealthy clan in northern Scotland, and the clan chief was appointed a Lord by King Robert I of Scotland. In fact one of my Frazer ancestors married a descendant of the king, so I too am descended from the legendary Robert the Bruce.
Tracing the family line further back (which is surprisingly easy with nobility) I find that I am also descended from Lady MacBeth, who gained fame through the play, as well as several Pictish kings, English kings, and even back through Charlegmagne (the first Holy Roman Emperor) and back to Roman senators.
And so that is why I am feeling a little more proud of my Scottish heritage than usual this year. It is quite an interesting family tree!
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