The McDonald Children In Scottish Dress

Keith, Miriam and Jean

My father, Keith, left me over 450 photos, and about 20 films.  Here are two of my favorite photos from his collection.      

These photos are of my father and two of his sisters in Scottish dress.  It is interesting they are all wearing different tartan patterns.  It would have been nice if they had been photographed in color but they didn’t have that technology back then. None of the patterns remind me of the tartan pattern that my Aunt Eddie shared with me and I discussed in a previous post on Our MacDonald Family Tartans dated February 12, 2010.      

My father Keith looks like he is about five years old?  If this is true we can speculate that this would be about 1914-1916.  He was born in 1910.  This means that his grandparents Archie and Mary McDonell who died in 1912 and 1913 would not have been alive when this picture was taken.  So they would not have been involved in creating these costumes or even in giving advice. So who was the originator of these costumes?  It was probably their father Ronald for my grandmother Grace died in 1911.       

Miriam, Jean & Keith

Why Dad and his sisters were dressed like this and for what purpose I do not know.  It has been a long time since I talked to him about them — over 40+ years. He didn’t really elaborate on the reasons for the photos but he seemed to be very pleased about them.  If you look at them closely it looks like a photo session on a stage with curtains around them.         

The other interesting aspect of these photos is where were they taken?  If it was before 1915 or 1916 then it would have been in International Falls, Minnesota.  If they were taken after that date then it would have been in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada were they moved to.  I do not know much about their time in Grand Prairie.  I am leaning towards International Falls, Minnesota because they would have been surrounded by their aunts and uncles who were of Scottish descent.       

The possibility that there was a Scottish festival of some kind in the area of International Falls might be worth looking at newspapers to see if anything interesting pops up.   The costumes are very fancy so something was going on.  My Dad and his siblings look like they are enjoying themselves.

Our MacDonald Family Tartan

From postcard 1977

 

When you learn you are of Scottish origins you of course want to know what your tartan’s look like?  Do I know what our tartan’s are like?  Not really. I have consulted books on tartans and studied the patterns and read the history.  Until we really know which branch we are of Clan Donald then it is only guessing on my part.    The picture of the man in full Scottish dress with a bagpipe was part of a postcard that my brother sent home from his trip to Scotland in 1977.   It is mostly to get us in the mood to discuss tartans. 

My Aunt Eddie, sister to my father, gave me wool material years ago that she said was our family tartan. She carefully handled the material and pointed to the thin red stripe. I took it gladly and had plans to make something out of it for it was a rather large quantity.  When I went to look for it one day I could not find it.  I searched high and low in my stash of material.  It was gone!  I was crushed! To this day I have not forgiven myself. How did I lose this piece of family history?  Well, I was probably moving things around and inadvertently gave it to charity.   

Now, if I still had this piece of fabric I could compare it to the tartans in various books on tartans and see if there is a match.  Of course I realize that this information would not tell me whether we are truly from this branch of Clan Donald but it would still be a nice family story of my Aunt to have and to share with the family.  I could have photographed the piece of material and posted a sample of it to this blog.  Alas, no such luck!  

If my memory serves, the colors in that piece of fabric that my Aunt Eddie gave me were navy blue and green plaid with a thin red stripe running through it. Based on my memory I did consult several books on the subject.  Here are listed a few possibilities:   

Book Suggestions:  

 “Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia” by George Way of Plean and Romilly Squire, Barnes & Noble, 1998.  None of the MacDonald tartans in this book are close to the one my Aunt showed me. 

 “Scotland and Her Tartans, The Romantic Heritage of the Scottish Clans and Families,” by Alexander Fulton, Colour Library Books Ltd., 1991.  On page 13 of this book is a tartan labeled MacDonald of the Isles which seems closer to Eddie’s example.  This book is listed as a source at the Lyon Court website.  

 Here is another website on “Tartans of the MacDonald’s.”  They list tartans after tartans.  Some are for hunting, and some are dress tartans.  Here is a statement made on their site which I have quoted below.  

“Forty two MacDonald tartans are currently listed by Lyon Court, while more than sixty are recorded by Wilsons, not including the four tartans designed by The MacDonnell Of Leinster Association, even though, with the exception of TS419, none of them have any heraldic significance” 

 http://macdonnellofleinster.org/page_7t__macdonald_tartans.htm 

 What is Lyon Court?  It is the official heraldic authority for Scotland:  http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/215.180.html    

I am not an expert on this topic of heraldry, clans or tartans.  I discovered this website of the Lyon Court when I did some research for a client of mine on his Scottish roots.   

As mentioned in the above quote take a look at the website for The MacDonnell of Leinster Association which is very interesting:  http://macdonnellofleinster.org/ See what I mean, you could be studying this topic forever and get hooked.  

The lesson to be learned here is to be careful when using these sites and looking at heraldry, tartan and clan information.  Make sure it has some value before you accept anything they have to offer.  If you are really serious you might want to consult someone who is an expert on these topics.  

I have been talking a lot about my Mac/McDonald/MacDonell or rather my Dad’s father’s side but it is not the only Scottish Clan in my family’s background.  The other clan is “Barclay.” This surname is my Dad’s mother Grace’s maiden name.  My mother Marjorie’s also has Scottish ancestors.  Her great-grandmother on her father’s side has the maiden name of McMurray.  We will discuss those families later.