My Scottish Heritage
I
have a very strong Scotch-Irish heritage (with a dash of Norwegian thrown
in). My Scottish family roots can be traced back to a Robert McCutchen, who
sailed out of Glasgow, Scotland around 1730 with his brothers and headed for
Virginia in the soon-to-be Untited States. So going to Scotland had special
meaning for me- I was returning to the homeland of one of my ancestors.
I felt it, too, while I was there. I have the pale skin and blue eyes of one adapted to a cold climate, and my body was more at ease there than it has ever felt in the hot, dry desert. I suffer a lot from sinus problems- I have all of my life. In Scotland, they just disappeared- I was back in my "native habitat" and I could breathe beautifully! Just for that alone would be a good reason to go back. :)During my trip I searched out the "Find Your Family Name" shops that were all over the Royal Mile, as well as asked when I could, if anyone had heard of the name "McCutchen". I quickly found the family crest, and another thing lined up beautifully- there's a wild boar's head and what I assume are hunting arrows on the image- my family is a family of pig hunters. :) That made perfect sense, given that this last Spring I finally had my first successful big game hunt- and it was the for the Arizona "wild boar" equivalent- a javelina! I was fulfilling my family heritage and didn't even know it. :)
Another element found deep in my roots is the Celtic element. My Scottish (and possibly my Irish, too) line has a Celtic background, and while I still don't know as much as I'd like about the Celts and their ways, I feel a connection to them, made even stronger by this trip. I'm proud to have Celtic, and quite probably Druid-related roots. Going even further back than that- I feel some connection with the Picts, too, though I don't know if I have that bloodline in me or not. However, they were an artistic people, and I think some of the stonework and crosses that they left behind are beautiful.
Another thing I found out, from several sources, is the general region my clan comes from- the Ft. William- Glencoe area, and possibly the Inverness area- all in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. That puts Loch Ness, and Nessie, potentially right in the center of my Scottish Heritage map! I thought that was kind of cool. :) Apparently the McCutchens are a sect of the MacDonalds, who are a very prominent clan in Scotland, and have strong ties to the aforementioned areas. I couldn't find a McCutchen tartan- it appears that most likely, McCutchens may have used a MacDonald tartan. I did buy a MacDonald tartan, and it is what was scanned and used as the background of these pages. Funny, I always liked these colors even before I knew of this tartan. :)
