There is much confusion in Scottish surnames. Think of a clan as more of a tribal association rather than a family hereditary. “Mc” or “Mac” prefixes to a surname are pretty much interchangeable. “Mc” is more prevalent in Scotland. “Mac” is used more by the Irish. “Mac” just means ‘son of’. The Irish, Scots, and Welch all share Celtic heritage and Gaelic as a shared language. To confuse things more, some Americans have been told they were Scotch-Irish. Remember, from last week not to use “Scotch” as a name except as a term for paint remover? The term refers to a family who migrated from Scotland to Ireland or vice versa before coming to America. There was a period of time when the English Crown incentivized the protestant Scots to relocate from Western Scotland to Northern Ireland. The idea was to show the Catholic Irish the proper way to worship. The resulting generations failed in this mission and became known as Ulster-Scots. This English interference in Irish religions became the seed of violent conflict in Ireland from many decades.There was a period of time when the English Crown attempted to break the military power of Scottish clan chiefs. One of the ways to weaken the loyalties was to outlaw the wearing of clan tartans. The English had long sought to bring the wild Scots under control without much success. The Highland Scots more or less ignored the English and considered themselves independent of the Crown and governments in general. Many battles were fought without long lasting resolution. The English in the end broke the Clan system economically. SHEEP BECAME A WEAPON! For centuries, Highland Scots was pretty much a feudal system. Clan chiefs offered protection to farmers who paid rent to the Lairds. The peasants were called Crofters. The Crofter was also obligated to the Laird to fight for the Clan when needed. The English found a way to eliminate loyalty of the Crofter to the Clan. I am sure it was not planned, but the English needed wool for expanding their mills. They paid the Scots huge premiums to replace the farmers with sheep and throw the Crofters off the land. The Lairds got rich, but lost their military advantage. No foot soldiers. Many of these displaced peasants came to America. Later, the English dropped the price for wool and the Lairds wound up in debt and sold much the land. The moral of the story is: BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU POINT THAT SHEEP
Special to the Herald Times
