My Scottish beginnings!
In 1998 I went to work for a local family owned medical supply company; owners were friends of my family. It was the beginning of my love for geneology and finding my roots. The owners of this company were E.J. and Rob Taylor. Rob was born in Scotland and came to the U.S when he was 11. His wife E.J.'s grand father (McDonell) was a Scot. E.J. and Rob were very active in the Scottish/American community here and on a regular basis recruited their employees for volunteer work at several events during the year that they were involved in, one being the St. Andrew's Society of Jacksonville and the other being The Northeast Florida Scottish Highland Games. It was a joy to help because it was always so much fun.
I was never interested or just never really thought about where I descended from until I volunteered at the Northeast Florida Scottish Highland games and saw how this group of people were so proud of their heritage and produced this wonderful festival every year in February. I volunteered for about 2 years before deciding to start looking in to my ancestry to see if there was a slight chance that I may be descended from these wonderful people who are so proud to be who they are. Lo and behold with a little help from Ancestry.com and a semi professional geneologist helping me along the way, I found out my Scottish roots run deep. Mind you, it starts a little further back than the Taylor's family history does, but still the heritage is there.
My maternal great grandmother's maiden name was Magoon. In my research the first Magoon (Henry MacGoun), my 8 times great grandfather and his brothers were brought to this country (New Hampshire) via a ship called "The John and Sarah" in 1651.
I have been involved in the Scottish/American community ever since, joining both groups 10 years ago. I am now on the Board of Directors for the Scottish Highland Games and on the board as Treasurer for the St. Andrew's Society of Jacksonville.
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How cool is this Chrissy? So, your ancestors landed in New Hampshire? Where was that? We lived for 20 years in the White Mountains of NH in a little town called, Conway. We miss that area and loved the state. It's amazing that you were able to trace back to your 8 times great grandfather. You really did some research to get that far.
Yes, it is pretty cool Tom. My ancestors landed in Exeter NH and that's where they lived and died. Henry and his brothers came here on a prison ship after the battle of Dunbar in Scotland. Henry worked in a saw mill and eventually married the owners daughter and did very well. It was pretty easy to trace because I had A lot of information from a DAR document that my cousin sent me.
Thanks for writing about your Scottish roots and how your interest in genealogy began.
Chrissy, I can see how heritage is really important to you now. To be able to share through the festivals also helps others who will come to know their "roots" just as you did, although they may never have had an interest before. That's the neat thing about this website--the sharing touches others, but deepens our own appreciation of our forebears. Thank you for sharing.
