Scottish Clan information?

[Edward]

Okay, I will go back tomorrow and see if I can find them.

[Edward]

Here is all the information about Clan Bell that I can either find off-hand or know off the top of my head; if I am in error about any point please correct me:

Clan Bell is of uncertain origin, probably Norman, but by the 11th century they had been settled in Dumfriesshire and are still most heavily centered there. But as the family sustained itself mostly by reiving, they were often getting into trouble, and the chief and his house were destroyed by the English in 1628. There was no chief since then, though the clan has recently been given permission to trace a new Chieftain.

As a result of their landless fortune, Bells are especially widespread abroad, with various spellings such as Bellis, Bel, Beal, and Bale. Families are centered in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, though the Irish branch is considered its own unique entity.

There are two primary associations of Bell with which we can affiliate. The first is the traditional Clan Bell, or Bell of the Borders. It's clan crest is exhibited here with the Clan Motto I Beir the Bel (obviously, "I bear the Bell").


Clan Bell Tartan Modern


The Coat of Arms, naturally, features three bells, with an interesting horizontal divider of ermine, usually a royal symbol or that of peerage, but Bryn would know more about that than I:


This leads us to the Bell clan known simply as Bell Border. It is, it seems, an amalgamation of all the Bells that have emigrated and is thus a newer entity, comprised of all the Bells who have "reunited" to create a new, international clan (hence the sobriquet "Bell International"). Here is its tartan:


and its crest with the motto Signum Pacis Amor, or "Love betokens Peace," featuring a roebuck, the symbol of this subclan:


and a vintage coat of arms from the turn of the (20th) century. The ship is, I believe, a symbol of the widespread dynamic of the family over the course of the centuries and an acknowledgement of its vast coverage of the world:

[Ian]

looks like this branch of the family lived many years in the west calder parish. i see three microfilms at: https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/242151. i think we would find several generations of family members there.

[Edward]

I am at the family history library right now; I will look those up! Along with those christening records you wanted.

Meanwhile, did you know some STATES have official tartans? Surprisingly, New York is not one of them, but here are a few relevant ones.

Utah's is utterly atrocious:


Washington's isn't bad, just a bit drab:


California's is actually nice; I guess I was expecting something garish and tacky but this is lovely:

[Edward]

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

The information was changed, literally in the past 2 DAYS. NOW it says that Robert Bell's father is a John Ross, born 20 March 1786 in West Calder, Midlothian, Scotland, married in 1812 to Mary Crawford in Whitburn, Durham, England, and died 1841 in Knox, Holmes, Ohio, United States. Could this be a man who maybe adopted Robert, and then gave him his name? I am so confused! This John Ross has no known parents; the line stops with him on Ancestry.com.

Also, he has a truckload of kids, ALL of whom are named Bell Ross. Robert is the last. Maybe he adopted them all, or somehow took them under his guardianship when Robert's father died the year he was born?

What is going on?

[Edward]

Here are some new (EDIT: to me!) photos though, of Robert Bell Ross Jr.

As a child:


As a dapper gent:


As a wizened old fellow (he wore his pants just like Grandpa!):


And being one with his mother earth:

[Ian]

yes, those photos are already uploaded to our website. when you're looking at family trees on ancestry.com or familysearch.org, you're looking at second-hand information. however, if you go to the original parish records, you'll see where the information came from. i would dig into those west calder parish records, i think we'll find a lot there.

[Edward]

What exactly am I looking for? I don't know who Robert's real father is; should I just look for him?

[Edward]

Name: Robert Ross
Age: 29
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1832
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name: Elisabeth Ross
Gender: Male
Where born: St Cuthberts, Midlothian
Registration Number: 677
Registration district: Colinton
Civil Parish: Colinton
County: Midlothian
Address: Colinton
Occupation: Ag Lab (Agricultural Laborer, I assume - a farmer -Edward)
ED: 3
Household schedule number: 28
LINE: 16
Roll: CSSCT1861_122
Household Members:
Robert Ross 29
Elisabeth Ross 34
Elisabeth Ross 8
Margaret Ross 7
John Ross 5
Jane Ross 3
Eliza Norris 21
Peter Gairns 1 (Am I the only one wno notices we still use the same exact names? -Edward)

Source Citation
Parish: Colinton; ED: 3; Page: 4; Line: 16; Roll: CSSCT1861_122
Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1861 Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.
Original data: Scotland. 1861 Scotland Census. Reels 1-150. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Description
The 1861 Census for Scotland was taken on the night of 7/8 April 1861.

[Ian]

first we need access to the parish records. they were scanned onto microfilm, and unless the microfilms have been digitized and made available online, we'll need to get the microfilms and go through them at a family history center. i like to scan digital images of the microfilm so we can add the images to our website. then we'll need to see if we can figure out family relationships based on the parish records. for example, parish records will usually include christenings and marriages. hopefully, we can find a marriage record for robert bell's parents, then the christening records for all their children. each christening record will usually include the names of the parents, so we can verify all the members of the family.

[Edward]

Whoa .... that sounds, er, complicated. I am not sure how to do any of that, this was as good as I could find. Did I get the wrong information?

[Edward]

Wait I think I get it now ... I checked with the librarian; we'll need to have them sent here from the SLC library, unless I decide to make it a day trip and visit the actual library in SLC myself. That could be fun.

[Ian]

i don't think it's wrong, we'll just need to piece it all together. we have to go to the original sources to verify. you'll always see conflicting information looking at other people's family trees. you don't know where that came from. if we look at the original sources ourselves (e.g. census records and parish registers), we'll know where it came from.

[Ian]

yes, i did that for the tolland town records. it cost around $7 to loan the microfilm from salt lake, then i had a couple of months to go through the microfilm. i ended up just scanning the whole thing, because we had so many relatives in that town. i suspect we'll have a lot of records in west calder, i would get all three microfilms.

[Edward]

Okay, well the information I gave is from the 1861 census record, so that shouldn't be subject to individual family trees. As for the parish records, I have requested that it be sent here to the BYU library and I will go through them as soon as they arrive.