When I first started researching my Scottish family line, I could find nothing more beyond James Ross, a Scottish settler who came to the Bay Area, California, via Tasmania and Australia, in the 1840s. All I knew was that he was from one "Petty, Inverness-shire," and even that wasn't specific enough, since there were two towns named "Petty " in the Scottish Highlands. After putting it aside for some time, I decided to dig back into the research, and through Ancestry.com and my DNA test I found a DNA relative with connections through my Scottish ancestor. It just so happened that this living relative (still based in Scotland) had more family members listed going further back from James Ross, and so I was able to add a few more names, time frames, and was able to specify the Petty town that James was from. Petty was a small township or region just outside Inverness city proper. Today, there still stands the church that my ancestors were baptized and married in, Petty Church (photo below, right). Also in the area is the Connage Highland Dairy, which has the same name (Connage) as one birthplace of my ancestors. According the records I found, my ancestors seemed to have lived in the greater Inverness area at least a hundred more years beyond James Ross. But I imagine they'd lived there since forever. Many Scottish surnames relating to ancient clans can be traced to specific regions in Scotland, each with historical claims to one or more areas. According to the other surnames aside from Ross, they would have originated from Isle of Skye (MacNicol), and the northeastern most tip of of the Scottish mainland (Sinclair). Ross Clan is said to originate just north and east of Inverness, not too far from the city. There's a map below of Scotland with the general areas of each Clan Surname Some cool things about Inverness and the surrounding area: ~ Loch Ness is about 25 minutes away, to the southwest ~ The famous "Battle of Culloden" between the Jacobite resistance and the English took place just a few miles from the Petty area (ie "Outlander" Season 1 (TV Show) is essentially set where and when my ancestors lived there; I'm unclear as to how or if they were involved) ~ Findhorn Foundation, a eco-village, is another 30 minutes away to the east, and it is somewhere I had been wanting to visit for years when I was wanting to reward intentional communites. I had plans to visit well before I even knew about my Scottish ancestors. Comments are closed.
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