Dad’s mother was Ethel Scott. I am (unfortunately) named after her - as was Dad as far as that goes. Ethel quarreled with her family (she quarreled with everyone), so Dad lost touch with them when he was still fairly young, and his memories were not entirely accurate - and didn’t go back very far.
He thought her father was Walter Scott - and considering how many Walter Scotts there are out there, that was a pretty good guess.
But in fact, it was her grandfather who was Walter.
So we have had to cobble this together ourselves -
and possibly because of that it’s been one of the most fun ones to do, although of course there is still much more to learn.
This is what we’ve got so far.
George Scott
children (only ones known are Walter and Jane)
Walter Scott
wife Emily Brown
children
Charles Scott
wife Alice Louella Pattee
children
Ethel Scott - Actually, I'm not putting this page - or the next two pages - online - these people are too close in time. If you are a relative, contact me and I will send it to you
husband Earl Vern Bothwell
son Kearney Scott Bothwell
Census listings for our Scotts
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That concludes the what-we’re-pretty-sure-of portion of this family’s pages. Now comes some background, some speculation, some searches.
The name “Scott”
"Like their neighbours, the Scotts were turbulent, cunning, courageous and filled with energy."
Several people have pointed out that, if surnames are meant to help identify a person, then to call someone who lives in Scotland “Scot” (with or without the extra t) is fairly pointless. Where it is useful is on the border. And that, indeed, is where the Scotts first appeared - and where they still are most numerous today.
History of the Name - part of a website (scottfamilyweb) by Stephanie Allen
Border Clan Scott History and Genealogy - 29 generations of mostly noble Scotts, or ones mixed up with the Scottish nobility. (The links on the home page are mostly not working, or have been taken over by other people. But there is a nice Border Clan Map.)
"Uchtred, son of Scot, lived in the first half of the 12th century, and from his two sons the numerous Scott branches began." - Actually, the site mentions only one son of Uchtred (Richard) and it was Richard who had two sons, Richard and Michael. The second Richard was the progenitor of the Scotts of Buccleuch; Michael was the progenitor of the Scotts of Balwearie. There may have been a third son, Walter of Peebles, but this particular site doesn't follow him.
Now. Our Scotts are not noble, or even gentry, but they had to descend from somebody, and these seem to be the possibilities. The Balwearie line never has sons named Walter (for as far as I looked); the Buccleuch line does eventually (Sir Walter Scott belongs to this line), and of course the Peebles line starts out with Walters. So there is that to think about.
The DNA link
I recently was contacted by a fellow - that would be George - who put me into contact with a 3rd cousin (or maybe 3rd cousin once removed), a descendant of Walter's son George - that would be Ronald. He took a DNA test, and matched a fellow in Australia - that would be John.
from George: John And Ronald are in the same group in the Scott project plus they share the mutations on DYS570 and DYS442 (both different from other members in the group).This suggests to me that they are on a different branch from the other group members and thus probably much closer related.
We have not found a common ancestor yet, but John-from-Australia has very kindly shared some of the information he has about his ancestry.
The James Scott line
About Scotland's People - skip if you already are familiar with them. I apologize for going on at such length, but I was a little shy at first about using the site.
Anybody who has a Scottish ancestor must get to know Scotland's People. What you will find there are census records, birth, marriage and death records, the 1915 valuation rolls, wills, and interesting tidbits. You can do a simple free search, to find out what records are available for the name you're interested in, but after that you have to pay. You set up an account, and then you buy credits - £7 (about $10) for 30 credits. You do a search - say for baptismal records for Walter Scott - and you are told how many pages of results there are. Each page costs 1 credit and has up to 25 results. If you find exactly what you want, you can then buy a copy of the actual parish register page, for (usually) 5 credits. Since most Scottish surnames are pretty common, this can get a bit pricey, but it is amazing to me to be able to access real, honest, historical records so easily - and going back so far! (Ancestry.com does have some parish records, and it has indexes to the Scottish census, but not the actual censuses themselves. Hey, if there's money to be made off national records, then us Scots want to get it ourselves!)
One thing - not all the parishes have records going all the way back, so check out the help page. Also, the spelling can be creative, so think about that as you compose your search terms. There is a toggle to get surname variants, and there is an option for "first names beginning with. . ." which is useful if you are looking for an Ann (Anne) or an Isabel (Isobell, Isabell, Issobel etc).
Searches
Searching for George
This is difficult because he gave 3 different birthdates (1777, 1782, 1793) and three different occupations (teacher of fencing, merchant, tailor). On the censuses, he had a wife Margaret (birthdates 1788, 1794, 1801). Only two children appear on the censuses, and they were 10 years apart, so it is possible they had two different mothers - and that George had two different wives.
This page contains my searches for George born between 1776 - 1794 / for marriages for George (dates vary) / for children of George and Margaret / children of George and Mary / for Jane-Jean-Janet, daughter of George.
Searching for Walter
Since our George's only known son was named Walter, it is possible his father was also named Walter. (under construction)
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Contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
Page last updated 29 March 2006