Kith, Kin & Clans

We had a mini reunion on the weekend and got my 93-year-old grandfather talking about family history. His grandparents emigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, in 1847, and settled in Ontario. His grandfather was a Rennie, of Clan MacDonnell of Keppoch we think. His grandmother was a Sutherland from Glasgow (coincidentally enough, I went to Sutherland Secondary School). And my grandfather married a Cameron (one of Harry Cameron's daughters).

So I'm entitled to wear 3 tartans on my father's side alone (there's also a Rennie tartan, but it's a newcomer, not a true clan pattern, and a rather bilious combination of hunter green and eggplant). My mother's mother's mother was from Aberdeen, so there's probably another clan connection there.

Still, we've been in Canada long enough that our Scottish connections are tenuous at best. And I've no desire to try haggis.