MacNeil Tartan

This is the MacNeil tartan. Perhaps explains why blue, green, and yellow have always been my favorite colors! Genes are powerful.

I would love to figure out which island my family came from, Barra or another of the Hebrides, or from Colonsay. I suppose it's unlikely to be able to get definitive information that far back, though.

This clip of the tartan came from Scots Connection. There are a lot of sites catering to those of us who are eager to claim Scottish and Irish roots. No doubt it's an easy market to tap! This is a particularly attractive and user friendly site - at least as far as I've used it.

Missed Comments!

I just realized that I've missed several comments that were left. Given the long early posts I didn't see them and had not checked the box to get an e-mail with them. So, I apologize for not responding.

As I said in the disclaimer to the right, there is a lot of unverified information here gathered from the popular ancestry sites. Any actual source information is included in the footnotes or post. If there's no source info it means I don't have verification.

I'll work on the info you left on earlier posts and have more soon. I've been working on the Hensley's and have found some interesting information.

Rev. George McNiel

I've been trying to find information about my first American McNiel ancestor. His line seems to be clouded in mystery prior to his birth in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1720. I found an old discussion on ancestry.com that points out Thomas McNiel, who married Hannah Parsons, was George and Mary's youngest son, not his father, as I had thought.

I'm always excited to get some new piece of clarification. Though this bit means I know less about George than I thought. Though not much less, since I new nothing about Thomas and Hannah.

Aha!

I've been working on the Shoemate line recently. William Bonner Shoemate is the earliest confirmed relative I've found - and that largely from family records and memories. I've followed several different rabbit trails, but could not get any definitive information confirming or negating any one line.

There is a large Shoemate family centered in Bledsoe County, TN. There is a lot of information here. Still nothing confirming William Bonner's parents. I found the Bledsoe County page at FamilyHistory101 which explains that the county courthouse burned down on Dec. 9, 1909. This could explain why there are no marriage records for William Bonner Shoemate and Musie Dora Allison, married in 1875. It seemed as if he appeared our of nowhere. Maybe now I know why!