Clans and Their Relationship to The Jam?son Families of Aberdeenshire

A clan is basically a tribe, united primarily by family and descent, and in some cases might even be a race unto itself. Clans and tribes can be found throughout history in many countries and across many cultures. As in most 'tribes' all clans rule themselves from within, at least initially, and are far from democratic. They were extremely structured and very aristocratic, with obvious social grades, from the chief down to the smallest member.

Scottish and Irish clans can be found in one form or another back very far in history, at least to the time when the Romans ruled Briton. Some suggest that it was the Romans who by their act of rule forced the barbaric tribes of the island north into the highlands, which until that time were heavily wooded and very sparsely inhabited. Through the early centuries of modern history many races and peoples invaded and inhabited the British Isles: Celts, Gaels, Romans, Picts, Norse, Saxons and the Normans, to name a few. Many of these groups became the foundations for clans. Each clan claimed sovereignty over its own lands and possessions and fiercely defended those claims.[1]

Scottish clans in particular have become the very definition of the word clan, both as to its meaning and as its historical reference. When most people see the word "clan" they automatically associate it with Scottish clans (apart perhaps with many Americans who may associate the term first with the Ku Klux Klan), the clan system and folklore. A clan, in Gaelic, meaning 'offspring' or 'children', is the equivalent of family, and clan chiefs and barons were quick to understand that in a family there can be no divisions and accordingly developed the most magnificent aristocracy in the world.[2]

As Bishop Leslie explained: "noct only the nobilite but the hail people tak an inordinate pride" in noble birth, and in which "pride of ancestry, directed as it was amongst this people, produced very beneficial effects on their character.[3] It is not for a lack of reason that the term "proud as a Scot" is understood around the world.

There were several known Scottish clans in the Aberdeenshire and North East area of Scotland, where the Jam?sons of interest on this website are now found (see map to the right). The era when clans were important was centuries before the genealogical history of this area was recorded. Although there was never a "traditional" Clan Jam?son, in Scotland, Ireland or anywhere else, there are a few clans who held that surname as a sept of their clan. Jam?son's were a well known sept of the Clan Gunn, from the far northeastern part of the Scotland Highlands, not far from the area of focus of this website, of which many Jam?son families today like to consider their 'clan' heritage. However, no known connection exists between the Jam?sons of Clan Gunn. Or for that matter, we have no direct proof that any Jam?son family from the Aberdeenshire area of Scotland was ever connected with any Scottish clan, even though that would have been highly likely sometime in, or before, it's earliest history.

There are many known clans from this area identified (named) with families connected through marriage (Hay, Keith, Innes, Forbes, Duncan, Munro, Ross and many more) of which our Jam?son ancestors may have belonged. However, we have no specific knowledge or prof of this.

Because we know so little about these Jam?son family's actual history in earlier Scotland, around the time when Clans were a way of life,  it is very difficult to even speculate as to ANY clan association. The "Jam?son" surname is patronymic in it's origins, meaning the son of James. However, this could have been any James (a very common name in Scotland) in any clan, anywhere! Surnames were not introduced to Scotland until the early twelfth century and not widely used until many years later. Any original common ancestor, named James, could easily have been part of any clan anywhere in Scotland and never part of the clans known to have had any Jam?son surnames, let alone with any of the Clans known to be part of this area. In short, we will probably never really be able to place any Jam?son today, from this area, with any Clan in Scotland.

Eventually DNA testing may help us better understand our different Jam?son families and hopefully any (at least general) clan connections, as well. DNA can reveal close relationships between tested individuals with very similar DNA results regardless of surnames, going back a hundreds or more years before what we know about any particular Jamieson family. There can be no doubt our earlier family histories are in Scotland and very likely the time before the use of surnames. If such a connection can be found with someone whose ancestors were likely a member of a clan from this era, we can be reasonably assume that the matching Jam?son was also just as likely to be a member of that same clan, before he acquired the surname as a "son of James."

In summary, we can assume our Jam?son ancestors were part of a clan known to be from that same area, back when Clan's were the predominant form of society. However, it is unlikely we will ever know of which one any Jam?son belonged.

A brief detail of the Clan Gunn, with it's relationship to Jamesons can be found by clicking on that link. Further history of that clan, or many others with their descriptions of many of their chiefs, their life and their battles, are all well documented elsewhere. As this is not intended to be a history of clan's themselves and the interested reader is urged to separately seek out any additional clan history and documentation.