RE: Niven

[Bryan Sinclair <bryan.sinclair@cwcom.net>]

Niven

Just when I was all fired up to research my Sinclair family you write:

"We have also to keep in mind the paragenetic Sinclairs i.e. those who, by 
reason for the absurd custom of women taking their husbands' names on 
marriage, give birth to children of a different name although the 
matrilineal genes are invariably the stronger and certainly the more 
authentic."
Now I have a problem - does this make me a Sinclair purely by name.
My mother was a Mackay and her mother a Campbell, my paternal grandmother a 
Weir.
We can't have our cake and eat it - can we?
Regards
Bryan Sinclair


-----Original Message-----
From:	Niven Sinclair [SMTP:niven@niven.co.uk]
Sent:	23 March 2000 14:33
To:	sinclair@mids.org
Subject:	Re: Niven

 << File: ATT00001.htm >> At 13:30 23/03/00 +0200, you wrote:
>Is  the book "St Clairs of the Isles" relevant only to
>the the St Clairs or is it also relevant to Sinclairs as well?
>In your fascinating statement a few weeks ago that there are
>15 branches of Sinclair that eventuate from the Orkneys, how
>many of these are covered in the above Book?
>
>Mark Anderson
>Cape Town


Sinclairs/St Clairs/St Clares/Sinklar/Sinkler/St Clare/St Claro/St Clayr/St 
Cler
and any of the other 70 variants have all been found as one researches for
information.

It is all the same family.

We have also to keep in mind that many Sinclairs eventually adopted the
name of their holdings to differentiate them from the other Sinclairs 
around.
My own grandfather was always known as David Lappan and, of course,
the present Earl of Caithness, is known as Malcolm Caithness rather than
Malcolm Sinclair.

In this way, the Sinclairs of Stapleton in Somerset eventually became known
as Stapletons and, because of the tendency of Sinclairs to produce 
daughters
rather than male heirs, much of their property (particularly in England) 
went
over to the Gages, the Lowells, the Coles etc. who all benefited largely 
from
marrying Sinclair heiresses.

When I eventually 'retire' , I intend to write about the Sinclairs of 
England
because, with our pre-occupation with all things Scottish, we tend to 
forget
about the European dimension of the Sinclairs.  From the "St Clairs of the
Isles"  we read:

                 "All that was highest in marriage, lands, or office
                  they had in England for nearly a Century after the
                  Conquest, and the glow of their fame, and their
                  physical and intellectual powers kept them high for
                  centuries afterwards in a way rare to any one
                  particular lineage".

We have also to keep in mind the paragenetic Sinclairs i.e. those who,
by reason for the absurd custom of women taking their husbands' names
on marriage, give birth to children of a different name although the
matrilineal genes are invariably the stronger and certainly the more
authentic.

During my own 30 years in Africa I stayed mainly in the Southern Province
of (what is now) Tanzania where the tribes followed the matrilineal custom
e.g. the Chief's son was not the next Chief.  That honour fell to the 
Chief's
sister's son.

After all  "it is a wise man who knows his own father".

Regards

Niven


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