RE: Niven

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

At 18:16 23/03/00 +0000, you wrote:
>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
>
>I seem to have stirred up a bit of trouble by suggesting that the 
>matrilineal gene
    is as strong and frequently stronger than that of the male.  However, 
there are
    certain powerful traits which can never be eradicated.  As you are 
aware, I am
    constantly reminding people that that which is born in the bone can 
never be
    driven out of the blood.  For example, you can cross a Hereford cow with a
    black Angus bull, or vice versa, but you will never get rid of the 
white face of the
    Hereford.  It is the dominant trait.

    With the Sinclairs, the dominant trait is to be bloody-minded.  If you 
are bloody-
    minded then your genes have not been irreparably diluted with your 
McKay and
    Campbell ancestry.

    Elsewhere on this Discussion List, Donald (Hempriggs) has listed a 
number of
    other Sinclair characteristics which I can identify with 
immediately.  We are not
    the easiest people in the World to get on with but we get things done.

    To deplore the loss of a woman's maiden name when she marries, is not the
    same as suggesting that her children should take her name but it would be a
    good idea (as frequently happens) if it could be added as a 'middle' 
name.  This
    would remind the children (if reminding is necessary) that they have 
diverse roots
    which bring hybrid strength.

    My own mother was a Niven (hence Niven), my grandmother was a Sutherland,
    my great grandmother was a Gunn, my g.g.grandmother was a McKay (as with
    Bryan Sinclair) and my g.g.g.grandmother was a Calder which, at the 
last census,
    made me related to 80% of the Caithness population which (as I have 
explained
    on more than one occasion) is why I live in London!!!!!   Ibn Saud, the 
founder of
    the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said: "Akaribi ni akrab" which, apart from 
being a
    beautiful piece of alliteration, means 'relatives are scorpions' .  The 
main threat
    to his Kingdom came from his relatives rather than from his enemies.

    Incompatibility with one's relatives is just as important as 
compatibility with
    others.  If we didn't branch out there would be far too great a danger 
of in-breeding
    with all the problems of consanguinity.  Never despair when you find 
your relatives
    are being impossible.  It's Nature's way of ensuring the 'diaspora' of 
families.  It's
    no accident that we find Sinclairs everywhere.  We are just too bloody 
minded to
    live together.

    I speak from experience>  I live alone with my dog.

    Niven 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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