Sinclair genealogy

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

May I add my congratulations on your brave decision to take on the
herculean task of assessing and amalgamatring
all the strands of the worldwide Sinclair family.  Over the years
people have given me books which they have prepared
about their own families and I will be quite happy to send you these when
your work-load permits.

I trust you also have copies of the two enormous volumes which Pete
Cummings prepared prior to his untimely death.

As with all genealogies (particularly official ones like Debretts,
Archbolds or Douglas) there are many errors which will
have to be corrected.  No matter, a job begun is a job half done and
you deserve the full support of us all in this daunting
but eminently worthwhile task.

History will remember you just as we are indebted to the sterling work of
Roland William St Clair who compiled "The
St Clairs of the Isles" although, at the time, he was based in
Auckland, New Zealand.   Today we have the internet and,
today, I was reminded by a distant cousin (she is two generations younger
than me and resides in Melbourne, Australia
and is none other than milamba@milamba) about the remarks made by a great
uncle of mine (and a great x 2 uncle of 
Milamba's) at a gathering in New York on May 7th, 1924:

           "I want to have my youngsters glad
             That I was chosen for their dad;
              I want them when I've gone away
             To think of me at times and say
              That I bequeathed them a name
             That never has been linked with shame".

Above all, let them realise the glorious lineage which they have
inherited and which they, too, in the fulness of time, will pass
on to their children.  Your work (ably assisted by countless others)
will help future generations of Sinclairs to trace their roots
in unbroken line back over a thousand tempestuous years to their Viking
ancestry.   The Vikings were the most intrepid sailors
the World has ever known.  We have inherited much of their
wanderlust.   My own immediate family spans the Globe and,
yet,
they continue to cherish their roots:
  
           "What if these flowers fade?
             The roots endure............ 
                                                                 
To flower and flower again
                                                                 
............."
                            
We are nothing without our roots.


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