Clans and Their Relationship to This Jameson Family

A clan is basically a tribe, united primarily by kinship 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Scottish clans in particular have become the very definition of the word clan, both as to its meaning and as its historical reference.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.

Although no direct proof has yet be found, our particular Jameson family would undoubtedly have been associated with a Scottish clan, sometime in it's earliest history, exactly which clan however, is not yet known. Although there was never a "traditional" Clan Jameson, in Scotland, Ireland or anywhere else, there are many clans who held that surname as a sept of their clan.

Highland clans (see map to the right) covered a lot of area in the upper and lower middle part along the west coast of Scotland, including the Island of Bute. This area was home to the Clan Stewart and many Jam?son families. Clan Stuart of Bute from the Island of Bute, a branch of the Clan Stewart, specifically lists the surname Jameson as a sept of the clan and Jam?son families were prominent there for several centuries. Jameson's were also a well known sept of the Clan Gunn, from the far northeastern part of the Scotland Highlands, of which many Jam?son families today consider their 'clan' heritage. However, no known connection exists between the Jam?sons of either Clan Gunn or any of the Stewart Clans and our Jameson family from Ulster, Ireland.

Lowland (see map) clans were different, generally based around individual families but with less structure and little of the grandiose and folklore we know and associate with the highland clans. There were known Jameson families in the Middle Marches in the Border region of the lowlands and as likely 'Reivers' of that era,[4] which were probably considered a clan by this definition. We also do not know of any connections with the Jameson 'clan' families of the Lowland areas, including the Border regions, either.

Because we know so little about our particular Jameson family's actual history in Scotland, it is very difficult to even speculate as to ANY clan association. Our surname "Jameson" 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. Our 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 the Clan Gunn or Clans Stewart, both who had known sept's with Jam?son surnames. What we do know for sure about our history before the early eighteenth century in Ulster, comes from DNA testing. This shows many other people with very similar DNA results who can be found in Scotland, some still living there and some going back a hundred or more years before what we know about our particular Jameson family. There can be no doubt our earlier family history is in Scotland and very likely the time before the use of surnames. The comparable DNA results seem to suggest our history extends into the northeast part of Scotland, probably that area around Aberdeen. Unfortunately that information is not much older than perhaps the sixteenth century, which isn't enough to help much with clan associations.

A brief detail of Clan Stewart, Stuart of Bute and Clan Gunn with each ones relationship to Jamesons can be found by clicking on each named link. There is also a detail of the Jameson clans in the border area here. Further history of each clan is rich in its descriptions of many of their chiefs, their life and their battles, all of which is documented well elsewhere. As this is not intended to be a history of each clan and the interested reader is urged to separately seek out this documentation.