Sheelagh,
Charming tale and maybe just that. There was one of the 19th century Dukes
of Argyll who was rather prolific (at the time he was probably called
profligate) but of course it was important to the Argyll family no bury the
memory and so no information on any natural children survives.
It is truly astonishing how many - particularly US - Campbell families have
the tradition that they were 'descended from the Duke of Argyll'.
One aspect of the explanation is that clan families of the same name as the
Chief tended to have a 'folk memory' of their descent from the chiefly
line - on whichever side of the blanket - and in most cases accurately so.
And in fact it was only with the phases of more extrreme 'moralist'
Christianity coming through the Highlands that having a child by the chief
or his son became more frowned upon. One of those phases was following the
Reformation of 1560, the time of John Knox. The other was following the
spiritual break-out from the confines of the state Churches in the early
19th century - when Methodism etc, the 'chapel religions' became popular.
In Celtic tradition the seed of the chiefs or strongest warriors was
considered something to be desired so as to strengthen the tribe - early DNA
thinking but out of date in function after the mid 18th century.
My train of thought was interrrupted by a man - a neighbour - on the phone,
full of the same joys he had as a six year old with a new fishing rod - only
this time it is a house he has bought on an island.
All I can advise is that you write down what you really want to happen with
this query and let that simmer. At his point I don't have any more advice
except that, knowing the Argyll family and their history (I live in Argyll)
it is clear that there is little more to be found on the issue from their
end, if anything. If there is a book on the life of Duke George, I have not
seen one. But in the Liverpool records, who knows what you may find.
Diarmid Campbell, in Argyll in Scotland
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sheelagh Hawkins" <shee.hawkins(a)lineone.net>
To: <CAMPBELL-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2002 10:04 AM
Subject: New to the list
Hello friends,
As a child, my great gran regaled us with stories of being related to
royalty, which always stood me in good stead in the boasting line, but now
years on, I am finding that maybe her stories were just a little bit
exaggerated :-)
The story went that we were related to Douglas Edward CAMPBELL 7th Duke of
Argyll, who had a morganatic marriage with a lady by the name of
argaret -
their daughter Margaret CAMPBELL would have been born around 1825. I
have
managed to trace her back to her marriage with Thomas WALKER in 1847 in
Liverpool, but haven't been able to trace her birth to prove or disprove
Gran's story. The 1847 marriage certificate gives Margaret's father as
George Campbell - which certainly gives the impression that she was
misinformed - but a little bit of me wants to hold on to that dream of
being
part princess :-)
Grans info always has to be taken with a pinch of salt, but at the same
time
there was usually some semblance of truth in what she said there is
a
possibility that it was a Duke from 2 or 3 generations further back.
Can anyone help with this story ?? or perhaps you are related to George
the
Warehouse man.
Regards
Sheelagh
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