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Position:Home>Genealogy> A question about one of my ancestors from Scotland?Question:My family is trying to determine which Scottish clan we might be descended from (or better yet, might be able to claim membership with) since we know at least of the families in our ancestry hails from the central part of the Scottish Highlands. The ancestor in question was John Phillips and while we are not sure about everything, we do know the following: a) John's father was born in the Scottish Highlands somewhere in the Lochaber district. b) His family moved to America in the early-to-mid 1700's. c) John Phillips served on George Washington's war council in some capacity during the American Revolutionary War. d) Either his son or his grandson eventually settled in Illinois and was the progenitor of my family. The problem is we are missing two generations between John Phillips and my great-grandmother Phillips and we don't know his father's name, so we can't trace all the way back. Does anyone know more about John Phillips father and/or where he might have lived? Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: My family is trying to determine which Scottish clan we might be descended from (or better yet, might be able to claim membership with) since we know at least of the families in our ancestry hails from the central part of the Scottish Highlands. The ancestor in question was John Phillips and while we are not sure about everything, we do know the following: a) John's father was born in the Scottish Highlands somewhere in the Lochaber district. b) His family moved to America in the early-to-mid 1700's. c) John Phillips served on George Washington's war council in some capacity during the American Revolutionary War. d) Either his son or his grandson eventually settled in Illinois and was the progenitor of my family. The problem is we are missing two generations between John Phillips and my great-grandmother Phillips and we don't know his father's name, so we can't trace all the way back. Does anyone know more about John Phillips father and/or where he might have lived? Have a look at the links posted below, you may find the answer about your surname on there. The second site is dedicated to Scottish ancestry and is really helpful, you may also find www.ancestry.co.uk a pretty useful site as well. http://www.heraldry.co.uk/nametemplate.p... http://www.heraldry.co.uk/scottish_clans... http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ The rest of these sites are related to Lochaber, the family history society is listed amongst them, there are some really amazing sites to do with Lochaber, http://www.lochaberandnorthargyllfamilyh... http://www.genuki.org.uk/Societies/Scotl... http://www.highlandfhs.org.uk/HFHSOtherW... http://www.fifefamilyhistoryfair.org.uk/... http://www.ancestralscotland.com/countie... http://www.ness-scape.nessie.co.uk/clan/... Hope these help. Need a little more info. Like your gr grandmother's name and at least a year of birth. Was she born in the U.S or Scotland. Have you tried finding your gr grandmother in the Census? If you can find her you will find her parents and her siblings if she had any. Anytime I try to crack a brick wall, the question I ask myself (or someone else) is... WHAT is your documentation for what you have/ believe? Looking at your statements above, you have 2 issues going on. The 2nd one is the more important.. you are missing 2 generations. Not to be nasty at all, but without those two generations, you do not KNOW that you descend from John at all. You may believe, but it is not verified. Seems as if your first problem is the proof of your gr grandmother's parentage. And, you have given details that are of no use, in proving that connection. After that, of course, you would move to proving her grandparents. Her connection is the key. Until you have that, you are spinning your wheels. If you can verify her connection to the John Phillips, whether he was part of Washingtons council or not.. the concern I would have, would be finding accurate records regarding where John's father was (or was not born). Please trust me on this one. I spent a year or more, and much money, to trace the lineage of an Elizabeth Gibbs, who (per one published book) was the mother of my ancestor. It was not until I spent all that energy, that I stumbled onto an original court document, that absolutely PROVED Elizabeth was not the mom, but a sister in law. All of this was due to the fact that the author of the book (a professional!!) had never looked for an original record to back her up. Certain standards in genealogy seem bothersome, but the alternative is wasting your effort. Phillips isn't a name I would associate with the Highlands during that period, though it could be that he was a member of a Clan that was "banned" in which case they were sometimes forced to adopt more English sounding names, or it could be your far off ancestor was in the Government Army (mainly English) & was stationed there. You have to remember the 18th Century was a pretty revolutionary time in Scotland as well. |