Quick Review
Judging by the number of books we have already mentioned, there has been a concerted effort to preserve the history of this special race of people known through the years as Celts, Gaels, Wild Scots, Scotch-Irish and Americans. The legacies recorded in church records, in oral traditions, through royal succession lines, and through heroic epics and song, have all added to those kept by legitimate historians in connecting the dots, which finally make the picture of family history clearer. Anyone who has played that child's game knows that the more dots, the more the picture can be understood. In some cases, our imagination sees something different than what later appears. It is really only through a dynamic web site, such as this, and such as Gloria McCuistion's genealogy site, that the record of our family can continue to become clearer. It was the Internet that brought many of us together and, while the pen may be mighter than the sword, it appears the web is more powerful than both. All those who submit articles to the family newsletter site, who submit genealogies to Gloria, who send me books, and family records, and web site addresses, all of you add dots to the picture.
The Efforts Of Many
Leona McQuiston spent many years and dollars to bring us her book. She visited with families all over America and traveled to Scotland. Despite all her efforts, she did not get everything right. Some mistakes may have been due to poor handwriting from submitters, foggy memories of one family line compared to another, and lack of sophisticated search tools such as the computer. Regardless, she made an extreme effort for all of us who follow, and for that we owe her more than we can ever offer.
Carleen McCuistion Daggett is another writer who recorded many hints and facts for us to add to the overall view of our history. But she did more. In Shelbyville, she paid an enormous sum of money to have a McCuistion Cemetery cleared and to have a huge granite stone carried up through a long, inclining field to mark a very important graveyard for the family. She also addressed historians in Texas laying out a remarkable legend of our family. She belonged to the D.A.R. and to various historical societies. In her book, she footnotes many facts which serve as guides for us, even today. She was a true champion of this family.
It is sometimes dangerous to honor a few, knowing full-well there are many others out there who have contributed their share to our documentation of the family.
Denise Woods, out of the blue, sent me "Noah McCuistion"; and Rose, out in Oregon, finds the home of the Crelon family of Isabel Crelon McCuistion - an important clue; or Pat Kennedy sends a wad of emails with stories and/or links. Robert Worden sends me the Clan Donald records and a book on the Cherokee; Miles sends me the Crockett story; Mary Holland swamps me with facts and data and websites; Mary Joe makes a big discovery; and Ted Yulich sends me some great old letters.
Now I have, no doubt, left someone (or maybe many others) out and I apologize. ALL efforts have helped and all are appreciated. I have boxes and boxes of evidence and email after email stored for review.
I wrote a book called "McUisdean", and it was so well received by a couple hundred family members, whose support made it possible. Later, I updated the Andrew Jackson story with a booklet on his connection to our family. This was only possible because of the effort of 30 or so family members in Greensboro, NC, as we scoured the library, museums and courthouse.
In 2003, I wrote a book for the 200th Anniversary of the Scrubgrass Stone Church, where over 45 McQuistons are buried. In the book I mentioned our name a dozen times or more, as we were important to the community and the church.
I have had this web site going since 1996 and have received many, many articles and clues to add, along the way. In fact, every time I tried to slow down, someone comes along with some new, amazing link that gets me involved again. Now, with a trip to Northern Ireland and my third trip to Scotland, much new information is being added to the site.
There really is no lack of information, only a lack of time and, sometimes of perspective.
Clan Donald historians and archivists have preserved invaluable data. The back room of the Clan Donald Library is full of "reference only" records and books - some very, very old. The Presbyterian Church, in particular, and other churches as well, have kept great records, and historical societies, all over America, are preserving a wealth of information, waiting for us to find. Military and government records, deeds, wills, family bibles, the works of family historians within individual branches, and historians in general, have made it absolutely possible to get to a clear view of our great legacy, and that is where we are headed - at light speed!
Even Clan Donald has recently shown an interest in helping us. At first, they seemed standoff-ish. After my first two visits to Skye, and visits by a few other family members, after receiving my McUisdean book, after emails and letters from myself and others, after visits at Highland Games from us, after a major web presence and a specific request for mention at their recent gathering of all Clan Donald chiefs, we have apparently made a dent.
Sir Ian McDonald has recently begun using "Chief of Clan Uisdean" again, in his list of titles. Representatives of Clan Donald have been in touch with members of our family asking for genealogy information, and Clan Donald invited us to participate in the DNA Project, they were leading. All of this came out of the effort we have all made to uncover, or rediscover, our legacy.
While visiting the Clan Donald Center, again in 2006, I was helped by additional library staff and welcomed as an old friend by those who had helped me in 2000. I also met another Jim McQuiston in Dundonald, Scotland, who is an historian and we plan to share some information. Other chance meetings added to our knowledge as they always seem to do.
Published authors and historians, Professor Rik Booraem and Professor Carlton Jackson, have shown an interest in our legends. Liam MacHouston, an importer of all things Scottish, has added his two cents, as has Mac McCutchen, historian for that branch. We've had nearly every conceivable spelling of our name represented in some way on our family newsletter site.
Yukon historians, Ed and Starr Jones, along with a museum curator in Seattle, WA, have corresponded with me about Captain Jack McQueston. Gordon Bettles was a journalist who reported on the Yukon (and Jack) during the Gold Rush, and even his descendants, and also the Indian tribe of Jack McQueston's wife, have contacted me.
No less than the Canadian Coastguard helped us find McQuestion Lighthouse and sent a picture. The Curator of Andrew Jackson's Hermitage museum emailed me a few times, as did many other sources who provided answers to one or more specific questions. The Archivist for Clan Donald made many personal efforts for us, as did Johnny Ivy, the great Clan Donald historian. My "spy" in the Clan Donald has sent me many emails from Ireland as have other family members and historians in Ireland and Scotland. One gentleman was getting his Ph.D in Scottish History at Edinburgh University, Scotland and he provided lots of help. Officers of Clan McLeod offered advice in forming Clan Uisdean, USA, Inc. The Scotch-Irish Society of the United States of America applauded our efforts and placed my McUisdean book in their library. The Church of Latter Day Saints requested my book for their mammouth genealogical archives. It also resides in the Clan Donald Center Library, in the personal libraries of Sir Ian, Chief of Sleat and Lord McDonald, Chief of all Clan Donald. It is also in many libraries around the country, thanks to generous family members.
The effort has been made, and made in a large, huge, big, gigantic, Herculean way. The effort has been made to update our genealogies, to paint a clearer picture of our legacy, to understand our heritage, to preserve our sites, archives and stories. The effort has been made to regather Clan Uisdean, or at least the McUisdean wing of it, in America to celebrate the success of centuries of effort on the battlefields, in new lands, on farms and factories, in families and in the hearts of everyone of us. It will continue, with or with out me, with or without Clan Uisdean, USA, Inc., with or without any single family member because this force is so great, so conditioned by years of practice, so ingrained in the very blood of us all, that it will never die!