I’ve been reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series the last week or two. I got the first book from the BC e-book library service, loved it, put in requests for the next two, had to wait a couple weeks, got them, read 1800 pages in 4 days, and now I’m waiting for the next two books to come available. As I wait, I have to catch up on the basement clear out, because the moment they are on the e-reader, I will be travelling to other worlds for a few days.
My own family tree is firmly rooted in the South and West of England, and on Continental Europe (France and Prussia). There are no Scots in my lineage, but there are in my husband’s side. In fact, his father is the clan genealogist for the Clan Rattray. Their traditional lands are 20 miles north of Perth and Dundee (make an equilateral triangle, and you’ll find the family seat near Blairgowrie at Craighall Rattray). Some clan maps show them as a Highland clan and others as a Lowland clan, since it’s right on the border.
I wondered whether any of the ancestors had been at Culloden, and did some research. I discovered that the son of his great great great great great great granduncle James was John Rattray, a surgeon from Edinborough, was in fact at Culloden. Moreover, he was serving there as the personal physician of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Kind of makes the heart flutter.
Did I mention my husband is also called John?
Believe it or not, Dr. Rattray was a golfer. He won the world’s first golf tournament, was head of the world’s first golf club (it later became St. Andrew’s) and is a signatory to the creation of the official rules back in 1744. (see here) In a historical story that is almost comical (but certainly something that could have been in a Diana Gabaldon novel!) after being taken at Culloden, he was reprieved from the gallows by the intervention of a golf buddy- Lord President Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden, himself.
The Rattrays are a sept of the neighboring Murray Clan (or allied with, but not actually a sept, according to some sources). On the other side of the bordering Murray land, are the Frasers. Around the time of Culloden, the Rattrays had just won back Atholl Castle from the Stewarts, so I suspect they weren’t on the best of terms. One wonders about the political initiatives that led to their involvement in the Jacobite uprising.
Knowing something of your family history brings the past alive. Knowing our people were there, doing this, brings an immediacy to events. It also makes a historical fiction seem even more possible.
Oh. There’s a stone circle at Craighall-Rattray, too.
Got goosebumps yet?
.
Shawn L. Bird 
post trauma, get help October 7, 2011
Tags: post traumatic stress disorder, postaday2011, ptsd, soldier boy, Stu Aspinall
A high school class mate of mine, Stu Aspinall, was touched by the story of a soldier returning from Afghanistan. The vet suffered from Post Traumatic Stress, and without the support he needed to deal with the depression and anxiety, he took his own life. Stu wrote a song called Soldier Boy to raise awareness and funds for PTSD. Every 99c download on iTunes and CD Baby will help support the cause. Stu has teamed up with the Veterans Transition Program at the University of British Columbia which is doing amazing work to help soldiers deal with PTSD.
PTSD is not the sole purvey of soldiers. Fire fighters, police officers, social workers, and victims of crime, among others, frequently must deal with trauma over what they are called upon to experience in their professional lives. I have seen this battle unfold up close, and I support Stu’s effort. It is all too common that men are told to ‘tough it out’ or ‘suck it up.’ Trauma produces very real damage to the psyche, and the resulting mental illness must be acknowledged and cared for. It is not a personal weakness, it is as real a wound as a shrapnel filled belly. It needs to be treated appropriately.
Check out Stu’s video on YouTube, and if you like what you hear, give the video an official thumbs’ up, and go spend 99c.
.
Share this: