The aims of The Pitcairn Heritage Society are:

1. To extend the knowledge of our family history and make it available to members.

2. To promote the conservation of documents, monuments and other material of special significance to the Pitcairn family

3. To help members find their genealogical links between Pitcairns world-wide, and aid them in updating their family trees.

4. To publish a Newsletter twice a year, in which members will be able to exchange ideas and information.

5. To put members in touch with one another.

6. To act as a focal point for communication between members about:-

Common ancestry and family history.

Possible business relationships.

Common professional interests. Hobbies or other activities.

Social relationships.

Please send items of interest for publication in the Newsletter to:

The Editor

Richard Pitcairn-Knowles

46 Greenhill Road Otford

Sevenoaks Kent UK TN14 5RS

01959-523154

rppk@btinternet.com

CONTENTS

“Letter from Australasia”

from Robert Pitcairn p2

“Designing the Pitcairn Tartan”

by Deana Pitcairn Duncan p3

“Emily Returns to her Scottish Roots”

by Emily Herring p4

“Arms of Pitcairn of Innernethy and

Robert Bruce 700^th Anniversary”

by Sheila Pitcairn p6

“Pit”:‘Scotland’s Place-Names’

by David Dorward. From John Pitcairn p7

Death of John Pitcairn p8

HI FROM NEW ZEALAND....

It doesn't seem so long ago that our last newsletter was out and I was talking to you about researching my Grandparents’ arrival in New Zealand in the early 1900's and also attempting to get information on a Pitcairn Family that lived in my city in 1850/60.

I have made slow progress so cannot report any additional worthwhile news. I am particularly interested in the 1850 Pitcairns, as it would be great to be able to fit them into the overall Pitcairn Genealogical Chart. Not sure they will have any relationship to our line, but you never can tell.

I have had only one letter from Australia in my quest to encourage the Pitcairn descendants in that country, to help build a network of family that can also be drawn back into Sheila and Lloyd's magnificent records.

Some information has been obtained about Pitcairns who lived in Tasmania Australia during the 1800's and, by all accounts, one was an eminent legal judge. At least we can say that not all the persons who came to Australasia (term for New Zealand and Australia) can be said to have been criminals deported from England and India.

However there is some really fabulous news. Fay and I have become grandparents for the first time with the birth of Kaelyn Lee Pitcairn to my daughter Fiona Margaret Pitcairn. This happened on 31 March 2006 at 2.33am in the morning. Grandparents are obviously over the moon.

But Kaelyn's arrival has not been the only increase in the New Zealand Pitcairn family since the last newsletter. Both my sisters have become Grandmothers again, each for the 7th time.

So the New Zealand Pitcairn family keeps on growing.

Can I register a small complaint, in that we are not hearing from other Pitcairns around the world. We are indebted to Deanna's articles in the newsletter, but the Pitcairn Family is about us all, not one or two who put articles in the newsletter. Don’t get me wrong, every article that is printed is read avidly here as I hope it is around the world. We need more contributors.

We in New Zealand would love to hear about and from any of you within the Pitcairn Family. An update from you all in Bryn Athyn or where ever in USA. Likewise we would love to hear from any of you in UK and Scotland.

I can remember back at the inaugural Reunion in 2000 and the subsequent reunion in 2004, how discussions ensued on how we needed to be proactive in keeping the world wide family together. People were appointed at those meetings to positions of authority. We may be doing a reasonable job of it in our own individual countries, but the 'together job' has to reach out onto the world wide stage

And remember a visit to New Zealand will be a memory for a lifetime, such a beautiful country in so many ways. And on top of that the cost to you is so very reasonable with the exchange rate being so heavily weighed in favour of all who live in UK especially, and USA and Canada. We would love to see you and to host you if you include New Plymouth in your itinerary.

Well I started this letter not knowing if I would fill any sort of gap for Richard as Editor. (You did, thanks! Ed.)

As always we send our love to all Pitcairns especially the family members we have met. Special greetings to Lachlan and his family, Colin and Deanna in USA and to my dear cousins in Kirkintilloch Scotland.

In 1992 my husband, David Bruce Duncan, and I were in Scotland in Blairgowe at his favorite kilt maker having a new jacket made. David has several tartans he can wear, including the Bruce. I told the kilt maker that I was sad that my family, the Pitcairns, didn’t have a tartan, as several members of the family liked to wear a kilt and would dearly love to have a tartan of their own. “In that case” said the kilt maker, “why don’t you design one?”

I had never thought of designing a tartan but I am an artist, so why not give it a shot? He gave me the forms to fill out and despatch to the Tartan Society in Pitlochry and I went to shops looking at different tartans and collecting samples of ones that appealed to me.

When I got back to the USA I started picking out colours and stripes that intrigued me and came up with several patterns. I had been told that there were over 2000 tartans and my design must be unique and different enough not to be confused with any other tartan. I sent the designs off to Mr Lumsden of the Tartan Society and anxiously awaited the outcome. I received a letter from him saying that my designs were all unique so I could choose the one I liked best.

We needed permission from our Clan Chief but he did not know who that would be. Another letter followed very soon telling me that Sheila Pitcairn had just come into his office and she was the family genealogist! She told me that the Chief is James Pitcairn in London, but that he had not matriculated (updated his coat of arms and proved that he was head of the

family). Until he did this it would not be possible for the tartan to be fully acredited, so we decided to register it temporarily as a Pitcairn Trust Company tartan. However, it has now been re-registered as a Pitcairn Heritage tartan, and we also registered the Pitcairn Heritage Hunting tartan, designed by Kenny Dalgliesh.

I am now going to quote from “The Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopeadia” by George Way of Plean and Romilly Squire. On page 31 an article by Alistair Campbell of Airds, called “Tartan and the Highland”, reads:

“There is no clearer symbol of Scottish indentity than tartan, particularly when worn in the form of a kilt. Tartan’s popularity guarantees its use in a variety of situations but, attractive as it is its underlying significance as a means of clan or family allegiance that gives the tartan and the Highland garb its real appeal. While perhaps not unique this identification is given by few other forms of dress, and certainly not in such a versatile form – the Highland dress can be used for every occasion from the most formal appearance in front of a monarch to attendance at an international foootball match, and from the smartest of ballrooms to walking on the hill. Its symbolism is powerful and Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, took a piece of his clan tartan with him on his historic journey.

The kilt is now worn by all Scots, Lowlanders and Highlanders alike, although not very long ago the former recoiled in disgust from what they regarded as a primitive form of dress worn only by those dismissed as ‘redshanks’ whose naked nether limbs were pinched and red from exposure to the cold weather.”

On page 40 he says:

“In addition to the normal Clan tartan, in some cases a clan may also have ‘Hunting’ or ‘Dress’ sets. The former is in less violent colours to act as better camouflage while out on the hill, the latter designed specifically for show, often in a pattern which contains a lot of white. This fancy, which is popular alike with tourists, manufacturers and professional Highland dancers, would appear to originate in the women’s arisaid, or cloak, which was largely of undyed and therefore less expensive wool.

Confusion can be caused by the use of the descriptions of tartan as ‘Modern’, Ancient’, ‘Reproduction’, ‘Weathered’ and ‘Muted’. Strictly speaking, the first three have nothing to do with the antiquity of the pattern, but with the dyes employed. Early dyes were not particularly light-fast and rapidly faded or changed colour. To overcome this problem, in the mid nineteenth century ‘Modern’ aniline dyes were introduced. These produced much stronger, lasting colours, although they tend to be rather heavy and dark in tone. In the 1920s the old vegetable dye colours were revived using modern methods and these have become widely popular under the title of ‘Ancient’.

‘Weathered’ and ‘Muted’ are used for tartans dyed in colours which seek to reproduce the effect of ageing, sometimes by the interposing of a brown or drab thread between each coloured one.”

Nearly two years ago, in October, I was sitting in morning announcements at my high school, Stone Ridge. I was only half listening when Mrs. Kyong, The Director of Studies, announced that anyone who was interested in the Exchange Program should come talk to her during the week. I pulled out a pink highlighter from my backpack and scribbled the information on my hand.

I went to meet with Mrs. Kyong and she asked me hundreds of questions: “Why do you want to go on exchange?” “Where are you thinking of going?” “Are you looking for a boarding school or a host family?” I barely knew what the program was. “Um… I’m not really sure” was my response for every question it seemed. She told me to go to the Stone Ridge website and look up more about the Exchange Program. I went online, and found as much information about the Sacred Heart exchange program as I could. Stone Ridge is a Sacred Heart school, one of thousands around the world that were founded by St. Madeleine Sophie, a Catholic nun. If I did go on exchange, I could go to any English speaking Sacred Heart School, for 8 weeks, anywhere in the world. I saw a list of all the possible schools I could go to. I didn’t think there would be much difference between attending school in Maryland and school in Pennsylvania so I looked at the schools out of the US. That is when I had a brilliant idea; I could go to Scotland!

I had only been to Scotland once before, when my family came to the Pitcairn family reunion in 2000. I was only ten at the time and didn’t really understand that because my mother’s maiden name is Pitcairn, I am a member of the Pitcairn family, even though my last name is Herring. I don’t remember much about the family reunion in 2000, mostly because I was ten, and the only things I really remembered were eating haggis, and the ceilidh, which took me about a month to learn to spell. I decided that on this trip, I would get more than just a tourist’s idea of Scotland, because after all, the only things I knew were that in Scotland they wear kilts, eat haggis and play bagpipes.

My parents, being sane parents of a fifteen-year-old girl, decided that they would fly over to Scotland with me and personally drop me off at school. I think they also wanted to visit our family who they hadn’t seen since 2000. We spent the week before school started in Edinburgh. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast owned by friends of Bert and Kate Arnott. The week blew by as we visited sites like Edinburgh Castle and we even saw the Tattoo. Mae and John Pitcairn invited us to spend the day at their house in Glasgow, which I pronounced wrong. My dad, John Herring, and John Pitcairn went off golfing; but Mom, Mae and I spent the day looking around their town and talking. I was particularly excited to see the highland cows. At the end of the week, my mom and dad drove me to Kilgraston, my home for the next 8 weeks, where I would be a boarder.

The first couple of days I spent at Kilgraston were both entirely confusing and somehow completely typical. Life at boarding school was certainly a change, but the girls at Kilgraston were exactly like the friends I’d left in America. At first, I was tempted to just sit in my room (everyone had her own) and pretend I wasn’t there, but my room was next to the Common Room and I could hear the other girls watching TV, so I went to introduce myself. Upon introducing myself to the other 12 boarders, I discovered that they were just as interested in me as I was in them. We spent the first few hours asking each other stupid questions, my particular favorite was: “Is high school in America really like it is in ‘Mean Girls’ and other movies?” I laughed for about ten minutes, then thought about it, and responded, “actually, yeah… it is… but less dramatic.” On the first day of classes I got lost about 8 times, and spent most of the day just picking a person in my year to follow. The first five minutes of every class was spent explaining why I was there and, of course, answering questions about America.

I slowly grew accustomed to life at a Scottish boarding school. My family sent me letters and packages and I went to the reception desk (where the letters were kept) almost twice a week to ask if there were any more for me. Mae Pitcairn made my day (twice) when she sent me letters asking how I was doing and if I enjoyed school. Most weekends I spent in school, but Kilgraston had planned activities like whitewater rafting and off-road driving to occupy our time. The weekends I spent out of school were few, but when I did go out it was certainly a lot more fun than going home to pick up more clothes, like the other girls did. I flew up to London and spent the weekend with Rosalie and John Wallace, which was amazing because we went shopping in London. Somehow, when my family went to London in 2000, we missed Harrod’s…how this is even possible I’m not sure, but after visiting, I am sure that I could stay for years without ever wanting to leave. Another weekend, Bert and Kate Arnott came and took me around to Stirling Castle and out to lunch. Whenever I returned from one of these “outings” my friends all laughed and pointed out that I was supposed to be in a foreign country, without my family, how was it that I kept going out if I was supposed to be alone in Scotland?

As my time in Scotland was drawing to an end, I started a countdown until I went home. I was so excited that I would see my family again, which I’d never been away from for more than two weeks. On my last day I changed my mind. I didn’t want to go home. My friends threw me a surprise party and gave me a singing card filled with notes saying either “We’ll miss you lots” or “I’ll see you next year… you better come back!” Upon my return to the US, I was thrilled to see my family again and obviously to drive (well ride) on the right side of the road again, but if I were given the opportunity to return to Kilgraston (hint hint mom & dad) I’d go in a heartbeat.

Thanks to Sheila Pitcairn in Scotland for sending this article

ARMS OF PITCAIRN OF INNERNETHY

Argent, three lozenges, within a Bordure Gules

Crest: A Star, surrounded with clouds. Motto: Spes Lucis Aeternae.

Innernethy, Fifeshire originally belonged to Sir Hugo de Abernethy, “Confirming grant of lands of Innernethy in Strathearn to his kinsman Johannis de Pitcairne from Hugo de Abernethy”. A copy of the charter dated 1250 is still in the Scottish Archives Edinburgh.

`Aber and Inver were both used by the southern Picts, though not quite in the same way, Inver being generally at the mouth of a river, Aber at the ford usually some distance from the mouth` [Celt. Scot i.220-2]

Abernethy a seat of Pictish kings, who were known to be in the area, probably in early 8^th century.

The Round Tower, see above, is 73 feet high and is probably 9^th century. The Culdees (early church priests) continued until the13^th century, and were then superseded in about 1272 by Augustinians canons, who were in turn replaced by collegiate church 1345.

Innernethy, an estate, which belonged to the Pitcairns from a very early period, was situated on the north-eastern entrance to Strathearn, (an area in Fife) near the confluence of the Tay and the Earn, about three miles from Perth. The lands of Innernethy in those olden days carried with them a right to salmon-fishing “super aqua de Erne”. The land stretched along the north bank of the Nethy stream, as the name Innernethy indicates, in contradistinction to Abernethy, on the over or other side.

The manor-place or mansion-house, all traces of which have now disappeared, stood near the junction of the Nethy and the Earn. The situation was very fine, facing Abernethy and seated, as old Camden (a noted English Historian) in his description of Scotland has it, “at the feet of the Occellian Mountains amid scenes of surpassing beauty.” [Constance Pitcairn]

Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots 841, became King of Picts at his palace on Hallyhill, Forteviot, near Innernethy, on a tongue of land between the Earn and the river. He died in about 858 and was buried at Iona.

At Abernethy in 1072, King Malcolm III made peace and paid homage to King William of England; as a result Malcolm became his man and was forced to hand over hostages, including Edgar Atheling, the brother of his wife, Queen Margaret.

‘By 1250 Sir Hugo de Abernethy and his family were very rich and powerful. One of the Abernethies, having killed Macduff, Earl of Fife, and a brother of the Earl, being brought to trial by a member of the same family in the time of Baliol, at a meeting of the Estates, the King of Scots, John Baliol, pronounced sentence in favour of the Abernethies, adjudging to them the lands about which the dispute had arisen. Upon this Macduff, thinking himself ill-used, appealed to Edward King of England. Edward cited Baliol to answer, and plead his own cause in the English Parliament, which he did, as he was there with Edward, and sitting next to him in the House, at Westminster.

Baliol, enraged at not being allowed to get some one else to plead for him, and having to obey King Edward, soon after his return to Scotland sent to King Edward revoking the surrender of himself and his Scottish subjects, on the plea that he had no right to make such a surrender.

On receiving this message, King Edward promised the kingdom to Bruce if he would help him.’ (But Bruce became his own man as Edward found out.) [Constance Pitcairn]

Piers de Pyttcayrne is mentioned in the Ragman’s Roll in 1296 as swearing fealty (loyalty) with the other nobles to King Edward I of England when he conquered Scotland. Pettcayrne was evidently then living on his lands at Pitcairn, as he is called “de Pyttcayrne.”

After the execution of Wallace in London 1305 - Robert Bruce took up the Scottish cause and on 26^th March 1306 was enthroned at Scone in Perth. There is no doubt the Pitcairn family would have been present at this enthronement.

This year the 700^th Anniversary of The Enthronement of Robert Bruce was celebrated with a Service of Thanksgiving in St John’s Kirk Perth followed at Scone Palace by the raising of the Royal Standard. Scotland celebrated with The Bruce family and friends (including the Pitcairn’s) from all over the world.

_____________________________________________________________________

PIT

From ‘Scotland’s Place-names’ by David Dorward

Thanks to John Pitcairn of Kirkintilloch in Scotland for sending this article

PIT – this insignificant little word has been the subject of more intensive and scholarly study than almost any other place-name element in Scotland. More than 300 names with this prefix occur, and all are located in areas known from historical and archaeological evidence to have been settled by the Picts. It will not do, however, to characterise these names as Pictish, for the second element is almost always Gaelic.

Scholars have come up with the following theory: the word pit, which has the cognate form petia in Continental Celtic and Low Latin, meant part or share and passed into French and English as ‘piece’. The term must have been used as a Pictish settlement-description, and was taken over by Gaelic-speakers, who added their own qualifying epithet – much in the same way as American settlers took over the French word prairie and made it very much their own. The likelihood is that pit names were coined during the bilingual period when Gaelic-speaking settlers were occupying Pictish lands in the ninth and tenth centuries.

Geographers have analysed in some detail a number of Pit names and have reported interesting results. These names tend to occur at some distance from the immediate coastal areas, and predominate in elevated, south-facing sites away from marshes and adverse exposures. In other words, the early settlers bagged the best sites and left the others to later Gaelic-speaking incomers who by that time were using the term bal to denote their settlements.

The second element of a Pit name is also instructive. It often refers to a person’s name: Pitcarmick is ‘Cormac’s share’; Pitkeathly is ‘Cathalan’s share’; Pitkennedy is ‘Cennetigh’s share’; and so on. Pitfour is ‘pasture part’, and Pitblado is ‘flour part’.

Sometimes the actual terrain is described, as in Pitcairn – ‘cairn part’ – and Pitlochry (cloichreach means ‘stony’), whereas Pitkerro and Pitcoig refer to quarter and fifth shares respectively. Pittenweem is pit na h’uamha – ‘cave place’. Animals are referred to in Pitcaple (mare), Pettymuch (pig) and Pitgobar (goat), and trees appear in Pittencrieff (Crieff on its own is craobh, a tree), Pitcullen (holly) and Pitchirn (rowan).

If one were to analyse every Pit name on the map one would have a vivid and unique picture of the settlement of eastern Scotland in the early medieval period.

OBITUARY

CONSTANCE PITCAIRN’S NEPHEW DIES

We are sorry to have to pass on the sad news of the death in February of John Waterson from Cambridgeshire.

For those who do not know, John was the nephew of Constance Pitcairn (who wrote ‘The Fife Pitcairns’) and was for a long while the keeper of many of her treasures and artifacts, including a picture of Constance Pitcairn.

John was a very kind man who had a deep love for the Pitcairn Clan, and for the position he held therein. Sadly John’s wife and daughter predeceased him, however in the latter years of his life he came back to his Pitcairn roots and found great enjoyment in sharing with others his knowledge of the family. John will be missed.

VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM - LONDON

EDWARDIAN PHOTOGRAPHS

BY ANDREW PITCAIRN-KNOWLES (1871-1956)

Exhibition 18^th May – 16^th July 2006

Lecture by his grandson Richard Pitcairn-Knowles

3.00 pm Saturday 15^th July

Information from:

www.vam.ac.uk or www.vandaimages.co.uk

You can find out more about the Clan Pitcairn

by visiting the websites:

www.clanpitcairn.com

www.pitcairnfamily.com

Founder

Deana Pitcairn Duncan

Bottonwood Farm, 2075 Buttonwood Lane

Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania 19006 USA

(215) 657-7525

Chairman-Treasurer UK

John Pitcairn CA

Fair Winds, Burn Brae Road,

Kirkintilloch, Glasgow, UK. G66 5LH

01417-763140

jmspitcairn@btopenworld.com

Chairman USA & Website

Colin Pitcairn

15711 Thistlebridge Drive,

Rockville 1 20853 USA

(301) 924-1911

colin@coretrait.com

Chairman NZ

Robert Pitcairn

imsquire@hotmail.com

Secretary & Membership Secretary UK

John Wallace

Burn Brae, 43, Thames Meadow,

Shepperton, Middlesex, UK YW17 8LT

01932-241565

jwalak@ntlworld.com

Secretary USA

Alan Pitcairn

5744 La Jolla Corona Drive, La Jolla,

California 92037-7442 USA

pitcairn@cts.com

Treasurer, Membership Secretary USA

Justin S. Pitcairn

10662 East Rosemary Lane,

Scottsdale, Arizona 85259 USA

ckayak@earthlink.net

Clan gathering Facilitators in Scotland

Kate and Bert Arnott

14 West Savile Road, Edinburgh, Scotland.

EH16 5NQ 01316-676874

kate.arnott@blueyonder.co.uk

KEEP IN CONTACT?

In the UK we mail out about fifty copies of the Newsletter every six months at a cost of nearly £50. We do not want to lose contact between members of our large family but we need to cover these minor costs and think in advance of funding PITCAIRN 2008, our gathering in two years time.

We hope you find this link with your Clan interesting and helpful and that you will want to continue to receive the Newsletter. To cut down on possible waste we need to know if we are reaching you, and whether the approach is welcome, so we now enclose an s.a.e. and ask you to kindly fill in your details and requirements in the space below and return to The Editor (with or even without a donation towards costs – we would like to keep in touch anyway - but £10 would be a great help towards preparations for Pitcairn 2008!)

Name(s): Address: Phone number: e-mail address

*I would like to continue to receive the Pitcairn Clan Newsletter.

*Please remove me from your mailing list.

*I enclose a donation of £ payable to The Pitcairn Heritage Society.

*Please delete as necessary