Rob Roy Tartan

By coincidence this Christmas season, I was particularly drawn to the plaid that was EVERYWHERE!  the plaid that people think of for Paul Bunyon and often call the Buffalo plaid was absolutely everywhere .....one sales person told me that she had decorated her bathroom in it...another told me that her mom had wrapped ALL of her gifts in it.  I bought PJ bottoms and a scarf and a shirt in this plaid.

And by chance just before Christmas, one of my very favorite magazines sent me an e-mail that contained EXTREMELY (to me) interesting information about this plaid:

A Brief History of Buffalo Plaid By: Christina Garton

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but somehow, over these past few years, buffalo plaid moved its way from the rustic fringes to become the dominant plaid during the holiday season. It seems like this black-and-red-checked pattern is just about everywhere. You can buy matching pajamas in buffalo plaid for everyone in the family, including the dog. You can get burlap and buffalo-plaid garlands and wreaths to decorate your home. The stuff is everywhere. While I can’t tell you how a plaid once associated with Paul Bunyan and lumberjacks became the unofficial plaid of Christmas, I can tell you a bit about the history of this pattern. Although the name buffalo plaid might trick you into thinking it’s an American invention, do a little digging and you’ll find that the buffalo plaid is actually the MacGregor Red and Black pattern. In Scotland, the pattern is associated with the folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor (even though there is no evidence he ever wore this particular tartan), and the pattern there is often referred to simply as the Rob Roy. Continue reading.

Now, why is this so interesting to me?  My well loved grandmother, Mary Ann McGregor Hawkins had McGregor ancestors!  I have yet to find these connections, but I do expect to eventually find dna connections.  Everything that I read about McGregor suggests that NO ONE adopted the McGregor name.  If one carried the name, he/she had been born McGregor because the name had been proscribed and if one changed one's name, he/she changed it to something besides McGregor.  And that if one is a McGregor, the chances are more likely that he/she descends from Rob Roy than for one to NOT descend from Rob Roy....so I find everything Rob Roy to be of interest.  I'll try to put my photos from Scotland on a blog post at a later date and link it to this post.