Our Scottish Heritage

Our Scottish Heritage

See also our pages for Our Scottish Clan Heritage: Johnston and Beattie

These sites have many links to historical web sites concerning the history and culture of Scotland:

The Tartan Pages: Scottish History and Heritage
Scottish Culture at the Gathering of the Clans Web Site

Our ancestor John Johnston (1) was born approximately 1722/42. The Battle of Culloden was fought on April 16, 1746, very close to when he was born. This was the battle that the Bonnie Prince Charlie lost to the English and English supporting clans. This was the defining battle that ended all hopes of the Stuart line of Kings, who had been banished to France some 40 years earlier, from regaining the English Crown. The Stuart line of Kings had Scottish blood lines. Bonnie Prince Charlie Stuart was trying to use Scotland as his base to regain the crown. Folks who supported him were called Jacobites. But, the effect of this battle wasn't just the loss of the Stuart's bid for the crown. The English winning this battle gave the English the opportunity to crush the life of many of the Scottish clans in the days, months, and years afterwards, changing the history of Scotland. This web site, Battle of Culloden, covers a lot of the bases about the background of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobites, and the Battle of Culloden, and its aftereffects. Then, this site will fill in all the holes of whatever that site doesn't cover: Culloden.

We think if more than likely that our Johnston ancestors, if they participated in the Battle of Culloden, were on Prince Charlie's side. We don't know for sure whether our Johnston ancestors were Jacobites or not, as the war was also a civil war, as brother fought against brother, and clans split to fight against each other. Some Scots favored the Stuarts, some didn't. However, our Johnston ancestors may have fought side by side with James Johnston, who later wrote a book about his exploits at Culloden and other adventures in his life. See this biography of James Johnston, the Chevalier de Johnston, a Jacobite at the Battle of Culloden.

This site has essays on dozens of Scottish subjects from the history of Scotland to how to play the fiddle: The soc.culture.scottish FAQ.

The US has set aside April 6th as Tartan Day in honor of the contributions of all those of Scottish descent in the US. So, celebrate your Scottish heritage this coming April 6th! April 6, 1997, not coincidentally is the anniversary of the Declaration of Arboath. Here are other days that are celebrated as Scottish holidays:

Jan 25.. Robert Burns' birthday
Mar 7.. Rob Roy's birthday
Apr 6.. Declaration of Arboath
Nov 30.. St. Andrew's Day
Dec 31-Jan 1.. Hogmonay

Remember the movie "Braveheart", with Mel Gibson? The movie was about a real person, William Wallace, who is a true hero of Scotland. (This is a little before the time of any Johnston's that we have traced back, as William Wallace was born in 1272 A.D.)

William Wallace, The Truth

is a web site to give you the rest of the story.... that the movie left out!

A Map of William Wallace's Scotland.

Here a list of web pages concerning Scottish clans and Scotland descendants.

And then, there is the Gateway to Scotland, complete with a history of the country and a whole bunch of Scottish links. This site is the definitive source of information about Scotland on the internet. It is brought to you by the Department of Geography at the University of Edinburgh.

Of course, what would a set of links be without a list of what Yahoo has to say about Scottish History.

Thinking of visiting Scotland? Check out A Taste of Scotland, a directory of places to eat in Scotland. This site includes a color map of Scotland.

Genuki Scotland Page

Thinking of researching your Scottish ancestor in Scotland? Here is a guide for Scottish genealogical resources.

And another guide to Scottish genealogical resources: The UK+Ireland Genealogy Pages

Here is the FAQ for the Newsgroup: soc.genealogy.uk+ireland

Here is a catalogue of events involving Scottish/Irish settlers in Pennsylvania. Use Edit / Find in your browser to search for your ancestor here.

Another great Scottish resource is the Highlander Web Magazine. This site has a wierd way of linking. Clicking on a link opens another instance of your browser and it may not appear to you that anything has happened. If you have trouble with the web site, try to go directly to it's archive page.

Famous Scots:

Robert Burns biography at the Robert Bruce Page

Check out these newsgroups:

soc.culture.scottish
soc.genealogy.uk+ireland
alt.scottish.clans

Scots in New Scotland has an interesting array of pages concerning Scottish culture and clan home pages. Nova Scotia, Canada still has an impressive Scottish population, including Scots in Scotland History.