SOMEHOW, I never got around to visiting Scotland. Did England. Did Wales. But missed Scotland, Strange, when you think about it, Hunter being a clan name and all. But then the roots thing has mostly struck me as an exercise in some kind of futility, ~” Enter. our 16-year-old son, Will, who has suddenly developed a pas- sion about tracing his ancestry.’ It’s a convoluted ancestry, I must “say. The poor lad is about as “Canadian as you can get, which "means he’s part Scottish, part ‘English, part French, part German, ‘part Norwegian; part American and part Huron. - Yet he is lumped statistically as just an Anglo. In any event, it was”: .his desire to trace the Scottish part of “his ancestry that got us planning a _ tip to Scotland this summer. The argument in favor of Scotland, as opposed to England, ’ “Norway, France, Germany, Ontatio, » Israel or the ULS.A.,: was that he is - “mostly” of Scottish extraction, : “since his mother’ 's maiden name was Innes, meaning that he is derived ‘from not one but two clans.’ The first discovery, as the young roots-seeker hunkered down in a -| Jibrary to start researching, was that: his mother and father are actually related: That is; the Hunter clan sas _an “offshoot” (whatever that means) :of the Kerr clan, arid the name Kerr was adopted by a member of the Innes clan a long, long time ago. ~ So my wife is my many-times- ‘ emoved cousin, I guess. Incest. personal Oh well. Once you start tracing these, things, the lad discovered, the ances- . tral trail becomes a genetic labyrinth. I had always vaguely thought that the Hunter clan came from some place around the Firth of Forth, on the eastern coast of Scotland... | I'm not sure why I had this - impression. All f knew for sure was that my paternal grandfather, Henry Hunter, arrived in Winnipeg around the turn of the century from Ireland. ‘Therein hangs quite a tale. - “The Clan Hunter has its own tar- -, tan, crest and motto, and a principal ~ family exists, but they are located on the west coast of Scotland, not the east. They weren’t a big outfit. ‘On a map my son tracked down ~ that shows the general territories and influences of the clans at the time of - King James VI (the Scotsman who, as the great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, Henry VH's daughter, and the nearest heir after the death of DRAPERIES BY S.. LAURSEN : ‘CUSTOM. DRAPERIES, TRACKS AND -VALANCES: ‘ Labour $8.50 per : panel unlined, Beat cUSTOM BEDSPREADS & : ~ $9.50 lined. BLINDS. Elizabeth Tudor, was handed the throne of Englanu in 1603), Clan Hunter barely had a seaside toehold on the edge of the Firth of Clyde, controlled a small offshore island defended by Little Cumbrae castle, and had managed to grab another small island and another seaside enclave on the eastern coast of Arran. Istand, just across the Firth. This put them in a perfect posi- tion to jump off to Ireland. Tam told that there were, and still are, quite a few Hunters in Ircland, but the story of how part of the clan came to migrate there has not yet given up its secrets to my son’s investigations, We do know that for gencrations the Highland chiefs used to raise troops of mercenaries, called gallo- glasses, to fight in Irish wars and take up land there. There has been much merriment around the supper table lately as the probe into the ancestral past deep- ens. My wife, for instance, bought into an early piece of disinformation that suggested the Innes clan were Highlanders and the Hunters were Lowlanders. Well, it tums out to be the oppo- . site. It really makes no difference, except that since she made such a point of it, she now finds herself being dubbed a bottom-feeder. It was inevitable, when the movie Rob Roy came out, my son-would insist on our going to see it. That might have been a mistake. - The Toppish English come off’ as ~ering, of course, that the Scots Sunday, May 14, 1995 - North Shore News ~ 7 out into the world, bending and twisting it in amazing ways, - They basically ran the British Empire as viceroys, governors-gen- eral, bureaucrats, bankers, journal- ists, publishers, soldiers, scientists, engineers, doctors, accountants and managers, to the point, in the late 1700s, where they were so influen- tial that a wave of anti-Scotticism , swept through Great Britain. Scots officers retuming from the conquest of Canada or India were embarrassed to wear their uniforms to the theatre in London because of the hostility of the Cockney mobs. Half of the presidents of the United States were of Scots descent. Scotsmen hired themselves out as ° mercenaries to Russia, Poland, Japan, Turkey, you name it. Ouch. { think I’ve been sucked in by the kid. Maybe, before this fever has 1 run its course, I'l be out buying a kilt and broadsword too. I understand the Scots charge through the nose for these things, though. And they’ Il see us coming from a a mile, won’t they? . such evil twits, and the Scots as such virile heroes, that it took a week or so for young William the Highlander to come down off his English-hating kick. , Thad to point out that if he really did decide to kill every Englishman he saw, he'd have to cut off one of his own legs or arms. He has settled for buying a kilt and a broadsword this summer, instead. This burst of ethnic self-interest has proved to be infectious. The young part-Highlander arrived home one day with half a dozen books on Scotland, and despite my reserva-- tions about dipping into the primal pit of racial identity, I found myself skimming through a few, and discov- . shaped human history in a way that no other people did, There are estimated to be some | 20 million “Scots abroad,” whose ancestors left the homeland and went Dr. “Dr. John Ko pps is pleased to announce a the opening of his new. * Family: Dental Practice| © focus on prevention . wheelchair access ¢ children welcome © parking available’ ! New patients, \ elcome 986-9121. / Suite 400 - 1200 Lonsdale Ave, N.Van. ‘What's happening in our District | NOTICE OF INTENT TO REZONE ™ he Council for The Corporation of the District of North, Vi ancouver, “pursuant to the’ provisions of the Municipal Act, hereby gives notice of its intent to amend the ta Zoning Bylaw as described below: fe bho ae sp ‘Bylaw 6751 - "Rezoning Bylaw 4024” | At low, low. prices. a For FREE Estimates * call: 987-2966 (Ask about Seniors! Discouis) Applicant: The Corporation of the District of North Vancouver. -Proposed Text Housekeeping amendments to: Amendments: : ' correct numbering of amendments to residential regulations; ¥! delete on-site sidewalks asa component of the site coverage: definition; and ey delete the requirement for parking for outdoor customer services areas. ; To introduce the same amendments to the residential regulations as ° previously adopted under Bylaw 6685, but which now refer to the amended section numbers - To recognize on-site sidewalks as an amenity which should not be included in the “site coverage” calculation - To remove the parking requirement for outdoor customer service areas adjacent to restaurants, neighbourhood pubs and retail food services Purpose: Pursuant to the provisions of 958 of the Municipal Act, the Council has waived the public hearing insofar as the bylaw is not in conflict with an Official Community Plan and does not involve a change in use or density. The Council will consider Third Reading of the Bylaw o on May 23, 1995. ; 4 : : Any written submissions received by the Municipal Clerk prior to 512: 2:00 NOON, ' Thursday May 18,'1995 will be circulated with Council's Agenda packages. ‘Submissions received after that time will be distributed to Council just prior to the 7 meeting on Tuesday May 23, 1995. ; Spires eg ; ye , . : Sones cae perl .Copies of the bylaw, supporting staff reports. and any relevant. background,. yeourawagad® documentation are available for review in the Legislative Services Department or | Planning Department, at the Municipal Hall,355 West Queens Road, North Vancouver, BC, Monday. through Friday, except statutory holidays, between the hours of 8: &: 30 am. ‘and 4:20 Pm : ; “Agnes 5 Hilsen me . Deputy Municipal Clerk ‘ May 12, 1995. a