I read this with interest as I am desended from the Reiver families of Bell, Elliots and Johnstones - my own line stayed firmly in place in Scotland and farmed around the Canonbie and Dalton areas - the farms are still there. I read the linked articles with interest I'm amused at the Neolithic Celts - I'm pre-historic archaeologist/ history person and have never heard of a Neolithic(c4500BC -2000BC in Scotland) Celt( no evidence for Celts in most of UK but the Iron Age spanned from around 550BC to c 400AD in non Romanised areas of Scotland) who ever wrote the article is a bit archaeologically/historically dazed and confused! Cheers Gill North Wales ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linda Merle" <merle@mail.fea.net> To: <Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 8:55 PM Subject: [Sc-Ir] Border Clan DNA Project > Hi folks, > > Here's the URL to that DNA project I mentioned: > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/elliott_border_reivers_dna.htm > > > It says here: > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gallgaedhil/elliott_border_reivers_dna.htm#Question5 > > "What happened to them and where are they now? The era of the Border > Reivers ended abruptly when Elizabeth I died and James I was crowned King > of England. The Elliotts had often served as mercenaries to Elizabeth, and > had harried James's mother, Mary Queen of Scots, on her behalf. > Consequently, they feared and resented the Stuart king. In defiance of the > new regime, a large party of Elliotts, Armstrongs and Grahams rode into > Cumbria, and stole 3,000 sheep. This last hurrah of mayhem took place in > 1603, and has been remembered ever since as "Ill Week". Later, more than a > hundred of the perpetrators were apprehended, and many were hanged. Many > others fled with their families to the Ulster Plantation of Northern > Ireland, where they served as a buffer between the Gaelic Irish and their > English overlords. The Border Reivers thereafter became the core of that > fiercely self-reliant people known to history as the Scotch-Irish." > > The page includes a bio of the author's grandfather, an > ELLIOTT from Donegal. > > It's likely that border-folk descend from: > > --Various tribes of Picts, Scots, and Germans > --Roman soldiers garrisoned at Hadrian's Wall > --Asiatic horsemen settled in Lancaster by the Romans along with their > horses > --and the Plantagenets (marched their armies through our area > to fight with the Scots)! > > Linda Merle > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net > > > > > >