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From Gwen Giffen
This website has really improved since the last
time I visited. I enjoyed it the first time,
and now I enjoyed it more. I particularly like
the history.
I have never been to Scotland. However I
am very interested in my family's geneology. I am
in touch with 3 Giffen descendents who have
been back to your town simply to view the
castle ruins and see the old Giffen lands.
I am also aware of many more who intend to visit
someday in the near future.
Perhaps to those in your small village
of less than 10,000 it may seem silly to have
Americans come gawk at their ancestral sites.
However, I think it could be something
someone there might like to profit from.
For instance, someone could develop a Giffen
ancestral tour. There will most definitely be more in
increasing numbers on the way in
the next few years. Would it not be better to see
them as a potential rather than an
annoyance - part of a small tourism industry?
My experience emailing and checking out geneology forums is
that an increasing
number of Giffen descendents are becoming more computer
literate and more aware
of the fact there was once a Giffen Lands with a lordship.
There are old family stories
of a castle and immigration to America, and fighting in the
Revolutionary War against
England.
Our political system is much different than yours in some
distinct ways, despite their
similarities. So is our education system. Our
national history does not leave us with
a clear picture of what a barony is and how it works.
When you say the word "castle"
in the US, images of a grandiose, immense fortress come to
mind, and not the dull,
square building the Giffen castle once was. Few
Presbyterians know what a
Covenanter was or why they left that part of Scotland.
Our world history does not go over the monarchies and
battles of Britain much at all.
We learn about the American Indians, and the battles of the
U.S.. That does not
involve any monarchies, except in vague reference to Europe.
So what you have coming to look at their ancestry are
probably seemingly
ignorant, uneducated Americans. However, they ARE
educated, and if you were to
come to America, you might look the same if you were to ask
questions about
American places. However there are few roots for western
Europeans over here.
It is a huge curiosity to me to discover why my ancestors
immigrated, who they were,
where they lived, what their traditions were. All that is
pretty basic to you all. To us it
is big news. It is part of exploring who we are and where
we came from. It is very
romantic, mysterious, fun. That is why there are so many
of us, with the numbers
going up. The U.S. Giffens are getting more organized.
For one, I would like to know the origin of the Giffen name.
It seems to date back prior
to 1500. I am now aware that probably the people who took
on the name of Giffen were
vassals. Was the name taken from Gyffes (hand), or maybe
Gavin (Gowain)?
Was it a word form of some druid deity?
Also, I'd like to know exactly why Robert Montgomerie
left the Lands of Giffen, and
what became of him. I know he was given refuge by the
Duke of Argyll, but for what?
Did he die living at Christlach and Kildavee near Campbelltown?
How come so many of
his vassals followed him and didn't stay at Giffen? And
I'd like to know the history behind
the Brigit's Well there; and more about St. Inan and how he
converted the druids.
A small issue that may become a bigger one in the not too
distant future is that us
annoying American gawkers are going to probably increase in
number. The people
living on the Giffen Lands understandably might be annoyed by
this. But they have
a wonderful opportunity. Many of the people who have the
money to come look are
most likely from middle-class to upper-middle class families.
It is frustrating to run
into a situation of a drive-by based solely on the good will of
a few very nice and
accommodating local people. It would be wonderful if the
people having something to
do with these lands could somehow get together and arrange for
some sort of
generalized tour with a more in-depth description of the
history of the lands and the
people who had anything to do with it, with elementary
descriptions of land division
in various times of history, and possibly education on the
culture of those times. What
little I've read or heard of the social order in the 1600's
fascinates me.
I understand that some local people have taken it upon
themselves to do these
things already, and they are saints.
I am hoping for it, anyway, by the time I am in a financial
position to make such a
trip myself. Meanwhile I must just email and surf.
I realize this email might seem very vain - to think someone
might exhert so much energy
into developing a tour for one family name. And to mail
such a request into the ether of
the internet in hopes that someone might take them up on it.
It seems, though, that
the Giffen Lands are a significant part of the history of
Beith. It does not hurt to
express one's hopes, I don't think. So here it is.
And thank you so much for your site.
Gwendolyn Giffen
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