MY FAMILY VALUES
The values of my family are indelibly WASP and very Christian in its
background. I am probably the least religiously devout person from my
family
of origin, but I still carry many of the values which basically say,
"Do
unto to others as you would have them do unto you." I am the only
Mormon McDuffie that I know to exist. There may be others, but I have not,
as yet, run into them in the church records. I converted out of choice
because I felt that the Presbyterian church I attended back home generally
catered to the rich and politically powerful which was definitely not
me.
MILLPOND, WHERE GRAIN WAS GROUND IN THE 1800'S
I also believe what the Mormons preach, and have since I was a small
child,when I did not know what a Mormon was. My family are all either
Presbyterian
Scots or English Methodists. The English Methodists in Michigan tend to
be a very practical but austere group who are friendly, sometimes
critical,
and always very conservative. The Presbyterian Scottish part of my family
are friendly, outgoing, liberal, and willing to share what they have with
almost anyone. Both sects have strong political views. But, for some
reason,
I don't. I never have been very politically inclined, but do try to get
along and share what I can when appropriate.
My views are moderate, but firm. I don't believe in abortion, but
don't
argue with those that do. I believe in integration of the races in the
schoolplace, but none of my relatives do. In fact, when I wanted to date
a girl of color for my Junior Prom, the roof of the house nearly did a
'Reverse Wizard of Oz.' My parents and all of their parents except maybe
my grandma Yeo were all very prejudice against any ethnic group that was
not White and Protestant. I hung around my grandmother alot, though, and
because she taught people of many different cultures and races, I became
very accepting of almost all groups.
Although my parents both want to deny it, there is a good possibility
I have African American lineage in my family. J. Robert McDuffie, the
senator
from Georgia during the civil war, was known to do all sorts of things
with the servants including hopping into the sack with the females. Also,
the name McDuffie, especially the McDuff part comes from the Gaelic word
Mac Dubsitch which means son of the dark one. When the Spanish Armada was
destroyed off the shores of the United Kingdom in 1577, many of these
sailors
swam ashore, or were taken aboard ship back to England and intermarried.
These dark-skinned Spanish descendants were called the Black Irish or
Gallow
Scots. I always wondered why my Dad's hair was so kinky, and now, after
all this research, I know.
Originally, my father's family were all sheepherders. From about 600
to 1200, they would steal sheep for the different clans in Scotland. Sheep
were very important to the economy during the midievalperiod, and were
used in that period the same way currency is used in the modern age.
Different
clans were involved with the theft of sheep in order to help the more
powerful
chieftains gain even more power, and to gain more sheep or gold for
themselves.
However, in the 13th century the Scottish kings passed laws forbidding
the theft of sheep. The perpetrators were then either brought to trail
and hanged, or banished from Scotland. My ancestors were banished to the
tiny island of Colonsay off the west shore of Southern Scotland. The
family's
living there was supposed to have been bleaked as the winters were quite
harsh, the cliffs forboding, and the vegetation scare even for sheep.
After a time, my relatives began to leave the island and migrated to
Eire or Ireland. There are now no McDuffie's at all on the island of
Colonsay.
But one of the MacDuffies of Ireland migrated to Boston in 1680, and
became
the clerk for the county there. His name was John MacDuffie, and he is
the original progenitor for all the McDuffies on the North American
continent
to this day. I also have French (Abry), Spanish (Francisco), Dutch
(Sturdevant),
and lots and lots and lots of the Celtic peoples (Cooper, Yeo, McDuffie,
Dobbins, etc.) mixed in together. My family is mostly blue-collar
Caucasian
in descent. As I have already stated, the employ my family worked at over
the last 100-200 years included store keepers, clerks, teachers, postal
workers, nurses, etc. The name "MacDuffie", a combination of
the MacDuff and the MacAfie families, was changed about 1885 by my Great
Grandfather MacDuffie to McDuffie because of prejudice against the
Irish.
My relatives have been coaxing me to tell about how I am an original
descendant of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, a descendant of John Paul
Jones, a grandson of Scottish kings, etc., but that doesn't mean squat
to me. They are all dust or worm food by this time. What really matters
to me is now. Now is the most important time, and will never come
again.