Here is some text from the info section of the Clan MacTavish facebook page:
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If your last name or the maiden name of someone in your family line is MacTavish, Thompson, Thomson, Cash, Kash, MacCamish, MacCash, MacCavish, MacComb, MacCombie, MacComich, MacComish, MaComie, Macomie, MacCosh, MacLaws, MacElhose, MacLehose, MacTavish, McTavish, Mactavish, Mactavis, M'Tavish, MacTeague, MacThomas, Stephens, Stephenson, Stevens, Stevenson, Tavish, Tawesson, Teague, Thom, Thomas, Thomason, Thomasson, Tod, or Todd, and all variant spellings you are welcome to join us in celebrating our shared Scottish Highlands heritage.
For those of you interested in DNA. The DNA has been decoded for almost all the Clans. MacTavish and Thompson have the same DNA. Thus supporting the fact that MacTavish and Thompson ARE THE SAME. It has also proven that the MacTavish and the Campbell are in NO WAY related.
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At this point if you're me, then you're wondering "why are there 0 Mactavish's and 2 or 3 Campbells showing in my distant matches?" and what's "The DNA" for a clan?
I just tried to go look at the "proof" again. Their forum keeps asking me to log in and I can't see the thread anymore. It was this odd listing of some modals for clan Donald and others including Campbell. Along with Mactavish. These were 12 or 25 marker modals. It was from the early days of DNA testing. Wish I could get my hands on that again. Very frustrating! It was so unhelpful I just quit talking to them.
They're always "on message". It's creepy. On their facebook page, I felt like they were actively steering people away from DNA as a tool for genealogy. It was as if they were saying "MacTavish is Thompson so don't worry about looking anything up for yourself" (insert Jedi mindtrick wave). In fact that's the reason they gave me the link to their forum, because a member was talking with me about signing up for DNA testing. They interjected with the sales pitch and I got the hint.
Here's that forum link. Doesn't work for me anymore.
http://www.clanmactavish.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=871Anyway, my DNA looked more like Clan Donald than MacTavish. So much so that I began looking at their DNA project!
I remember thinking at the time, well it's nice for them that they found a Thompson who matches up with a MacTavish. I'm not that Thompson.
So that's why I agree with you on questioning the use of DNA as a proof of clan membership. DNA is a double edged sword. If you were clan MacTavish, on some minor level you might have DNA "proof" that a MacTavish and a Thompson are related and you publish that. Then someone like me comes along with a few hundred other "snowflakes" and you start to realize that not even all the Thompsons are related.
Kinship has never required a bloodline. Having read a few things online about the Clan system and the practice of taking the clan's name upon entry. I could acknowledge the remote possibility that MacTavish, or MacThomas or any other person really might pick Thom(p)son. To me, although unorganized, we appear to be the Dominant Thom family in northern Britain. Numbers are on our side.
Here in the U.S. German Thomsens changed their names to Thompson. It's just easier to get along when you're apart of the larger group.
I've read somewhere that the MacTavish clan says they changed their name to Thompson because of retribution. If that were the case then, it would only apply to a few individuals because there are still MacTavish's in existence. Also, it seems to me that that particular game only works if you're joining a larger group of existing Thompsons. Otherwise, who are you blending in with? Considering DNA for all Thompsons only hurts their case further.
By the way, I think I'm having some kind of Matrix moment because reality has remade itself. Not only can I not view the DNA forum post but the electric scotland page I link to in my blog:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/stoz/thomson2.html seems to be totally missing the information, I believe from Steven MacTavish posted below his father's letter, where he acknowledges that not all Thompsons are related.