Your "Cilting" Me
The phrase "your 'cilting' me" was said first by my then step-daughter who was 9 years old Makalya, referring to me wearing my cilt and embarassing her. There are several things that should be pointed out about the cilt I am wearing on the first page. Kilts are traditionally and exclusively Scottish. I am not Scottish but rather am Welsh. The term Cilt is the Welsh version of the Scottish term Kilt. Kilts or cilts have since been adopted from the Scots by the other Celtic Nations (Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany) in the spirit of the Panceltic movement. Scottish Tartans (the pattern of the kilt) generally reflect an individuals clan (established familial group which may not follow the surname), Irish Tratans generally follow the families county of Irish origin and Welsh Trantans generally follow the individual surname. Thus the Tartan I am wearing is the Lewis of Wales Tartan. My family has traced our ancestors back on my paternal side through my paternal grandfather to John Lewis, who came to the United States in 1630 from Wales and to my intermediate ancestor Deacon Samuel Lewis, Esq., of Waterbury, Connecticut who served as a Justice of the Peace, Attorney and Sellectman and who aided in the cause of the Patriots during the American revolution. It is through these two individuals that I have derived my membership in the following Hereditary Organizations: The Order of Founders and Patriots of America, The Order of the First Families of Connecticut and Sons and Daughters of the Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar. Additionally, an application is in the process of being filed for membership in the Order of the First Families of New Hampshire 1622-1680 and Hereditary Order of the First Families of Massachusettes through the same line of ancestors. Through my paternal grandmother our family has been able to trace its relatives to who direct linal decent from Governor Thomas Dudley, Governor Simon Bradstreet, Anne Dudley Bradstreet, and Rev. Seaborn Cotton. This line of ancestors qualifies family members for membership in the Winthrop Society and Society of the Decendents of Colonial Clergy. These are only several of the multiple Hereditary Societies which the family would qualify for membership.