Surprise: Scottish by June Kozier

Growing up, I was told I was Dutch on my father’s side. My father was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church. His relatives came from Coeymans Hollow, a hamlet in southern Albany County which was settled by the Dutch.

When I was older, my grandmother on my father’s side, got a letter from a Colonel William Hannay asking for family information such as dates of births, deaths and marriages. This was about the time of the TV show “Roots”. Nana was consulting with my father because Pa, her husband and my grandfather, had died and my Dad was the oldest child. The most interesting thing is that my father’s name was also William Hannay.

Dad told Nana to go ahead and send the Colonel the information he requested. The statistics in question could be obtained by looking at county records anyway and this would save the Colonel a lot of time.

A couple of months later, we got a detailed and remarkable family history including information on my immediate family. Come to find out, we are Scottish as well as Dutch. Andrew Hannay, our ancestor came to America from Scotland before the Revolution. He even has a NYS Historical marker which reads “Near here Andrew Hannay raised a company of volunteers October 1777 to oppose invasion of Burgoyne who surrendered before their arrival.” It is on NY Route 143 in Westerlo, NY.

A few years ago, I had my DNA done by Ancestry and it confirmed my Scottish Ancestry.

Please Note: I did not know what to write for this prompt until I read “Do Not Assume” by Susan Whiteman. Her story gave me the idea to write this.