Our McNair Family History

 I wrote this on 24 March 2016. I recently found it in my files.

My research on the McNairs began in 1989 and was one of my first lines to trace. With eager vitality, I was trying to establish ties to Ireland since we had a trip to Ireland planned for the summer of 1990.  This research jumped track when I ran into a few brick walls on the McNairs and then discovered that my maiden name of ‘Quillin’ had an obvious tie to Ireland, which I would have never imagined.  I felt certain that the Mc in McNair would establish an Irish connection.  In the next few years, I reestablished my research with the McNair line, this time with a new mission: to enter DAR.  Anyone who has documented for DAR knows that this is rigorous research and generation links have to be proved.  Armed with the information that I already had and now with a new purpose (having a hint that James McNair served in the Revolution), I found that the McNairs do trace back to Ireland.  My prior research was so thorough that I feel very confident in the information that I have and I have since been strongly linked to James McNair through DNA.  I have all the documents (3 envelopes full of copies of the original documents) on James and John McNair from the Knox County courthouse. With this many documents I believe these two men were well respected and established among the locals.  There is also a book, McNair, McNear, and McNeir Genealogies by James Birtley McNair (Editor) 929.273 M231 Chicago, Illinois : J.B. McNair, c1923. There are 3 supplements: 1928, 1955 & 1960 compiled by James Birtley McNair. I purchased the 1928 supplement.  Once again, as with many of our lines, this was a family of hardy pioneers that date back to colonial times.

Defining Our Lives

Who Are YOU? Where did you come from? If someone asked you for an explanation of how you reached your point of destination, you would be able to tell your own life story, but the answer, in reality, goes back way before your story began. I believe the answer lies in the struggle between mankind on this earth. Forever, since the dawn of time, man has struggled for his rights. Civilizations are defined by war and it comes with a price.  Many wars have been fought from Biblical times until now to bring us to where we are. So, when you look at who you are, and what formed your family and your core beliefs, most of the time, a turning point of any family was during wartime. As a genealogist, I am amazed at how much my family history has played a part in defining who I am.

There’s a term, genetic memory that defines how life experiences may be passed on to our children. Memory present at birth, in the absence of sensory experience, is incorporated over long spans of time. For me, I believe that it is a cultural experience that is ingrained into the very nature of a family, and it encodes a readiness to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli. As Mother always said, “Nothing happens in a vacuum.”

I stand in awe as I look back over the many decades that my research has covered and what I see revealed about every generation back to the 1600s or 1700s.  Our tree is built on families who have always been willing to pay the price to bring us to where we are today. Yet, we go about our daily lives, taking for granted everything we have, without one thought about the cost to our very own ancestors who paid with their own blood, sacrifices and hard work for us to live in comfort, leading daily lives with no real sacrifices.

Recent turn of events have made me question why I have dedicated my life passionately to documenting my family history. Why have I spent hour after hour researching these people's lives; why have I collected file cabinet drawers full of documents; WHY has it truly mattered to me to know about the lives of those who have gone before me. WHY?  The answer is simple; I wouldn't be where I am if it were not for their journeys in life, and neither would you.

I’m baffled that others don’t care to stay connected to their heritage. Why would you not be interested in the blood that courses through your veins. It IS WHO YOU ARE…after all. My research is available for anyone who is interested, and recorded history shows the bravery of our people who were willing to fight for their beliefs and sometimes forced to migrate in order to survive. Their footprints carve a path to my very front door. They had a very hand in the freedoms that I enjoy.

We are part of the framework of American democracy that included the freedom of religion, speech and not being dictated to by our government.  Many men and women have died for all the things that our constitution stands for.... but where did that person come from with such a passion to fight for those rights. It was passed along from somewhere, and they are among your family ancestors.

We have long celebrated the greatest generation, and rightfully so. It is a time in history that is current in our lives. Our parents were part of one of the greatest generations that ever lived when our nation, men and women, came together to end the Second World War.

But it didn’t begin there. When you take a look back, history shows that each generation has been willing to fight for our freedoms.  And yes, we have direct family members who landed in the new world BEFORE it was a nation.  They stepped onto this soil with the intention of carving out a new life, free from government control.  They were willing to face the risk and dangers of a world unknown to others.  And no, it didn’t begin there because in the Old World there where wars that forced our relatives to flee to the New World. And our history incorporates family members that gave their lives so that you and I can live within the boundaries of a free world.

All of the above brings up the question: who in your family earned you the right to claim those freedoms? Would you know about your families' involvement in the settling of our great nation?  I see my own family willing to live in comfort with multitudes of freedoms without any knowledge of who in their family made that possible for them.  I feel forever grateful for my background. It’s important to pass this history down to future generations because it is WHO we are. It is forever in our DNA. It didn’t begin there, nor will it end there.

There is not a generation that I have found that immigrated after the 1800s. By that time, our family was involved in carving out the western frontier, living in harsh conditions to find a better life for their families. Most of them came across to Texas in the early stage of development. It was from there in rural areas that our roots took hold. I’m proud to be an American and I’m proud to be a Texan.