Obtaining a degree in engineering from Seattle University, he moved to Anchorage, Alaska, to work for the Alaskan Engineering Commission – and as its chief engineer was instrumental in the construction of the Alaska Railroad. While they settled in Badenoch in Inverness-shire, they had to contend with an unsavoury neighbour, the ‘Wolf of Badenoch’. This unpleasant character collected a band of renegades, stole lands from the Bishop of Moray and in 1390 burned Elgin Cathedral. Following this he was ex-communicated. But the Wolf turned out to be Alexander, Earl of Buchan and a brother of King Robert III.

This authoritative work was first published in 1723 as The Constitutions of the Free-Masons – more popularly known as Anderson’s Constitutions – while, before his death in 1739 he also wrote a number of other works that include A Defence of Masonry. Most Andersons south of Aberdeen simply began to name themselves after Saint Andrew the patron saint of their country. In the north, they followed the tradition of taking the clan Chief’s name and became “son of Andrew”. In common with Scandinavian ways, the family tended to be footloose and to rely on first names. An Icelandic phone book today, for example, lists people not by their last name, but by their first name. Within an astonishingly short space of time, Norman manners, customs and law were imposed on England – laying the basis for what subsequently became established ‘English’ custom and practice.Mayor of Anchorage from 1956 to 1958 and a president of the American Society of Engineers, he died in 1960, while the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel from Whittier to Portage, Alaska, is named in his honour. In the words of a 20th century Anderson “My grandfather told my father, and he told me that our family had changed their name from Macgregor to Campbell and then to Anderson, when it was felt that a change was called for.”

Receiving her early education from her mother and later a governess, it was not until she was aged 13 that she was sent to a private boarding school in London. Or, do you want to buy a scarf in a particular colour, like a Red Tartan Scarf? With our range of Scottish clan scarves, you will be spoilt for choice. Each scarf is a wonderful tartan design and in fabulous colours, they are great for adding a bit of colour to your outfit and at the same time keeping you cosy and warm.This means that flowing through the veins of many bearers of the name today may well be the blood of those Germanic tribes who invaded and settled in the south and east of the island of Britain from about the early fifth century.

Andersons or MacAndrews do appear to have a “cadet” sept of the Ross family. A sept is the Irish word for a division of a tribe. Cadet refers to important clansmen related by blood to the chief line but forming their own branch. The clan Anderson are something of a mystery. They have an ancient, bonny, blue tartan, no chief and no place to call home. One of his grandsons, meanwhile, was the mathematician James Gregory, who in 1663 published a treatise describing a design for a reflecting telescope.Such cattle rustling expeditions went on as late as 1670. In that year a member of the Anderson Clan –‘Little’ John MacAndrew was involved in what was to be one of the last such raids recorded.