The Myth and Magic of the Seven Margarets

I was named Margaret according to the tradition in my mother's family: the first born daughter of the first born daughter was named Margaret. My mom didn't follow the tradition exactly (which was Margaret plus your Grandmother's maiden name), or I would have been named Margaret Money, which would have been too much; so she named me Margaret Janet. I was told the tradition went back at least seven generations. While creating a family tree for a college social anthropology class in the 70s I was able to trace back only six generations, including me. So maybe there was a little bit of the myth in the story.

The magic was how special I felt to be part of such a long-standing tradition. My mother (Margaret Christie McDonald), fairly untraditional for her times, always told me I could do or be anything I wanted. She went to the school board when I was in junior high so I could enroll in a drafting class as the only girl (back then only boys were allowed to take drafting). I wanted to be an architect so drafting class was an important step in that direction. While my dad said "You're good at math, you should be a math teacher" my mom stood up for me and helped me go beyond society's norms.

My grandma (my mom's mom, Margaret Galloway Money) spoiled me rotten (or so I was told); I just thought I was very special being the first daughter of her first daughter. She was a feisty sprite of a woman (all of 4'11") with a halo of white hair and always a broad grin on her face. Her Scot's accent added special spice to "ma wee bairn" as she sang me to sleep at night.

As another of my year's adventures, I'm going to take up genealogy and see how far back I can go to trace the six or seven (or more?) Margarets in my family. One twist is that my mother was born in Glasgow, Scotland. One of the myths in the family is that we're related to The Royals (on the wrong side of the blanket, as they say). I have a bible handed down through the Margaret's that was given to my great-great-great-grandmother (Margaret ?? Galloway) by a "Lady Douglas" in 1845. So I hope to discover who Lady Douglas was and how we were part of her life.