A couple of points I might make: I think Halkett and Hackett are names from the same root. I further note that their coat of arms contains three piles similar to the Caldwell shield with colours reversed. The Scottish family of that name seems to be centred in Fife near Dunfermline (Pitfirrane?) – I had wondered about the Caldwell connection back to Fife because the three piles in chief seems to be an uniquely Fife device and have on good authority that the devices on Scottish coats of arms are territorial. This would link Caldwell closely to the Anstruther family especially and it is notable that the first husband of Marjorie of Carrick was Adam of Kilconquhar – I don’t know what coat of arms he bore but Kilconquhar is very much in Anstruther territory. Adam died on crusade and Marjorie became Robert the Bruce’s mother by her second marriage.

There is no sign of Caldwell families native to Fife – so that doesn’t help my story. There is a Caldwells farm near Collessie though. Consequently the family that came to Caldwell, Renfrew may have been Flemish. The Flemings liked black on white for their arms as most of them came from the province of Alost in Flanders and that was the colours of the arms of Alost. Furthermore most of the Flemings adopted surnames fairly late and unlike the true Normans adopted their surnames from their Scottish holding placenames rather than from their earlier ancestral lands outwith Scotland. This would mean that the Caldwell family in Scotland (Renfrew at least) were descended Flemings who were related to the Anstruther’s of Fife but had no surname and adopted their surname from the ancient placename “Caldwell” when they were granted that land.

No relationship to the English Caldwell families then (in this theory) and it would therefore have sprung from many sources. I am fairly convinced that “Caldwell” in Renfrew was a district name much as other localities were known as “Strathgryfe”, “Mearns”, “Clydesdale”, “Cunningham”, “Kyle”, etc. The name fell into disuse.

Another interesting point when we consider “territoriality” in coats of arms: The Mure family of Caldwell has elements of “Moray” and of the “Comyn Wheatsheafs” in it. The province of Moray was “Murray” territory. Murr-eh (French “e”) on Mure would sound awfully like “Murray” and could be an alternative spelling. The province of Moray was “Normanised” by one Freskin, a Fleming from Ayrshire (who amongst other things built Galdwell Castle near Craigellachie). He was the ancestor of the Murray and Sutherland families. The Mure shield links back to Moray territorially. Furthermore the wheatsheafs are a device that link to the Earl of Chester – an office held by John le Scot the son of David of Huntingdon younger brother of the King of Scotland whose descendents gave rise to future kings of Scotland through the female line. David of Huntingdon of course had three piles in chief on his coat of arms.

There are quite a few disjointed clues there that might one day be fused into a coherent and believable story. I am still scratching my head at this stage. The trouble is that our proto-Caldwell was probably not called “Caldwell” and is probably someone known to history as “Arkebald” of something like that and once the connecting piece is proved and slips into place we will instantly be provided with a large slab of history that is already recorded. In other words we are looking at our ancestors but we don’t recognise their name.

Hopefully there are others who are as interested as I am in the > of the family and not just in their immediate family tree.

I guess it is nigh impossible for anyone to trace their own tree back "forever" but if we can find the true origins of the family then we will all benefit. There is an element of selfishness in just pursuing ones own tree and feeding on the work of others - it is more selfless to look for family origins - that is something all who bear the name might benefit from.

Who knows - if we find the origins and trace down then we might just meet up with tracing back

Don't forget "its a wise child who knows his own father" - genetic research may produce many surprises. So it is best to be content with researching "the tribe" as it may produce less shocks than researching one's personal ancestry.

Whomever we are descended from it is surely going to be from the same tribe at least.

We must always keep our sense or proportion (and humour) in these instances.

Tom