At Long Last!

I’ve had this website in mind for about 20 years, and finally got around to it. While I used to have some pages up (at my work website in the 1990s) that covered a little of the material, this is the first time that there’s been a whole website devoted to the subject, including the tartans, the heraldry (more images coming soon), and the history and variants of the name. Later this month I should have a forum up as well, so people can talk about genealogy, where to get kilts, etc.

2022 is incidentally the 30th anniversary of the McCandlish/McCandless tartan.

Welcome to the Cuindlis Families website, and may it serve you well!

By Stanton McCandlish

I am the Cuindlis.org site administrator and presently its principal writer/researcher. Based in Oakland, California (though I spent my early childhood in the UK, and have also lived in five US states, as well as Ontario, Canada), I am an IT consultant, book author, and genealogist, I've been doing a one-name study of Cuindlis-derived names like McCandlish, McCanless, and Conlisk since the 1990s. I also designed the McCandlish tartans, back in 1992 (with consultation from one of the then-living tartan experts). I have a degree in cultural anthropology and linguistics. I'm learning Scottish Gaelic and previously studied Irish Gaelic a bit, though am not fluent in either yet. On the side, I'm also something of a tartan and Highland-dress scholar, and have amassed most of the quality material published on the subject, primarily for overhauling Wikipedia's coverage of the subject. I started with the article "Tartan", which I re-did from the ground up and will next be splitting into sub-articles. Other family lines I'm researching including Skinner, Foster, Bomar, Ward, and Scott, though only particular lineages (not as broad one-name studies).

6 comments

  1. This is a wealth of information…as a child I was told I was scottish and had family in isle of mann…so far I’ve been able to trace to John Candlish the glass maker. I think somehow there is a relation with John and the reverend Robert Candlish. I did find that Robert’s dad died early after his birth and went from James McCandlish to Candlish. I’m sort of stalled at this point but thank you!!! I think the father of James qwas names James as well and was friends with Robert Burns.

  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Stewart,_Lady_Fleming

    https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/McCandless-261/102

    https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Relationship&action=calculate&person1Name=De_Vere-309&person2Name=McCandless-261
    (if you click on Janet Stewart in this line {above} it shows descent from James IV)

    Hi Stanton,

    I found this entry for my father – I found comparing the different Magna Charta Barons lines’ very helpful for ancestries. Of course, they still have to be proven for any membership societies. Also, I found Janet Stewart by going to the de Vere line and then clicking at the bottom of the listing for ‘explore more’. It is a lot of fun! I had no idea I had most of these lines, and I imagine you will find lots as well. Good hunting!

    Sincerely,

    Rosemary

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