More finds in search

It appears I’ve fallen down another rabbit hole.
That’s easy to do where the Internet or genealogy are concerned. It’s even easier if both are involved.
Sometime last year, I stumbled upon cousins in cyberspace with whom I shared a great-great grandfather. While my great-grandfather had wandered from Ontario down to Michigan, their great-grandfather (my great-grandfather’s brother) had headed west to places like Saskatchewan.
To their credit, that branch of the Ronald family had done extensive genealogical research, the sort that I find interesting but far too much work.
Among the things their research confirmed is that it was my great-great grandfather who had first come to North America from Scotland and that he was born in the city of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire.
The connection to Ayrshire has been known by the Indiana branch of the family for years. I once found my own name in an Ayr telephone book and called to introduce myself.
(What they thought of the scruffy, long-haired college student hitchhiking through Scotland, I never knew. But I doubt that I made a very good impression.)
But learning the name of a specific city in Scotland was news to me.
And when I learned that not only was my great-great grandfather born there but my great-great-great grandfather as well, I set out to discover more about the old home place.
It turns out, not surprisingly, that Kilmarnock is known for much more than being the birthplace to a few Ronalds.
It’s in the heart of Robert Burns country, and the Kilmarnock edition of Burns’s poems is treasured by book collectors.
And while the popularity of Robert Burns as a poet has waned, another Kilmarnock native son flourishes.
That would be Johnnie Walker.
It seems that the distillery for the famous Scotch whiskey has been a mainstay of the Kilmarnock economy for generations.
I should have stopped there, but the rabbit hole of Internet research can take you deeper and deeper.
It wasn’t long before I learned of the Killies, the much-loved soccer team known as Kilmarnock F.C., for football club.
A quick check on eBay found that there’s a collectors’ market for all things related to the Kilmarnock Football Club.
Old programs, trading cards, postcards of the stadium, and jerseys pop up with some regularity.
And that’s when I encountered the rampant squirrels.
I’m not referring to the squirrels that are rampant in our backyard around the bird feeders; that’s a topic for another column at another time. I’m referring to the red squirrels emblazoned on the crest of the Kilmarnock F.C.
As logos go, this one’s a beaut.
There’s a ribbon at the bottom that says, “Kilmarnock F.C.” And another ribbon at the top that says, “Confidemus.” That translates from the Latin as “We trust.”
In the center, there’s a soccer ball atop what appears to be blue and white bunting, which represents the team’s colors. Above the ball, there’s a hand in the form of a blessing, sort of like the Cub Scout salute but with the thumb stuck out.
And then, on either side of the soccer ball, there are these squirrels.
And therein lies a mystery.
I get the Latin motto and the blessing and the ball and the team colors, but the squirrels have me baffled.
And the Internet is so far no help.
This year or next, I hope to make it up to Glen Morris, Ontario, to see the stone house my great-great grandfather built. It’s still standing.
But there’s no squirrel-hunting trip to Scotland on the horizon.
Maybe I should turn to Johnnie Walker for guidance.[[In-content Ad]]