Clan MacSchwartz A brief history

During the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 a large group of people who were originally from Russia set sail from Spain to settle in a less hostile area. We know that their first stop was in Plymouth, England from whence they continued their journey northward and finally emigrated to Scotland where they banded together to form the Clan MacSchwartz*.   In 1565 Lord Darnley married Mary, Queen of Scots, and was crowned Henry, King of Scots. Because the royal treasury was low, King Henry decided to obtain a census of all of the clans to make sure that all were paying their share of taxes to the Crown..   When the census forms were received it was noted that there was room for only ten letters in a clan name; King Henry then decreed that if a clan name had more than ten letters that the name had to be shortened to fit on the census forms.   When the census takers arrived at Clan MacSchwartz they found that there were eleven letters in the name so that they decided to shorten the clan name to Schwartz.   Some of the clan members acquiesced but a number refused to change the name of the clan..   When Henry heard of this he became so enraged that he decreed that all clan members with the name of MacSchwartz be banished from the land, that all documents pertaining to the clan be destroyed and that all mention of the clan be expunged from the books.   As a result, the clan was abolished by royal decree and the members changed their names to Schwartz.   Even today when one looks in the telephone directory for the name of Schwartz you will see that it is one of the largest clans in the world and that almost all are descendants of the Clan MacSchwartz. * It may be of interest to learn how the clan got its name. It seems that as the group was leaving the ship a customs officer aboard the ship obtained the name of each person as they debarked and called it out to the customs officer ashore to enter in the journal. .   While attempting to get the shore officers attention, he yelled "Hey Mac, Schwartz".   Because of the noise and confusion, the shore customs officer thought the shipboard customs officer had said "Hey, MacSchwartz" and thus he recorded it as such.   Since many of the others were in the same family, the shipboard officer just yelled "Same" as they walked down the gangplank so that all members of the family were officially recorded by Scottish customs as members of the MacSchwartz clan.   It should be noted that the Clan members were honored and decorated for their exceptional bravery as members of the 40th Battalion of The Royal Fusiliers during the first World War.