Hello from Tennessee!
Good to see you found your true family.....if your ancestors hail from Jedburgh, you are definitely NOT MacTavish! Jedburgh is 180 miles from Kilmartin (MacTavish area) and 130 miles from Glenshee (MacThomas territory). Jedburgh, along with Kelso, Selkirk and Melrose, was a hotbed of
Thom(p)sons. We have lists of some of the gravesites in that area and lots of Thoms are there.
You have to remember that for 300 years of Scottish history the border between Scotland and England moved....so much so that at one time, Edinburgh was on the border and it's in central Scotland now! Jedburgh and Kelso would have been on it too.
You, my friend, are undoubtedly descended from a Border Reiver! Lucky you! It's good company with Wallace, Stewart, Johnstones, Bells, Beattys, Turnbulls, etc. And it means your ancestors were undoubtedly part of the Clan Thomson that existed and is referenced in the Acts of the Scottish Parliament 1587 and 1594. We have also found a book by Charles Agustus Hanna that lists Thomson among the Border Clans in 1547. There is no mention of MacTavish in ANY clan lists until 1997 although the 1587 Scottish Parliament Act listed the clans in the "Highlands, Isles and Borders". If they weren't a clan then, your ancestors could not have belonged to them - regardless of distance.
Found Sophie's family on 1880 census in St. Louis, MO:
John Schwaneck 42 father, born in Prussia
Theresa Schwaneck 41 mother, born in Baden
John Schwaneck 19 *** she is 15 on the census
Sophia Schwaneck 15
Chas. Schwaneck 11
Emma Schwaneck 9
Bertha Schwaneck 4
Welcome aboard!