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Policies, Procedures, and FAQ's

Privacy Policy

Your privacy, whether you are a friend, a relative, or a member of the general public, is very important. This site has four levels of information:

General Public - Information available to the general public - either from other websites, the public domain or specifically released to the general public by the owners/contributors of the information. Note: Genealogy data on persons who are dead or presumed dead is considered General Public.
Members - Information available only to registered Redpath / Ridpath / Reidpath web site members. Since the requirements for this access are currently extremely lax, this level is not really private at all. However, none of this information is intentionally provided to any non-members.
Genealogy - This is data about living people that is gathered by and submitted by members with the express purpose of building a living Family Tree. There are 3 requirements to gain and maintain access to this level of data. 1) Must be a registered member, 2) Must have submitted their own genealogical data or survey to the effort proving some link to the Redpath, Ridpath, or Reidpath family names, 3) Must abide by this privacy policy by safeguarding genealogical information about living people.
Admin - Information available only to the adminstrator(s) of this site - Includes all registration information, information used to personalize the site, and any information provided that is not specifically released for General Public, Members, or Genealogy. None of this information is intentionally provided to anyone other than the administrators, unless legally required.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Are the Redpath, Ridpath, and Reidpath family names related?

According to most Family Historians and Researchers, the Redpath / Ridpath / Reidpath Family names came from the small village of Redpath in Scotland. Redpath / Ridpath / Reidpath and several other variants are most likely all the same family. A more in depth discussion on the origins of the family name can be found this Newsletter article on Redpath, Ridpath, and Reidpath Family Name Origins
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Do the Redpath/Ridpath/Reidpath families belong to a Scottish Clan and do we have a Tartan?

The Redpath and variants family name are from the Borders or Lowlands of Scotland, so the concept of the Highland Clan does not really apply. Regional Tartans may be worn in certain circumstances. Steve Ridpath of http://www.riddy.co.uk provides a complete discussion of this in the Newsletter Article on Clans and Tartans
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I received the newsletter and call for articles - how did you get my email address?

The newsletter and associated calls for articles are distributed using an automated electronic mailing list. This list is maintained as Admin data (see privacy policy ) and is only used for newsletter distribution. The email addresses on the list come from several sources, the predominant one being email and people searches for our family names on public directories such as Yahoo!, Netscape, Google, and others. Additionally, all Members are added when they join.

I'm not exactly a Redpath, Ridpath, or Reidpath...

I'm not exactly a Redpath, Ridpath, or Reidpath but I have a spouse / in-law / friend / ancestor / etc. that is one, can I participate?

Yes, this site is for all family and interested friends.

Is there a Coat-of-Arms, Crest, or other Heraldry associated with the Redpath/Ridpath/Reidpath families?

This is another complex topic with several answers. Again, Steve Ridpath has an excellent discussion at http://www.riddy.co.uk/Pages/Arms.html . An alternate version of a Redpath family crest is displayed at http://www.myroots.co.uk/redpath/ .

What were the origins of the Ridpath/Redpath family names?

Most of us have become used to the fact that we are all probably closely related. When we traveled and saw a Ridpath or Redpath in the phone book in a strange city, we've thought "They must be related, because it is such an uncommon family name." That has lead many of us to wonder where the name came from and how or why there are such variations.

Conventional wisdom has it that the name and family came from an area in Berwickshire, Scotland where the small village of Redpath is located today. The earliest known spellings, starting around 1200 were some form of Redpath (de Redpath, de Redepath, etc). The local pronunciation however is a rather slurred together "rippith". This may explain it's changing form into Ridpath, Reidpath, and even rarer forms such as Redpith, Ridpeth, etc. This theory goes on to explain that as literacy, care in spelling, and the importance of family/last names increased, at some point the scattered groups of family members settled on a common spelling, with Redpath, Ridpath and Reidpath being the most common spellings in use today.

Another explanation has completely separate origins for the two most common variations. The Redpath name follows the conventional wisdom just discussed, but the Ridpath variation came about entirely differently. There was an occupation where people cleared the road or "pike" between "turnpikes", which were tollbooths at each end of those community roads. The folks were "Rid-path"s because they rid the path of debris and vegetation. Part of this theory also explains that there were less Ridpath's so the name is less common than all the family that grew around the village of Redpath over the course of hundreds of years.

There also is a single record of a Nancy Redpath in 1798 that has her as a Native American in the Cherokee tribe in Virginia. Could there actually have been some Native American Indians who used the name Red Path?

Now, how did that village in Scotland get the name Redpath? There are a few theories there as well. The most repeated one is that there was indeed a path that was the color red due to the presence of red clay in the local soil, and the village and peoples were "of the Red Path" (de Redpath). Another explanation substitutes reeds or a brushy swamp, therefore a "Reedy Path". And of course, the village may have had a number of the people with the occupation of "Rid-Paths", just to combine a few theories.

This is a good example of how interesting our family history can be and why there often is no single, clear answer to even our simplest questions about our family's past.

Where is the village of Redpath, Scotland?

Here is a Map.

Why is this site so plain?

The web site is intended to concentrate on content, not annoying animated graphics. Also, the simpler a site is, the quicker it loads up, even over slow connections. More bells and whistles may be added if they enhance the content, but don't expect anything too fancy.

Update: The site has been upgraded to use Civicspace/Drupal, which has many more bells and whistles. However, the intent is still to focus on interactive content about our families.

Why register to become a member?

Most content is publically available to all users. However, to take advantage of the interactive features, like forums, blogs, posting pictures, etc. you must be a registered member. Member registration costs nothing and there is no wait, your password is sent to you via e-mail.