Twigs to Trees
December, 2022
Mary Helen Haines
What a wonderful time we had at the AMM at Stone Mountain, Georgia this October. The weather was perfect, the setting is beautiful, and we got to visit with so many of our CMW members, some I haven’t seen in person since our last trip there in 2011. At each AMM the committees present a report to the membership that updates everyone on the year’s activities. My report can be found with the others at the end of this Loch Sloy! edition, as well as on our website under About, then Minutes after signing in.
Elsewhere in this Loch Sloy! is Part Three of the research into the early Ohio McFarland settlers. Next year look for articles about the movement of peoples into the British Isles during the Mesolithic through the High Middle Ages leading to development of the MacFarlane Clan.
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Doing research on our newest Australian member, Peter Bernard McFarlane, I learned about new occupations and places that are part of our Scottish heritage. Peter’s ancestor Peter Duncan McFarlane was born in 1822 in Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire to Robert McFarlane and Janet Bell. Peter Duncan McFarlane, wife Ann Pollock, and family immigrated to Australia in 1853. Unfortunately Peter Duncan McF. Sr. died one year after his arrival in Australia and Ann died in 1859, taking with them much knowledge of the family’s past.
Twigs to Trees
September, 2022
Mary Helen Haines
I hope some of you have escaped the sweltering heat by going to beaches or mountains this summer. Our members in Canada have had a busy summer hosting games now that things have opened up again, and we look forward to our AMM at the Stone Mountain games in Atlanta, Georgia in October. Terrance MacFarlane, a member of our Genealogy team, spent part of his summer in Scotland and was able to attend the signage dedication at Elan Vow (see below). In this issue of Loch Sloy! my investigation into McFarlands who settled into Ohio in its first years as a state are chronicled in Part Two.
In Scotland, work has continued by The Elanvow Preservation Fund (Ellan Vhow Preservation Fund). It is a 501(c)(3) created in 2012 by Bruce McFarlin and his daughter Katherine to study, preserve and protect the structures at Island I Vow (various spellings). They are an example of how one person (in this case two) can make a difference. MacFarlane descendants all over the world have made the pilgrimage to visit the island structures at I Vow and Inveruglas built by MacFarlane chiefs, but not many have taken the time and effort to preserve what ruins are left. Over the years, projects funded by EVPF and supported by individual gifts to the Fund have paid for the documentation of the structures and the removal of invasive ivy covering the walls, live trees threatening the structures, and dead trees that had fallen into the ruins. Because of that work, more of the castle walls are visible to visitors and the structural integrity of the buildings is better preserved.
Twigs to Trees
June, 2022
Mary Helen Haines
Good day CMW members. Thank goodness we have middle-names today to help distinguish ourselves. It has always been difficult teasing out the various Roberts, Johns, and Williams in our MacFarlane lines. That is where DNA has helped to separate fact from fiction in our various genetic lineages. When I received our newest member’s genealogy form, with ancestors named King and Armour, I was thrilled because those are rather rare MacFarlane names. I went to our database to find other members with those unusual names. That led me to Ohio McFarlands, and like pulling a thread, I was soon digging into all the early Mcfarland settlers in Ohio. Part One will appear in an article following this short column.
Back to the Armour McFarland line: Armour McFarland was born abt. 1747 in County Tyrone, Ireland. Although I have not seen any written records as proof, family tradition has it that his father was John McFarland, and his mother named Mary Ann Armour. There are families with the Armour surname all over Ireland in records from Cork, Antrim, and Donegal counties. The name originally derived from the occupation of an armorer, combining Middle English and Old French. In the 1830s several of Armour McFarland’s adult children decided to immigrate. It appears that at least three went to Canada and one went to the U.S. While the King name was passed down often in the Canadian descendants, it does not appear in the Ohio descendants of Patrick McFarland Sr. (1773-1841) who arrived with his family in 1831, and soon purchased a land grant in Coshocton county. There are a slew of Armour McFarlands (in various spellings) in Canada, the U.S. and Northern Ireland. So far, we do not have a Y-DNA tester from this line. I hope that will change; it would be great to unite the families on both sides of the Atlantic.