TWIGS TO TREES #48 SEPTEMBER 2022
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.