Clan to gather for final service

[Nathan]

Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — Descendants of two Scottish brothers who have celebrated their family ties for four decades will gather for a final clan reunion this weekend.

http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/L...inal-service/1

[Downunder Kilt]

Nathan, I am a bit confused with the news article. Is this a Canadian clan with scottish roots with its own chief or a Scottish clan that is a branch of Clan MacDonald?

[Chas]

Very bitter sweet - great that the heritage has been celebrated for so long; sad that this the last time.

[Nathan]

Nathan, I am a bit confused with the news article. Is this a Canadian clan with scottish roots with its own chief or a Scottish clan that is a branch of Clan MacDonald?

Your confusion is understandable. They are not a distinct Clan in the official sense but are a clan as in "family". The Donald and Angus (Cape Breton) Branch is an official chapter of Clan Donald Canada, so this extended family is simply a regional branch of a Clan association rather than a separate Clan with their own Chief etc... Their High Chief is Lord Godfrey MacDonald. I'm not sure what official branch of Clan Donald their Ancestors Donald and Angus are off, but it is possible that they are Clanranald as my first MacDonald ancestor Malcolm came from Lewis to Pictou around the same time as their Donald and Angus arrived. That's far from conclusive.

Although a majority of Cape Bretoners likely have a connection to Clan Donald, the descendants of these two men are the only folks who have decided to make their association official with Clan Donald Canada and also hold an annual "gathering" rather than a plain old "family reunion". There is no other Clan Donald Association branch on Cape Breton. People probably just take their Clan membership as a birthright and don't feel the need to pay anyone $10.

Still, this family is to be commended for the work they did staying connected and paying tribute to their origins. It seems it is the end of an era.

[Downunder Kilt]

Thanks for the information Nathan, and it is certainly something they are to be commended for. So many traditions and customs just slip into the unknown void these days. Thanks for the article.

[Nathan]

Thanks for the information Nathan, and it is certainly something they are to be commended for. So many traditions and customs just slip into the unknown void these days. Thanks for the article.

Actually, I reread the article and they DO claim to have a Chief.

“We find that with each new generation, there’s fewer and fewer of the clan that have actually been born in Cape Breton,” said clan chief Rev. Laurie (MacDonald) MacCuish. “There’s less and less interest of the upcoming generation and the committee is getting weary. And the younger folks don’t seem to be picking up the slack.”

I do know they're a branch of the Clan Donald Canada association, but I'm not sure by what authority this Rev. MacCuish can be called their Chief. Very interesting... More research required.

[Carlo]

Thanks for the information Nathan, and it is certainly something they are to be commended for. So many traditions and customs just slip into the unknown void these days. Thanks for the article.

Traditions and customs are as static as water in a river.
It's sad to see such an event ending, but on the other hand it is great that smaller gatherings will still uphold the family connections.

[Nathan]

It seems their "Chief" is an elected position.

http://donaldandangus.clandonaldcanada.ca/picnic.php

[Downunder Kilt]

Thanks for the follow up Nathan.

[cessna152towser]

Thanks for a fascinating read.
On my mother's side, her widowed grandmother, four uncles and one aunt all emigrated to Canada a little over a hundred years ago. My grandfather John refused to go to Canada with the rest of his family. Three of his brothers went on to have families in Canada, the fourth one never married, and sadly his sister died young without producing family. The Canadian cousins and second cousins kept in touch and eventually started a family Facebook group. They decided to have a get together of the grandchildren of the four brothers James, John, Tom and Daniel and their families. For the first time ever, the grandchildren of all four brothers met at the one time in the same room at Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island in 2011. Relatives, some of whom I had never met came from all over Canada and I travelled from Scotland. The event was so successful that we got together again at Sooke in 2012.