Cowboy Action Stuff

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Okay... the local CAS group made contact a few hours ago and I've been invited to their local rendezvous on Saturday. I'll turn up for an hour or so and see how it pans out (visiting in-laws are arriving on Friday or I'd try to get away for the day). My interest in all of this stems from the Scottish side of my family. During the US Civil War my g-g-grandfather owned coal mines in Pennsylvania (and in Scotland). After the war he went into the Montana Territory to look for coal to supply the rail roads. While developing mines in the Montana Territory his son's (my g-grandfather) wife gave birth to my grandfather. Anyhow I've photos and a painting of my g-grandfather "cowboying" in the 1880's up until his death in the 1930s.

Although I've a few photos of kilted folks from this period, none of them were taken in the USA so presumably they left their kilts back home. I don't know if Red Lodge Montana sported any Burns Clubs or Caledonian Societies, but my various grandfathers did belong to the local Masonic lodge as well as being active in Odd Fellows. The IOOF fell by the wayside, but not the Craft. My son is (at least) a 5th generation Freemason, having joined Lodge 44 in Edinburgh when in his early twenties.