Welcome to another balmy summer in Arizona. Remember to line the inside of your kilt with ice packs if venturing forth with style this time of year.

Hello. My name is David McBee and I will be serving as the Society President for the next couple of years. I became involved with the Society after meeting the Chief of my clan, James McBain, at the final Highland Games to be held at Margaret T. Hance Park.

It has been a rewarding journey in discovery, education, cultural awareness, and friendships. I have been involved with the games and the Society ever since.

This is an amazing group of people from all walks of life who look to learn, share, and support each other in the furtherance of Scottish society in Arizona.

The talent and experience among us is a valuable treasure to help grow this and associated Societies. We need to continue the growth of the future society with teaching, sharing and investing in the coming generations. I believe we can begin to develop more youth involvement in our music, dance, athletics and history. Ideas and energy are most welcome in this matter.

We are working on our events for the coming cycle and season. Budgets and plans are being developed now. We do need members to be involved with the Social Committee to plan and organize events during the year, over and above the Games. This effort is to include weekend outings, monthly meeting prep, and our annual special events. The Games committee is growing all the time and can use members, input, and energy as well. Take a chance and pitch in where it interests you. You will meet some great people.

Here's to a great year, Slainte.

In all my years as a reporter in Scotland, I only remember one occasion when I wrote a story about Arizona – and it happened to be a mild controversy surrounding the Highland Games.

I was freelancing at the time and picked up the story from a newspaper website over here, It was published in three or four UK papers. Some of you might even remember the incident and the gentleman I spoke to by phone.

Scotland's Hidden Gems - New Lanark
Iain Lundy

Scotland has a ton of locations that contain fascinating tales of social history. The collection of buildings on the banks of the River Clyde at a spot called New Lanark is considered so historically significant that it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site - it is well worth a visit.

The village of New Lanark, 25 miles south of Glasgow, was built around a cotton mill in the 18th century by the Scottish industrialist and philanthropist David Dale. When he sold the mills to his son-in-law, the Welshman Robert Owen, the workers benefited from enlightened social and welfare programs that had never been witnessed in the UK.

Owen set about creating a Utopian society on the banks of the Clyde and revolutionized thinking at the time. It was his belief that workers need not be treated badly for the mills to be profitable, and he provided them with a decent standard of living accommodation and other amenities. His ideas were far ahead of their time in industrialized Britain where the average working family lived in grinding poverty.

He set about improving the way of life of the workers there and the New Lanark community became recognized throughout Europe as a model of efficiency and cleanliness. Owen even founded the first nursery school in Britain there, and the village attracted not just other social reformers, but European statesmen and royalty.

The combination of employment in the mills plus housing, schooling, and other services became a model that would be followed throughout Britain and the world as the Industrial Revolution took hold in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Owen sold off the village in the mid-19th century and sailed to America with the aim of making a similar mark in the United States. He purchased the town of New Harmony, Indiana, but his attempts at social reform proved an economic failure within two years.

His Utopian socialism (or Owenism) had a vision he described as a ‘New Moral World’ based on happiness, enlightenment, and prosperity through education and communal living. It had worked well in Scotland but his Indiana experiment attracted a diverse group of people, including the unprincipled and downright lazy, that it was almost doomed to failure from the beginning.

Nevertheless Owen’s ideas were well ahead of their time and a visit to the New Lanark site is a fascinating trip back in time to industrialized Scotland. There is also a popular walk along the Clyde that takes you to the spectacular Falls of Clyde waterfall.

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Research Your Scottish Ancestry

The Research Process by Robert M. Wilbanks IV, B.A. Chief Genealogist & Historian, C.S.A. genealogy@arizonascots.com While a number of genealogy beginners may already comprehend the research process, to someone who has no research background at all, the genealogy process of research can be a very difficult skill to understand and apply. Even skilled researchers will struggle at the beginning with the more complex aspects of the genealogy process. In genealogy there is a generally recognized standard research method, and its application to the search and use of particular source materials. The steps may vary according to unique circumstances and availability of sources, or the steps may not be followed in sequence, but each step must be followed. The main thing is to stay focused and stay on task . . . and to be very, very thorough. The following is the generally accepted outline of the genealogical research principles and process: Select and Define a Research Goal: go from what is known to the unknown. Begin simple. Decide on one specific piece of information to search for; birth, death, marriage information, etc. Pick one individual, in one family, in one locality. Search for a name, or date, a locality, a relationship, an event. Select a Source to Search: decide which record or records is most likely to answer the question. Learn about the general background of record types, and the locality history and types of records created that have the most genealogical value. What exists for the necessary time-period that has the information you seek. Locate the Record: determine the existence, location, availability and accessibility of the desired and most relevant source material, and the medium format that exists for it. You will have to understand geography, jurisdictions and the relative history, both civil and religious, to determine what records were created. Determine where the record may be currently housed: library, archive, records office, home, etc. Search the Records: once a record, or records, is determined and located, it is time to search thoroughly through the source material. Is the relative information there? Make note of information on extended family. Note errors and readability issues. Make a record of no findings, particularly noting lacking information that theoretically should have been found. Make good Notes / Record the Information: cite your sources. Make good photocopies, and extract most relevant information. Create and proofread abstracts and transcriptions. Be consistent in size of paper or format of electronic document. Make full and complete citations of all your findings. Be organized. Evaluate / Analyze the Information: study the record(s) in detail. This can be the most critical part of the research process. Question your findings? What is the type of information? Is it thorough and complete? Is it logical? Do elements of the information match what is already proven? Does it fit correctly in the biographical and/or family story? Do the facts connect? What is the quality of the record? primary vs. secondary. Is it verifiable? Is it direct? Is it circumstantial? Use the Results: fill the information gap; add the information to the biography or family history. Develop a chronology. Analyze the complete picture and determine the next direction for research. With new information comes clues for new families and new directions to research. Also, in light of new information, be prepared to go back through previous research to search for new information not previously noted as relevant. Then, with this new information, Select and Define a New Research Goal(s). At first, understanding this research process can be overwhelming, and putting it to practice even more so. However, as you progress in your research, your ability and your confidence will improve. Soon you will get comfortable in your “Sherlock Holmes” ability of ‘deductive’, and/or even ‘inductive’ reasoning; foreseeing the next steps in the research, and evaluating and analyzing the quality of the information. This is another of a series of articles in which I show you the basics of searching for your family history, discussing the use of family records, public records, and online resources nationally and internationally, etc. The previous articles are now available on the Genealogy Section of this website.   See “Genealogy” in the menu options at the top of the web page.

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A special concert is being held in Glendale on July 28 to help a group of young pipe band members receive a week of instruction at a summer school.

Funds from ticket sales for the Concert of the Celtic Arts, being staged in July at St Helen’s Catholic Church, 5510 W. Cholla Street, Glendale, will go towards sending the seven youngsters for some special piping instruction. The boys are aged seven to 15, and have been working together since October of last year. They have performed at the Irish Cultural Center Anam Cara event, and the Arizona School of Highland Dance.

The event, which starts at 7 pm, will feature the Phoenix Pipe Band, Irish dancing displays, and performances by Dr Joe O’Neill, the Arizona School of Highland Dance, and of course the Cambridge Avenue Pipers. Tickets cost $10.

COMING EVENTS and Highland Games in Arizona and Nearby
Games Calendar compiled by Clan Campbell Society NA

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