Macpherson Clan Membership

[Pipersson]

Dear Gentlemen of The Honourable Order of XMTS,

with great joy and no little of proudness I am allowed to announce that my application for membership in Clan Macpherson Association was fortunately accepted and I have been happily welcomed!
Thank you CMA for being so cordially and open.
And a very special and warm thanks to Kyle for his help and advice!

I can hardly express my happy feelings about this, but I desire to share it with you!

From now I am a Non-Scot with a great scottish family.

Thank you!

Tom


P.S. I am still on the ground but...

[MizzouScotsman]

Congratulations to you from Clan Donald (MacDonald) USA.

[masonpiper]

Welcome from another of Clan Donald and Clan Chattan

[Grizzly]

Congratulations Tom, its nice to have a place you can call home. Well done the MacPhersons

[creagdhubh]

Cousin,

Welcome to the Clan Macpherson Association! You are now a part of a truly wonderful, worldwide family. Soon (if you haven't already), you will be receiving one of our clan's annual publications, "Creag Dhubh," which is always a dependable resource for all that is happening within our amazing association.

I can speak on behalf of our beloved Chief, Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie, TD, and the Clan Macpherson when I say you will be welcomed with the warmest and kindest greetings at our annual gathering and rally in the summertime in that beautiful part of Scotland from whence we came, Badenoch. Again, welcome and congratulations!



Creag Dhubh Chlann Chatain!!!

[Donald Macpherson]

Tom,

Welcome to the Clan Macpherson Assoc.
I've been a Life member of the Clan Macp. Assoc. for 40+ years. L132
My wife was born in Germany and went to nursing school in Germany.

[Tam Piperson]

This thread on the Clan MacPherson inspired me to visit the Clan's website and I was surprised to learn that Smith is considered to be a sept of the MacPhersons. My grandmother's maiden name was Smith and I have always thought that the Smith tartan was very attractive, but I never realized that the MacPhersons claimed them as a sept, though I knew they were considered to be part of the Clan Chattan.

[creagdhubh]

This thread on the Clan MacPherson inspired me to visit the Clan's website and I was surprised to learn that Smith is considered to be a sept of the MacPhersons. My grandmother's maiden name was Smith and I have always thought that the Smith tartan was very attractive, but I never realized that the MacPhersons claimed them as a sept, though I knew they were considered to be part of the Clan Chattan.

I am a Smith (Ghobhain) on my maternal side, and a Macpherson on my paternal side. I would like to say at the outset, that our Chief, Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie, TD has the final say on the associated names (as the Macphersons prefer to call "septs") of the Clan Macpherson, as did previous Clan Macpherson Chiefs before our present day Cluny. The surname of Smith as an associated family of the Clan Macpherson doesn't necessarily pertain to everyone with the surname of Smith, if so, the Clan Macpherson Association (CMA) would rather overwhelmed with clan memberships from millions of Smiths worldwide! Rather, many Smiths that are members of the CMA, can trace their ancestry to specific areas within Scotland, particularly to central Inverness-shire in an area called Badenoch, the traditional Clan Macpherson lands and from whence most Macphersons came. Now, it is quite obvious that virtually every Highland clan had their own Smiths, who else would forge steel, shoe horses, and work with metal for the betterment and protection of the clan? As it pertains to the Clan Macpherson and the Clan Chattan, the Smith surname has been tradtionally associated by the following account provided by Clan Macpherson historians (sennachie) and reproduced here with kind permission by the Clan Macpherson Association:

The association of the name with Clan Macpherson happens by reason of the story of Henry Wynd, who was familiarly styled as "Gow Crom," meaning "crooked Smith," a physical description which was the norm in those days, and today is often referred to as a "Tea Name" i.e. - the name by which many would be known, their actual name being unknown. It was he who, by tradition, took part in the now rather famous or infamous Battle of the North Inch in Perth. The account of what happened was recorded by Wyntoun, Bower, Shaw and other early writers of Scottish history.

The traditional story in shortened form is as follows: The clan battle that took place at the North Inch of Perth in the Spey valley downstream from the Macphersons' homelands. The Battle being arranged, according to Wyntoun, by the Earl of Mor and Lindsay of Glennesk (afterward the Earl of Crawfurd) to settle a dispute between the Macphersons and Davidsons of Clan Chattan. At that battle supposedly 30 men from each side were to fight to the death. The feud between the two clans had kept the highlands running red in blood, making the Hatfields and McCoys look like a Sunday School Picnic.

The entire Highlands were in an uproar and the King had asked the Earls of Lindsay and Crawfurd and others to end the feud. The blood battle was the answer they thought, and the last fought in Scotland. Whoever had men left alive on the field at the end would be the winner and the feud would be over. When they came on the field the Macphersons were one man short and as the other side would not remove one of their men, the Chief of the Macphersons offered a shilling to anyone who would fight on their side. A blacksmith known as "Gow Crom" offered to take to the field and the battle was on. The smith killed his man and stepped to the sidelines to watch. The Chief asked why he was standing there, and when he replied that he had killed his man, the Chief said the more killed the higher would be his pay, or something to that effect. Gow Cromb went back into the battle and at the end of the fray, he and ten other Macphersons were the only men left standing.

The Macphersons were so happy with what he had done that they brought him home to Badenoch with them and set him up in a shop, where he became the local blacksmith. Smith, as a surname, is the Anglicised form of "Gow" or "Gowan," meaning an armourer or smith. The name in the Highlands has always been associated with Clan Macpherson and in the lowlands with the Glasgow District and parts of Perthshire.

Cheers,

[Tam Piperson]

That's very interesting, I appreciate the background information. The story of Henry Wynd reminds me of Wayland the Smith, who was a figure in Anglo-Saxon/Germanic mythology, and was basically the Nordic version of the Roman deity known as Vulcan, who was the blacksmith of the gods and was also crippled. The Gaels and Britons had a similar deity known as Goibniu or Govannon, who features in Celtic mythology.

I actually haven't been able to determine exactly where my Smith ancestors originated from, as they were already living here in America back in the 1700's and with a name like Smith it is very difficult to be sure you are following the correct lineage; but I do have a plaque hanging on my wall that displays the Smith tartan and the Clan Chattan crest badge in recognition of the fact that my paternal grandmother was a Smith, along with plaques in recognition of my Henderson and Forbes ancestors as well, which I came across either on ebay or found at thrift shops and rummage sales (it's always fun to run across Scottish related items unexpectedly like that).

[TheOfficialBren]

CONGRATULATIONS, TOM!
:-D

CreagDuhbh,
That's an interresting account of the Battle of North Inch Perth. One of the Shaws, my clan, was among the last men standing in another account...either way, Shaws and MacPhersons fought side-by-side and defeated their opponents.

I believe it was King Robert III (correct me if I'm wrong) who presided over the battle.

Wasn't the Clan Chattan Confederation a sort of alliance among some of the clans? I am aware that the Shaws are affiliated with Chattan.