According to tradition Scottish Highland Games had their beginning when originated by the old kings and chief of Scotland as a reasonably agreeable method of choosing the best men available for their retinue and as men at arms. Crude forms of the athletic events you will see today were developed to test the contestants for strength, stamina, accuracy and agility. Of course, they used the elements and materials of their day-to-day life and so the caber, toss, the stone put, the hammer throw, the weight lift and the weight toss, archery, wrestling, and foot races became part of the test. Even Highland dancing was used to tax the endurance and strength of the competitors. While many of the events have become more sophisticated and refined over the centuries, they retain the essence and flavor of the ancient days. The Scottish regiments used to require Highland dancing as a form of training to develop stamina and agility.

The present day popularity of Scottish Games must be credited to the indomitable Queen Victoria, who developed a love for Scotland, its people and things Scottish early in her life. She, with her entire Royal family, regularly attended the Scottish Games held at Braemar, close by her Scottish castle. The Royal tradition established so long ago is continued today at Braemar.

Scottish Highland Games are held in all parts of the world where Scots by birth or ancestry have made their homes. Scots, more than any other nationality, seem to inherit a remarkable attraction and love for the land of their ancestors. They take a particular pride and pleasure in perpetuating the customs and culture of Scotland.

Traditional Highland Games in the United States, sometimes known as Caledonian Games, reached their peak in the latter half of the 19th century. Scots sponsored traditional games in Boston as early as 1853. After the Civil War, the games experienced their greatest era. Many Highland Games were held during this period in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and other large cities as well as smaller towns and rural areas. In 1868 the newly founded New York Athletic Club had its first competition—with the New York Caledonia Club—in events which had been part of the Caledonian games for many years. Princeton held its first Caledonian Games in 1873 under the inspiration of George Goldie, the College’s Scottish gymnastics instructor. It would appear that the Caledonian Games were the direct forerunner of modern day track and field events in the United States.

Then the games went into a period of decline. In the latter part of the19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, Scottish Games in the United States were few and far between. It has only been since the end of WWII that there has been a strong resurgence to today’s great popularity. Now a Scottish Games or Highland Gathering can be attended somewhere in America on almost every weekend from early Spring to late Fall.

The athletic competitions still provide the core and backbone of the Scottish Games today. But to the competitions have been added dancing, piping, and drumming. The games have gradually grown in size and scope to their present form which includes more of the atmosphere of a fair with Scottish foods and goods for sale, a gathering of clans and dancing all Scots love. Weaving all these things together is the spirited skirl of the bagpipes, the most ancient of musical instruments which can excite one to follow in war, and stir the tears of remembrance in lament.

The kidnapping of men, women and children for sale in colonial America is a little published aspect of Scottish history. As early as 1668 ships were being searched at Leith for people being shipped to America against their will. Elizabeth Linning was kidnapped and shipped to South Carolina on the Carolina Merchant in 1684. In 1739 more than 100 Highlanders from Skye were put aboard ship involuntarily for shipment to the colonies for sale as servants, however the ship grounded on the Irish coast and the forced emigrants escaped.

Evidence of this trade exists on both sides of the Atlantic, but the best recorded example is that of Peter Williamson. In 1743, the ten-year-old boy left his home in Aboyne bound for Aberdeen to see his aunt. In Aberdeen Peter fell into the hands of a kidnapping gang and was placed on the ship Planter that left Aberdeen bound for Virginia with 69 shanghaied children. After an 11-week voyage, the ship was wrecked on a sandbank off southern New Jersey. The passengers were rescued and taken to Philadelphia where they were sold to merchants, farmers and tradesmen.

Young Peter was bought by a Perth-born man named Hugh Wilson, who himself had been kidnapped and shipped to America some years earlier. Peter worked for Wilson for several years and upon the landowner’s death was free to leave.
Williamson married at 21 and settled on a farm in Berks County north of Philadelphia. In 1754 the French and Indian War arose in which they attempted to drive the British from the colonies. Peter’s wife was visiting her relative when the Delaware Indians attacked the family farm—Peter was captured and taken away. He lived with the Indians until his escape in 1755. Returning home, he found that his wife had died. He then joined the colonial militia, but again he was capture by the French at Oswego, in what is now New York state.

In 1756 Williamson and others were repatriated and shipped on board a French vessel to England. The following year, in York, he published to story of his adventures that publicized the trade in children carried out in Aberdeen. Not surprisingly, in 1758 when he arrived in Aberdeen, hoping to sell his books, he wasn’t made welcome by the authorities who included the magistrates and merchants behind the kidnapping.

Williamson was soon brought before the court where he was found guilty of libel, fined ten shillings and imprisoned, while his books were burnt. After his release he prudently left for Edinburgh. There he was advised to take his case to the Court of Session. In court the defendants admitted that the kidnappings had occurred but claimed they were providing a social service by transporting children when times were hard and food was scarce. Despite such claims the defendants were found guilty and ordered to pay 100 pounds to Williamson for damages and expenses, a considerable sum in those days.

Williamson, having no desire to return to Aberdeen, settled in Edinburgh. There he became known as “Indian Peter”, as he sometimes chose to walk the city streets colorfully dressed as a Delaware Indian.

The damages he received as a result of the judgement were invested in a coffee house just off the city’s High Street. Being an entrepreneur, he also developed Edinburgh’s first “penny post”. The knowledge he gained from this in turn led him to publish the city’s first street directory in 1773.

Williamson married Jean Wilson, a make of gowns, in 1771, and the couple had nine children, but this second marriage ended in an acrimonious divorce after 18 years.

Peter Williamson died in Edinburgh in 1799 and was buried in the moccasins, fringed leggings, blanket and feathered headdress of a Delaware Indian.

The fourth annual Kirkin’ O’ the Tartans will be held on Sunday, March 5 at
Mission del Sol Presbyterian Church. Worship services are 8:30am and 10:30am. Entertainment and gatherings will be held between and after the
services. Homemade scones and shortbreads, coffee and tea will be served. Come wearing your tartan. For more information call 480-820-9944.

High on Edinburgh’s Castle rock, stands a tiny chapel dedicated to St. Margaret. It is the oldest surviving part of the Castle and is said to be the oldest building in Edinburgh.

It was built around 1080 on the orders of Queen Margaret, an Hungarian-born Saxon princess, who was chiefly responsible for bringing the Roman Catholic faith to Scotland. It is in a simple Norman-style, measuring only 17 l/2 by 32 ft. It consists of a nave and semi-circular stone vaulted apse. The two are separated by an archway. The small chapel was the only building to be left untouched when the Earl of Moray recaptured the Castle in March 1314. On the orders of Robert The Bruce, Moray destroyed all other parts of the fortress. In 1329, as the Bruce lay dying, he ordered a sum of 40 pounds to be allocated for the upkeep of the chapel.

Down the centuries, the chapel fell into periods of misuse. It was used as a grain store and as a gunpowder store and during one siege in 1573 which lasted 33 days, the chapel was badly damaged. in 1845 the site of the chapel was rediscovered by Sir David Wilson, who over the next 8 years began the restoration of the building having been given the Royal seal of approval by Queen Victoria.

In 1929 Sir David Russell began a 5 year project to restore not only the original appearance of the building but also to restore the chapel to it’s former use, and on the 16th of March 1934 St. Margaret’s Chapel was dedicated. Since 1942 The St. Margaret’s Chapel Guild has supplied fresh flowers every week. All the ladies in the build bear the name Margaret and the first flowers were placed by HRH Princess Margaret.

To find out why St. Margaret was so important to Scotland we have to go back to 1017 and the death of Edmund Ironside, king of England. Edmund’s twin sons were sent overseas to Hungary after his death and placed under the protection of King Stephen. One of the sons died in Hungary but the other, Edward Aethling, was brought up as the rightful heir to the Saxon throne. Edward married one of the royal princesses, Agatha. The couple had 3 children including Margaret who was born in 1047.

By this time Edward, The Confessor was ruling England, but he had been brought up as a strict Benedictine Catholic and had vowed never to have any children. The Confessor sent a message to Edward Aethling in Hungary, asking him to return to England and be ready to take over the throne. In 1057 the Aethlings left Hungary and began the long journey to England. On their arrival Edward Aethling died in mysterious circumstances which left his son Edgar heir to the throne. The Aethlings spent the next nine years at the Confessor’s court.

Strangely enough at this same time a young Scot’s prince was also living at the Confessor’s court. He was Malcolm Canmore (future King of Scotland), who had been sent to England for safety after McBeth had murdered his father King Duncan. It was during this period that Malcolm and Margaret met for the first time.

In 1066 Edward the Confessor died, the only direct heirs to the throne were Edgar, and his sisters Margaret and Christina, but as they had all been born outside England, none were considered eligible and so Harold was declared King. King Harold II was killed at the Battle of Hastings and William of Normandy was declared King.

For their own safety, the Aethlings decided to return to Hungary. Their small ship was caught in a violent storm which drove the vessel up the east coast of England eventually landing off the Scottish coast in the Orkney Islands. A message was sent to the Royal Palace at Dunfermline, the ancient capital of Scotland and King Malcolm III met the royal party and took them back to Edinburgh. Malcolm was about to renew his friendship with the young Saxon princess he had met in England.

It was a poor time for Scotland and even the Christian way of life had all but been abandoned. Malcolm was a widower with one son and he soon made it clear that he wished to marry Margaret. After a great deal of deliberation, Margaret became Queen of Scotland in 1070.

Margaret was a deeply religious person and her way of life was to influence and guide the Scots through many changed in both the social and religious areas. She brought back a great deal of ceremony to the court and put pride back into the people. Throughout her life, Margaret strived to raise the standard of living for her subjects. She was a very approachable Queen. She would invite the poor to take meals with her and Malcolm and she encouraged pilgrims to visit the shrine of St. Andrew. Houses were built on either side of the Forth and boats were supplied to ferry the pilgrims across the river. The areas on either side of the river are still known as North and South Queensferry.

Malcolm and Margaret had a large family of eight children, of whom three, Edgar, Alexander and David were to become Kings of Scotland. In 1093 Malcolm had a dispute with the English king, William Rufus. In a battle with Morel of Banburgh, an English knight, Malcolm and his son Edward were fatally wounded along with many of the Scottish warriors. Prince Edgar returned to Edinburgh Castle, where he found his mother herself close to death with an illness which had become steadily worse over the previous six months. Shortly afterwards on the 16th of November 1093, Queen Margaret of Scotland died.

It was 150 years later that Alexander the Second petitioned Pope Innocent the Fourth to make Margaret a Saint. On June 19, 1250 Margaret was canonized.

The Royal connection between Queen Margaret and the present House of Windsor is very interesting. HRH Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, came from the noble line of Bowes-Lyon, which is related to the unilateral descendants of Malcolm and Margaret. The House of Windsor itself is related to the Royal House of Arpad in Hungry.

Today St. Margaret’s Chapel is still in use. Throughout the year Servicemen and women are allowed to be married in the tiny chapel. Due to its size, they are only permitted to have

Tradition has the name originating in France and came to Scotland via England. However, Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, genealogist, historian and herald believes that the name has Celtic ancestry from the younger son of the Lamont clan.

King Edgar, son of Malcolm II, came north to try to wrest the throne from his uncle, Donald Bane. Among his train was a member of the De Leon family. Edgar was victorious and awarded lands in Perthshire to the Lyon family which became known as Glen Lyon.

The name was known in many areas of England and the first record of the name for a Scotsman was in the lands of Rostinot in 1321.

Sir John Lyon married Robert II’s daughter Princess Jean. The clan badge which is made from the family crest shows a richly dressed lady holding a thistle, thought to be an indicator of the Lyon’s alliance with the Royal house through this marriage. This marriage brought more lands, including the barony of Kinghorne, lands in Tannadice and the River Esk. A son on this marriage reinforced royal ties, with a marriage to a granddaughter of Robert II. Patrick of the same line became Baron of Glamis in 1425.

The late Queen Mother was descended from this line. Her daughter, the late Princess Margaret was born there.

John, the Sixth Lord of Glamis, married Janet Douglas at a time when the Douglas family was at odds with the royalty. When John died, she was accused of witchcraft and was burned at the stake in 1540.

The fortunes of the family ebbed and flowed with Scottish Royalty until the Ninth Lord of Glamis was made the Earl of Kinghorne, Viscount Lyon, and Baron Glamis. Other titles they have held at court over generations include Chamberlain, Privy Councillor, Master of the Household, Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal.

1677 saw the Third Earl become Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Viscount Lyon, Baron Glamis and Tannadice, Sidlaw and Strathditchie.

Members of the family in the eighteenth century were Jacobites, but managed to retain their estates until the present day. The family name is now Bowes-Lyon from a marriage to another land heiress.

Feb 1 Rena McDonald—Birthday
Feb 1 Elizabeth Grant—Birthday
Feb 3 Al & Bobbie Landeck—Anniv.
Feb 4 Stephen Glasscock—Birthday
Feb 5 Sheila Cernich—Birthday
Feb 5 Merle Sykora—Birthday
Feb 5 Joann McLane—Birthday
Feb 6 Donna Franquemont—Birthday
Feb 7 Jo Ramsdell—Birthday
Feb 13 Pam Stewart—Birthday
Feb 14 David McNabb—Birthday
Feb 14 Helen Hall—Birthday
Feb 15 Terry Shelbourne—Birthday
Feb 18 Jean Latimer—Birthday
Feb 19 John Beatty—Birthday
Feb 19 Gary & Melissa Hankins—Anniv.
Feb 20 Jill McKitrick—Birthday
Feb 20 Martin Frazer—Birthday
Feb 24 Jim Ledy—Birthday
Feb 24 Gary Hankins—Birthday
Feb 25 Bill O’Brien—Birthday
Feb 27 Hope Singleton—Birthday
Feb 28 Joan Brooking—Birthday
Feb 29 Greg & Kim Duprest—Anniv.

President: Elizabeth Reich — 602-509-1146
1st Vice Pres: Vacant
2nd Vice Pres: Tyler Cramer — 574-344-1314
Treasurer: Lisa Scott — 623-363-3355
Recording Sec: Jean Latimer — 602-867-6507
Corresp. Sec: Jean Whyman — 602-956-6424
Trustee: Alan Ramsdell — 480-969-8400
Trustee: William Wallace — 480-838-7055
Past President: Harold Stewart — 480-832-0243
Newsletter Editor: Jo Ramsdell — 480-969-8400

Regular membership meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at the Scottsdale Senior Center, 1700 N. Granite Reef Rd., Scottsdale, Az. beginning at 7:30. Come join us or call 602-431-0095 or log on to www.arizonascots.com