Buchanan Castle Golf Club

During Sunday School, I attended a family history workshop and had a pleasant surprise. My friends Bob and Sandra from Yellowhead ward dropped in to tell me about their 3-week stay in Scotland. They visited the haunts of Sandra’s Fraser ancestors, of course, as well as most other areas of Scotland. And they came bearing gifts, photos of the ruins of the new Buchanan castle, and photos from the Buchanan Castle Golf Club. The golf club building is within some of the existing walls of the "Auld" Buchanan House/manor/castle.And they gave me a Buchanan Clan book, and a golf ball, embossed with the logo of the Buchanan Castle Golf Club. The golf ball was something new to me. My brother Ed and my cousin Darlene had given me photos and books after their visit there, but never a golf ball. Thank you guys, as a descendant of the clan chiefs, I really appreciate it!

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Email: Photos and Clan Buchanan items

Dear Bob and Sandra,

Thank you for your thoughtfulness, love and kindness!

Y-DNA tests on three of my male cousins identify my family as "a typical chiefly line of Clan Buchanan", So these photos and other items touch me in a very personal way.

I am glad you enjoyed your explorations in Scotland. I own a book with the grandiose title "How the Scots Invented the Modern World", but the surprising thing is how well it supports its claim. Much of comes from the introduction of universal free basic education. The Presbyterian reformers, had a goal that everyone would be able to read the Bible, and do basic writing and arithmetic. And so they made basic education free to all, at a time when the average laborer in England and Wales could only sign their names with an X.. Universities were established in major Scottish cities, and new schools of medicine, science, economics, engineering, etc. were developed to the point that Scots were in high demand in other countries as university professors.

The book makes a few other claims, but it had my attention when it mentioned free basic education, because it reminded me of an old family story. My great grandfather and his siblings were harassed on their way to Sunday School in Northern Ireland by children of a different faith, who wanted to steal their Bibles because they had been taught that that book was a curse. It may seem like a peculiar story, but it means that my Presbyterian family could read and write at a time when many of their neighbors could not.

I was thinking again of the man you met whose life story paralleled Bob's in so many ways. I see an experience like that is a tender mercy from God. He knows you both and loves you. ...

Thank you for wanting to help me!

Your friend,

Bill Buchanan