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**Alastair** · 22 March 2013, 14:39

Re: Newsletter 22nd March 2013

CONTENTS

Electric Scotland News
Electric Canadian
Canada and its Provinces
George A. Fierheller, C.M., B.A., D.S.Litt., LL.D.
The Flag in the Wind
Electric Scotland
The Scottish Historical Review
Songs from John Henderson
John's Scottish Singalong
Songs Of Scotland, Prior To Burns
Robert Burns Lives!
Outer Isles
Forfarshire
The Annals of Scottish Natural History
Scottish Notes and Queries
Armstrong
Princess Kaiulani
The Blackhalls of that Ilk and Barra
The Union of the Parliaments of England and Scotland 1707
News from the Clan Currie Society
and finally

Electric Scotland News
Had a lot of computer issues this week which has taken up a lot of time. 3 motherboard replacements and one memory replacement and still not totally resolved. It would seem this might actually be down to the Clickfree external backup drive so currently working through those issues but it's sure been time consuming.

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So we now have the date for the Scottish referendum which is 18th September 2014. apparently we will have to wait until November 2013 before the SNP government will release their view of why Scotland should say yes.

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Red lines on EU

Even the most ardent of SNP spinners accept that if an independent Scotland is to be a member of the EU then it will have to negotiate the terms of its re-entry (or continuing membership).

The crux of the matter is: what will be the terms arising from these negotiations?

The SNP needs to demonstrate to voters that it will insist on setting down “red lines” in key areas such as the Schengen Agreement, agriculture and fisheries, and the euro.

Moreover, recent events in Cyprus demonstrate how vulnerable to external influence a small state is in the EU.

The SNP is constantly trumpeting the mantra that the best people to decide how Scotland should be governed are those who live in Scotland.

Can it assure the people of Scotland that it would negotiate terms with the EU ensuring that in an independent Scotland it would be the Scottish Government, and not Angela Merkel, whose hands would be on the tiller?

END

This was an interesting article in the Scotsman newspaper but what was perhaps even more interesting were the comments which you might care to read at:
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman...n-eu-1-2847975

Electric Canadian

Canada and its Provinces
In 22 volumes and Index

I have now started to add these volumes and the idea is to make one volume available each week until complete. Should you be interested in this series then you'll be able to dip into each volume during the week and thus be ready for the next volume appearing.

Now added The Dominion: Industrial Expansion: Volume 10 - Section V

You can get to this collection towards the foot of our Canadian History page at
http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...nada/index.htm

George A. Fierheller, C.M., B.A., D.S.Litt., LL.D.
In July, 2000 Mr. Fierheller was appointed a Member of The Order of Canada. We now have a brief bio of him on the site and links to 4 books he has written.

You can see this at http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...fierheller.htm

The Flag in the Wind

This weeks edition was Compiled by Jim Lynch.

There is new format to the Flag in that each week they are embedding the previous weeks video for First Ministers question time and each month they are also producing the Editorial from the Scots Independent Newspaper.

You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org

Electric Scotland

The Scottish Historical Review
We have now started on Volume 4 and added this week January 1907 in two parts at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...w/volume04.htm

You can read the previous issues at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/review/

Songs from John Henderson
John sent us in a new song this week and here it is to read here...

Dungarees
Lyrics composed by John Henderson on the 18th of February, 2013,
to Clyde Hager's 1919 music for the song, 'That Wonderful Mother Of Mine'.

Sherp-winds thraw the trees aye gied me chilpit knees,
An' sic-like garr'd me caa oot, "Dang, dang."
Fur I wis a wee-loon in a kilt naewyes lang,
Fa afen weesh'd he'd dungarees;
Bit ma Ma she aye threep'd, "Laddies' pins need fresh air,
Aiven gif they git fyles-scaddie an' syne kittlely sair".

I wis the babe o' the fem'ly;
Fower big lassies an' me;
Pa an' them airn'd oor breid oan the lan,
Bit gey-oorlichy peer wur we;
Ma wyved ma kilts oan a han-loom;
Tee a' ither claes we'd wear,
Aye howpin' we'd tent them as lang as we cud,
Sae nae wonner ma knees wur lea'd bare.

Ae dool day Pa deed lea'in-us in muckle warse need,
Bit oor Ma ivver strang did his wirk;
Fyles han-oots thit aft cam fae guid fowks o' the kirk
Shaw'd thit freenship wis thicker nor bleed;
An' ma Ma seen she threep'd, "Lad ye'll need dungarees
As ye weel lern fit yer faither did oan his hans an' knees.

Syne as the man o' the fem'ly,
Fower big lassies, Ma tee,
A' o' us airn'd oor breid oan the lan,
Tho' aye oorlichy peer wur we;
I faist grow'd intae Pa's hand-me-doons,
An' haiv'd ma short kilts awa;
Neist o' a' ma fow'r sisters gaed aff an' gat mairrit,
Sae a' things wur much aisier wi twa.

You can read more of John's songs mostly in the Doric language at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerels.htm

John's Scottish Singalong
Added three new songs, "The Song of the Clyde", "A Guid Scotch Night" and "I Love To Wear The Kilt". Songs 127, 128 and 129.

You can listen to these at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...long/index.htm

Songs Of Scotland, Prior To Burns
This book is by Robert Chambers who is famous for collecting old Scottish Songs.

Added this week are...

Bonnie Dundee
Rattlin Roarin Willie
As I Came In By Fisherraw

You can get to this book at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ers_robert.htm

Robert Burns Lives!
By Frank Shaw

Just another Saturday Night in Scotland by Corinne Buivenga.

A year ago we had some young people from the Stonehouse Primary School near Larkhill, Glasgow led by Gregor Hamilton share details of their Burns Supper with our readers. Their story was a real hit. This year by chance encounter while corresponding with Corinne Buivenga (pronounced “buffin hah”), Office Administrator at The Robert Burns World Federation in Kilmarnock, I learned she was having a Burns Supper in her home with a group of close friends. Naturally it intrigued me since on this side of the pond Burns Suppers are usually held in hotel ballrooms or at local country clubs with a hundred or more in attendance. I’ve only aware of one Burns Supper held in a home in the metro Atlanta area and, naturally, it was by someone from Scotland. So I did what I always do when something about Burns catches my fancy, I asked Corinne to share the particulars with our readers, and she readily agreed.

Perhaps the story of the supper in Corinne’s home will entice some of our readers to consider holding one in their homes. If you are worried about what to do, or just as importantly, what not to do, order a copy of The Ultimate Burns Supper Book by Clark McGinn which is described as “A Practical (but Irreverent) Guide to Scotland’s Greatest Celebration”. In my opinion, no one other than Clark could write such a smashing book on celebrating Burns. He is, after all, the ultimate Burns speaker!

Thanks, Corinne, for being such a good sport to share with us. I know our readers will have a good time reading about your supper. I know those in attendance certainly did, and what a treat if Susan and I could have joined the fun and celebration of Burns! (FRS: 3.19.13)

You can get to this article at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives168.htm

Other articles in this series can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm

Outer Isles
By A. Goodrich-Freer (1902)

Now completed this book with the following chapters...

Chapter XV. Lewis
Chapter XVI. Lewis and its Fisherfolk
Chapter XVII. Harris and Smaller Islands
Chapter XVIII. Stray Thoughts
Glossary

You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/outer/

Forfarshire
By Easton S. Valentine (1912)

Have now added the following chapters...

Chapter 1. - County and Shire. The County of Forfar
Chapter 2. - General Characteristics
Chapter 3. - Size. Shape. Boundaries
Chapter 4. - Surface and General Features
Chapter 5. - Rivers and Lakes
Chapter 6. - Geology and Soil
Chapter 7. - Natural History

You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rfar/index.htm

The Annals of Scottish Natural History
Now added Volume 2 1893

You can read this at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/natu...al_history.htm

Scottish Notes and Queries
I have decided to add all the volumes I download in this series. So you can now read all 12 volumes and also volumes 1 - 8 of the second series.

You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...otes/index.htm

Armstrong
I found another book on the Armstrongs, Origin and History of the name of Armstrong, which is in pdf format and be viewed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webc.../armstron.html

Princess Kaiulani
We got in a picture that she painted and now have a request from Hawaii to see if we can identify the scene. The picture can be found at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/women/wh36.htm

The Blackhalls of that Ilk and Barra
A publication from the New Spalding Club. Hereditary Coroners and Foresters of the Garioch by Alexander Morison

THE Editor for the New Spalding Club of the Records of Aboyne (p. 183), in discussing a charter conveying land, refers to one of the witnesses—Alexander Blackhall of that Ilk—as “a member of an ancient family, who frequently appear as witnesses to Aberdeenshire charters.” The object of the following pages is to give some account of that family. It is, moreover, one of the conditions attached to the granting of a “free search” among the documents in the Historical Department of His Majesty’s Register House in Edinburgh, that the results of such investigation should be published. As I obtained such permission in connection with an examination of the family history of the Blackhalls of that Ilk, I now fulfil the obligation thus imposed on me. But for this, the following records, if published at all, would probably have been circulated privately, for immediate interest in the history of most families is limited. It may be, however, that a certain general interest attaches to the history of the Blackhalls, as a concrete instance of the feudal forfeitures, to which King James VI. was sufficiently ill-advised to resort, in order to fill his depleted Treasury. It would, moreover, be strange, if, in the continuous story of a number of human beings, such as is set forth in these pages, there were no “touch of Nature” discoverable calculated to make “the whole world kin,” and consequently more or less interested. Possibly the Reader may, in this history of the Blackhalls, find some such justification for the wider publication of these memorials, which the circumstance mentioned has rendered necessary.

The spelling of proper names (with the exception of that of Blackhall, in which case the more recent mode is usually followed), will be found to vary in these records. The form of words used in the original documents has, as a rule, been retained, as impressing more vividly on the mind the reality and actual occurrence of events long past, and the historical existence of persons also long dead. To be vague in the apprehension of any history, is to lose the full force of such teaching as it may contain, and in an age of scepticism, a fact, if remote, requires all the corroboration possible.

You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/blackhalls

The Union of the Parliaments of England and Scotland 1707
By P. Hume Brown.

I found this good article which explains how the Union came about and thought it was short enough to educate you a little on the Union.

You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/union.htm

News from the Clan Currie Society
News of an event and also some of the clan history.

You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...ie_update.html

And finally...

Begorrah

An Irishman who had a little too much to drink is driving home from the city one night and, of course, his car's weaving violently all over the road.

A cop pulls him over. "So," says the cop to the driver, where have ya been?"

"Why, I've been to the pub of course," slurs the drunk.

"Well," says the cop, "it looks like you've had quite a few to drink this evening."

"I did all right," the drunk says with a smile.

"Did you know," says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms across his chest, "that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"

"Oh, thank heavens," sighs the drunk. "For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."

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Leftowers!

Two Englishmen businessmen in London were sitting down for a break in their new shop. As yet, it wasn't quite ready, with only a few shelves set up. One said to the other, 'I bet any minute now some thick tourist is going to walk past, put his face to the window and ask what we're selling.'

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when, sure enough, a curious Scotsman walked to the window, had a peek, and in a broad Scottish accent asked, "Whit ur ye sellin here?"

One of the men replied sarcastically, "We're selling ar.-holes."

Without skipping a beat, the Scotsman said, "Ye're daen weel ... ainly twa left."

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And that's it for now and hope you all have a great weekend.

Alastair

**Rick** · 24 March 2013, 21:31

Re: Newsletter 22nd March 2013

The feature on Princess Kaiulani is enough to make one weep, but it highlights one of Scotland's best kept secrets, which is the place of Scots in Hawaiian history. Even Devine has little to say about this, but there were at least four "waves" of contact by traders, missionaries, and the like with the most recent being the great influx of Scots managers to the sugar industry around the turn of the 19th century. I spent a wonderful fortnight on the "Scotch Coast" of the big island, north of Hilo last spring researching a great aunt from Forfarshire (Angus) who married there in the 1920s. There are a few books on the market, but most of the material is locally preserved and the annual reports of the big sugar companies are thoroughly populated with Scots characters and values. There are many untold stories and I fully intend to return!

**Glesgalass** · 24 March 2013, 23:45

Re: Newsletter 22nd March 2013

My late husband had a work colleague from Fiji and his name was Hector McGregor. My husband talked about the man before I ever met him and he didn't tell me Hector was from Fiji. You can imagine how hard it was for me to keep a straight face when I was first introduced to him.

Elda

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Newsletter 22nd March 2013

Newsletter 22nd March 2013

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