We are the clansmen of Clan Sutherland! We sprang from the sand, rocks and heather of Moray. Our forefathers painted themselves blue and slaughtered the invading Roman Legions. We erected stone crosses before there were Christians and chiseled images of our Gods upon them. We built great stone forts and fought men from the west for our land. We were absorbed into a new culture but continued to resist. We fought the yellow haired men from the north who came with the wind. We followed the remnants of our royal house until resistance was our ruin. Many of us were forced from our land and sent to strange places in Scotia. Many of us died.
In the 12th century, Freskin came to bind us together. He built his castle of Duffus and looked out over the plain of Moray toward the firth. From his loins came the Murrays, the Earls of Sutherland, the Sutherlands of Forse and the Sutherlands of Duffus and Skelbo. Through marriage we became related to the Brooms, the Cheynes, the Federiths, the Grays, the Keiths, the Mowats and the Oliphants. We grew stronger and exercised great strength in the north. We came south and met the Bruce. We fought and died at Bannockburn. We invaded England and left many of our children unburied there. We fought amongst ourselves and with neighboring clans. We invaded our neighbor's country and repelled invasions of our own land. We befriended Mary, Queen of Scots when her friends were few. We became divided in our loyalties to her descendants and many of us died on both sides to place or keep this or that Stewart on the throne. Our children were some of the first to realize that they were obsolete in the country of their fathers and that country had no further use for them. What no army was able to do was accomplished by the pen. Hundreds perished without benefit of a roof over their heads. Others left Scotland to return No more. Our sons joined redcoated regiments and again took up the clay. more, tartan and kill. We stood in rows and were blown apart by the American riflemen at New Orleans. We became famous as "the thin red line" by destroying a Russian cavalry charge in the Crimea. We marched into Singapore, our pipers playing us into the trap. Wd went throughout the world as outcasts, soldiers, sailors, explorers, settlers, but most of all as SCOTSMEN! We are the living heart of the Clan Sutherland.
Those of us living today have not forgotten those who came before. They will live on in us and will continue on in the ones yet to come. The more we learn of whence we came, we'll the better know where we are, and whither bound.
FOUNDING OF THE SOCIETY
The Clan Sutherland Society of North America, Inc., affiliated with the Clan Sutherland Society in Scotland and united under the Countess of Sutherland, our Clan Chief, was founded by Miss Sally Southerland at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, North Carolina in 1976, when sixteen persons gathered at the Holiday Inn, adopted a constitution and elected officers.
WHO MAY JOIN?
Anyone of Sutherland lineage (however the name is spelled) and of the Septs, Broom, Cheyne, Duffus, Federith, Gray, Keith, Mowat and Oliphant, who is interested in joining the fellowship for the accomplishment of the above purposes is welcome to membership in the Society.
RIGHT TO BELONG
In addition to the completed application and applicable fees, a new member shall be required to complete a lineage chart for our genealogist showing his or her direct descent from a person born with one of the surnames; Broom, Cheyne, Duffus. Federith, Gray, Keith, Mowat, Oliphant or Sutherland (Variations in spelling acceptable). Marriage to such a person is also qualification.
OUR OBJECTIVES ARE:
To foster a spirit of kinship within the Clan by providing a focal point for expressing Clan sentiment and to keep Clansmen in touch with each other throughout the world.
To promote friendship and loyalty among the members, to stimulate an appreciation of accomplishments of members of the Clan, and to hold meetings for the better realization of such purposes.
To promote public knowledge of. and interest in, the local, national and world-wide history and traditions of Clan Sutherland.
To add deeper understanding of the cultural background of the Clan, by encouraging the publication of informative manuscripts of a scholarly. character dealing with the history, language. music, literature and other aspects of the Clan's past.
· To cooperate with the Clan Sutherland Society in Scotland by contributing materials and assistance toward the development of an information archives center for records and genealogy of the Clan, especially its overseas members, and by assisting in the conservation of places and scenery traditionally associated with the Clan.
BENEFITS
Annual membership card, the monthly Dunrobin Piper newsletter, genealogical aid, current membership roster with updates, and contact with those of common heritage.
Click here for a Membership Application Form.
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