AnCuimean Official Publication of Clan Cumming Society USA

Transcription

1 AnCuimean Official Publication of Clan Cumming Society USA October 2013 The society is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and heritage of the ancient Scottish surname of Cumming, its variants, and associated names, and to further and share Scottish culture. What s Inside: Page 2 Scottish Humor Page 3 A Visit With The Chief Page 4 A Visit With The Chief (cont.) Page 5 A Visit With The Chief (con.) Page 6 Cumming History Page 7 Cumming History (con.) Page 8 Clan Contact Information A Small Early Holiday Gift: With this issue I ve included a small holiday gift to thank all of you for becoming/being a member of Clan Cumming Society USA. Also as Secretary I have to remind everyone that it ll soon be time to renew your memberships and I ll be sending out 2014 renewal forms to all needing to do so around Thanksgiving time. Happy Holidays (soon) (next issue coming in January 2014) From The Editors Desk I wish to take this opportunity to thank all you Commissioners and Conveners for your hard work and efforts in representing Clan Cumming USA in Through their efforts and those of others we saw 16 new members join us this year nationwide. If anyone is interested in seeing what s been happening around the country I recommend that you visit your/our website at and use the pull down menu News & Events on the front page. From there you can navigate to a region you re interested in and read about all that s been happening. Being Secretary I have access to a large mailing list (over 600 names) of previous Clan Cumming USA members going back to our founding in It has been suggested by Bill Cummings, past President and Commissioner of the Pacific Region, that I use this to try to boost our membership rolls with a note to see if any would like to renew their association with the Clan. This I intend to do in the near future. If anyone is interested in helping the Clan grow and you have an idea or can perhaps become a Convener, page 8 has all of Clan Cumming contacts and you can write or one of us with your thoughts and ideas. We are here to serve. My Thanks to All Timothy Cummings Clan Cumming Society USA All rights reserved

2 Scottish Humor Page 2

3 Cumming Journeys A Visit With the Chief (From our President G. Allen Cummings) Left to right: G. Allen Cummings, Sir Alastair Gordon Cumming and Dr. Christopher Cummins August 8 th, 2013, Dr. Christopher Cummins and I visited with Sir Alastair Gordon Cumming at his residence at Altyre Estate, near Forres, Moray. The reason for our visit had several purposes. Those were: 1. Reinforce the relationship initially established with Sir William Gordon Cumming, Sir Alastair s father, in 1997 by our 1 st President, David Cummings of Jacksonville, Florida. 2. Request the ability to purchase an official photograph as well as the Chief providing a Welcome letter that our conveners can display at Scottish Festivals and Highland Games. 3. Request the Chief to submit once or twice a year a Message from the Chief article that we can publish in our quarterly newsletter. 4. Request the Chief to provide Clan Cumming Society of the United States a document authorizing them to represent Clan Cumming at Scottish Festivals and Games in the United States. 5. Present the Chief with a copy of our bylaws and emphasizing the fact that we have respect for his coat of arms. 6. Inquire to the extent of what Sir Alastair s vision is for a Clan Cumming Centre at Altyre as well as determining what we can do as an organization to support this endeavor. 7. Present our Chief with a gift on behalf of Clan Cumming Society of the United States. Page 3

4 Cumming Journeys (cont) A Visit With the Chief In response to the agenda of our visit, Dr. Cummins and I found Sir Alastair a very endearing person. And, we acknowledge the fact that Sir Alastair made time and gave us a private meeting with him that was very much appreciated. Additionally, Sir Alastair himself prepared a very nice lunch for the meeting. I am happy to report that our Chief received five stars from Dr. Cummins and I! During our meeting, the Chief had in hand, a copy of our latest newsletter, of which he obtained. He inquired about part of my message in the last newsletter regarding the limited liability corporation, which we emphasized that the LLC was due to protecting society officers and that we do not make a profit from annual dues. That dues paid by our members pay administrative costs such as office supplies, publication of the newsletter and web server costs. That travel and other costs are paid by the members themselves. Our Chief commented on the good work that we do with the Buchan Pipe Band. On a personal note, I was quite pleased that he was well informed regarding the same. The Chief inquired that if he came to the United States, would there be a good showing of Cumming? My response was that I believe we would have a good attendance. Obviously, the venue needs to be planned and must be central for all. I am excited with the thought of this becoming a reality. With regards to the meeting agenda, Sir Alastair agreed that we could obtain an official photograph, and that he would provide a nice Welcome letter for our conveners as well as approval to represent Clan Cumming at Scottish Festivals and Games in the United States. Additionally, he agreed that he would periodically provide information from Altyre for publication in our quarterly newsletter. Sir Alastair discussed his plans for a Clan Cumming Centre at Altyre whereby those visiting the centre in the future could relate to their Cumming heritage and Scotland. Additionally, Sir Alastair took the time to show us a building that he intends to convert into the Clan Cumming Centre. For those that know me, I could not help myself from reminding our Chief that outside of Altyre and the future Clan Cumming Centre, the thing that is most important above it all is him and his family. That he is our Chief, and that for us, he represents who we are and where we came from. Last but not least, Dr. Cummins and I presented Sir Alastair with a gift that was brought from the United States. It was an engraved pocket watch, photos follow, of which he was very delighted to receive. Page 4

5 Cumming Journeys (conclusion) A Visit With the Chief Regards, G. Allen Cummings President, Clan Cumming Society of the United States Page 5

6 Cumming History Cummings and Goings (From Scotland Magazine August 2007) In 1268 David de Strathbogie, the 9th Earl of Atholl, went on a crusade he died in Tunis the following year. His absence gave his northern neighbour, Comyn of Badenoch, a chance to encroach into Atholl and build a stronghold, Cummings Tower, and this still lies at the heart of Blair Castle. This was not Comyn s only outrage. He commanded the women on his lands to work naked in the fields when harvesting the crops, a cruel imposition indeed when one considers the midges at that time of year. His end was heralded by his horse, which arrived at the castle of Ruthven bearing only a single leg trapped in a stirrup. The rest of Comyn had been dashed to pieces on the rocks after he slipped from the saddle. This strange tale was promulgated because the Cumming, Cummings, Cummins or Comyn family the spelling here will follow that which normally applied to the individual in his time were history s losers. Had they been on the winning side, a story like that would have likely cost the teller his head or at least his tongue. The first of the Comyn family to settle in Scotland was an Anglo-Norman churchman, a close adviser of David I, who became Chancellor of Scotland. During the 13th century the Cummings rose to become the most powerful aristocratic family in Scotland; 32 were knights. At the time when an earl was the highest noble in Scotland, most were cousins of the king or the heirs of the local Pictish and Celtic kingdoms. There were 13 earldoms in total, of these, Alexander Comyn was Earl of Buchan, Walter Comyn was Earl of Menteith and John Comyn was Earl of Angus, all achieved through marriage to Celtic heiresses. Between 1270 and 1308 the Comyns were Constables of Scotland, the top military post that included the responsibility of guarding the king. With the death of the eight-year-old Queen Margaret in Orkney, the Scottish throne had no obvious heir. Thirteen men the Competitors put forward their claims. The Black Comyn, John, Lord of Badenoch, was one of them through his descent from Donald III, and his son, John, the Red Comyn, became the most important leader after Sir William Wallace in the struggle for national survival against Edward I of England. With the abdication of John Balliol in 1296, Comyn probably had the strongest claim to become King of Scots but, for the good of the country, he agreed to support his cousin Robert Bruce and went to meet him for a conference at the church of the Minorite Friars in Dumfries. There his rival stabbed him in front of the altar. This villainous act cleared Bruce s path to the throne and, in the bitter civil wars that followed, he ensured the complete destruction of the power and influence of every member of the Comyn family. Many fled to England. To history Bruce was a hero; the Comyn ordered women to take off their clothes at harvest. If, for once, virtue had triumphed and King John Comyn had taken the throne, Scotland s story would have been interestingly different. A Highland and Gaelic dynasty would have ruled the nation. No Stewarts; no James VI and I, and no Bonnie Prince Charlie. Page 6

7 Cumming History (conclusion) Only in the far north did a junior branch of the Cumming family manage to survive. Their progenitor was Robert, uncle to the murdered Red Comyn, and he died by his nephew s side. His descendants were the Cummings of Altyre on the border of Badenoch between the rivers Spey and Findhorn. By the end of the 14th century they were once again a force to be reckoned with in the north, and during the heydays of the clans, the Cummings made their mark in ferocious feuds, often with their Mackintosh and Shaw neighbours or the Macphersons, the Brodies, the Grants, or Macgregors. The skull of a Cumming chief became a Grant trophy, was given a hinged top, and contained the Grant Clan Charters. The historian of the clans, James Logan, wrote that the Cummings seem to have been rather an offensive race. This made them a typically successful clan, for any that failed to be offensive would soon loose its land. Their offensiveness, particularly against the Mackintoshes, seems to have centered on Rait Castle in Strathnairn. Like so many northern castles Lochindorb etc Rait was built by the Cummings family in their days of power and then taken over by another clan. Showing some inventiveness, the Cummings decided to flood out their enemies by blocking the Funtack Burn as it emerged from Loch Moy to inundate the Mackintoshes in their island castle. Alas, the Cummings camped in a hollow below their dam and failed to keep a reliable watch. A Mackintosh paddled over from the castle, broke the barrier and the besiegers were swept away. Their revenge did not go too well either. After a decent interval of peace, the Cummings invited the Mackintoshes to a banquet at Rait Castle. On the signal, each Cumming was to plunge his dagger into his Mackintosh neighbour. But one Cumming lass was loath to see her Mackintosh lover filleted and warned him. Alas, once again the treacherous Mackintoshes got their killings in first. Their neighbours had a saying that translates from the Gaelic as so long as there s a stick in the wood there will be treachery in a Cumming. The Cummings, understandably, considered this a vile calumny. Their version of the proverb runs so long as there s a stick in the wood there will be no treachery in a Cumming. The first version has a pretty rhyme in Gaelic. The second does not, perhaps an indication of which maxim came first. The heads of the family took the name Gordon Cumming after a marriage to the heiress of Gordonstoun. The Clan Chief is Sir Alistair Gordon Cumming of Lochtervandich and Auchry, Baronet of Altyre and Gordonstoun. He inherited these titles in His father Sir William was a noted conservationist and involved with the successful return of the osprey to Scotland. By James Irvine Robertson Page 7

8 Clan Cumming USA Contacts: G. Allen Cummings President Webmaster 7409 Jessica Way Rowlett TX Dr. Christopher Cummins Vice President - Southern Region Commissioner 81 CR 849 Blue Mountain MS giuseppe398@yahoo.com Timothy Cummings Secretary Newsletter Central Coast of California Convener McGuffie Rd Salinas CA tcummings1@peoplepc.com John (Cummins) Sheets Treasurer 1100 Springlake Rd Newcastle OK john@sheetsprinting.com Fr. Scott Archer Historian 110 E. Ash St Fairbury IL frarcher@gmail.com Bill Cummings Past National President - Pacific Region Commissioner P.O. Box 2911 Rohnert Park CA wildbillbart2@yahoo.com Todd Wilkinson Past National President Midwest Region Commissioner 2017 S. Link Ave Springfield MO wilkinst@otc.edu Dawn Burgess Red River Region Commissioner 1305 E. Hanson St Cleveland TX dawn_burgess53@yahoo.com James W. Willoughby Upper Midwest Region Commissioner 1410 Turwil Lane Kalamazoo MI jwillo@charter.net Rev. C. Irving Cummings Past National President Northeast Region Commissioner Glendale Farms, Box 779 County Route 2 Putman Station NY glendale.laird@gmail.com Alan J. Cumming Northeast Tri-State Region Commissioner 30 Orchard St Denville NJ ajc63@optonline.net Jeff Burton Clan Piper New York Niagara Region Commissioner Southern Convener Virginia st St S #A2 Arlington VA jeff.burton@piperfish.com Mrs. Eliana Cummins Southern Convener Mississippi 81 CR 849 Blue Mountain MS giuseppe398@yahoo.com Judi Cummings Daunell South Central California Convener 8 Quincy St Bakersfield CA jcummingsdaunell@yahoo.com Mr. & Mrs. D.B. Cummings Midwest Convener Missouri 705 N. Castello St Florissant MO dbcummings3174@gmail.com Rev. Brian Cummins North Texas Convener 1404 Rockdale Dr Arlington TX briancummins@att.net George Alec & Susan Cumming Upper Midwest Conveners Michigan 949 Treasure Islnd Dr Mattawan MI altyre@aol.com Scott Allen Cummings Upper Midwest Convener Minnesota Orchard Court Lakeville MN Redcomyn@mac.com Jennifer Ahrens Upper Midwest Convener Illinois 3239 Cloverridge Ln Belleville IL jenniferahrens@sbcglobal.net Page 8