Sunday, December 12, 2010


 Campbell Clan

Both of my grandmothers were Campbells, so when I went back to Scotland to serve a Mormon mission, I had a vague awareness that that I had Scottish heritage.  I didn’t know anything about the Campbell Clan.  After arriving in Scotland, it took a couple of episodes upon the announcement that I was a Campbell for me to realize that my Scottish heritage wasn’t appreciated by all.  MacDonalds, in particular, reacted with revulsion when I related my genealogy.  This reaction mystified me.  Now that I understand the history of clans in Scotland better, I understand that reaction. 

The Campbell Clan emerged in the thirteenth-century as other clans were establishing an identity in the country.  The Campbells were broadcast over a wide range of the western Highlands, and over the centuries they became the dominant clan in the nation.  This medieval period was nasty, brutish, and long throughout most of Europe, but this was particularly true of Scotland.  The Highlands were (and are) rich in rain and rocks, so farming wasn’t a path toward riches.  The tribes largely made their living off plunder and warfare.  Keep in mind that the Norsemen (the Vikings) started invading Scotland in the eighth century.  The outer islands (Shetlands and Orkneys) even remained in possession of Norway until the 1400s.  The Gaelic inhabitants of Scotland were Irish originally (combined with some Picts and other tribes).  Tribal warfare in such conditions was inevitable and constant. 

For those who imagine that tribes in Africa or Central Europe will never get along with each other, consider that the English thought the same thing about the Scots just three centuries ago, despite the fact that Scotland had more universities than England did not long before that.  Keep in mind that the Romans thought the same thing about the English and Germans in an earlier time; the Greeks thought the same about the Italians who later became Romans.  Just to give you an idea of how brutal life was in Scotland, let me give a few examples before focusing on the Campbell Clan.  Just before the years rolled over to 1500, Archibald of Argyll (Argyll is the ancient home of the Campbells, so we are talking about the Campbell leader here) wanted to broaden his power base northward.  When John of Cawdor died in 1495 without an heir but with a daughter born posthumously, Archibald determined to become the girl’s legal guardian.  He pressed charges of robbery against the girl’s grandfather to acquire the legal status and sent an armed guard north to bring the girl back.  When someone asked him what would happen if the girl were to die, he replied that as long as any red-haired girl could be located in the Campbell lands, Muriel couldn’t die.  Muriel’s household had foreseen such trouble and her mother had branded her with a hot key so such a switch couldn’t take place.  Her nurse had bitten off the end of a finger to make it easier to identify the girl.  But Argyll didn’t have any such murderous plans in mind; he married her to one of his sons instead. 

Other examples of bloodthirstiness are easy to find among the Scots.  In 1654 the Catholics and Protestants were fighting to see who would gain ascendance in Scotland.  Sir Ewen Cameron fought on the Catholic side.  During a battle with English troops Ewen killed an English officer, using his teeth.  He bit the officer’s throat and called it “the sweetest bite I ever had in my life-time.”  Years later, Ewen was visiting London and stopped for a shave at a barber’s.  Hearing his accent, the barber asked if Ewen were from Scotland.  The barber related how those people were barbarians; his own father had died on an expedition up north when a Scotsman tore his throat with his teeth.  “I only wish I had that fellow’s throat near me, as I have yours,” said the barber as he finished the shave.

The Campbell clan dominated a large part of the western Highlands and eventually became the most powerful clan in all of Scotland.  Their ancestral home is Inverary Castle where the Duke of Argyll still resides.

The Campbells were often led by astute political operatives and sometimes even good generals.  They threw their loyalty first to the Protestant Reformation and later the Stuart lines of kings.  By remaining loyal to these two institutions (Scottish Presbyterianism and the Scottish--and later combined Scottish and English--monarchy), the Campbells were able to expand their holdings at the expense of other clans.

If you go north and west of Glasgow, almost to Oban, you will come across Inverary.  That is the ancestral home of the Campbells.  The entire region between Glasgow and Oban, then to the south, is known as Argyll.  What little of the region I have seen is beautiful, full of deep lochs (or lakes) resting at the bottom of deep gorges.  The near continuous rain keeps the land deluged with plants and groundwater. 

The Duke of Argyll now sits in Parliament and probably wears a dirk only on ceremonial occasions where people with a giggle ask him what he is wearing under his kilt.  But there was a day when his ancestors drew the small knives to draw blood.  The Duke doesn’t raise money by confiscating the lands of fellow Scots anymore to pay for rebuilding Inverary Castle after being burned down by Montrose; instead, he comes to America after the roof on the castle burns and raises money at fancy dinners by selling engraved shingles to Americans of Scottish and other descent. 

When John Knox brought Protestantism back from Geneva, the Christian religions dueled for dominance in Scotland for a few centuries.  The Campbells mostly adhered to Presbyterianism, an austere version of Calvinism.  Archibald Campbell, Eighth Earl of Argyll, was prominent in the warfare to determine whether Scotland would stay Catholic or become predominantly Protestant.  “The Gleyed Argyll,” as he was called, was known for his brutality and cunning, not for his honesty and courage. 

John Knox had returned to Scotland not long before Mary Queen of Scots had.  She brought back from France not only her Catholicism but also her love for parties and plays.  Who knows which the dour Scot disliked more?  Mary couldn’t hold onto Scotland and ended up fleeing to the safety of England and the embrace of her half-sister Elizabeth I.  Remembering that Mary had at one point claimed not only the crown of Scotland but also of England, Elizabeth eventually had her relative beheaded.  But Mary’s son James became king of England and of Scotland after biding his time, and noting that Elizabeth couldn’t marry because she would have to marry either a Protestant or a Catholic, and therefore overthrow the delicate balance she had held throughout her reign regarding the religion of her subjects.  James the Protestant was succeeded by his son, Charles I, who had decided Catholic tendencies.  It was under Charles’ reign that warfare broke out in both in Scotland and England after Charles imposed a new book of common prayer on both the Church of Scotland and the Church of England.  Charles ended up getting his head chopped off by Oliver Cromwell, but before that happened he decided to impose his will by force on the Scots.  The Presbyterian Covenanters took an oath not to accept Catholic influences, including the new prayer book.  At first the battle went badly for the Covenanters.  At times they had to abandon Protestant worship in their kirks and take it up on the heaths.  The Catholic agent of Charles was Montrose and he swept across Scotland at will, even burning down Inverary Castle and forcing Argyll to leave dinner to hop into a boat in escape.  But the Campbells eventually got the upper hand with the help of Lowland forces and eventually the English. 

Campbell forces were still needed, even with the defeat of Montrose’s forces in 1651.  Charles I eventually surrendered in Scotland and was turned over to the English, who cut off his head.  Oliver Cromwell ruled for a decade.  But after Cromwell’s death, England invited Charles’s son, Charles II, back as king.  When Charles had a son and thus ensured Catholic succession, the Glorious Revolution ensued in 1688.  This eventually led to Charles and family fleeing to France and a new Protestant King was brought in from the Netherlands—William of Orange. 

It was during this struggle that the event giving the Campbell’s their darkest stain on the Clan’s reputation occurred.  The MacDonalds were ancient enemies of the Campbells.  The MacDonalds were also mostly Catholic and supported the Stuart line when the Campbells had switched allegiance to the House of Orange and later to the Hanoverian kings.  The Campbells sent a detachment of soldiers to Glencoe to take care of old monetary and political debts.  The operation, as most Campbells assert, was directed from London and Edinburgh, but the Campbells receive most of the blame.  MacIan MacDonald took in a contingent of Campbell soldiers and feasted them for a few weeks.  When the command came, Captain Robert Campbell attacked on February 12, 1692.  Many of the MacDonalds were caught in their sleep, although only about 40 of 300 were killed.  The command was to kill any person under the age of 70, which included women and children.  One Campbell chewed the fingers off Lady Glencoe’s fingers to get at her rings.  But even Scotsmen who were willing to kill each other for revenge or entertainment disliked the idea of accepting someone’s hospitality then killing them afterward.  The Campbells have borne the stain of that treachery since. 

When you visit Scotland now you enter a haven for tourists.  You can buy bagpipes and tartan of approved and unapproved designs.  Every Scot used to be a genealogist who could recite family history for hour upon hour.  The stories these poets told echo down through time into the tongues and ears of Scots today.  Upon hearing my American accent, I often was approached by a Scottish veteran on the street with stories about how the Scots and the Americans all by themselves rescued the hapless English and French in World War II.   The Gaelic language was outlawed at one time by the English in order to disintegrate Scottish society with its bloody history, rebellions against throne and bishops, and revenge killings.  The Scots now exemplify a civilized society with parliaments and courts instead of tribal warfare.  They have some of the world’s best universities and its best high-tech industries.  They still export more whiskey than linoleum, but the latter represents the future. 

The Campbells.  They exported their children, to America, to Canada (Nova Scotia was founded by a Campbell), to England, and Australia.  So occasionally you will find in North Carolina or Arizona a collection of Scottish descendants throwing the caber or dancing to pipes.  These Highland Games have replaced the deadly combat that used to exemplify my ancestors.  Enlightenment thinkers from Voltaire to Locke claimed humans were progessive beings.  The history of warfare in the twentieth-century largely disproved that as did attacks on Enlightenment thinkers by  Romantics, nihilists, and postmodern philosophers.  But perhaps the Campbells in specific, and the Scots in general, are mild counterexamples showing that there is some progress in the world.  Outside of Scotland I have friends who are MacDonalds, and even a few within the old country. 


Written by Alan Goff

This is my Aunt Rolane's story about a part of her childhood.

I remember when I was a small child, we lived on a farm way out in the middle of nowhere.  There were potato fields for as far as you could see.  We had one car and we didn't go to town very often.  One day we got to go to town and we loaded into the car.  Mom wore peddle pushers (capri pants) and slip on tenny shoes.  As mom got into the car, a mouse ran up her ankle and into her pant leg.  She was screaming and twitching her leg trying to get the mouse out of her pant leg.  It was so funny.  She, of course didn't think it was quite as funny.

In this same house we had a bunch of chickens so we could have fresh eggs for breakfast.  We also had a cow that dad would milk.  Her name was "Bossy".  My brother Vonny (LaVon) had cancer and the treatment was steroid shots which make the whole body swell up and he looked very fat.  It was hard for him to run.  At this time Vonny was 3 years old.  We had one old rooster that was mean.  One day he pecked Vonny on the forehead and made him bleed.  This made my mom cry because Vonny was already so sick.  My dad came home and found mom crying. She told him what had happened.  Dad was so mad at that rooster.  He chased that rooster around the yard cussing and swearing.  The longer he chased, the madder he got.  He finally caught that rooster and rung his neck.  He handed that rooster to mom and told we would be having chicken for dinner.  Vonny died later that year.

My Grandma and Grandpa Goff had a very hard life.  They lived near Rexburg at Lorenzo.  Their house was about 800 square feet.  They heated the house with a wood burning kitchen stove.  They had electricity but no furnace.  I remember grandma being 80 years old and going out in the middle of winter to chop wood for the wood stove.  They had a 5 acre garden and canned everything for use in the winter.  They also had some fruit trees.  Grandpa would get very mad at us if we ate the fruit off those trees.  Grandpa had no teeth and would eat the onions out of the field like an apple.  Slicing them and eating.  They always had Brach's candy in the closet for us to eat.

Grandma and Grandpa Doane were always the more gentle grandparents.  Grandpa died when I was only 5 and I only have one memory of him sitting in the chair in the living room.  Grandma was very sweet and loving.  I remember she had the softest skin and she wore a perfume called "Soft Shoulders".  I loved to watch her make Cinnamon Rolls from scratch.  I still love making them myself.  Grandma lived with my Uncle Charles' family in Salt Lake after living in Rupert for years.  Later she got an apartment of her own about a block away from them.  She collected salt and pepper shakers that were all kinds of shapes like children and animals. Once my parents let me stay at Uncle Charles house and they went home.  I was less than 10 years old.  Grandma took all us girls to downtown  SLC on the bus to watch the movie, The Sound of Music. The theatre had red velvet drapes that hung from the floor to the ceiling.  I had never seen such elegance.  It was so cool to sit in seats that flip up and didn't have holes in the seats with gum stuck to the under side.  It was such an exciting day.  We had a theatre in Paul but it was very run down and it was missing seats and they used folding chairs.  At the end of the week, my Aunt and Uncle put me on a Greyhound bus for home.  It was a 10 hour ride.  I was really scared to ride the bus by myself.  My Uncle Charles went on the bus with me and told the bus driver to let me sit right behind him and he told him the he was responsible for me safe arrival at the bus terminal in Rupert.  I was so happy to see my mom waiting to pick me up.


This is a newsletter my Uncle Alan wrote back in 1998 with some family history in it. 

March 7, 1998

Dear Family,

I wanted to begin some regular family history feature in these newsletters.  In the future, there will be two items in each family newsletter relating to family history:
1.     Information you ought to include in your own genealogical records
2.     Information about one of our ancestors
Instead of including information regarding the first item, I am going to make a request.  Put down on your calendars a job you will do by May 1, 1998.  By then, you will have sent me a family group sheet with complete information on your family.  Teresa called me a few weeks ago and wanted information on baptismal dates, marriage dates, endowment dates, etc. for each family member; I know some of us did this a year ago, but much of that information was partial or incomplete.  I was surprised how little of the information Teresa had recorded or I had recorded.  So I want to gather all that information and disseminate it.  None of the information on your children is registered on the International Genealogical Index (IGI); I know because I have looked for it.  So even if you have done your four generation work, the information about your own families isn’t up-to-date.  Upon getting that information, I will send in a disk to update the IGI to include the latest information.  So next time the newsletter goes out, I expect that I will have updated information from each family to send to all other family members. 

When we were at the family reunion in July, I was a little surprised that some of the stories about our ancestors were new to you.  So let me follow up on two items: the bad reputation of the Campbells and information on Lyman Curtis. 

When I was in Scotland, I had to be careful whom I would tell that I was Scottish.  The follow-up question was always, “What clan do you come from?”  When I told them “Campbell,” that would often cool the questioner’s desire for information of any sort.  You see, there is still bad blood between Campbells and McDonalds. 

The Campbells and McDonalds had been at war with each other for years.  They got together under a truce flag to work out a peace deal.  The Campbells violated that truce by sneaking up on a group of MacDonalds (actually a tribe of McIans within the McDonald clan) in the middle of the night and slitting their throats while the McIans were asleep.  Since then the Campbells have had a reputation for skullduggery and deceit.  Perhaps now you are glad I didn’t get to finish the story when we were in Kuna and you wished I hadn’t done so here. 

Since the family reunion I have conceived the idea of writing a biography of Lyman Curtis.  I have started collecting information on his life.  This task is complicated by the fact that he didn’t keep his own journal during his life.  But we do have other sources: toward the end of his life he dictated an autobiography (which I haven’t come into possession of yet), the newspapers wrote about the lives of 1847 pioneers  at the jubilee celebration (Lyman Curtis was one of the few still alive at the Jubilee in 1897), during the 1847 crossing each pioneer was paired up and Lyman’s partner (Levi Jackman) did keep a journal.  So from these sources, I can share a number of stories I am confident none of you has heard about his life.  As a brief overview, I ought to note that Lyman shared in many of the important events of the Restoration.  He helped build both the Nauvoo and Kirtland temples.  He was involved in Zion’s Camp (most of the members of Zion’s Camp set out from Kirtland to go to Missouri to redeem the illegally-taken lands, but a small contingent from Michigan was organized by Hyrum Smith and Lyman was in that Michigan group).  When Joseph and Hyrum were murdered, Lyman and his brother Moses were assigned the task of guarding the bodies on the return trip from Carthage and later while the bodies laid in state in Nauvoo (a bounty had been placed on Joseph Smith’s head and the saints were afraid someone would come to decapitate the bodies).  Lyman was also one of the small group of nine pioneers who came into the Salt Lake Valley on the 22 of July, 1847.  Lyman was a skilled surveyor and Brigham Young needed a host of surveyors to lay out the new city.  So Lyman was recruited.  When the Latter-day Saints were driven out of northern Missouri during that cold winter of 1838-39, the mobs rounded up all the Saints’ guns.  Lyman initially put his gun in the pile, but felt so bad about it later in the day that he took the risk of sneaking back and recapturing his rifle.  It was this gun that he took with him on the 1847 trek (my sources claim you can go into the Deseret Museum in Salt Lake and see that very gun on display).  He was one of three men on that trek assigned the task of hunting; he was proud of his marksmanship. 

Like most of the pioneers in that 1847 crossing, Lyman wanted to return to Winter Quarters to be with his family before winter arrived.  Most stayed in the Valley only about six weeks.  He returned with four other men.  They had one horse between them; they walked and the horse carried their bedding and provisions.  One night on the Platte River their horse was stolen.  They followed its trail through the snow to a Sioux village.  The approached the Sioux chief and asked for his help.  The chief called the Indians together and assigned some women to repair the visitors’ shoes (which were returned fully soled and cleaned), some he assigned to bring food, and some returned their horse.  Lyman Curtis always attributed this peaceful meeting to Brigham Young’s wisdom in making pacts with the Sioux and all other Indian tribes.  Brigham Young always viewed it as cheaper to give gifts to Indians than to kill them.  The U.S. government had a very different policy. 


Sincerely,


Alan


Semira and Jedediah Goff


This is my great-great-grandma, Semira Grange Goff. She was born on March 2, 1858 in Springfield, Utah. She and her husband, Jedediah (pictured below), had 10 children.  



This is Semira's death certificate. It says she died of acute myocarditis, which is a rare but serious inflammation of the heart. 


Wilburn Ray Goff - WWII and WWI


This is Wilburn Goff's WWII registration card from 1942. 


This is Wilburn Goff's WWI draft card.

Records...


This is the WWI Registration Card for my great-great-grandpa, James Kofoed 1918


This 1920 federal census record has my great-great-grandpa, James Kofoed and his wife, Mary Jane, and their children, which includes my Great-grandma, Gertrude. 


This is a 1900 federal census record with my great-great-grandpa, James Kofoed and his wife, Mary Jane.


This 1880 federal census record has my great-great-great-grandparents, Anker and Ellomine Kofoed, with my Great-great-grandpa, James Kofoed. 


This 1920 federal census record has my great-great-grandparents, James and Mary Jane Kofoed, with their daughter, my great-grandma, Gertrude. 

Perceival Jorgensen


This is my Great-Grandfather's World War I Registration Card from 1918.


This is my Great-Grandfather's 1910 federal census. Since it is in 1910, he still lived with his family. In this census it shows my Great-great-grandfather, John, as the head of the house.