The Art of Connection

Years ago I joined an online chat board – one of the old style Yahoo! user groups – that was focused on the genealogy and genetics (DNA) of the Logan family. I knew very little about either topic, and had only a rudimentary knowledge of my own Logan family line. I had never even joined a chat board before. To say I jumped into the deep end before learning to tread water would be an understatement. I jumped in with my street clothes on and couldn’t even doggie paddle.

What did I know? Well I had taken my DNA test and started building my tree on Ancestry.com. Armed with the power of that slice of the internet I strode confidently into the user group to let them know the Clan Logan Chief was found and the heir to the Restalrig fortune was ready to lead the clan. Yeah, I was that guy. Fortunately for me, there were users in the group who understood much more than me, and a few that were even capable of overlooking my unlearned exuberance (i.e. ignorance). Over time, with their help, I came to learn that much of what was on Ancestry was built on poor research and misleading claims. Honestly, it was a uniquely humbling experience to say the least.

Over the years since then, technology has improved and there have been many social media as well as genealogy and genetics apps created that have sought to replace and improve upon the user experiences of the chat boards like the one I joined. Unfortunately, what hasn’t improved is the dearth of quality research and misleading claims. And worse, the part of the user experience that has seen limited improvement is helping the exuberant newcomers connect with their actual family story. Turning that exuberance into productive knowledge is not an easy task.

In 2022 as I took on the challenges of being President of Clan Logan Society International, these early experiences came back to me. I felt like if there was only a more focused resource to which newcomers – especially those exuberant ones as I had once been – could quickly connect, then we might build and grow the Society much quicker. Thoughts of this were always in the back of my mind and in late 2023, Sean Logan answered my call to become the genealogist for the Society.

I had been reading Sean’s interactions with group members still active on the latest iteration of that original user group. His well-thought out and researched responses, combined with kindness especially for the newcomers, always stood out. I presented to Sean over time my ideas for how we could help newcomers seeking to connect with their family story. Sean added to my ideas and quickly began fleshing them out into wonderful resources for newcomers. Today, I am happy to say, I believe Clan Logan Society International stands at the forefront of documented knowledge of the Logans of Scotland and the Scottish diaspora. Sean has created several online resources, written numerous blogs, and is being published in newsletters of other clans because of his authoritative research and methodology. True to the original mission though, Sean continues to take time and work with the members of the Society to make quick connections to their family story.

I truly believe that in all the things I will have accomplished in my time as President of the Society, this is the one that I will look back on with the most satisfaction. Keeping the newcomers in mind, identifying Sean as a talented and approachable researcher, building a rapport around a shared goal, and supporting him in the creation within the Society of a repository of knowledge of the Logan Family and Clan of Scotland – that will likely be my achievement of lasting significance to the global family of Logan.