Beyond the Obstacle

Even in a world where we are used to having all the knowledge a person could seemingly need at our fingertips, that won’t stop unforeseen circumstances from trying to keep us from reaching our goals. It also doesn’t mean we should stop pushing towards them, even if some times it feels like we’ve become our own version of the mythological Sisyphus and his boulder.

The search for a living heir to the title, ‘Chief of Name and Arms of Logan’ was started prior to my time in the Society. In the lore of the search, not only were there many twists and turns, there were equally as many times where the search simply ran into brick walls, as genealogists like to call information that suddenly leads exactly nowhere. At every one of the brick walls, there were opportunities to either drop the matter altogether or to try another route.

In 2018, James C. Logan, John L. Marjoribanks, and I were nearly convinced that the heir had been found. The potential heir even possessed a well-documented family history. Such elation! John’s dogged searching in dusty books for over a decade had paid off. Yes?

No.

Ultimately, the year of research that followed failed to connect the supposed heir to the known lineage of the last Chief. This was a hard pill to swallow for those of us that were closely associated in the search – to say nothing of the disappointment of the expectant heir.

C’est la vie. Back to the drawing board. *huffy sound of disappointment*

While the research into the potential heir eventually showed a connection to be unlikely, it resulted in some new leads. With a renewed sense of possibility, and a new genealogist onboard to help, and a new plan in place, we started toward the archives again.

And then it happened. The world [figuratively] stopped. It was now early 2020 and the uncertainty of governmental responses to a possible pandemic brought everything to a halt. Everything. All of the archives were closed. Scotland – along with most of the UK – was locked down with little public movement possible. The huffy sound of disappointment became a howl of abject irritation.

You can learn a lot from the positivity of a man like John Logan Marjoribanks. Undaunted, he used the time to work out details that he’d previously set aside “to look into later.” His review of all his prior work, combined with the lockdowns, produced something as welcome as it was unexpected.

In 2021, John delivered the first-ever global, online presentation of “The Chief Restoration Project.” It was a smashing success in its scope and audience, and just as importantly helped perk up a lot of spirits that had been dashed by what seemed like neverending bad news from 2020.

There was some delay in active searching as Scotland’s archives did not reopen until late in 2022. James, John and I had spent the remainder of 2021’s pause getting another plan together. Our plan did not encompass James experiencing health issues that ultimately led him to step aside, making me the new President of the Society.

It was at this point that I realized what we had been doing wasn’t going to achieve our hoped-for end – an archival document that would lead us to a living heir to the title Chief of Name and Arms of Logan. Too many unforeseen events had stalled us too many times. We needed a change in tactics.

John had recently made contact through a mutual acquaintance with Dr. Bruce Durie, a highly respected genealogist in Scotland. We contracted with Dr. Durie to thoroughly review John’s work and investigate any new leads he might find in it. Proving why he is highly respected, Dr. Durie did produce new leads for us (ask me about historical clock taxes sometime). While none of the leads produced the sought-for heir, Dr. Durie’s efforts produced the secondary result we needed. We were certain now that we had turned over every stone possible in our search of publicly available records.

This was key to our next action. In consultation with James and John, I began the necessary work to file a formal petition with the Lord Lyon King of Arms for a supervised convention of the family and Highland clan of Logan. In a few weeks I had drafted the official petition to the Lord Lyon, the Board of Directors agreed, and several armigers and officers of the Society signed the petition.

I would like to say that in the year following the acceptance of the petition by the Lord Lyon there have been no challenges. That has not been the case. 2024 has been yet another year of planning, challenges, updating the plan, <rinse and repeat>… Fortunately, the new team that has come together with me now are equally as determined to see this work through.

As 2025 rolls over onto our calendars Clan Logan is on the verge of an historical occasion. Many of the plans are in place and final details are being worked out for the convention in April. When the plan comes together Clan Logan will have an historic first – a Commander of the Name Logan.

Now, ask me about the plans for what we’re doing after April.