Aound l989, Rev. James E. McCaughan, of ST. CHARLES, MO, contacted me to see what I thought about trying to get all the "Kissen Cousins" together for a Clan Gathering. I thought it was a great idea so he wrote to all the names with addresses he had and I did the same. We asked each of them to pass the word among their family.

In May, 1990, we held our first gathering in Glasgow, Kentucky. We chose Glasgow because it is pretty much in the center of the States. The date corresponding with the Glasgow Scottish Games for added interest.

At our banquet, we voted to form a family association, to name it "MacEacain Family Association of North America" because that is the spelling of our original name and it would cover everyone, regardless of how we now spell it. We would meet every other year, vote each time where we wanted to meet next. The purpose: to keep in touch with as many as we could and keep us together.

The money to be spend on the association expenses. Each member to receive two family newsletters a year telling what news of the family had come in and covering profiles of ancestors. Just before each gathering we were to send invitations to all clansmen we have addresses for. In 1992, we sent out 700 invitations. In 1998, thanks to the National Telephone Book, the list had grown to over 1700 in USA and Canada.

Rev. James was elected president and I, Minniebell McKaughan Perkins, secretary. We now have 170 members, including spouses and children. We are scattered all over the USA, have members living in Canada and even in New Zealand so we might soon have to consider changing our Association name from "North America" to "World Wide".

Our last gathering was in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was great and we met many Canadian cousins. We voted to hold our next gathering in Glasgow, KY. in 2002. Rev. James was re-elected president but I had held the secretary job for 10 years and felt it was time to give someone else the honors so Connie Rowe was elected our new secretary. Try to come to Glasgow if you can. Of course, you do not have to be a member of the Association to attend our gathering so if you care to join us, feel free and bring the whole kit and kin.

Scottish Games are fun and exciting to attend and kids love them. Come yell for our clan members who partipate in the activities, Tom McCaughan in the Games, Kieron and Meagan McCaughan in Scottish dancing and Rev. James E. McCaughan in Battle Axe Throwing.

If you would like to join our Association, we would love to have you. Send check or money order payable to MacEacain Family Assoc.

Send your full name, your spouses name, the children's names who are still home, your immigrant ancestor, if you know it, address, City and State with zip code,