CLAN DONNACHAIDH SOCIETY

Clan Donnachaidh Society Upper Midwest History

In June 1986, at the Illinois St. Andrew Highland Games, Patricia and Gordon met Marj.  Patricia and Gordon asked Marj about Clan Donnachaidh.  Marj said that it had disbanded and she asked when they were going to restart it.  They told her that they would think about it. 

In September 1986, Joanne called Patricia and Gordon to discuss starting the Clan again.  Joanne told them she had got their names from Marj who told her that they were going to start the clan again and would know what to do.  So they got together about 12 people and worked on starting the Clan. 

The first thing they did was put a table at the Scottish Fair at the Irish American Center in Chicago which was in October 1986.  There they got some more people to sign up.  By the end of 1986, they had written the by-laws and they were officially Clan Donnachaidh Society Upper Midwest. 

Clan Donnachaidh Society, Pacific Northwest donated 3 durks which were raffled to raise funds for us.  Since that time, the Clan created the Clishmaclaver for all Clan members to keep us up to date with Clan activities.  Gordon and Patricia also started the Taste of Scotland at their home.  This gave everyone a reason to get together and, of course, to try some Scotch. 

In February 1990, Gordon and Patricia hosted the North American Conference of Clan Donnachaidh Presidents in Chicago.  The Friday before the event, Marj phoned Gordon and told him that Struan found out about the event and wanted to know if he could attend.  Which he did.  Struan also returned in February 1993 for a 5 branch tour in 9 days for the Kick-off to the Centinnerary Year.  Since that time, the Clan continues to grow and our membership expand.