2010 AGM

Welcome to the House of Gordon USA 2010 AGM!

Chief’s Message — To all Gordons and friends, I have recently begun to try and make a better job of understanding my family history. I am enjoying this enormously but it has highlighted huge differences between then and now. Not just the obvious things like electricity and telephone but more the business of life expectancy, the lack of communications and the perils of travel. You and I ring each other, pop over the county boundary for a get together, plan a holiday and fully expect to see our grandchildren grow up. It would be worrying for us if this were not so. Very different for our ancestors. Read More…

Minutes of the Annual General Membership Meeting 2010 (AGM)– Read the report…

Treasurer’s Report — Read the report…

President’s Report– Since being elected President the last quarter of 2009, our team of officers has been busy working on a number of critical elements to assure the ongoing success of the House of Gordon USA.
□ Membership Growth: A great deal of focus has been placed on solidifying the existing membership base, as well as developing recruitment strategies to grow membership significantly. Our goal is to triple membership within 18 months – a very aggressive goal. We have allocated funds and have begun to develop support systems for our Conveners (the life blood of our membership growth), as well as recently appointed a new Quartermaster to begin to create a common pool of Gordon items that will help generate excitement about the Gordon family. Read More…

Vice-President’s Convener Coordinator Report — I would like to thank you all for coming to Grandfather Mountain and for being a part of our annual general membership meeting. I’d also like to mention and welcome our new conveners, Michael Hilden and Julie Bowman, co-conveners for Minnesota, and John Gordon, convener for southern Illinois & Missouri. John has also graciously accepted the newly created position of the House of Gordon Store Quartermaster, which is a Board member level position. This means we now have 9 voting board members. Read More…

Membership Report — There are 315 Members who have paid up to 30 June 2010, 78 of them are new members who have paid from 1 July 2009. We have 269 on the books who have not paid.

Communications Committee Report 2010 — Our website is doing well even though the number of total visits is down YTD 3.32%, the comparative YTD unique visits over last year is up 106.185%! This means that overall we have more individuals coming to our site who are focused on what they want to find, even with a bit less general traffic. The geography of our site shows that we are still getting 27.65% of our traffic from our fellow Gordons in Russia and we are hoping that will help Valeria Morris who recently formed the House of Gordon Russia in building interest for the House there. Indeed we have many Gordons from around the world visiting our site therefore I have placed tabs on the About Us page linking the USA Officers page and a new International Contacts page which also all have the interconnecting tabs, and hope all Gordons worldwide will feel at home in our House. Read More…

Scholarship Report — At the AGM in Richmond last fall, the treasurer’s report recommendations included doing more with the scholarship program, something that I had long been advocating! At the first board meeting of the new executive board I proposed we sponsor the Grade 4 Junior Piper of the Day here at Grandfather Mountain with a scholarship for one week’s tuition to the piping school of his or her choice for the following year as an annual award. We further discussed giving out three $500.00 scholarships this year. After a round of discussion the board passed this initiative. Read More…

DNA Project & Fund Report — Our DNA Project currently has 314 participants and has found the haplogroups of the three major Clan branches differ: The Jock and Tam branch are Haplogroup I1, the Seton Gordons are R1b and the Sir William Gordon (Kenmure) branch is I1d, as well as I1. The haplogroup identifies one’s ancestry thousands of years back. Those with Haplogroup I are generally descended from Scandinavians (read Viking raiders and settlers of the mid- and late Middle Ages). Haplogroup R1b is the most prominent haplogroup in Western Europe. Haplogroup I1d is a subgroup of Haplogroup I and identifies specifically Danish Viking ancestors. From this we are finding that those with direct male ancestry back to the progenitor of the clan are I1 or I1d indicating that they were Viking or more specifically Danish Viking, not Norman as has long been held. This is a very exciting revelation! Had the Gordon family been in England longer than we thought at the Dano-Saxon court or did they come with Edward the Confessor when he returned to England from Normandy as has long been thought? It may be that the Norman connection comes from the Seton line, not the Gordon! Food for thought in Scotland indeed. Read More…

(above) David Todd building the rock oven — mmm… tasty smoked meats for the AGM picnic! Center- Turpin Ballard on tin whistle Right- Haley Ballard and Tory “Vee” Baker rocking the faery walk look!

Tent on clan row– Morris & Barbara, Kim and Lu. Center: Lu and Barbara help set up the AGM Picnic food stations. Right: Enjoying the AGM picnic.

Left: Who knew a David sandwich was on the menu! Center: Group photo at the AGM showing our support for the troops! Right:David Gauthier ran “The Bear” and placed in the top 50!

Left: Our Relay team of Josh, Brandie, Michael and Cody is escorted back to the tent on clan row! Center: The Gordons on Parade! Right: Evelyn Gordon Barbara Wray, and Geof Baker

Oh! Those Gordon Men! … and women …left Gordy had to get into the act too and Diane Gordon was good enough to keep the rascal under control and out of trouble during the parade!

The Gordon encampment held a very popular drum circle each night! Center: Paul and Ginny Gordon enjoying the festivities Right: 9-year old Liam MacDonald, recipient of the Charles O. Gordon Memorial Grade 4 Junior Piper of the Day!