An Introduction

For a handful of decades I have been studying my Scottish and Scotch-Irish family history. Along the way, I've learned a lot through travel to many parts of the world – from Scotland to Ireland, from Nova Scotia to the Yukon, from the islands to the highlands of the earth. This blog will be used to publish some of what I've learned.

There is no final plan for its nature and I hope to keep it that way. Whatever comes up, that's what I'll published. I hope all readers will enjoy my ramblings, especially those members of my extended family, those interested in Celtic history, and in the early history of North America, especially the Yukon Gold Rush and the American Revolution.

The background photo is of the cliff-ridden shoreline of Ireland, from where my father's family left for America 275 years ago. The name "Mountain Echo" fits my family well, whether it be the Highlands of Scotland or the mountains of the Yukon. It comes from a newspaper that a distant relative of mine once owned. As the boomtown around him lay dying a slow death, and his debtor list grew, he ran out of newsprint, and so he printed two week's editions on large leaves. This was almost one hundred years ago, and those leaves still exist. So does the penchant for story-telling by some members of my family, including me, of course.

We'll see how it all goes.

Jim