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[Illustration:
       ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF THE CLAN FRASER,
      With the Maple Leaf Entwined for Canada.]




                                 THE
                             CLAN FRASER
                              IN CANADA

                              Souvenir
                               of the
                       First Annual Gathering

                       Toronto, May 5th, 1894.


                                 BY
                          ALEXANDER FRASER

                          (MAC-FHIONNLAIDH)

                              TORONTO:
                        Mail Job Printing Co.
                               1895.




                           PREFATORY NOTE


The chief object aimed at by the publication of this little volume is to
furnish, in a concise and inexpensive form, information regarding the
Clan Fraser not readily accessible to clansmen in Canada. It is also
hoped a perusal of the contents will strengthen the clan sentiment, and
deepen the interest in the ancient clan bond and in the long and
illustrious history of the Clan. But the book being essentially an
account of the first Annual Gathering held by the Clan in the Province
of Ontario, it will be an interesting souvenir of that pleasant event;
and probably the hope may not be too sanguine that its appearance will
mark an onward step in the record of the Clan in the Dominion.

The publication has been undertaken under the auspices of the
newly-formed Clan Fraser in Canada, and the thanks of the editor are due
to Professor W. H. Fraser, of Toronto University, and to Mr. Alexander
Fraser (of Fraserfield, Glengarry), the Printing Committee of the Clan;
also to Mr. J. Lewis Browne, for the music to which the "Fraser Drinking
Song," written by Mrs. Georgina Fraser-Newhall, has been set.

                                                                   A. F.
Toronto, February, 1895.




                                Contents.


                                                                      PAGE.
Introduction                                                             9
      Fraser's Highlanders                                              11
      Seventy-First Regiment                                            15
      Fraser De Berry's Organization                                    16

Formation of the Clan Fraser in Canada                                  21

First Annual Clan Dinner                                                22

Toast of "The Clan," containing references to:--
      Origin of the Clan, Change of Surnames                            31
      Origin of the Name "Fraser"--The Norman-French Theory             37
      Mr. Skene's Position Criticised                                   39
      The Bond between Lord Lovat and the Marquis de la Frezelière      40
      Scottish Origin of the Name                                       42
      Mr. Homer Dixon's Argument                                        43
      The Frasers in the Lowlands                                       45
      The Clan Fraser Established in the Highlands                      49
      Succession of the Chiefs                                          50
      Alexander of Beaufort                                             56
      Succession of the Strichen Family                                 58
      A Curious Prediction                                              59

Reply to the Toast                                                      62

A Guest Honored                                                         65

Toast of "The Clan in Canada."                                          67
   "     "Distinguished Clansmen"                                       73
          In Art                                                        74
          In Science                                                    76
          In Literature                                                 81
          In Theology                                                   87
          In War                                                        88
          In Politics                                                   90

Organization of the Clan                                                92

Georgina Fraser-Newhall                                                 93

Fraser's Drinking Song                                                  96

Simon Fraser, Discoverer of the Fraser River                            98

Simon Lord Lovat, Beheaded on Tower Hill                               103

Brigadier Simon Fraser                                                 104

Second Annual Dinner                                                   107

Constitution and By-laws of the Clan                                   109

List of Officers                                                       112

Illustrations:
      Frontispiece--Armorial Bearings of the Clan
      Menu and Toast List Card                                          23
      Alexander Fraser (MacFhionnlaidh)                                 33
      Robert Lovat Fraser                                               63
      Ex-Mayor John Fraser                                              75
      William A. Fraser                                                 79
      Georgina Fraser-Newhall                                           94
      Simon, Fourteenth Lord Lovat                                     102
      Brigadier Simon Fraser                                           105




                           INTRODUCTORY


The Gael has proved himself not less a pioneer of civilization, and
adaptable to changing conditions of living, than a lover of the
traditions of his race, holding tenaciously by ancient usages and
manners, and stirred profoundly by racial sentiment. As a pioneer he has
reached "the ends of the earth," possessing the unoccupied parts of the
world. As a patriot he has established not a few of his cherished
customs in the land of his adoption. His love of kindred is probably his
most notable characteristic; it found embodiment in the clan system,
under which his race achieved its greatest triumphs and enjoyed its
greatest glories, and the bond of clanship, with its inspiring memories,
the true clansman will never disregard. While the clan system, as such,
would be impracticable in the British colonies under present-day
conditions, even more so than in its old home in the Highlands of
Scotland, its spirit lives, leavening the system of government and
exercising no small influence in the fusion of heterogeneous elements
into new and distinct peoples.

These observations are applicable in a peculiar degree to Canada, where
a very large number of clansmen have found a second Highland home. Many
of the forests which rang with the clash of the claymore in the struggle
for British supremacy, fell afterwards to the axe of the Gaelic settler.
His trail lies across the continent, from ocean to ocean. His energy and
intelligence have been honorably felt in every walk of life, and his
enterprise and skill have done much to develop and upbuild the Dominion.
No body of people occupies a more distinguished place in this respect
than the Frasers; indeed, even among the clans, no name is more closely
identified than that of "Fraser" with the early days of Canada. To tell
of their services on the field, in government, in commerce, in the
professions, would occupy a large volume, as would a similar story of
other clans, and an attempt to do so, in an introductory chapter, would
be altogether out of place, but there are a few events of importance to
the country in which the Frasers figured to which it will be well to
allude with fitting brevity.

Those who hold the Norman theory believe the first of the name of
"Fraser" in Scotland, "came over with William the Conqueror," and they
ask no better proof of the antiquity of the name. If the early
connection of the Clan with Canada be any satisfaction to clansmen
there, then it may be stated with truth that the first settlers of the
name "came over with Wolfe the Conqueror," and their services were as
conspicuous in the military operations conducted by the intrepid young
General, who gave his life for his country on the Plains of Abraham, as
were those performed by any brave knight, whose name may be found on the
roll of Battle Abbey.

The story of Fraser's Highlanders forms one of the most romantic
chapters in the annals of the clans, and should the time come when it
is fairly and fully given to the world, it will prove a valuable
addition to the history of Highland life and of early Canada.

For the part taken by the Clan in the uprising of 1745, Lord Simon was
beheaded on Tower Hill and the Fraser estates were forfeited to the
Crown. The Master of Lovat appeared at the head of the Clan on the
Stuart side; but, as he was young at the time and had acted by his
father's command, he was pardoned, and in 1757, in accordance with the
wise, conciliatory policy of Mr. Pitt, he was commissioned to raise a
regiment of his clansmen, of which he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel
commanding. In General Stewart's Sketches a brief but interesting
account of this, the old Seventy-Eighth Regiment, is given, an extract
from which will show the strength of the clan ties then existing, and
the high character of the men who were raised on the Lovat territory.
General Stewart says: "Without estate, money or influence, beyond that
influence which flowed from attachment to his family, person and name,
this gentleman (the Master of Lovat), in a few weeks found himself at
the head of 800 men, recruited by himself. The gentlemen of the country
and the officers of the regiment added more than 700, and thus a
battalion was formed of 13 companies of 105 rank and file each, making
in all 1,460 men, including 65 sergeants and 30 pipers and drummers."
All accounts concur in describing this regiment as a superior body of
men; their character and actions raised the military reputation and gave
a favorable impression of the moral virtues of the sons of the
mountains. The uniform was the full Highland dress, with musket and
broadsword, dirk and sporran of badger's or otter's skin. The bonnet was
raised or cocked on one side, with a slight bend inclining down to the
right ear, over which were suspended two or more black feathers.

The regiment embarked at Greenock, and landed at Halifax in June, 1757,
and followed the fortunes of the war for six years. "On all occasions,"
says Stewart, "this brave body of men sustained a uniform character for
unshaken firmness, incorruptible probity and a strict regard both to
military and moral duties." Their chaplain was a man of note as of
stature. His name was Robert Macpherson, but he was known in the
regiment as _An Caipeal Mor_, being of large physique. He exercised the
traditional authority of a Highland minister, and we are told that the
men were always anxious to conceal their misdemeanors from him.

The cold climate, it was feared, would prove too severe to the Frasers,
who wore the kilt, and an attempt, kindly conceived, no doubt, was made
to change the "garb of old Gaul" for the trews. The proposal aroused
strenuous opposition; officers and men opposed the change and finally
were successful. The strength of feeling awakened may be judged from the
words of one of the soldiers in the regiment: "Thanks to our generous
chief, we were allowed to wear the garb of our fathers, and, in the
course of six winters, showed the doctors that they did not understand
our constitution; for in the coldest winters our men were more healthy
than those regiments that wore breeches and warm clothing." A somewhat
amusing anecdote is related of how the Nuns of the Ursuline Convent,
where the Frasers were quartered in 1759-60, endeavored to induce
Governor Murray to be allowed to provide sufficient raiment for the
kilted soldiers, but, of course, without success.

At Louisburg, Montmorenci, Ste. Foye and on the Plains of Abraham, the
Frasers distinguished themselves greatly. One of the most eloquent
tributes to their prowess was spoken by the Hon. P. J. O. Chauveau, the
French-Canadian, at the inauguration in 1855 of the Statue of Bellona
sent by Prince Napoleon for the monument erected on the famous
battlefield. The French-Canadian historian Garneau, and other writers in
whose veins courses the blood of the vanquished at Quebec, have borne
generous testimony to their military bearing and good conduct. Garneau
writes of the battle of Carillon, 1758: "It was the right of the trench
works that was longest and most obstinately assailed; in that quarter
the combat was most sanguinary. The British Grenadiers and Highlanders
there persevered in the attack for three hours, without flinching or
breaking rank. The Highlanders above all, under Lord John Murray,
covered themselves with glory. They formed the troops confronting the
Canadians, their light and picturesque costumes distinguishing them from
all other soldiers amid the flames and smoke. The corps lost the half of
its men, and twenty-five of its officers were killed or severely
wounded;" and the genial Le Moine, half Highland and half French, says:
"The Frasers of 1759 and of 1775 readily courted danger or death in that
great duel which was to graft progress and liberty on that loved emblem
of Canada, the pride of its forests--the Maple Tree. If at times one
feels pained at the ferocity which marked the conflict and which won for
Fraser's Highlanders at Quebec, the name _Les Sauvages d'Ecosse_,[1] one
feels relieved, seeing that the meeting was inevitable, that the sturdy
sons of Caledonia, in Levis' heroic Grenadiers, did find a foe worthy
of their steel. Scotchmen, on the field of Ste. Foye, in deadly
encounter with France's impetuous warriors, doubtless acknowledged that
the latter were not unworthy descendants of those whom they had helped
to rout England's soldiery on the fields of Brangé, Crevant and
Verneuil."

[Footnote 1: It is but fair to state that Fraser's Highlanders showed no
more ferocity than the usages of war justified. There were barbarous
atrocities committed, undoubtedly, but for these, the Highlanders were
not responsible.--A.F.]

At the close of the war many of the officers and men settled in the
Provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia, having obtained their discharge and
grants of land in the New World. It was not long ago computed that the
descendants of these Highlanders in the Province of Quebec numbered
3,000, but merged in the French-Canadian peasantry to such an extent
that even the names have lost their original form. In Nova Scotia the
name Fraser flourishes in every township of every county. There have
been many accessions to the Clan since the days of the Seventy-Eighth
and the Battle of the Plains, but at least four-fifths of those bearing
the Clan name in Canada to-day, trace their descent from the victorious
clansmen of Cape Breton and Quebec.

On the outbreak of the American War the Royal Highland Emigrants were
embodied, and in that regiment, commanded by the gallant Lieut.-Colonel
Allan MacLean (son of Torloisk), 300 men who had belonged to Fraser's
regiment enlisted. In the interval between the cession of Canada and the
American War, the Lovat estates were restored to the Master of Lovat,
for his eminent services (the title was kept in abeyance), and he was
asked to raise a regiment, the Seventy-First, of two battalions. This he
speedily accomplished and soon found himself at the head of a double
regiment numbering 2,340 officers and men. They behaved with the highest
distinction throughout the war and earned flattering encomiums from the
commanding officers. General Stewart, than whom no more competent
authority has written of Highland regiments, and but few who have
understood Highland character better, whose Sketches have furnished
facts to all subsequent writers on the subject, speaks of the
Seventy-First, Fraser's Highlanders, thus: "Their moral conduct was in
every way equal to their military character. Disgraceful punishments
were unknown. Among men religious, brave, moral and humane, disgraceful
punishments are unnecessary. Such being the acknowledged general
character of these men, their loyalty was put to the test and proved to
be genuine. When prisoners, and solicited by the Americans to join their
standard and settle among them, not one individual violated the oath he
had taken, or forgot his fidelity or allegiance, a virtue not generally
observed on that occasion, for many soldiers of other corps joined the
Americans, and sometimes, indeed, entered their service in a body." The
Seventy-First did not leave many behind as settlers, and the reference
to it here is only permissible as illustrating the high character of the
Clan, of which the Seventy-Eighth, which left its quota of settlers
behind, formed an important part. General Simon Fraser's intimate
connection with Canada, as commanding officer of Fraser's Highlanders
(1757), and in other interesting respects, may suffice as a reason why a
good anecdote of him may be here related. When the Seventy-First
mustered at Glasgow, Lochiel was absent, being ill at London. His
absence had not, evidently, been explained to his company, for they
demurred to embark without their chief; they feared some misfortune had
befallen him. General Fraser had a command of eloquent speech and he
succeeded in persuading them to embark with their comrades. It is
related that while he was speaking in Gaelic to the men, an old
Highlander, who had accompanied his son to Glasgow, was leaning on his
staff gazing at the General with great earnestness. When he had
finished, the old man walked up to him and, with that easy familiar
intercourse, which in those days subsisted between the Highlanders and
their superiors, shook him by the hand, exclaiming "Simon, you are a
good soldier, and speak like a man; so long as you live, Simon of Lovat
will never die;" alluding to the General's address and manner, which was
said to resemble much that of his father, Lord Lovat, whom the old
Highlanders knew perfectly.


                       THE DE BERRY ORGANIZATION.

We have now seen the origin of the Frasers in Canada; they came in war,
but the swords were readily turned into ploughshares, and the arts of
peace cultivated with a constancy and success that equalled their
intrepidity and valor on the battlefield. Years rolled on, the Clan
multiplied and prospered, and, in the course of time, a project was
entered upon for the formation of a new Clan Fraser on Canadian soil.
The leading spirit of the movement was the Hon. John Fraser de Berry, a
member for the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec. A meeting
of Frasers was held in response to the following public advertisement:

                             FRASER CLAN.

     THE FRASERS of the Province of Quebec are respectfully requested to
     meet at the office of Messrs. THOMAS FRASER & CO., at the Lower
     Town, Quebec, on SATURDAY, the twenty-fifth day of January, 1868,
     at TEN o'clock A.M., to take into consideration the advisability of
     organizing the "CLAN" for the Dominion of Canada.

                    JOHN FRASER DE BERRY,   A. FRASER,
                    A. FRASER, SR.,         A. FRASER, JR.,
                    J. R. FRASER,           FRED. FRASER,
JANUARY 21, 1868.   JOHN FRASER,            J. FRASER.

At this meeting preliminary steps were taken to further the object in
view, and another meeting was held on February 8th, 1868, of which the
following report has been taken from the _Quebec Mercury_:

At a meeting of the "Frasers" of the Province of Quebec, held at Mrs.
Brown's City Hotel, on the 8th February, 1868, Alexander Fraser, Esq.,
notary, ex-Member for the County of Kamouraska, now resident in Quebec,
in the chair; Mr. Omer Fraser, of St. Croix, acting as Secretary.

1. It was unanimously resolved:

That it is desirable that the family of "Frasers" do organize themselves
into a clan with a purely and benevolent social object, and, with that
view, they do now proceed to such organization by recommending the
choice of

    A Chief for the Dominion of Canada;
    A Chief for each province;
    A Chief for each electoral division;
    A Chief for each county;
    A Chief for each locality and township.

2. That the Chief of the Dominion of Canada be named "The Fraser," and
that he be chosen at a general meeting of the Frasers of all the
provinces; the said meeting to be held on the second Thursday in the
month of May next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, in such place in the
City of Ottawa as will then be designated.

3. That it is desirable that the Chief of the Province of Quebec and the
Chiefs of the electoral divisions represented at said meeting be chosen
forthwith; and that the Chief elected for this province be authorized
and empowered to name the Chiefs for such divisions as are not
represented at present, the said selection shall, however, be subject to
the approbation of the Frasers of the division interested, who will
make the same known at a meeting to be called without delay, by the
Chief of the Province of Quebec, with the view to proceed to the
nomination of the Chiefs of counties comprehended in the said division.

4. That Chiefs of counties be obliged to convene also without delay, a
meeting by which shall be chosen all the Chiefs of parishes or
townships.

5. That it shall be the duty of the Chief chosen for a parish or
township to report to the Chief of his county as early as possible, the
number of Frasers residing in his parish or township; and of the Chief
of the county in his town, to report to the Chief of his electoral
division, who will transmit it, together with his own report, to the
Chief of his province; the said report to contain the number of Frasers
in his division, in order that the force of the Clan in each province
may be ascertained on the 14th of May next, at the meeting at Ottawa.

6. That it is advisable that the meeting at Ottawa, representing all the
Clan, be composed of all its divers Chiefs from the Chiefs of provinces,
even to the Chiefs of parishes or townships inclusively, and any other
Frasers who may desire to attend at the same.

7. That the above resolutions and the nominations, which are to take
place this day, or which may be made hereafter by the Chief of the
province, shall be considered as preliminary and temporary, as they are
made with the sole object of organizing the Clan, and not to bind in any
manner whatever the Frasers, who will be at perfect liberty to
reorganize themselves completely anew at the Ottawa meeting.

8. That the Clan shall not be considered to exist until and after the
next anniversary or Dominion Day, the first of July next, under such
rules and regulations as will be adopted at the meeting at Ottawa; the
Frasers of this meeting protest energetically against any intention,
which might be attributed to them, of dictating their will to their
namesakes of this province; they are simply attempting to organize and
with a benevolent object, to adopt temporarily the above resolutions the
better to attain that end.

9. That the sister provinces of Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
be respectfully requested to organize themselves, and to send delegates
to the meeting at Ottawa, on the fourteenth of May next, that time
having been selected because in all probability the parliament will
still be in session, and the members may attend the session before
dispersing.

10. That all proceedings be respectfully submitted to the "Fraser"
family, which is one of the most ancient, one of the most noble, one of
the most influential, and one of the most numerous families of the
Dominion of Canada.

11. That all the newspapers throughout the Dominion of Canada, who have
subscribers of the name of Fraser, are requested to publish the
proceedings of this meeting.

After which the meeting proceeded to the nomination of the following
officers, who were unanimously elected:

I. To be the Chief of the Province of Quebec:

The Honorable JOHN FRASER DE BERRY, Esquire, one of the members of the
Legislative Council of the said Province, etc., being the fifty-eighth
descendant of Jules de Berry, a rich and powerful lord (seigneur) who
feasted sumptuously the Emperor Charlemagne, and his numerous suite, at
his castle in Normandy, in the eighth century.

II. For the following electoral divisions:

_Lauzon_,--THOMAS FRASER, Esquire, farmer, of Pointe Levis.

_Kennebec_,--SIMON FRASER, Esquire, of St. Croix.

_De la Durantaye_,--ALEXANDER FRASER, Esquire, farmer, of St. Vallier.

_Les Laurentides_,--WILLIAM FRASER, Esquire, of Lake St. John,
Chicoutimi.

_Grandville_,--JEAN ETIENNE FRASER, Esquire, Notary.

_Green Island Stadacona_,--ALEXANDER FRASER, Esquire, Notary, St. Roch,
Quebec.

The meeting having voted thanks to the President and Secretary, then
adjourned.

                                              ALEX. FRASER,
                                                         _President_.

                                               OMER FRASER,
                                                         _Secretary_.

There was a good response to the call for the general meeting, letters
having been sent broadcast over the Dominion. As chief of the Frasers of
British North America, the Hon. James Fraser de Ferraline, in the
Province of Nova Scotia, was elected. He was a scion of the Ferraline
and Gorthlic families of the Clan. One hundred and eleven subordinate
chieftains of provinces and districts were elected and Mr. John Fraser
de Berry was appointed Secretary to the "New Clan Fraser," as it was
called. For various reasons, chief among them being, probably, its
elaborate constitution and the intangible purposes for which it was
called into existence, the organization did not make satisfactory
headway and in the course of not many years it failed to attract any
public attention whatever, and ceased to exist. In its brief career it
gathered some interesting information about the clansmen. In a report
drawn up by the Secretary, De Berry, whose exertions on its behalf were
unwearying, it is stated that there were then over 12,000 persons, men,
women and children of the name Fraser, some speaking French, not one of
whom was a day laborer, or "earning daily wages," but all in comfortable
circumstances, many in positions of honour and trust.




                FORMATION OF THE CLAN FRASER IN CANADA


Although Mr. John Fraser de Berry's scheme failed it was believed that
there was room for a less pretentious and more practicable clan
organization in Canada. There was little diminution of the clan feeling;
the desire of those having the same origin and name, the same glorious
clan history, in common, to enjoy a friendly intercourse, was natural
and reasonable, and at length it assumed a practical form. Early in the
spring of 1894 a meeting was held in the office of the _Toronto Daily
Mail_, at which there were present: Messrs. George B. Fraser, commission
agent; Robert Lovat Fraser, barrister; Alexander R. Fraser, druggist;
Dr. J. B. Fraser, physician; Alexander Fraser (of Fraserfield,
Glengarry), Secretary to the Boiler Inspection Company; W. H. Fraser,
Professor of Languages at the Toronto University; W. A. Fraser, civil
engineer and contractor; W. P. Fraser, clerk, Dominion Bank; Andrew
Fraser, commercial traveller; and Alexander Fraser, of the editorial
staff of the _Daily Mail_. The last named, descended from the Clan Mhic
Fhionnlaidh sept of the Struy Frasers, was appointed chairman of the
meeting and Mr. W. A. Fraser, also descended from good Strathglass
stock, was appointed Secretary. All agreed that a clan organization
ought to be formed and as a first step it was thought well to test the
feeling of the clansmen at a family dinner, which it was decided should
be held on May 5th, 1894. Those present formed themselves into a
committee to make arrangements for holding the dinner and the chairman
and secretary of the meeting were appointed chairman and secretary of
the committee. Invitations were sent to every member of the Clan in
Ontario, Montreal, New York, Buffalo and Detroit, whose name the
committee was able to procure, and about three hundred replies were
received, in which, without exception, an earnest hope for the success
of the proposed organization was expressed. The dinner took place as had
been decided upon, on May 5th, 1894, at Webb's Restaurant, Toronto, and
an account of the proceedings will now be given.




[Illustration of Menu cover:

"MOR FHAICH"

CLAN FRASER
IN
CANADA,

FIRST
ANNUAL DINNER

MAY 5th
1894]


_A chuirm sgaoilte; chuaias an ceol
   Ard sholas a'n talia nan triath._--OISEAN.


Menu


Soup.

Scotch Broth.


Fish.

Boiled Sea Salmon from the Cruives of Lovat.
Sgadan beag Poll-a-Roid. Pomme Natural, Anchovy Sauce.
Bread and Butter Rolled.


Entrees.

HAGGIS
PUNCH A LA ROMAIN.


Joints.

Roast Beef. Spring Lamb.


Vegetables.

Mashed Potatoes. Asparagus. French Peas.


Entremets.

Fraser Pudding.

Curds and Cream. Oat Cakes. Assorted Fine Cakes.

Shortbread. Cheese. Biscuits. Radishes.

Neapolitan Ice Cream. Nuts. Figs. Dates.


FRUITS. COFFEE.


"_Smeorach Stratharaigeig; uiseag an urlair._"--SEAN-FHOCAI.

Toast List


1.                        The Queen.

"She wrought her people lasting good."


2.                        The Chief.

"Tostamaid ar ceann a cinnidh;
 Mac-Shimi mor na Morfhaich."

"Master, go on, and I will follow thee
 To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty."

Bagpipe Music--"Morar Sim."


3.                         The Clan.

"I tell you a thing sickerly,
 That yon men will win or die;
 For doubt of deid they sall not flee."

  "'N uair 'thig an cinneadh Frisealach,
   Tha fios gur daoine borb iad."

Bagpipe Music--"Caisteal Dunaidh."


4.                        Our Guests.

"Sir, you are very welcome to our house."

Bagpipe Music--"Aird Mhic-Shimi."

"Highland Fling," by Master Norman Fraser.


5.                    The Clan in Canada.

"Kindred alike, where'er our skies may shine,
 Where'er our sight first drank the vital morn."

Bagpipe Music--"Fhuair Mac-Shimi air ais an Oighearachd."


6.                  Distinguished Clansmen.

"Of singular integrity and learning,
 Yea, the elect o' the land."

(_a_) In Art; (_b_) in Science; (_c_) in Literature;
(_d_) in Theology; (_e_) in War; (_f_) in Political Life.


7.                        The Ladies.

"Disguise our bondage as we will,
 'Tis woman, woman, rules us still."

    "And when a lady's in the case,
     You know, all other things give place."


8.                     Deoch an Doruis.

_Air (fonn) "Clementine."_

Deoch an doruis, deoch an doruis,
Deoch an doruis, 's i tha ann;
Deoch an doruis, sguab as i,
Cha'n eil Mac-na-Bracha gann.

Auld Lang Syne. God Save the Queen.

The bagpipe music will be furnished by Mr. Robert Ireland, Pipe
Major of the 48th Highlanders, Toronto.

[Illustration of Clan device of targe and crossed swords]


                           THE CLAN DINNER.


Although the number that sat around the festive board was much smaller
than had been expected, the elements requisite for a successful
gathering were strongly in evidence, and, as a matter of fact, the
inaugural dinner of the Clan turned out to be a most satisfactory event.
Many of the absentees had conveyed good reasons for their absence, and
hearty greetings to the assembled company. From a large number of
letters it would be difficult to make a selection for the reader and the
demands of space would prevent it, although some of them are really
worth reproducing. Of special interest were the letters from Messrs. O.
K. Fraser, Brockville; John Fraser, Wm. Lewis Fraser and Thomas Fraser,
New York; P. M. Fraser, St. Thomas; Donald Fraser, Windsor; R. J.
Fraser, Barrie; R. M. Fraser, Goderich; Rev. R. D. Fraser, Bowmanville;
Rev. J. B. Fraser, M.D., Annan; John Fraser, Montreal; W. G. Fraser,
Buffalo; Hon. Christopher Finlay Fraser, and B. Homer Dixon, K.N.L.,
Toronto; the last named a Fraser on the maternal side and a gentleman
deeply versed in the history of the Clan.

The dining hall presented a very attractive appearance. The table was
made beautiful with a tastefully arranged and selected display of
flowers and plants, and appropriate to the occasion there were stags'
heads on the walls, and the Fraser Clan tartan draped the pillars,
doorway and windows. There were a number of articles of interest sent by
friends, such as finely executed mezzo-tint pictures of Simon Lord
Lovat, beheaded in 1747, and of Brigadier Simon Fraser, the hero of
Saratoga; and a water-color of the Clan arms, from Mr. B. Homer Dixon; a
map of Inverness-shire, showing the Clan possessions at various stages
of its history, with the lands in the hands of cadets of the Clan, a
life-size copy of Hogarth's picture of Simon Lord Lovat, the "last of
the martyrs," a life-size copy of an engraving of Sir Alexander Fraser
of Phillorth, founder of the University of Fraserburgh, sent by the
Chairman.

The menu card, a copy of which has been reproduced for this volume, will
be found to have been a clever effort of the artist, Mr. W. A. Fraser,
Secretary of Committee. A representation of the Falls of Foyers is
given on the cover, and on the last page a celtic armorial device
surrounded by the names of a number of old Fraser estates.

The Chairman was Mr. Alexander Fraser (MacFhionnlaidh); and the
vice-chairs were occupied by Mr. Robert Lovat Fraser, Barrister,
Toronto, and ex-Mayor Fraser of Petrolea. A picture of the company is
given on another page, which will form an interesting reminiscence of
the happy gathering. From the picture, the face of one who was present
at the dinner is unfortunately absent, that of Mr. Henry Sandham Fraser,
and that of Mr. Wm. Fraser, of whom a brief notice is given on another
page, appears, although he was not present, as he would have been were
it not that he was just then stricken down with illness, to which, not
long afterwards, he succumbed. The dinner was excellently served, and
then came the toast list with the speeches. The first toast was that of:


                             "THE QUEEN."

The Chairman in proposing the health of the Queen said:--Our Clan has
invariably been a loyal one, even in the rising which terminated so
fatally on the battlefield of Culloden, the Clan Fraser took part,
believing that they were striking a blow for the rightful king. I am
sure we all agree that no sovereign has ever held sway over the British
Empire who is more worthy of the regard of men of Highland blood than
Her Majesty Queen Victoria. She who has given so many proofs of regard
for the Highland people is beloved by them in return. Her volumes of her
life in the Highlands, one of which has been well translated into Gaelic
and the other indifferently so, bear testimony to the deep interest with
which she regards that portion of her ancient kingdom of Scotland, to
which we lay claim as our native land. She has gone in and out among the
peasantry and gentry with perfect confidence in their loyalty and in
their attachment to her person. She surrounded herself by faithful
Highlanders, and their services to her, whether in the household or in
positions of public preferment, have been uniformly of a high character
and invariable success. That she may long live and rule in the hearts of
her people, no body of men can wish more strongly than this company that
has given to her name its just place of honor at the head of the toast
list.

The toast was cordially honored.


                             "THE CHIEF."

The Chairman next proposed the toast of the Chief. He said: It is stated
that a man of the name of Cameron, who had fought at the Battle of
Falkirk with the Royal Army, his clan being on the side of the Prince,
joined his kinsmen after the battle, but still wore the Royal uniform in
the bonnet of which there was a cockade. Lord Kilmarnock, coming up and
seeing an armed Royalist, as he thought, suspected danger to the Prince,
and in an altercation he snatched the cockade from the soldier's hat and
trampled upon it. This aroused the ire of the Camerons who saw their
comrade maltreated, and they resented Kilmarnock's interference, saying,
"No Colonel nor General in the Prince's army can take that cockade out
of the hat of a Cameron except Lochiel himself." I mention this incident
as affording a good example of the bond of fealty by which the clansman
was held to his chief. To him the chief was supreme in all things. He
was not only the head of his family, but the provider and protector of
the clan. His authority he derived from his position, his position he
secured, sometimes by the good-will of the clan, but generally on
account of birth. The clansmen considered themselves as the children of
the chief, and the system demanded that they subordinate themselves to
his rule. Without a chief or his substitute there could be no organized
clan, and it is rightly understood how important was his position under
the clan system. Chiefs of our Clan proved themselves to be worthy of
the position, as a rule, and Simon Joseph, Lord Lovat, the young
nobleman who now holds the chiefship, already gives promise of
faithfully following in the footsteps of his forefathers. At the
celebration of his majority, not long ago, there was a considerable
gathering of clansmen and others to do him honor, and the manner in
which he performed his part as host on that occasion is an augury of a
distinguished future. It is said that he shows a deep interest in the
welfare of his people, that he is a young man of highly patriotic
feelings, and, as his sphere of usefulness is a wide one, he, no doubt,
will have ample opportunity of filling the highest expectations of the
Clan. Following the traditions of his house he has entered the army,
and, should he decide to follow arms as a profession, no doubt the
military genius of his race, bequeathed to him through a long line of
ancestors, will win for him honorable distinction as a soldier. I now
ask you to charge your glasses and to drink to the health of our young
chief with Highland honors.

The toast was drunk with Highland honors; the company singing "He's a
Jolly Good Fellow," after which the piper played the Clan welcome,
"Morar Sim."

Mrs. Charles Gordon Fraser was at this stage introduced, and her little
boy, Master Norman Fraser, attired in Highland costume, gave a spirited
and clever execution of the Highland fling, for which he was
enthusiastically cheered.


                             "THE CLAN."

The Chairman proposed the next toast, that of the Clan. He said:--In
rising to propose the toast of the evening, my first duty, it seems to
me, is to express my sense of the great honor done me by my clansmen in
asking me to preside over the first family dinner of the Clan in this
Province. Many there be with us, who, from age and distinction and
fitness in every respect, ought to have come before me, and who would
have done greater honor to the position on such an occasion as this,
than I can hope to do, even with your kind indulgence. The rather active
part it has been my privilege to take in bringing about this happy
gathering may have suggested your choice, and should I be right in this
conjecture, that fact but deepens the feeling with which I regard the
honor. But a still more arduous duty laid upon me was to give the toast
of the evening, that of "The Clan." I can assure you it required all the
courage I could muster to undertake the task. The motto of the Clan was
held up to me, but I did not forget that _Je suis prest_ ought to be the
corollary of _Paratus sum_, and I fear that but few could step into the
breach and do full justice to the great Clan Fraser. In assigning the
toast, moreover, the request was made that I should give as much
information regarding the Clan, as could well be packed into a speech,
even if the limit of time should have to be extended over that which is
usually allowable for an after dinner effort; but, as I understand the
information is intended for a wider circle of clansmen than is here, I
feel assured of your patience and forbearance while I struggle through
a narrative, the length of which under other circumstances would have
been an unpardonable breach of good taste.

The clan system holds an intermediate position between the patriarchal
and feudal systems. It is sometimes confused with the former, more
rarely with the latter. The feudal lordship, in its genius and scope of
operation, was diametrically opposed to the salient characteristics of
the clan system. The distinctions need not be enlarged upon here, let it
suffice to draw attention to the fact that clanship was a distinct form
of government, under well recognized and applied principles. In modern
literature we find the characteristic most emphasized to be the loyalty
with which the clansman followed and served his chief, as in the words
of the quotation on our toast list, "Master, go on and I will follow
thee, to the last gasp, with truth and loyalty." That truth and loyalty,
however, was not born of a servile, but of a highly patriotic feeling,
for the bond which united chief and clansman was that of kindred and
common interest, and not of hire and servitude. This explains why a
people so highly sensitive, fiery and impetuous as the Celts, gave such
loyal and perfect allegiance to the chief of the clan.

[Illustration: ALEXANDER FRASER (_Mac-Fhionnlaidh_)
CHAIRMAN.]

Since the fact that we were to hold a clan gathering got abroad, I have
been asked for information regarding the origin of the clans in the
Highlands. How these clans were first established authentic history does
not record with clearness. We are left in the task of unravelling the
origin of the clans to meagre allusions in classical writings, in
genealogies which, to some extent at least, are mythical, and to
tradition, ever changing with the progress of the centuries. There can
be no question that many of the clans grew gradually from the native
population after the consolidation of the Scottish Kingdom. We know that
tribes, some bearing names of modern clans, existed in what may be
described as prehistoric times, in the ordinary acceptation of that
term, in that part of Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde. Amongst
these were the Bissets, the Fentons of the Aird, and others, whose names
still survive in the County of Inverness, and who must have to some
extent merged into the Fraser Clan, by adopting the name of the lord of
the manor. I do not like to quote John Hill Burton as an authority,
prejudiced, as he manifestly is, and unfair, as a rule, when dealing
with the Highlands and the Celts, but a passage from his unreliable Life
of Simon, Lord Lovat, will show how a surname may impose itself on a
community and how clans have been, to some extent, constituted. He says:
"In some instances the foreign family adopted a purely Celtic patronymic
from the name of the sept of which they were the leaders. In other
cases, such as the Gordons and Frasers, the sept, probably absorbing
various small tribes and admitting to its bosom many stray members
owning strange varieties of Gaelic names, took the name of the leader;
hence we find the purest Gaelic spoken by people enjoying the Norman
names of a Gordon or a Cumin. But, whether the imported lord of the soil
adopted the name of the tribe or the tribe that of their lord, the
unyielding influence of old national customs and peculiarities
prevailed, and their families gradually adapted themselves in speech and
method of life to the people over whom they held sway." This principle
holds good in the case of the composite Fraser Clan, and a curious
example is afforded by an extract from the Allangrange MS., with respect
to the Rev. Wm. Fraser, of Kilmorack, published in that repository of
Highland lore, the Celtic Magazine:--

"Bishop Hay, maternal uncle to Agnes Lovat, carried away by Kenneth
Mackenzie (a Bhlair), Seventh Baron of Kintail, when he sent away his
first wife Margaret, daughter of John, Earl of Ross, advised Kenneth and
the lady's friends that a commission should be sent to the Pope in 1491
to procure the legitimation of their union. This was agreed to, and the
following is the account of the commissioners:--

"'To that effect one called Donald Dhu McChreggie, priest of Kirkhill,
was employed. This priest was a native in Kintail, descended of a clan
there called Clan Chreggie, who, being a hopeful boy in his younger
days, was educated in Mackenzie's house, and afterwards at Beullie by
the forementioned Dugall Mackenzie (natural son of Alexander 'Ionraic'
VI. of Kintail pryor yrof). In the end he was made priest of Kirkhill.
His successors to this day are called Frasers. Of this priest are
descended Mr. William and Mr. Donald Fraser.'

"The author of the Ardintoul MSS. gives a slightly different version,
and says: 'To which end they sent Mr. Andrew Fraser, priest of Kintail,
a learned and eloquent man, who took in his company Dugald Mackenzie,
natural son of Alexander Inrig, who was a scholar. The Pope entertained
them kindly, and very readily granted them what they desired, and were
both made knights to the boot by Pope Clement VIII., but when my knights
came home they neglected the decree of Pope Innocent III. against the
marriage and consentricate of the clergy, or, otherwise, they got a
dispensation from the then Pope Clement VIII., for both of them married.
Sir Dugal was made priest of Kintail and married Nien (daughter) Dunchy
Chaim in Glenmoriston. Sir Andrew likewise married, whose son was Donall
Dubh MacIntagard (Black Donald, son of the Priest) and was priest of
Kirkhill and chapter of Ross. His tacks of the Vicarage of Kilmorack to
John Chisholm, of Comar, stands to this day. His son was Mr. William
MacAhoulding, _alias_ Fraser, who died minister of Kiltarlady. His son
was Mr. Donald Fraser, who died minister of Kilmorack; so that he is the
fifth minister or ecclesiastical person in a lineal and uninterrupted
succession, which falls out but seldom, and than which, in my judgment,
nothing can more entitle a man to be really a gentleman; for that blood
which runs in the veins of four or five generations of men of piety and
learning and breeding cannot but have influence, and it confirms my
opinion that the present Mr. Wm. Fraser (who is the fifth) has the
virtues and commendable properties of his predecessors all united in
him.'"

We see here the ease with which a MacCreggie could become a Fraser, and,
bearing in mind the principle noticed by Hill Burton, there is no
difficulty in accounting for the origin and growth of our Clan in the
Highlands. Whether we can tell the day of the month and the year on
which Andrew or Simon Fraser first gazed on the winding Beauly or
not--and the date can be approximately fixed--we, at all events, have no
deep, unfathomable problem to solve as to the formation of the Fraser
Clan. We know that the founder of the name in Inverness-shire arrived
there as the head of a powerful Lowland house, that he settled among the
native Caledonians of the country, assumed possession of the lands then
forming his estate; that the people, who were as Celtic as those in any
portion of the Highlands, bearing such names as Gille-Criosd,
Mac-Killweralicke, Gill' Aindrea, etc., rallied around him, accepted his
authority, became his followers, and gradually adopted the name. As has
been remarked, some of those who were thus absorbed were the Bissets and
the Fentons of the Aird; there were also the Haliburtons, the Corbets,
and the Graemes of Lovat, whose estates fell into the possession of the
Fraser family. From this beginning it is an easy matter to follow the
fortunes of the Clan down the centuries from 1296, or thereabout, until
the present day. But it is not as easy, nor is it as important, although
interesting, to deal with the origin of the name and the ancient seat of
those who bore it long, long ago. Yet the theories respecting the origin
of the name must be taken notice of as traditions of interest, at least
to the Clan.

We meet the name of "Fraser" in various spellings in Ragman Roll, which
dates A.D. 1292-97. Seventeen gentlemen of the family are on the roll,
and the spellings given are: Fraser, Fresar, Frisel, Frisele, Freshele,
de Fraser, and de Frisle. Whence derived? A Norman-French and a Celtic
origin have been ascribed to it.


THE NORMAN-FRENCH ORIGIN.--Skene settles this theory in a summary
fashion. He accepts it as indubitable, and had he refrained from giving
the grounds upon which he bases his opinion, his deservedly high
reputation as a Celtic historian might have satisfied the general reader
as to the truth of his _ipse dixit_. But the two reasons he advances are
absurd. From his own words you will learn how he disposes of the origin
of the Clan: "Of the Norman origin of the family of the Frasers it is
impossible for a moment to entertain a doubt. They appear during the
first few generations uniformly in that quarter of Scotland which is
south of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, and they possessed at a very
early period extensive estates in the counties of East Lothian and of
Tweeddale; besides the name of Frisale, which is its ancient form,
appears in the roll of Battle Abbey, thus placing the Norman character
of their origin beyond a doubt." Mr. Skene's first reason is that, "they
appear during the first few generations uniformly in that quarter of
Scotland which is south of the Forth and Clyde." Had this part of
Scotland been at that time inhabited by Normans, Mr. Skene's position
would not seem so surprising as it does; but, as a matter of fact, at
the time when the Frasers, according to Skene himself, flourished in the
south of Scotland, the population there was Celtic, and his plain
reasoning is: "The Frasers first appear in Scottish records as part of a
Celtic population; therefore they must be of Norman origin!" Mr. Skene's
second reason, while not so manifestly absurd, is equally weak. It is:
"The name of Frisale, which is the ancient form of "Fraser," appears in
the roll of Battle Abbey, thus placing the Norman character of their
origin beyond a doubt." And it is on such grounds as these that Mr.
Skene proceeds. Why, the ingenious Senachies, skilled in genealogy, if
not in the unravelling of charter deeds, could give an infinitely more
plausible statement of a continental descent. In the first place, it is
now impossible to authenticate the genuineness of the Roll of Battle
Abbey; and in the second place, if the roll were beyond question, there
is nothing to show that the Frisale whose name appears on it was the
progenitor of the Scottish Frasers. Mr. Skene does not pretend to prove
that he passed from England to Scotland and founded the family there.
But although he does not give us details, Mr. Skene's theory can be
nothing else than that Frisale, the follower of William the Conqueror,
was the same who received the lands held by the family in 1109 in the
south of Scotland from the Scottish monarch. Let us see how this theory
will bear examination. One sentence disposes of it completely and
forever. There were Frasers in possession of estates in the south of
Scotland before the Battle of Hastings, and from them Gilbert Fraser,
who figures in the Cospatrick Charter of 1109, was descended. Long
before 1109 the family had possessions in the Lothians and Tweeddale and
farther to the north. It requires no more than this statement of fact to
dispose of the Roll of Battle Abbey and the Frisale whose name furnished
the late Historiographer Royal of Scotland with an easy outlet from an
apparently difficult position. But supposing we allow for a moment the
prior occupation of the Frasers to disappear from view, and with Skene
begin at 1109 with Gilbert Fraser. Even then the case for Frisale would
be hopelessly weak. The Battle of Hastings was fought in 1066. From 1058
to 1093 Malcolm Ceanmor sat on the Scottish throne; he it would be,
according to Skene, who gave Frisale the grant of the extensive estates
of the Tweeddale Frasers. But he was the bitter foe of William the
Conqueror, who supplanted Edgar Atheling, whose sister Margaret was
Malcolm's Queen, and whose nephew, also named Edgar, reigned in Scotland
until 1107. Is it credible that Malcolm or Donald Bane, or Duncan, or
Edgar, would strip their own nobles, in times of very uncertain warfare,
of their lands, in order to bestow them upon aliens, and these aliens
the feudal vassals of their turbulent, warlike enemy? No careful reader
of that period of Scottish history can believe that to have been
possible. If it be said that Alexander I. and David I. favored Norman
courtezans with grants of land on feudal titles, the answer is that
Alexander mounted the throne not earlier than 1107, when the Frasers had
already achieved historic prominence. While these remarks may suffice to
indicate how valueless are the reasons put forward by Mr. Skene, they do
not touch other theories pointing to a French origin prior to the reign
of Malcolm Ceanmor. But these other theories having been rejected by Mr.
Skene and his school, we may conclude that they rest their case on the
statements just alluded to and disposed of.

Annalists and Clan historians have, however, gone into particulars of
the Norman-French theory. According to some the name was derived from
the _fraise_ or 'strawberry' leaves in their arms, and it was related
that they sprang from the Frezels of France. Others give different
origins; but, before laying before you the serious objections to the
Norman-French theory, it is right that I should repeat what has been in
many quarters regarded as strong circumstantial evidence in its favor. I
refer to the bond entered into, as late as the first part of the
eighteenth century, between Simon Lord Lovat (who was beheaded) and the
Marquis de la Frezelière. Lord Lovat was a fugitive in France at the
time, and he was befriended by the Marquis. He wrote his life in French,
afterwards translated into English and published in 1796. In it he makes
the following statement:--

"The house of Frezel, or Frezeau de la Frezelière, is one of the most
ancient houses in France. It ascends by uninterrupted filiation, and
without any unequal alliance, to the year 1030. It is able to establish
by a regular proof sixty-four quarterings in its armorial bearings, and
all noble. It has titles of seven hundred years standing in the abbey of
Notre Dame de Noyers in Touraine. And it is certain, that, beside
these circumstances of inherent dignity, the house de la Frezelière is
one of the best allied in the kingdom. It numbers among its ancestors on
the female side daughters of the families de Montmorenci, de Rieux, de
Rohan, de Bretagne, de la Savonniere, de la Tremouille, de la Grandiere,
and de St. Germains. Through the houses de Montmorenci, de Rieux, de
Rohan, and de la Tremouille, to which the Marquis de la Frezelière is
nearly allied, he can trace his filiation through all the French
monarchs, up to Charlemagne, King of France and Emperor of the West.
Down again through the various branches of the illustrious house of
France, M. de la Frezelière may, without impropriety, assert his
alliance to all the royal houses and almost all the principal nobility
of Europe.

"It is demonstrated by various historians, by the tradition of the two
families, and from letters written from time to time from one to the
other, that the house of Frezel or Frezeau de la Frezelière in France,
and the house of Frezel or Fraser in Scotland, were of the same origin,
and derived from the same blood. The Marquis de la Frezelière, the head
and representative of the Frezels or Frezeaus in France, and Lord Lovat,
the representative of the Frezels or Frasers in the north and the
Highlands of Scotland, having happily encountered each other at Paris in
the second journey that Lord Lovat made to France for the service of his
king (1702), were therefore both of them highly gratified with the
opportunity that offered itself of renewing their alliance and declaring
their affinity in a common and authentic act of recognition drawn up for
that purpose.

"This record was executed on the one part by the Marquis de la
Frezelière himself, by the Duke de Luxembourg, the Duke de Chatillon
and the Prince de Tingrie, the three worthy and illustrious children of
the late Marshal de Luxembourg Montmorenci, whose heroic exploits are
not less glorious and celebrated than his descent is ancient and august.
Several other lords of the house of Montmorenci, the Marquis de Rieux,
and many noblemen related by blood and marriage to M. de la Frezelière,
joined with the Marquis in affixing their signatures to this act of
recognition. On the other part it was executed by Simon Lord Lovat, Mr.
John Fraser, his brother, and Mr. George Henry Fraser, Major of the
Irish regiment of Bourke in the French service, for themselves, in the
name of their whole family in Scotland.

"By this deed the kindred of the two houses of the Frezels or Frasers is
placed out of all possible doubt. Accordingly from the moment in which
it was executed the Marquis de la Frezelière regarded Lord Lovat rather
as his brother and his child than as his remote relation; and had his
re-establishment in Scotland nearer his heart than his own elevation in
France."


[Twenty Portrait Photographs of:

J. H. Fraser Chas. Fraser A. W. Fraser Norman Fraser Andrew Fraser

Jno. Fraser Elisha A. Fraser Dr. Mungo Fraser Dr. J. B. Fraser A. R. Fraser

Alexander Fraser John Fraser Alexander Fraser Robt. L. Fraser W. P. Fraser

William Fraser Hugh Miller W. H. Fraser Geo. B. Fraser Jas. Fraser]


THE SCOTTISH ORIGIN OF THE NAME.--Logan, author of the "Scottish Gael,"
agrees with those who claim a Scottish origin for the name. He derives
it from _Frith_, 'a forest,' and _siol_--'seed,' 'offspring.' His theory
has at least the merit of great probability, and is certainly to be
preferred to the Norman-French, unless the latter can be supported by
better evidence than has yet been brought forward. In a most interesting
volume on surnames by Mr. B. Homer Dixon, K.N.L., published in 1857,
there are very suggestive notes on the surname "Fraser." He agrees with
Logan, and he combats the Norman origin. His interest in the Clan
Fraser is one of descent from a notable cadet family, and in connection
with the origin of the name he has kindly furnished me with the
following valuable statement:--

"I differ from Skene and the older writers who derive the Frasers either
from Pierre Fraser, who came to Scotland about the year 800, and whose
son Charles was made Thane of Man in 814, or from Julius de Berry, of
Averme in the Bourbonnais, who, in the year 916, gave Charles the Simple
so delicious a dish of strawberries that the king changed his name to
'de Fraize' and gave him 'fraizes' for arms.

"According to the best authorities hereditary surnames were not used
until about the year 1000, and Arms were certainly not borne until after
the Norman Conquest, being only introduced about four score years later
at the time of the second Crusade, viz., A.D. 1146, and therefore more
than two centuries after the date of those ascribed to Julius de Fraize.

"That the last Lord Lovat believed in his Norman descent I do not doubt.
Early in the last century (A.D. 1702) he signed a bond of recognition
with the Marquis Frezeau or Frezel de la Frezelière, declaring that
their name and origin were the same and acknowledging themselves as
relations. The Frezeaus, however, were Anjevins from near Saumur, while
the first Scotch Fraser was said to be a Bourbonnais; still both parties
were probably easily satisfied with their bond, which only went to prove
apparently more clearly the antiquity of the families, however
unnecessary, for the Frezeaus or Frezels were one of the most ancient
houses in France, and the Frasers are undoubtedly one of the noblest
families in Scotland. Burton, in his Life of Lord Lovat, London, 147, p.
104, throws discredit upon Lord Lovat's statement (Memoirs of Lord
Lovat, London) of the antiquity of the family of Frezeau de la
Frezelière, because, forsooth, there is no account of the family in 'le
Père Anselme,' but Moreri (Grand Dicte. Histe. Basle, 1740) says 'the
family was one of the most ancient in the kingdom' (almost the very
words of Lord Lovat), 'and one of the most illustrious of the Province
(Anjou), where they have possessed from time immemorial the seigniory of
the Frezelière.' Moreri adds that there were Chevaliers Frezel in 1030,
and, commencing his pedigree with the Chevalier Geoffrey, living in
1270, carries it down uninterruptedly to the Marquis de la Frezelière,
et de Monsieur Baron de Lasse, Lieutenant-General in the army and first
Lieutenant-General in the Artillery, who died in 1711.

"Both the Marquis and Lord Lovat were mistaken, however, for the Anjevin
name does _not_ signify 'strawberry,' neither does that family bear
'fraises' in their arms, but Frezeau or Frezel de la Frezelière
signifies 'Ash of the Ash Plantation or Wood,' from the Romance word
_Fraysse_, 'an ash tree;' and in Auvergne there is a family styled 'du
Fraisse,' who bear an ash tree in their arms. Similar names to Frezel de
la Frezelière are le Bastard de la Bastardière, Freslon de la
Freslonnière, Raband de la Rabandière.

"It is true that the name Frisell occurs in the Roll of Battle Abbey;
but even allowing that to be authentic, what proof is there that the
Frisell who accompanied the Conqueror in 1066, was the ancestor of
Gilbert de Fraser, who possessed large estates in Tweeddale and Lothian
in the time of Alexander I. (1107-1174)?

"This Gilbert, the first of the family mentioned, is called 'de,' but
the name was more frequently written without that prefix.

"I believe that the Frasers are Scotch _ab origine_ and repeat that I
consider the name to be Gaelic and older than the arms, which were
canting arms, such as we have a royal example of as early as the time of
Louis VII. (of 1180), who covered the shield of France with blue, the
tincture of his royal robes, and then charged the same with lilies,
derived originally from Isis, formerly worshipped in France.

"The _fraises_ are quartered with three antique crowns, and here again
authors differ, most writers saying they are for Bisset. Even Nisbet
makes this error, although on another page he gives the arms of Bisset
of Beaufort as 'Azure a bend argent!' Others say they were granted to
Sir Simon Fraser, the 'Flower of Chivalrie,' the friend of Wallace and
Bruce, for having three times re-horsed his king at the Battle of
Methven, in 1306. This _may_ be their origin, but if so they were
probably granted to or adopted by his grand nephew and heir, Sir Andrew
Fraser, for Sir Simon Fraser was taken prisoner at this very battle,
conveyed to London and beheaded. It is worthy of note, however, that the
Grants, near neighbors and often allied to the Frasers, bear three
antique crowns, though of a different tincture. Hugh, fifth Lord Lovat,
married a daughter of the Laird of Grant, by whom, however, he had no
issue. He died 1544."

In another note Mr. Dixon says: "The court language of Scotland, at the
time this family took their arms, which are totally different from those
of the French house of Frezeau or Frezel, was a medley of Teutonic and
French."


IN THE LOWLANDS OF SCOTLAND.--But whether the derivation be from the
Romance _fraysse_, 'an ash tree,' or the Gaelic _frith_, 'a forest,' we
find the chief of the name firmly established as a powerful Scottish
noble, manifesting the patriotism and national sentiment to be looked
for in a native born baron, as early as 1109.

His name was GILBERT DE FRASER, who, in the year named, witnessed a
charter known as the Cospatrick Charter. It is generally conceded that
he is the first with whom documentary history begins. That there were
Frasers in Tweeddale and Lothian before him is certain, and the names of
some of them have survived, but with this Gilbert begins the unbroken
record of lineage which comes down to our own day. The lands possessed
by the Frasers in the south of Scotland were extensive, and the family
power was great, as will be indicated in the course of the brief
reference to it which will be here made. Gilbert had three sons, Oliver,
Udard and another whose name is not now known.

OLIVER succeeded his father and built Oliver Castle, by which his name
survives. There are many interesting descriptions of this old
stronghold; that in the Ordnance Survey Report I quote on account of its
brevity: "An ancient baronial fortalice in Tweedsmuir parish, S. W.
Peeblesshire, on the left side of the river Tweed . . . Crowning a rising
ground which now is tufted with a clump of trees, it was the original
seat of the Frasers, ancestors of the noble families of Lovat and
Saltoun, and passed from them to the Tweedies, who figure in the
introduction to Sir Walter Scott's _Betrothed_, and whose maternal
descendant, Thomas Tweedie-Stodart (b. 1838; suc. 1869), of Oliver
House, a plain modern mansion hard by, holds 1144 acres in the shire. . .
Oliver Castle was the remotest of a chain of strong ancient towers,
situated each within view of the next all down the Tweed to Berwick, and
serving both for defence and for beacon fires in the times of the
border forays. It was eventually relinquished and razed to the ground."
Oliver died without issue, and, his brother Udard, evidently having
predeceased him, the succession went to Udard's son,

ADAM, who was succeeded by his son,

LAWRENCE, on record in 1261, and who was in turn succeeded by his son,

LAWRENCE. The second Lawrence had no male issue, but had two daughters,
one of whom married a Tweedie, carrying with her Fraser lands, and the
other of whom married a Macdougall. The succession in the male line now
reverted to Gilbert's third son, whose name is lost, but who had two
sons,

SIMON and Bernard. Both these succeeded to the chiefship, Simon's issue
being female. It was after this Simon that Keith-Simon was named.

BERNARD raised the fortunes of the family considerably, and his name
frequently occurs in connection with questions of first class
importance. He was the first of the name to have been appointed Sheriff
of Stirling. He was succeeded by his son,

GILBERT, styled "Vicecomes de Traquair," or Sheriff of Traquair, father
of three historic personages, Sir Simon, Sir Andrew, and William, the
Bishop of St. Andrew's and Chancellor of Scotland, an extended reference
to whom I with difficulty refrain from making. As a prelate and a
statesman he rendered high service to his country. His brother,

SIR SIMON, THE ELDER, succeeded his father, Gilbert. He is designated
the Elder to distinguish him from his famous son, Sir Simon the Patriot.
He took a leading part in the affairs of the nation. He, his two
brothers and a nephew, Richard Fraser, Lord of Dumfries, were four of
the arbiters in the Baliol claim to the Scottish Crown. He died in 1291,
and was succeeded by

SIR SIMON the Patriot, the greatest and most renowned of all the Fraser
chiefs. All I can say of him is that he was the compatriot, the
coadjutor and compeer of Sir William Wallace, and one of the noblest
knights whose deeds are recorded on the page of history. He has
furnished ancient and modern historians with a subject for patriotic
eulogy and enthusiastic praise. As a soldier and statesman he was
_facile princeps_. He was the hero of Roslin; he was the only Scottish
noble who held out to the last with Sir William Wallace, and was one of
the first to welcome and aid the Bruce, whom he re-horsed three times at
the Battle of Methven, where he was taken prisoner; and he was the only
Scottish knight at that time whose patriotism entitled him to the brutal
indignities of Edward's court, and a death, in 1306, similar to that of
Sir William Wallace. The Patriot's family consisted of two daughters;
the elder married Sir Hugh Hay, ancestor of the noble house of
Tweeddale, and the younger, Sir Patrick Fleming, ancestor of the Earls
of Wigton. Male issue having again failed, the succession went back to

SIR ANDREW FRASER, Sheriff of Stirling, already mentioned as second son
of Sir Gilbert Fraser, Sheriff of Traquair. Sir Andrew was the Patriot's
uncle. He is styled "of Caithness," on account of having married a
Caithness heiress, and at that point begins the interest of the family
in the North of Scotland. He was both a brave knight and a powerful
lord, and, like his brothers, bore his part valorously and well in the
senate and on the field. He lived to occupy the position of chief but
two years. He was the first chief of the family who won large
possessions in the north, while the headquarters were still in the
southern countries. The well-known Neidpath castle was one of the family
strongholds. It was a massive pile, of great strength, the walls being
eleven feet thick. It is situated in Peeblesshire and is still to be
seen. The strawberries appear in the crest of the Hays on the keystone
of the courtyard archway, a connecting link with the Frasers, from whom
it passed to the Hays of Yester, in 1312, with the daughter of the
Patriot. Before following the family to the Lovat estates, in
Inverness-shire, it may not be amiss to recapitulate the succession in
the south. It was as follows:

I. GILBERT DE FRASER, II. OLIVER FRASER, III. ADAM FRASER, IV. LAURENCE
FRASER, V. LAURENCE FRASER, VI. SIMON FRASER, VII. BERNARD FRASER, VIII.
SIR GILBERT FRASER, IX. SIR SIMON FRASER, X. SIR SIMON FRASER, XI. SIR
ANDREW FRASER.


THE CLAN IN THE HIGHLANDS.--The family extended northward by the
marriage of Sir Andrew to a Caithness heiress, through which he acquired
large estates in that country. His was a notable family of sons. The
eldest, named Simon, gave the family its patronymic of "Mac-Shimi"
(pronounced Mac-Kimmie). He (Simon) married the daughter of the Earl of
Orkney and Caithness, and it is believed by the family historians that
this marriage brought the first Lovat property to the family. It would
appear that the Countess of Orkney and Caithness, namely, Simon Fraser's
mother-in-law, was the daughter of Graham of Lovat, and that her right
in the Lovat property descended to her daughter, Simon's wife, in whose
right he took possession. Thus, we see how the names Fraser and Lovat,
now for so long a time almost synonymous, were first brought together,
and how the Frasers obtained a footing on territory which has become
indissolubly linked with their name.

Sir Andrew Fraser's other sons were Sir Alexander, Andrew and James; the
first named, a powerful baron and statesman, who attained to the office
of Chamberlain of Scotland, held previously, as we have seen, by his
uncle, Bishop Fraser. In consideration of distinguished services, he was
given in marriage Mary, sister of King Robert Bruce, and widow of Sir
Nigel Campbell, of Lochow. He possessed lands in Kincardine, of which
county he was sheriff. He was killed at the battle of Dupplin. Andrew
and James, his brothers, with their brother, Simon of Lovat, were slain
at the battle of Halidon Hill, July 22nd, 1333, and all four were in the
front rank of the soldiers of their time.

The chiefs of the Clan Fraser date from:

I. SIMON, Sir Andrew's eldest son. He had three sons--Simon and Hugh,
who both succeeded him in honors and estates, and James, who was
knighted on the occasion of the coronation of Robert III.

II. SIMON succeeded his father, when still very young, and gave proof,
in the field, that the military genius of the family was inherited by
him. He died unmarried, after a brief but brilliant career, and his
estates and the chiefship went to his brother,

III. HUGH, styled "Dominus de Lovat." And, now, I shall keep briefly to
the line of chiefs, and shall not burden you with many personal
incidents that have come down to us, with respect to any of them, until
we come to Lord Simon, who suffered death on Tower Hill. Hugh was
succeeded by his two sons, first by ALEXANDER, the eldest, then by
Hugh, the second son. From his third son, John, sprang the Frasers of
Knock, in Ayrshire; and from Duncan, his fourth son, the Frasers of
Morayshire.

IV. ALEXANDER is described as a "pattern of primitive piety and sanctity
to all around him." He died unmarried. An illegitimate son, named
Robert, was the progenitor of "Sliochd Rob, Mhic a Mhanaich."

V. HUGH, his brother, who succeeded, acquired lands from the Fentons and
Bissets, by marriage with the heiress of Fenton of Beaufort. The names
of these lands, it will be interesting to note, forming as they do an
important part of the estates long held by the Frasers. They are:
Guisachan, now the property of Lord Tweedmouth; Comar, Kirkton, Mauld,
Wester Eskadale and Uchterach. This Hugh, the fifth chief, was the first
to assume the title of Lord Lovat. He had three sons, Thomas, Alexander,
who died unmarried, and Hugh. The first Lord Lovat was succeeded by his
son,

VI. THOMAS, whose assumption of the title is not mentioned by the family
historians, but of whose accession there is good documentary proof. The
silence of the historians, however, has led to an error in the
designation of his successors. For instance, his brother,

VII. HUGH, who succeeded him, is called Hugh, second Lord Lovat, instead
of Hugh, third Lord Lovat. This Lord Lovat had two sons, Thomas and
Hugh, the former of whom was Prior of Beauly, and died young and
unmarried. He was succeeded by his son,

VIII. HUGH, fourth Lord Lovat, who had a decisive brush with the
Macdonalds, under the Lord of the Isles, when the latter besieged the
Castle of Inverness in 1429. He was a peer of Parliament, and is
supposed to have been the first Lord Lovat to have attained to that
dignity, with the title, Lord Fraser of the Lovat. He had four sons, who
deserve mention: Thomas, who succeeded; Hugh, a brave soldier and
accomplished courtier, who was slain at Flodden; Alexander, from whom
sprang the old cadets of Farraline, Leadclune, etc.; and John, the
historian of Henry VIII., the learned Franciscan and astute ambassador.
There were also two illegitimate sons--Thomas and Hugh, the latter,
progenitor of the Frasers of Foyers, and of many other Fraser families,
known as "Sliochd Huistein Fhrangaich."

IX. THOMAS, fifth Lord Lovat, added the lands of Phopachy, Englishton,
Bunchrew and Culburnie, the last-named place from Henry Douglas, to the
family estates, which were assuming very large proportions. He had a
large family. The eldest son, named Hugh, succeeded to the estates. From
the second son, William, sprang the Frasers of Belladrum, Culbokie,
Little Struy, etc.; from James, the Frasers of Foyness; from Robert, the
Frasers of Brakie, Fifeshire; from Andrew, "Sliochd Anndra Ruadh a
Chnuic" (Kirkhill); from Thomas, "Sliochd Ian 'Ic Thomais"; John married
a daughter of Grant of Grant, with issue; and from Hugh Ban of Reelick
(an illegitimate son), came the Frasers of Reelick and Moniack.

X. HUGH, sixth Lord Lovat, was the chief of the Clan at the time of the
disastrous fight with the Macdonalds at Kinlochlochy, of which I shall
read a short description later on.[2] At this affray Lord Hugh and his
eldest son, Simon, were slain. His second son, Alexander, succeeded, and
his third son, William, was ancestor of the Frasers of Struy. His
fourth son, Hugh, died young and unmarried.

XI. ALEXANDER, seventh Lord Lovat, a man of literary tastes, lived in
comparative retirement. His three sons were: Hugh, his successor;
Thomas, first of Knockie and Strichen, from whom the present chief,
whose family in 1815 succeeded to the Fraser estates, sprang, and James,
ancestor of the Frasers of Ardachie, the Memoir and Correspondence of a
scion of which, General James Stuart Fraser, of the Madras Army, was a
few years ago, given to the world, as the distinguished record of a
soldier, a scholar and a statesman.

XII. HUGH, the eighth Lord Lovat, succeeded at the age of fourteen. He
was noted for his proficiency in archery, wrestling, and the athletics
of the day; he greatly encouraged the practice of manly exercises on his
estates. He was a staunch supporter of Regent Murray, and at the
Reformation secured possession of the Priory of Beauly and the church
lands pertaining to it, including the town lands of Beauly, and some of
the best tacks on the low-lying part of the present estates, in the
parishes of Kilmorack and Kiltarlity, the mere names indicating the
value of the grant: Fanblair, Easter Glenconvinth, Culmill, Urchany,
Farley, Craigscorry, Platchaig, Teafrish, Annat, Groam, Inchrorie,
Rhindouin, Teachnuic, Ruilick, Ardnagrask, Greyfield, the Mains of
Beauly, as well as valuable river fishings. Mr. Chisholm Batten's book
on Beauly Priory contains many interesting facts regarding the
acquisition of these fertile and extensive lands, for which his Lordship
paid a certain sum of money. He married a daughter of the Earl of Athol,
and had two sons, Simon and Thomas, and a natural son, named Alexander,
who married Janet, daughter of Fraser of Moniack. Thomas died in his
ninth year. Lord Hugh died at Towie, in Mar, on his way home from
Edinburgh. It was suspected that he had been poisoned.

XIII. SIMON, ninth Lord Lovat, succeeded at the tender age of five.
Thomas of Knockie became tutor for the young chief, an office of power
and responsibility. He was married three times. By his first wife,
Catherine Mackenzie, he had issue, a son and daughter, Hugh, his
successor, and Elizabeth. By his second wife, the daughter of James
Stuart, Lord Doune, he had two sons and three daughters: Sir Simon of
Inverallochy, Sir James of Brea, Anne, Margaret and Jean. His third wife
was Catherine Rose of Kilravock.

XIV. HUGH, tenth Lord Lovat, had already a large family when he
succeeded to the estates. Three years after his accession his wife died,
leaving him with nine children, six sons and three daughters. Her death
cast a gloom over his life, and, practically retiring from business, the
management of the estates for a time fell on his son Simon, Master of
Lovat, a young man of the brightest promise, whose untimely death was a
second severe blow to his father. His dying address is a remarkable
production. His next elder brother, Hugh, became Master of Lovat, and
Sir James Fraser, of Brea, became tutor. The Master of Lovat married
Lady Anne Leslie, and died a year afterwards, during his father's
lifetime, leaving a son, Hugh, who succeeded to the titles and estates.
Hugh the tenth Lord Lovat's issue were: Simon and Hugh, to whom
reference has just been made; Alexander, who became tutor; Thomas of
Beaufort, father of the celebrated Simon; William, who died young;
James, who died without issue, and Mary, Anne and Catherine.

XV. HUGH, grandson of the tenth Lord Lovat, succeeded as eleventh Lord
Lovat, when only three years old. At sixteen he was, to use the words of
the chronicler, "decoyed into a match" with Anne, sister of Sir George
Mackenzie of Tarbat, the famous lawyer, the lady being at the time of
the marriage, about thirty years of age. There were born to them a son,
named Hugh, who, from a black spot on his upper lip, was nick-named
"Mac-Shimi, Ball Dubh," "Black-spotted Mackimmie;" and three daughters.

XVI. Hugh, "The Black-spotted," succeeded as twelfth Lord Lovat. He
married a daughter of Murray, Marquis of Athole, a connection in which
the pretensions of the Murrays, thwarted by Simon of Beaufort, find
their source. This chief left four daughters, but no son, and having had
no brothers or uncles on the father's side, the succession went to
Thomas of Beaufort, surviving son of Hugh, the tenth Lord Lovat, and
grand-uncle of Hugh, "The Black-spotted."

XVII. Thomas of Beaufort assumed the title as thirteenth Lord Lovat, and
would probably have been left in undisputed possession but for the
marriage contract made by the twelfth Lord, at the instance of the
Athols, settling the estates on his eldest daughter, failing male heirs
of his body. It is true that afterwards he revoked this settlement in
favor of the nearest male heir, viz., Thomas of Beaufort, but the
validity of the later document was contested, and it was only after a
long and extraordinary struggle, in which plot, intrigue and violence
played a part, as well as protracted litigation, that his son's title to
the estates was confirmed.

XVIII. SIMON of Beaufort succeeded his father, as fourteenth Lord Lovat,
after, as has been stated, many years of fierce contest concerning his
rights. He had an elder brother, named Alexander, who, according to
report then current, died young in Wales, and without issue. His
younger brothers were named Hugh, John, Thomas, and James. The cause of
Alexander's flight to Wales forms one of the best known legends of the
family. There are various versions of it, but I shall give that most
commonly related by old people in the district of the Aird: Alexander
arrived, somewhat late, at a wedding at Teawig, near Beauly. His
appearance was the signal for the piper to strike up the tune, "Tha
Biodag air MacThomais," some of the lines of which run:

                  Tha biodag air Mac Thomais,
                  Tha biodag fhada, mhor, air;
                  Tha biodag air Mac Thomais,
                  Ach's math a dh' fhoghnadh sgian da.

                  Tha biodag anns a chliobadaich,
                  Air mac a bhodaich leibidich;
                  Tha biodag anns a chliobadaich,
                  Air mac a bhodaich romaich.

                  Tha bhiodag deanadh gliogadaich,
                  'Si ceann'lt ri bann na briogais aig';
                  Tha bucallan 'n a bhrogan,
                  Ged 's math a dh' fhoghnadh ial daibh.

It was whispered to Alexander that the piper selected this tune to cause
merriment at his expense, and the youth, to turn the jest against the
piper, determined to rip open the bag of the pipes, with his dirk. But
in doing so, his foot slipped, and he fell heavily towards the piper
with the naked dirk in his outstretched arm. The piper was fatally
wounded, and Alexander, who had been an extreme partizan of the
Jacobites, believed that were he tried for the murder of the piper, the
hostility of Sir George Mackenzie, of Tarbat, would inevitably secure a
sentence of death against him. He fled to Wales, where he was befriended
by Earl Powis, under whose protection, it is said, he lived on, married,
and had issue, while his next younger brother, Simon, enjoyed the title
and estates. Mr. John Fraser, of Mount Pleasant, Carnarvon, not long
ago, laid claim to the chiefship, title and estates, on the ground that
he is a lineal descendant of this Alexander, and although he lost his
case in one trial, he is still gathering evidence, with the view of
having it re-opened and further pushing his claim.

For his share in the Jacobite rising of 1745, Simon, fourteenth Lord
Lovat, was beheaded on Tower Hill, April 9th, 1747. Lord Simon's faults
were not few, but he has been a much maligned man; his vices have been
flaunted before the world, his virtues have been obscured. In extreme
old age he gave up his life on the scaffold; and his fate, believed by
some to be richly deserved, by others has been characterized as
martyrdom. He left three sons, Simon, Alexander and Archibald Campbell
Fraser.

XIX. SIMON succeeded to the chiefship, but that honor was unaccompanied
by the estates and title, which had been forfeited to the crown. For his
services as commandant of Fraser's Highlanders in the service of the
House of Hanover, he was specially thanked by Parliament, and the
paternal estates restored to him. I have been informed by the Grand
Master Mason of Ontario that this Colonel Simon (afterwards General
Simon Fraser of Lovat) was the first Provincial Master Mason in Upper
Canada, the order having been established there at the time of the
stirring events in which Fraser's Highlanders participated while in
Quebec. General Simon married, but without issue, and his brother
Alexander having predeceased him without issue, he was succeeded in
possession of the estates by his half-brother,

XX. COLONEL ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL FRASER of Lovat. The title was still held
in abeyance. Colonel Archibald was a man of erratic habits, but a
kind-hearted Highlander, and a man of no mean ability. An account of his
honors and public services he embodied in an inscription on his
tombstone, but while the production is typical of his well-known
eccentricity, as a matter of fact, not a little of the praise which he
takes to himself for services to his country and his county, was well
deserved. He had five sons, all of whom predeceased him. His eldest son
was named Simon Frederick. He became member of Parliament for
Inverness-shire. He died in 1803, unmarried, but left one son, Archibald
Thomas Frederick Fraser, well-known in our own day as "Abertarf," from
having resided there. None of the other sons of Colonel Archibald left
legitimate issue, and at his death, in 1815, the succession reverted to
the Frasers of Strichen, descended, as already observed, from Thomas
Fraser of Knockie and Strichen, second son of Alexander, the sixth Lord
Lovat, represented, at the time of Colonel Archibald's death, by

XXI. THOMAS ALEXANDER FRASER, of Strichen, who succeeded to the estates,
and was created Lord Lovat by Act of Parliament, in 1837; and, in 1857,
succeeded in having the old title restored to him. The succession of the
Strichen family created a strong hostile feeling among the Clansmen and
the old tenants generally, many of them believing that other aspirants
who appeared had stronger claims. The Frasers of Strichen, however, were
able to satisfy the courts as to the validity of their claim, and they
were confirmed in the possession of the estates. A curious incident of
the time may be briefly related, to illustrate both the feeling then
prevailing concerning the succession, and the religious beliefs which
were held then in the Highlands. It was, and to some extent yet is,
believed that the Divine purpose, with respect to every-day events, may
be disclosed in appropriate portions of Scripture which impress
themselves intensely on the mind of the devout believer. Two
tenant-farmers, whose names, if given, would at once be a guarantee of
their good faith, and of their respectability, went from the vicinity of
Belladrum to the neighborhood of Redcastle, to a man whose piety gave
him an eminent place among The Men of Ross-shire. They went to confer
with him about the Lovat estates, and to find out whether he had any
"indication" of the "mind of the Lord" as to whether the Frasers of
Strichen would be established in their tenure of the estates against all
comers. They were hospitably welcomed, and, their errand having been
made known, their host replied that he had had no such indication. They
remained that night, the next day and the night following, but during
all this time did not see their host. On the morning of the third day he
joined them at the frugal breakfast, after which he led them to a window
overlooking the Beauly Firth and said: "Since your arrival I have pled
hard for light at the Throne. If God ever did reveal His Will to me by
His Word, He did so last night. You see a fishing-smack before you on
the firth; as sure as you do observe her there, with her sail spread,
catching the wind, so sure will, in God's good time, the Strichens pass
away from the possession of the Lovat estates, and the rightful heir,
will come to his own. My warrant, given to me in my wrestling with God,
is this prophetic passage: 'And thou, profane, wicked prince of Israel,
whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord
God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the
same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will
overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until he come
whose right it is; and I will give it him.' (Ezek. XXI., 25-27) God's
purpose thus revealed will not be fulfilled in our day, nor likely in
the day of our children, but our grandchildren will likely see it
accomplished." The old man's words made a deep impression; but only a
few friends were informed of them, not only because they were held as a
sacred message, but also because of the "power of the estate office."
Whatever may be thought of beliefs thus formed, no one who knew the
devout, simple-hearted Highlander of the generation just gone, will fail
to appreciate the humility and sincerity with which such beliefs were
entertained.

But to return to the fortunes of the House of Lovat. Thomas Alexander,
fifteenth Lord Lovat, married a daughter of Sir George Jerningham,
afterwards Baron Stafford, and had male issue, Simon, Allister Edward,
George Edward Stafford (b. 1834, d. 1854), and Henry Thomas. His second
son, Allister Edward, rose to the rank of Colonel in the army; was
married, with issue, one son. Hon. Henry Thomas attained to the rank of
Colonel of the 1st battalion Scots Guards. Lord Lovat died in 1885, and
was succeeded by his eldest son,

XXII. SIMON, sixteenth Lord Lovat, who, born in 1828, and married to the
daughter of Thomas Weld Blundell, was already a man of mature years at
the time of his accession. He was known in song as "Fear Donn an
Fheilidh." He was noted for his generous qualities and his kindness to
the poor. He was a keen sportsman, expert with rod, gun and rifle, a
marksman of repute. He did much to encourage the militia movement, and
commanded the Inverness-shire regiment for many years. The circumstances
of his sad and sudden death, from an affection of the heart, while
grouse-shooting on the Moy Hall moors, in 1887, are fresh in our minds.
An extract from a newspaper article, written on the occasion of his
death, may be taken as a fair estimate of his character: "By this sudden
and painful blow a nobleman has been taken away who filled a conspicuous
place in this vicinity, and who was held in the highest respect. Having
succeeded to his father in 1875, he has enjoyed the title and estates
for only twelve years (1887). But as Master of Lovat he was known for
many years before that time as a worthy and popular representative of a
great and ancient Highland house. No county gathering seemed to be
complete without his presence. . . . Homely in his manner, he was never
difficult to approach, and his kindness of spirit showed itself in many
ways. Conscientious and sober in judgment, he steadily endeavored to do
his duty; and his lamented death caused a blank which cannot easily be
filled." He left a family of nine, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

XXIII. SIMON JOSEPH, seventeenth Lord Lovat, to whose health, as our
chief, we have drained our glasses this evening. That he may have a long
and happy life is our fervent prayer; and may God grant him wisdom and
grace that he may be a useful and a prosperous chief; that he may add
new lustre to the distinguished name he bears, and prove worthy of the
ancestry of which he is the proud representative.

We have now traced the long line of chiefs from the beginning down to
the present day, and I must thank you for the wonderful patience with
which you have listened to the dry bones of genealogy; in what
remains[3] I hope I shall prove less tedious than in that which I have
concluded.

The speaker then referred briefly to the Aberdeenshire Frasers, and to
some of the principal Cadet families of the Clan. He gave an explanation
of the coat of arms, related a number of interesting Clan incidents,
including forays, Clan feuds, and anecdotes of a local character. At
some length he described the Home of the Clan, pointing out its extent
on a map of Inverness-shire, colored to show the gradual increase and
decrease of territory, which kept pace with the varying fortunes of the
Clan; expatiating on the great variety and beauty of its scenery,
tributes to which he quoted from Christopher North, David Macrae, Robert
Carruthers and Evan MacColl.

[Footnote 2: See account by Rev. Allan Sinclair, A. M., in Celtic
Magazine.]

[Footnote 3: This part of the speech, being of a general character, has
been omitted for consideration of space.]

                     *    *    *    *    *

[Illustration: MR. ROBERT LOVAT FRASER, 1st Vice-Chairman.]

MR. ROBERT LOVAT FRASER, Vice-chairman, replied to the toast. He said:
My duty, through the kindness of the committee, is certainly not so
arduous in replying to the toast of the evening, as that which has been
imposed upon the Chairman in proposing it. The length of his address,
the facts regarding the origin and the outlines of the history of the
Clan which he gave, make it unnecessary for me to dwell at length on
this interesting topic. Indeed, I found on listening to the Chairman,
that I had a great deal to learn about our Clan, and I am sure that I
express not only my own thanks, but yours to him, in placing before us,
so clearly and minutely, the leading facts regarding our ancestry and
kindred. All my life long I have been an ardent admirer of some of the
more prominent Frasers who have figured in our Clan history. My own
connection with the Clan in the Highlands is somewhat remote, the last
of my forefathers who resided there having had to leave his home and
friends, on account of the part which he took with his Clan in the
uprising of '45. But although we have been cut off from that close
connection which is thought necessary to keep alive a sentimental
interest in such things, I can assure you that no clansman born within
the shadow of Castle Downie can boast with greater truth of possessing
more enthusiasm and interest than I in all that pertains to the Clan
Fraser. The Clan has a history which we as clansmen should so study as
to become perfectly familiar with it. Its record has been written in the
events of the times as well as on the page of history, and no more
inspiring or patriotic duty lies to our hand than the study of that
record. I firmly believe that the influence of the clan feeling was a
good influence, and that the idea of kinship and responsibility to each
other for good behavior, as to kinsmen, had much to do in bringing about
the high moral tone which distinguishes the Highland clans. It did much
also to prepare the minds of those people for the enlightenment and love
which Christianity brought with it, and which are so strikingly
exemplified in the Highland character. I would say therefore to the
young men, 'employ part of your evenings in the reading of the Clan
history,' and to the older people, 'devote a little of the time of your
remaining years to a like purpose.' I do not think it necessary, after
what we have just heard, to enter into historic details; neither is it
necessary to defend the honor of the Clan where there are no assailants.
The Clan has taken its place honorably among its contemporaries and
neighbors. It invariably performed its duty in a manner highly
creditable to the public spirit of its members and to their high
standard of justice. There were it is true at times in the Clan, as in
every other body of people, men whose names have been perpetuated
because of evil rather than good. These, however, have been singularly
few in the Clan Fraser, and even where statements are found to their
discredit, the malice of interested foes not infrequently lends a
heightened color to charges which might to some extent have been founded
on fact. This I believe to be true in the case of Simon Lord Lovat, who
had the misfortune to be the subject of biographical sketches by his
enemies, but of whom a juster view now prevails. Happily the prominent
clansmen, whose characteristics needed no defence, but called forth
admiration and emulation, were many. To name them would be but to recite
a long and distinguished list. Their characteristics were such as to
challenge public commendation. With them as examples no clansman need
feel ashamed of the name. But what I should like to impress most of all
upon our Clan throughout the country is the necessity for a sentiment of
loyalty to the Clan name and its traditions. Seeing that we have such a
history let us prize it. Let every clansman feel proud of it, and let
him see to it that his conduct and ambition are in every way in keeping
with the record of the past, and in this way prove himself not only a
good citizen, a good neighbor and a good friend, but a good clansman,
and hand down the character of the Clan unsullied to posterity. This
would be a most laudable ambition and one which I feel sure every
Fraser worthy of the name will strive earnestly to attain.

Two gentlemen, Frasers all but in name, had been invited as guests. They
were Mr. B. Homer Dixon, Consul General for the Netherlands, and Mr.
Hugh Miller, J. P., both of Toronto. Their health was proposed by the
chairman, who paid a high compliment to Mr. Homer Dixon, who, he said,
had taken the warmest interest in matters relating to the Clan, and who
was a living encyclopedia of information regarding its history and
affairs. Mr. Dixon's connection was derived from his maternal side, and
not a few Clan relics were in his possession. His absence from the
gathering was on account of indifferent health, and it was regretted
very much by those present. In coupling Mr. Miller's name with the
toast, the Chairman referred to that gentleman's long connection with
the business interests of the city of Toronto. Mr. Hugh Miller was a
relative of his namesake, the famous geologist, and his name was as well
known in Ontario business and national circles, as was that of his
distinguished namesake in the field of literature and science. Mr.
Miller rightly claimed to be of Fraser stock--he certainly had the
Fraser spirit. He sat with them as an honored guest, but none the less
an honored clansman.

MR. MILLER, in reply, expressed the great satisfaction with which he had
received an invitation to be present at what he might truly describe as
a gathering of his own clansmen. It was well known that in Scotland, as
in other countries, men were often named after the occupations which
they followed, and it was not a mere tradition but a fact within the
knowledge of his immediate forebears that they were of pure Fraser
stock. They had worn the Fraser tartan, and had always taken a deep
interest in whatever pertained to the affairs of the Clan. When the
Chairman, in giving the toast of the Clan, had referred to the places
associated with the name, he was brought back in memory over a long
period of time. At his age, the sweep of memory to boyhood's days was a
long one, and he could well recall the events in the Highlands of
Scotland over sixty years ago. He had a loving and familiar recollection
of scenes, than which there were none more beautiful under the sun, and
of people who had animated these fair surroundings. The Fraser estates
were among the finest in Britain, affording examples of beauty
calculated to leave a very vivid impression on the youthful mind, and
during his long life his early impressions had ever remained fresh and
green. He remembered the time when the succession to the chiefship and
estates was in hot dispute, and he knew how deeply the clansmen were
moved by that contest. Down to that day the feeling of the clans was as
strong as of old, and doubtless if occasion arose, it would prove to be
strong still. At that time there were various claimants for the honors
and possessions of the ancient house of Lovat, and as a boy he saw a
good deal of those who were prominently concerned in the case. The
Frasers were very anxious that the true heir by blood should succeed,
and much was privately as well as openly done on behalf of the various
contestants, according as the clansmen believed in the various claims
put forward. As to the main object of their re-union that evening, he
could do nothing but express his sincere hope that a strong association
of the Frasers would be formed. There was no reason whatever why such an
organization should not flourish in Canada, where those bearing the name
could be numbered by thousands. He had the good fortune to know not a
few Frasers in Canada, and he could honestly say that none of them, so
far as he knew, ever did anything that in any way tarnished the good
name of the Clan. He had great hopes of the success of the movement from
the enthusiasm of the gathering, and from the fact that those who had
taken the matter in hand were men of energy and capacity. He could now
only thank them for having honored the toast in such a hospitable
manner, and wish them all success in the projected organization.


                       "THE CLAN IN CANADA."

MR. R. LOVAT FRASER, Vice-chairman, in proposing the toast of "The Clan
in Canada," said: The Clan in Canada is not, of course, as important as
the Clan at large, but it has an importance altogether its own, and has
a record not unworthy the parent stem. It is a branch of a goodly tree,
and bears fruit of the finest quality. No clan has done more, if as
much, for Canada as the Clan Fraser. Coming with the famous
Seventy-Eighth regiment they did their duty at Louisburg and Quebec, and
stamped the Clan name indelibly on the history of Canada, from ocean to
ocean. Not only did they render services in the east, but in pioneer
work helped to open up the west by travel, trade and commerce. A
distinguished clansman and a relation of my friend on the right
(Fraserfield) was the discoverer of the Fraser River. To those of us who
highly prize the integrity of the British Empire it must be a source of
pride to know that the part taken by the Seventy-Eighth in Lower Canada
helped very much to keep the American continent for the British Crown.
The history of that time clearly proves that had the fortunes of war
been adverse in Canada to the British arms, the French would have been
in a position to overrun and seize the whole of North America. This is a
fact which is sometimes lost sight of, but is one of much satisfaction
to us as clansmen. To those whose names have been coupled with this
interesting toast, I must leave the duty of dealing at length with it,
and I rejoice that both of them are gentlemen thoroughly familiar with
the subject and of recognized ability as speakers. I refer to Mr. E. A.
Fraser, barrister of Detroit, and our worthy friend, Mr. G. B. Fraser,
of Toronto.

MR. E. A. FRASER said: Mr. Vice-chairman, Chairman and Clansmen,
although hailing from the other side of the line, I am a Canadian-born
clansman, my native place being Bowmanville, near this beautiful Queen
City. I passed my younger days in this province, attended the schools
here, and am as familiar with the affairs of the country and with our
clansmen in the country as those who have not left it to reside under
another flag. I can therefore speak with confidence to this toast, but
you will excuse me if I speak briefly, as the honor was unexpected, and
I do not wish to make it appear that any words of mine that may come on
the spur of the moment would be sufficient to lay before you, in proper
form, what our Clan has done for Canada and the position which it
occupies to-day in the affairs of the country. It is easy to speak of
Louisburg and Quebec; it is easy to dilate on the names of distinguished
clansmen familiar to us all for the prominent positions they have taken
among their fellows, but the work performed by the Clan in Canada would
not then be half told. We must go back to the hoary forests, to the
backwoods, where the early settlers bent their energies to the opening
up of the country. That noble pioneer work in which our clansmen shared,
and shared in large numbers, it seems to me, has an importance that is
not as often recognized as it ought to be. It is difficult for the
imagination even to grasp the peculiar task that lay before the early
settlers of this vast, heavily-timbered, unbroken, unopened, untravelled
country. Now that we can take a seat in the railway car at Halifax and
leave it at Vancouver, we can form but the very faintest conception of
what this country was one hundred years ago, when those hardy
mountaineers ranged themselves alongside the Lowland Scot, the
Englishman, the Irishman, the German and the Frenchman, to hew down the
lords of the forest, to turn the wilderness into well cultivated fields,
to turn the log cabins into the mansions that now adorn the plains, and
to form, as they do, a sturdy peasantry second to none in the world.
When the pen of a genius has dealt with those times, a chapter will be
written for the civilized world more interesting, probably, than any yet
penned. We have to leave the high places of military fame and
statesmanship and enter the factory and the counting-house to trace
there the career of the pioneers of industry and commerce, and among
them we find our clansmen performing those duties which the necessities
of the country demanded. If we turn to the professions, our Clan is
found to hold its own. To the church, to law, to medicine, to art, to
politics, we have given men of whom we are proud. The walk of life in
Canada that has not been trodden by a clansman would be only an
undesirable one for any man to tread. If I may be permitted to say
it--coming as I do from the great State of Michigan--I would say that in
that State, where our clansmen are very numerous, they not only hold
their own, but have attained to eminence in business and in the
professions. We have men of distinguished ability at the head of the
legal fraternity of our State; we have men whose genius in business has
secured them wealth and position; we have men who in humbler spheres
have rendered patriotic services to the State, and who, one and all,
show that they have not lost the characteristics of the Clan in new
associations and callings. Before sitting down I should like to express
the great pleasure I have experienced at this gathering of clansmen. I
would have come twice as far to be present, and trust that the
organization, the formation of which will undoubtedly be sanctioned here
to-night, will be the means of bringing us together frequently to enjoy
ourselves as we are now doing.

MR. G. B. FRASER, of Toronto, followed, in response to the same toast.
He said: Mr. Vice-chairman, Chairman and Clansmen, I frequently have to
regret my lack of ability to discharge a duty of this nature to my own
satisfaction. The subject allotted to me is one with which I cannot
claim to be unfamiliar. It is a subject of great interest, and on such
an occasion as the present, a subject which ought to be treated with
some detail in order to perpetuate the names and deeds of clansmen who
have done their duty nobly and well by this the land of our adoption. I
find myself, however, not lacking in material, but in that
ability--which seems to be born in some men--to place my information
lucidly and briefly before you. Some speakers have already referred, and
others will, later on, refer to the origin of the Clan Fraser in Canada.
I shall not trespass on that part of the subject, but coming down to
this century we find a clansman whose name will ever live in Canada. I
refer to Simon Fraser, the discoverer of the Fraser River, whose life,
when it comes to be written, will certainly shed lustre on the Clan
name. He was descended from a cadet family of the Lovats, came with his
parents to Canada from the Eastern States, and settled at Glengarry. His
worthy relative, Fraser of Fraserfield, sits here on my right, and proud
I am to welcome him to this feast. John Fraser de Berry, the founder of
the New Clan Fraser, was a man of extraordinary personality, whose
acquaintance I first made at the time of the Trent affair. I happened to
be in Montreal at that time, and received a telegram from De Berry that
he wished to see me. He came from Quebec city, and we met in the St.
Lawrence Hall. I was very much impressed with the singular interview
which took place between us. Of course he was full of the project of his
Clan Fraser, full of the history and genealogy of the Clan. He was an
enthusiast, and in common with many enthusiasts could look but with
impatience on the practical, prosaic side of things. With due formality,
acting by what he believed to be his authority as a chieftain of the
Clan, he invested me with power to raise a company of Frasers, in an
allotted district in Western Ontario, which was delineated on a military
plan in his possession. I could not do otherwise than accept the
commission, which was that of captain, from this venerable-looking and
earnest chief. Had I been able to withdraw from business, I have no
doubt that I should have been, in a very short time, at the head of a
company numbering at least one hundred stalwart clansmen, who would have
given a good account of themselves in the field. But, as you are aware,
the occasion for defence quickly passed away, and no more was heard of
the proposed regiment of Frasers, of which my company was to have formed
a part. The most remarkable fact which impressed itself upon me then,
and one that I yet consider remarkable, was the manner in which De Berry
had the Province divided into military districts on his maps, the exact
information which he had regarding the locations in which the clansmen
resided, and the mass of details with which he seemed to be perfectly
familiar. I could not understand how he acquired all this information,
but have been informed since, by some who were associated with him, that
he spared no means to trace out every Fraser in the country, through the
voters' lists, the township registration books and the village
directories. The amount of work involved in such research must have been
enormous, and I can well believe that for many years De Berry devoted
his time, as a man of leisure, to this project. He also appointed me as
one of the one hundred and eleven chieftains of the New Clan, the chief
of which was a descendant of a cadet of the Lovat family, residing in
Nova Scotia, but the organization was too unwieldy, and its objects were
rather vague for practical purposes. For a number of years meetings were
held in Montreal of a very interesting character, but with De Berry's
death and that of a number of those more prominently associated with him
interest died out, and now we hear of the New Clan no more. We can
profit by their experience in our own undertaking, and doubtless we
shall be able to form an organization which will live, and which will
perpetuate the name and traditions associated with the name and with
this new country. I have practically confined myself to De Berry's name,
not because there is a lack of clansmen on my list, whose memories
deserve to be perpetuated, such as, for instance, the founder of the
Fraser Institute, in Montreal; John Fraser, the author; John A. Fraser,
the artist; Judge Fraser and Colonel Fraser, of Glengarry; but because
some of these will doubtless be alluded to by other speakers, and,
because having devoted so much time to a man whose name and personality
I cannot but regard as of peculiar interest to us, I have left myself
but little time to refer to those clansmen whom I held, and still hold,
in high esteem, and in whose name I thank you for the toast proposed and
honored in such a fitting manner.


                     "DISTINGUISHED CLANSMEN."

MR. R. L. FRASER, the Vice-chairman, then proposed the toast of
"Distinguished Clansmen in Art, Science, Literature, Theology, Arms and
Politics." He said: I had almost concluded that all Frasers are
distinguished clansmen, and distinguished in the highest sense of the
word, though it were better, perhaps, to be more modest, and hence the
division into which this toast has been divided. While we rightly draw
much of our inspiration from the seat of the Clan across the sea, it is
well that we should remember, and remember generously, those of our Clan
in this country who have secured high positions in life. Among our
artists the name "Fraser" takes high rank. Some of the Fraser artists I
have known personally, and can bear testimony not only to their fame,
but to their personal qualities. Canadian art owes much to Mr. J. A.
Fraser and Mr. W. Lewis Fraser, now sojourning in Europe. Literature
claims the names of James Lovat Fraser, the distinguished classical
scholar, of John Fraser, of Donald Fraser, and others well known in
Canada. Science also has its devotees and distinguished students,
especially medical science and theology. Frasers both in Canada and in
the old land have taken front rank in the profession of arms, and have
distinguished themselves from the time of Sir Simon Fraser, the compeer
and companion of Wallace and the savior of Scotland, down to the present
day. In politics the Clan has certainly won its share of such honors as
the public delight to bestow. The reply to this toast has been entrusted
to a splendid array of able clansmen. For clansmen distinguished in
arts, Ex-Mayor Fraser, of Petrolea, will reply; for those in science,
Dr. J. B. Fraser; for those in theology, Dr. Mungo Fraser; for those in
literature, Professor W. H. Fraser; for Frasers in war, Mr. Alexander
Fraser (Fraserfield); and for those in politics, Mr. W. P. Fraser.

[Illustration: Ex-MAYOR JOHN FRASER, 2ND VICE-CHAIRMAN.]

EX-MAYOR FRASER, replying for the "Frasers in Art," said: Mr. Chairman
and Gentlemen,--Your committee, in selecting me to speak for our
clansmen in Art, acted of course on the assumption that I possessed the
necessary qualifications for the task. At the outset, however, I must,
in justice to all concerned, but more especially to the Frasers who have
won distinction in art, confess that my attainments in that department
are hardly such as to entitle me to a hearing in response to this
important toast. But I am to some extent emboldened and sustained by the
reflection that, as this is in a sense a family gathering, the
shortcomings of a Fraser will pass, if not unobserved, at least without
provoking unfriendly comment. Permit me then, on behalf of the artists
of our Clan, to thank you for the cordial and enthusiastic manner in
which you have received this toast. Among the many distinguished
clansmen who have, in almost every sphere of human endeavor and
usefulness, shed unfading lustre, not only upon our Clan, but upon
humanity in general, our artists have secured an honored place. Of
necessity, those of our Clan who have excelled in art are few in number;
indeed, the artists of the world and of the ages might almost find
standing room in this banquet hall. But our Clan has perhaps produced
its quota, and some of them have taken high rank. It is not my purpose
to mention the names of all; in fact, I am unable to name more than two,
viz., Charles Fraser and John A. Fraser. The former was a distinguished
portrait painter of South Carolina who died in 1860 at the age of 78
years. He left a large number of portraits, all of which are said to
have much artistic merit, and some of which have acquired considerable
historic value. Of Mr. John A. Fraser it is hardly necessary to speak
here. By his works we know him. A collection of Canadian paintings
without one or more of his masterly representations of Canadian scenery
would assuredly be incomplete. Let that suffice for our modern artists.
It occurs to me, as it must have done to us all at one time or another,
that our Clan must have produced great artists in the bygone ages.
Assuredly Greece and Italy did not produce _all_ the old masters. The
Fraser Clan nourished then and was of course represented in art; but,
just as in the newspaper--the product of the "art preservative"--there
is to be found an occasional artist who, impelled by modesty or an
exaggerated regard for his personal safety, uses a _nom de plume_--for
instance, "Junius," _Vox Populi_ or "A Disgusted Subscriber"--so there
were, I fancy, in the days of long ago, Frasers in art who unmindful of
posterity or perchance distrustful of their own powers, as genius so
frequently is, worked under cover of such names as Raphael, Leonardo da
Vinci, Michael Angelo, Canova, etc. A slight effort of the imagination
will enable a Fraser to accept this theory.

The Fraser has ever been great on the "tented field." There, indeed, he
has won renown, for his "fierce, native daring" has never been
surpassed. But there are still victories to be won, infinitely greater
than any achieved in battle. The grandest painting is yet to be painted,
and we who are the first in Canada to assemble in honor of our ancient
and beloved Clan shall ever fondly cherish the hope that the first place
in art will be occupied by a Fraser. But from whatever clan or country
the master shall come, the Frasers will be among the first to do him
honor.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, for the patient hearing you
have given me.

                      *    *    *    *    *

The reply to the part of this toast referring to "Science" was made by
DR. J. B. FRASER, M. D., C. M., R. C. P. and S. K., Toronto. He said:
Mr. Chairman, Vice-chairman, and Brother Clansmen, it gives me a great
deal of pleasure to meet such a representative gathering of the old and
distinguished "Clan Fraser" as we have here to-night. It arouses one's
enthusiasm to think of the leading position our forefathers took in the
history of Scotland, and the many deeds of valor performed on the battle
field; and although they were pre-eminently noted as warriors, still we
have many instances in which they shone in the realms of science. In
replying to the toast of "The Frasers in Science," allow me to give you
a few brief biographical sketches of a few of our ancestors.

Sir Alexander Fraser, of Philorth, was born in 1537, and died in 1623.
He succeeded his grandfather to the estates in 1569, and at once began
to improve the estate and advance the welfare of his clansmen. At this
time Philorth was the baronial burgh, and boasted of a commodious
harbor; but after the improvements referred to he changed the name to
Fraserburgh. Having conceived the idea of founding a university, in
spite of the strenuous opposition of the town of Aberdeen, he obtained
powers to build a university at Fraserburgh, with all the privileges of
the older universities. The remains of this building still existed in
1888. On account of his interest in education and high scholastic
attainments he was knighted in 1594. His motto was "The glory of the
honorable is to fear God."

John Fraser, F. L. S., was born in 1750, and died in 1811. He was a
noted botanist, and visited North America five times in search of new
and unknown specimens. He collected a great many plants in Newfoundland
and later on at Charleston, Virginia. In 1796 he visited St. Petersburg,
where he was introduced to the notice of the Empress Catherine, who
purchased his entire collection of plants. In 1798 he was appointed
botanical collector to the Czar Paul, and by him sent to America for a
fresh collection. As a tribute to his ability he was elected a Fellow of
Linnean Society (F.L.S.)

Sir Alexander Fraser, M. D., belonged to the Durris branch of the
family. He was educated at Aberdeen University, and having risen by his
skill high in the ranks of physicians and surgeons he was appointed
physician to Charles II., whom he accompanied in his travels through
Scotland. Spotswood, in his history of Scotland, speaks highly of his
learning and skill. He died in 1681.

Robt. Fraser, F. R. S., son of Rev. Geo. Fraser, was born in 1760, and
educated in Glasgow University, where he obtained the degree of M. A.,
when he was but 15 years of age. He studied for the Church of Scotland,
and was appointed in an official capacity to the Prince of Wales,
afterward George IV. In 1791 the Earl of Breadalbane asked him to
accompany him on a tour through the Western Isles and the Highlands of
Scotland, undertaken with the view of improving the state of the people.
The Prince of Wales gave him leave, and at the same time stated his
faith in his ability to plan some means by which the people would be
benefited, and wished him success. He succeeded so well that he was
chosen to conduct a statistical survey of Ireland, and was the means of
originating several important works, among others the harbor of
Kingstown, sometimes called Queenstown. He published several works on
agriculture, mines, mineralogy, fish, etc. He died in 1831.

Simon Fraser was an explorer of some note, and was sent by the Hudson's
Bay Company to establish new trading posts, and prospect for minerals,
etc. He wrote many papers from 1806 to 1808. The Fraser river was named
after him.[4]

[Footnote 4: See sketch of his life later on.]

Lewis Fraser was a zoologist of some note, and was appointed as curator
of the Zoological Society of London. He travelled through South America,
studying the character and habits of different animals and birds, and as
the result of his travels published a work called "Zoologia Typica," or
figures of rare and new animals. In 1888 his son was curator of the
Zoological and General Sections of the Indian Museum of Calcutta.

William Fraser, LL. D., was born in 1817 in Banffshire, and was ordained
pastor of the Free Middle congregation of Paisley in 1849. In 1872 the
University of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of LL. D., on account
of his scientific attainments. In 1873, in recognition of his long
services as President of the Philosophical Society, he was presented
with a microscope and purse of sovereigns. He died in 1879.

[Illustration: MR. WILLIAM A. FRASER, SECRETARY-TREASURER.]

Alexander Campbell Fraser, D. C. L., LL. D., was born in 1819. His
father was a minister and his mother a sister of Sir Duncan Campbell. He
was educated in the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and in 1842
won a prize for his essay on "Toleration." In 1859 he was Dean of the
Faculty in Arts, University of Edinburgh, and in 1871 was appointed
Examiner in Moral Science; the same year he received the degree of LL.
D. from the University of Glasgow. Later he was appointed Examiner in
Moral Science and Logic at the India Civil Service Examinations. He was
elected a member of the Athenian Club--without a ballot--for eminence
in literature and philosophy. He afterward received the Degree of D. C.
L., Oxford University.

Professor Thos. Richard Fraser, M. D., F. R. S., was born in Calcutta,
India, in 1841, and graduated in medicine in Edinburgh in 1862. In 1863
he acted as Assistant Professor of Materia Medica, and in 1869 was
appointed as Assistant Physician in the Royal Infirmary. He was
afterward appointed Examiner in Materia Medica in London University, and
was elected Medical Health Officer for Mid-Cheshire; he was also
appointed Examiner in Public Health by London University. He was Dean of
the Faculty in 1880. He is a F. R. S., F. R. C. P., Edinburgh; member of
the Pharmaceutical Society, Britain; corresponding member of the
Therapeutical Society of Paris, and of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia. When the International Medical Congress met in London
in 1881 he was appointed president of one section, and again president
of one section in 1885. His work has been chiefly in the direction of
determining the physiological effects of medicinal substances, with the
view of establishing an accurate and rational basis for the treatment of
disease.

I have now mentioned some of the names recorded in history of Frasers
that were distinguished in Science, and as I have occupied more than my
share of time, I will take my seat, conscious that I have been able to
mention but a few of the many clansmen distinguished for their
scientific attainments. As I said at the outset I have enjoyed a great
deal of pleasure in this gathering of clansmen. In looking over the
record of a few of our brethren distinguished in science, so as to glean
a few facts for this occasion, I recognized more than ever before the
substantial services rendered to mankind by men bearing our name, and
now that we have foregathered a small company, it may be, but a select
one, I feel that you share with me the pride with which we regard our
Clan and name.

                     *    *    *    *    *

PROFESSOR W. H. FRASER, in replying to the sentiment, "Distinguished
Clansmen in Literature," said: Gentlemen,--I thank you heartily for the
way in which you have received this toast, and for the honor you confer
on me in asking me to answer for our distinguished literary clansmen
living and dead.

Literature is the mirror of life. Life is action: literature is
contemplation and words. My knowledge of the history of the Clan leads
me to the conclusion that most of its distinguished members were men of
deeds rather than words, and that they lived at times and under
circumstances when deeds rather than words had value--men like Sir
Alexander, who fought by Robert Bruce's side at Bannockburn, or that
other Sir Alexander Mackenzie Fraser of the last century, described by
contemporaries as "mild as a lamb and strong as a lion," who had said to
him in public by his General, "Colonel Fraser, you and your regiment
have this day saved the British army," or the Fraser who fought with
Wolfe before Quebec, and a host of others. These men did not write
literature, but perhaps they were better employed. I think they were,
but at any rate they are the men who furnish the basis for
literature--heroism, fidelity and devotion.

The Clan has, however, not been wanting in scholars and writers, nor in
those who patronized and furthered learning. What think you of a
Fraser--Sir Alexander of Philorth--who in the 16th century built a grand
University? It is getting to be the fashion now for rich men to build
and endow seats of learning, but a man with such foresight and
generosity in those early times in Scotland is surely deserving of all
praise.

Although not a few of the early Frasers won fame by the sword, some
wielded to good purpose that mightier weapon, the pen. Such was James
Fraser of Brea, in Ross-shire, who wrote copiously on theology, and who
went to prison, by orders of Archbishop Sharp, as a preacher at
conventicles. Another divine and scholar was James Fraser, of
Pitcalzian, in Ross-shire, a son of the manse; a famous controversialist
he was, and wrote a book against the Arminianism of Grotius that has
kept its ground in Scotland till the present day, although he died as
long ago as 1769.

These are some of our older literary celebrities. Time will not permit
me to mention all those who belong to the present century, or whose
lives extended into it. There was Archibald Campbell Fraser of Lovat,
38th McShimi, who died in 1815. As a school-boy he saw the fight at
Culloden, and was afterwards Foreign Consul in Barbary, and was author
of the "Annals of the patriots of the family of Fraser, Frizell, Simson
or Fitzsimson." It must in truth have been a mighty book if it recorded
them all. A curious piece of literature from his pen was the very long
and very laudatory epitaph for his own tomb erected by himself.

Robert Fraser, of Pathhead, Fifeshire, lived up till 1839. He was an
ironmonger, but of such remarkable literary and linguistic tastes that
in leisure moments he acquired Latin, Greek, French, German, Italian
and Spanish. His poetry, which I regret is not accessible to me, was, it
is said, characterized by fine feeling and nicety of touch. Truly a
remarkable man. His ruling passion was strong in death, for he passed
out of life dictating some translations of Norwegian and Danish poems.

There are other ways of making literature besides writing it yourself.
James Fraser, an Inverness man, was one of those who have made
literature by proxy. Who does not know Fraser's Magazine? that pioneer
publication in this field of literature, dating from 1830, with its
famous contributors like Thackeray, Carlyle, J. A. Froude and Father
Prout. This Fraser was also a famous publisher, a man of taste and
judgment, and did more to advance literature than almost any man of his
time, notwithstanding Carlyle's reference to him as "that infatuated
Fraser with his dog's-meat tart of a magazine."

Contemporary with Fraser of the magazine was James Baillie Fraser, also
an Inverness man and a famous traveller who explored the Himalaya
Mountains, and who was the first European to reach the sources of the
Jumna and Ganges. He came home, and wrote an account of his travels. A
little later he donned Persian costume, explored the larger part of
Persia, and wrote a two-volume account of his journey. Turning to
romance, he wrote "Kuggilbas," a tale of Khorasain; and this was the
first of a long list of Eastern tales, histories and travels, the mere
enumeration of which would take us on pretty far towards to-morrow
morning.

A beautiful and sympathetic literary figure is that of Lydia Falconer
Fraser, the wife of Hugh Miller. Here are some lines from a poem of
hers on the death of their first-born child:

           "Thou'rt awa, awa, from thy mother's side,
             And awa, awa, from thy father's knee;
           Thou'rt awa from our blessing, our care, our caressing,
             But awa from our hearts thou'lt never be.

                       *    *    *    *    *

           Thou'rt awa, awa, from the bursting spring time,
             Tho' o'er thy head its green boughs wave;
           The lambs are leaving their little foot-prints
             On the turf of thy new-made grave."

What gentleness and sweetness in these lines! One of her prose works,
"Cats and Dogs," still holds its own as one of the minor classics of
natural history.

Rev. Robert William Fraser, a Perthshire man, succeeded Rev. Dr. Guthrie
in St. John's Church, Edinburgh, in 1847, and was a learned and eloquent
divine and a diligent pastor. He found time to write all but one of a
dozen of important works on divinity, history, physical and natural
science. He was a solid man.

I must not omit William Fraser, the educational reformer who helped
David Stow to carry out his training system for teachers in Scotland,
and who later investigated Scottish education, and wrote an important
book on the subject of which the results were afterwards embodied in
legislation. He died in 1879.

Along with him may well be mentioned the late James Fraser, Bishop of
Manchester, a very famous man from Forfarshire, one of the Frasers of
Durris, of whom it has been said that there has not been in this
generation a more simple or noble soul. He interests us especially for
his work in education, and forms a connecting link between our school
system and English educational reform, for he visited Canada and the
United States in 1865, and drew up a report which his biographer,
Thomas Hughes, calls "a superb, an almost unique piece of work." It was
the basis of the Foster Act of 1870, by which enormous changes were
introduced in the direction of the American system.

Worthy of being put by his side was Rev. Donald Fraser, D.D., who died
two years ago, of whom we should hear more under the head of theology.
He received part of his education in old Knox College, Toronto, and was
pastor of the Cote Street Church, Montreal, from which he was called to
Inverness, thence to London, England.

In my mass of material, I had almost forgotten Patrick Lord Fraser, who
died only five years ago. He was a very great man of the law, one of
Scotland's greatest, and wrote extensively on legal subjects.

The Frasers, however, were not all heavy writers. Many of us remember
John Fraser, who met his death by accident in Ottawa in 1872. He was
best known as "Cousin Sandy." He had been a chartist before coming to
Canada. He was a tailor by trade, and laid aside the needle for that
other sharp pointed instrument, the pen. Most of his work was
controversial and sarcastic. Here is a sample of his rollicking verse,
reminding one strongly of the Ingoldsby legends:

     "William Blyth was a scape-grace--as many boys are--
      Who with prudence and forethought was always at war;
      His genius was active; I've heard, or have read,
      That his grandma was nervous; his father was dead;
      And his mother, released from connubial vows,
      Brought home to her dwelling a second hand spouse,
      Who gave her a heart, somewhat hard and obtuse,
      In exchange for her furniture ready for use.
      Now William like others, without leave would roam,
      And be absent when lather the second came home;
      So he of the step, which step-father should be,
      Said 'To save the lad's _morals_ we'll send him to sea.'"

The boy was confined in a water-cask for bad conduct.

     "And the wave cleared the deck of the vessel, and she
      Like one half 'seas over' rolled about in the sea.
      Then a shriek was heard, and the boatswain roar'd
      'There's Bill and the tub gone overboard!'"

He floated to shore after an interview with a shark, a cow switched her
tail against the tub, and Bill caught it while the cow fled, and wrecked
the tub, but saved Bill's life, although he remained unconscious.

     "But was roused from his swoon by a beautiful Yankee
      Who brought dough-nuts and tea, it was genuine Twankay.
      An angel of light in the garb of humanity,
      And that garb of the Saxony's best superfine,
      What her countrymen term the 'real genuine.'
      Bill was charmed and concluded, with some show of reason,
      That to her annexation could never be treason."

And he was annexed in due time.

We have some poets still living, Gordon Fraser, John W. Fraser, and
others; on them I must touch lightly. Gordon is a writer on "Lowland
Lore," and writes good ballads of his own, like the one beginning:

      "'Twas an eerie nicht, an' the storm-cluds lower'd,
        An the lichtnin's glent was keen,
      An' the thunner roll'd, but nane were cower'd
        I' the clachan till-hous bien."

It is a fearsome ghost story well told.

John W. is a very charming writer. His ballad of the courtship of "Bell"
is first-rate, and it begins:

        "Sin' Bell cam' to bide in our toun,
          The warl' has a' gaen ajee;
        She has turned a' the heads o' the men,
          And the women wi' envy will dea.
        O, but Bell's bonnie!
          Dink as a daisy is she;
        Her e'en are as bricht as the starnies
          That shine in the lift sae hie."

Such are some of our literary men, and they are very creditable
specimens. I know that I have left out more than I have given. I have
not said a word about all the Frasers in Gaelic literature, whose name
must be legion, because I cannot follow them in that language.

Our Clan has a good proportion of the literary in it, and I believe we
are all literary critics. I never knew a Fraser yet who had not
excellent literary taste and judgment. The reasons why more literature
has not been produced is very clear to my mind, and depends on a
prominent characteristic of the Clan--great modesty. This must be thrown
aside if you are going to rush into literature. Many a Fraser has had it
in him to produce the highest sort of literature, who from this cause
has never written a line for the public. When the Clan succeeds in
throwing off this defect, we may expect the production of literary works
on a par with the best that has been written.

                     *    *    *    *    *

The reply to the toast of "Frasers in Theology" was entrusted to the
REV. MUNGO FRASER, D.D., of Hamilton, who had to leave by train for home
before this toast was reached. His reply summarised is as follows:
"There are many clansmen who stand high in theology, if we be allowed to
understand by that term the wider and more comprehensive sphere of work
in the Church of Christ. In the memory of those who admire subjective
writings of an extremely searching character, the name of the Rev. James
Fraser, of Brea, will occupy an undying place. To those who give the
highest rank among ministers to pulpit ability, the Frasers of Kirkhill,
for three generations, will afford examples of eloquence and those gifts
of oratorical power that appeal so irresistibly to the popular ear. By
those who regard the administrative functions of the pastor as of
importance, the name of Bishop Fraser, of Manchester, is justly
esteemed, and in a less prominent, but not less important degree, the
name of Dr. William Fraser, for a long period the senior clerk of the
Presbyterian Church in Canada; and theological literature finds a writer
of ability and copiousness in Dr. Donald Fraser, at one time of Montreal
and afterwards of London, England. The Clan contributed a great many
names to the roll of distinguished clergymen, men who, in their
different spheres, rendered noble service to the cause of Christ. And
among them are men, some of whose names have been mentioned by the
Vice-chairman, of ability, of high character, whose personal influence
over the people was strongly felt. In Canada the name of Fraser has an
honored place among the ministers of the churches. They are doing their
duty nobly and well, and if the names of some of them be not widely
known outside of their own country, it must not be forgotten that a
clergyman's best fame and best reward is his good name among those for
whom he directly labors, and for whose welfare he gives his best
endeavors. Did time permit, it would be comparatively easy to speak at
length of those who have held their own in the theological sphere, but
sufficient has probably been said to indicate that the Clan has done its
duty in one of the most interesting and important fields of human effort
open for the welfare of man.

                     *    *    *    *    *

The part of the toast dealing with "the Frasers in War," was replied to
by MR. ALEXANDER FRASER (of Fraserfield, Glengarry). He said: After what
we have heard of the Clan this evening we must come to the conclusion
that it has always been distinguished for its military spirit, and I
regret on that account, all the more, that the duty has fallen upon me
to reply to the "Frasers in War." Not that I do not appreciate to the
fullest extent that spirit which distinguished them and probably in no
small degree share it, but I am not a man of words, and I feel I shall
not be able, even in a small way, to do justice to this theme.
Undoubtedly the military character of the Clan goes back to its very
origin, for if the Frasers did come from Normandy, they must have been
selected on account of their military ability, for those were the days
when length and strength of arm and good generalship were the most
valuable qualifications a man could possess. But, coming down to the
earlier times in Scotland, we find our clansmen heading the warlike and
chivalrous nobles of that country, in their devotion to the Crown, and
in their exploits in the field in defence of country and patrimony. I
need not enter into a detailed description of the times when the Lowland
Frasers served their country and their king with an unswerving devotion
whose lustre time will not dim, nor the researches of modern historians
tarnish. Down through history in the Highlands they have ever shown
themselves to be a brave and warlike race, furnishing individuals of
conspicuous ability and distinction in arms. No treatment of this toast
would be complete that should omit a reference to Fraser's Highlanders
that embarked under the command of the Chief of the Clan in 1757, and
took part with Wolfe's army in all the engagements, from Louisburg to
the close of the war. At Quebec the Frasers distinguished themselves in
an especial manner. In the struggles which took place early in the
century, between the Canadians and Americans, the Frasers did their
duty, proving that down to our own times they maintained their old
reputation. In the British army, from the formation of the Highland
regiments, in 1739, to the present day, the Clan has given many
distinguished officers and many brave men to its country's service, and
I know I can speak with truth when I say that the old spirit still
prevails, whether you look at home or abroad. So true is this that I may
conclude these remarks in the stereotyped words of the after-dinner
speaker by saying that should the occasion ever demand it, the Frasers
will be ever ready to draw their claymores and shed their blood in the
country's service as of yore.

MR. W. P. FRASER spoke for "The Frasers in Politics." He said: Mr.
Chairman, Vice-chairman and Brother Clansmen, it would seem that the
toast of distinguished clansmen is quite an inexhaustible one. Much has
been said of our clansmen in the various ranks of life, but I believe no
more than is deserved. As a matter of course the Frasers have ranked
high in politics. We have not had a Prime Minister of the name in the
Dominion of Canada, but we have given to the Legislatures of Ontario,
Quebec, and the Lower Provinces, many of their most useful members,
their most eloquent speakers, and their most responsible statesmen. We
have borne our share of public duty in this country, both in the rank
and file of political workers, and as leaders. I do not need to go far
afield to find some of the more striking examples. There is one name so
long and honorably associated with the fortunes of this Province that it
merits premier recognition. I refer to that of the Hon. Christopher
Finlay Fraser, who would have responded to this toast himself to-night,
were it not that he has been suffering from severe illness for some
time, and has not sufficiently recovered to take his place among us.
Reference has been made to his letter of regret, and I feel sure that
every word in it is true--that it is the outcome of his sincere
feeling; for Mr. Fraser is as much a clansman as he is a politician, and
has ever manifested the same deep interest in matters connected with his
Clan, as he has displayed in the public duties which he is called upon
to perform. The position which he occupies, the services which he has
rendered, his wide sphere of influence, his sterling honesty and
unblemished record--these lie as an open book before you. For me to
expatiate upon them would be quite superfluous. His name will go down in
the annals of our statesmen as one of the most competent Ministers of
the Crown who ever held office in this Province, as one of subtle
intellect who served his country and his party in great crises, as one
who gave his talents generously and disinterestedly to the welfare of
his fellow-beings, and in a peculiar manner helped to lay the
foundations of a great nationality in this country. Another of our
clansmen, whose telegram of regret shows that he has been intercepted on
the way from the far east to our gathering, has made the name famous in
the politics of Canada, and is likely to attain to still greater
eminence in the future. At his home in Nova Scotia he has long been
known as a man of probity, ability, and capacity for public duty. It is
not so long ago that he was first heard of in these western parts, but
already he has sprung into notice, and his services are in request at
many public gatherings. I am sure we all regret the absence of Mr. D. C.
Fraser, M.P. for Guysboro', to-night. He is not only a politician but a
patron of learning and celtic literature. To his generous heart and open
hand many a struggling Highlander owes much, and through his
encouragement not a few scholarly productions have seen the light of
day. Were I to venture beyond Canada I should find Frasers playing a
prominent part in the field of politics in South Africa, in the
Australias, in the East Indies, and even in South America. It was only
the other day we heard of a clansman born in Nova Scotia, but of good
Inverness stock, who had been appointed delegate to the Inter-colonial
Conference to be held in Ottawa this summer. I refer to the Hon. Simon
Fraser, of Victoria. I have no doubt his clansmen here will be glad to
welcome him, and to wish the utmost success to his mission. I must
refrain at this hour from any reference to what Frasers have done in
political life in the old land. The chiefs of the Clan numbered among
them many men of eminence in politics. Of these we have heard something
already to-night, and when the call of public duty comes, I feel sure a
Fraser will be ready to step forward to perform his part in a worthy
manner.




                            ORGANIZATION.


A resolution was carried in favor of the formation of an organization of
clansmen in Canada, having for its main objects the promotion of social
intercourse among the members, the collection of facts from which to
prepare a biographical album of the members and other clansmen, and the
promotion of objects which may be of interest to the Clan; and that
those present form a general committee to act in the matter, the
Committee of this gathering to act as an Executive Committee, for the
purpose of drafting a constitution for the Clan to be submitted to the
next gathering of the Clan.

     The Clan song, composed by request, for this gathering, by Mrs.
     Georgina Fraser Newhall, and set to music composed by Mr. J. Lewis
     Browne, will be found, with a biographical sketch and portrait of
     the authoress, on pages 93 to 97.




                     GEORGINA FRASER NEWHALL.

             AUTHORESS OF "FRASER'S DRINKING SONG."


[Illustration: MRS. GEORGINA FRASER NEWHALL]

"The Frasers of Stratherrick, where are they?" To this pensive question
by Charles Fraser Mackintosh comes an oft echoed and lusty answer from
many distant lands. Indeed the question is, "Where are they not?" for it
is safe to say that there is no country where the English language
to-day prevails, in which Stratherrick may not claim a son. Their new
homes have not the historical charm of the old, but wherever the Frasers
have gone, away from the home of their fathers, they have acquitted
themselves well. A scion of a Stratherrick house was James George
Fraser, who many years ago settled at Galt, Ontario. Like his brother
Capt. Charles Fraser, now residing in Glasgow, Scotland, he was attached
to a Highland regiment in his younger days, but withdrawing from the
service, he came to Canada with his young wife, Christina MacLeod. At
Galt was born a family of three sons, William, Charles and Andrew, and
four daughters, Christina, Jessie, Elizabeth and Georgina, the youngest
of whom is the subject of this brief sketch. On the maternal side her
descent is traced from the families of Lochend and Braemore. Her
great-grand parents were George Mackenzie, second son of John Mackenzie
I. of Lochend (of the Gairloch family), and Christina, daughter of
Captain Hector Munro of Braemore. George Mackenzie was a distinguished
officer, and attained to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel of the famous
Rosshire Buffs, the 78th Highlanders. His daughter Christina married
Angus MacLeod of Banff with issue, two sons, Donald and George, and
several daughters, of whom Christina, as already stated, married James
G. Fraser of Galt, Ontario.

Georgina Fraser was born about the beginning of the sixties, and was
educated in the public and high schools of her native town. After the
death of her parents she removed to Toronto, and taking up the study of
shorthand entered upon the life of an amanuensis and teacher of
stenography. She taught large classes in the towns surrounding Toronto,
and in Victoria University, when that institution was located at
Cobourg. She was the first woman in Canada to adopt this profession as a
means of self-support, and to her belongs the honor of adding a new
vocation to those upon which Canadian women may enter. In addition to
these duties Miss Fraser undertook journalistic work, and was the first
lady writer in Toronto to conduct the department devoted to woman's
interests, now so important a weekly feature in the great dailies in
Canada.

In 1884, while occupying the important position of Assistant Secretary
to General Manager Oakes of the Northern Pacific Railway at St. Paul,
Minn., she became the wife of Mr. E. P. Newhall, of the Pacific Express
Co. in Omaha.

Notwithstanding household cares and ill-health Mrs. Newhall still finds
time to indulge in her old taste for literature, wielding an earnest pen
in advocacy of those reforms which most interest women of advanced
thought. She has achieved considerable fame as a writer of short
stories, and her compositions of verse bear the mark of the true poet's
touch.

As a clanswoman Mrs. Newhall is fond of claiming the right to call
herself a "black" Fraser, nature having endowed her with that darkness
of hair and eyebrow which is supposed to stamp all the possessors
thereof as "true Frasers."




                   FRASER'S DRINKING SONG.

     (The Fraser Motto is "JE SUIS PREST"--"I AM READY.")

Words by GEORGINA FRASER NEWHALL.              Music by J. LEWIS BROWNE.


[Illustration of musical score of Fraser's Drinking Song]


                 FRASER'S DRINKING SONG.

                          1

All ready?
    Let us drink to the woman who rules us to-night--
    To her lands; to her laws; 'neath her flag we will smite
    Ev'ry foe,
    Hip and thigh,
    Eye for eye,
    Blow for blow--
                  Are you ready?

                          2

All ready?
    Then here's to the mothers who bore us, my men;
    To the shieling that sleeps in the breast of the glen
    Where the stag
    Drinks it fill
    From the rill
    By the crag--
                  Are you ready?

                          3

All ready?
    Fill your glass to the maid you adore, my boys;
    Wish her health, wish her wealth, long life, and all joys;
    Full measure
    (May it swim
    To the brim)
    Of pleasure--
                  Are you ready?

                          4

All ready?
    And here's to the country we live in, my lads;
    It is here we have struggled and thriven, my lads?
    God bless it,
    May Beauty
    And Duty
    Possess it--
                  Are you ready?

                          5

All ready?
    A Fraser! A Fraser forever, my friends;
    While he lives how he hates, how he loves till life ends;
    He is first,
    Here's my hand,
    Into grand
    Hurrah burst--
                  Are you ready?




                           SIMON FRASER.

                  DISCOVERER OF THE FRASER RIVER.


The life-work of the discoverer of the Fraser River illustrates the
pioneer spirit which animated the early settlers of Canada. There was
the pluck, the love of adventure, the endurance, the prompt response to
the call of duty, the expansive idea which kept abreast of ever opening
possibilities, and the rare tact displayed in new, embarrassing and
important transactions. Simon Fraser was in many respects a great man
and one of whom his clansmen may well feel proud. His grandfather was
William Fraser, of Culbokie, whose wife Margaret Macdonell, of
Glengarry, was the possessor of the famous _Balg Solair_ in which was
stowed away a manuscript of Ossianic poetry, which figures in the
dissertations on the authenticity of MacPherson's Ossian, and regarding
which the following interesting passage occurs in the correspondence of
the late Bishop Alexander Macdonell: "I myself saw a large MS. of
Ossian's poems in the possession of Mrs. Fraser of Culbokie, in
Strathglass, which she called "_am Balg Solair_" (a bag of fortuitous
goods). This lady's residence being between my father's house and the
school where I used to attend with her grandchildren, at her son's,
Culbokie House, by way of coaxing me to remain on cold nights at her own
house, she being cousin to my father, she used to take up the _Balg
Solair_, and read pieces of it to me. Although a very young boy at the
time, I became so much enraptured with the rehearsal of the achievements
of the heroes of the poem, and so familiar with the characters,
especially of Oscar, Cathmor, and Cuthchullin, that when MacPherson's
translation was put into my hands in the Scotch college of Valladolid in
Spain, many years afterwards, it was like meeting old friends with whom
I had been intimately acquainted. Mrs. Fraser's son, Simon, who had a
classical education, and was an excellent Gaelic scholar, on emigrating
to America in the year 1774, took the _Balg Solair_ with him as an
invaluable treasure. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Mr.
Fraser joined the Royal Standard, was taken prisoner by the Americans
and thrown into jail, where he died."

William, of Culbokie, and his wife Margaret Macdonell had nine sons. Of
these, Archibald and John fought under Wolfe at Quebec. John settled at
Montreal, and became Chief Justice of the Montreal district. In 1774, or
more probably in 1773, Simon left home, and settled near Bennington,
Vermont. Here his son, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1776. His
mother and her family came to Canada after the death of his father (as
stated above), and settled in Glengarry. Simon was the youngest of the
family. He was placed in school in Montreal, where he resided with his
uncle, the Chief Justice. In 1792, at the age of sixteen, he became an
articled clerk with McTavish, Frobisher & Co., to the North-West Fur
Trading Co., which had its headquarters in Montreal. In 1802 he became a
partner, and subsequently went out to the far North. In 1805 he came
down from Fort Athabasca to Fort William, and was then nominated to
cross the Rocky Mountains, to extend out-posts and form trading
connections with the Indians. He responded at once to the call. He said
he would undertake the expedition provided they gave him a sufficient
outfit. This the Company were only too glad to do. It was a very
hazardous undertaking. He crossed the mountains with thirty men--clerks,
axemen, guides and interpreters. He soon found himself in a wild and
desolate region. As he went on he built block-houses, and took
possession of the country in the name of the King. In 1806 he discovered
the river which takes its name from him. He discovered many rivers and
lakes which he named after different members of the Company. He traced
the Fraser river to its source, and met many different tribes of
Indians, some friendly, others hostile. At one time they met different
tribes who were very friendly and made a great feast for them; they
killed their _fattest dog_ for him, which of course he feigned to eat;
but at the same feast the chiefs held a council and decided to put him
to death, which the interpreter, who understood their language, told
him, and they stole quietly away. He first named the river now known as
the Fraser river, the "Great River," and called the place "New
Caledonia." Here he left some of the party, and crossed westerly into
the open country, and built another house near a lake, which he called
Fraser's Lake. He was now with four men in the midst of Indians who had
never before either seen or heard of the "pale face." On the border of
this lake he witnessed an Indian ceremony. He was brought by the Indians
to where they had a large burying-ground, where one of the Chiefs of
their tribe was being buried. An immense number of warriors were
assembled, and after a most solemn and impressive ceremony, Mr. Fraser
was invited by signs to approach the grave. He did so, and gave immense
satisfaction by engraving his name on a post which had been planted over
the remains of the departed warrior. In July, 1807, he received fresh
supplies from the North-West Co., who at the same time urged him to
trace with all possible speed the "Great River" to the Sea, they being
apprehensive that the Americans would get ahead of the British in that
quarter, as in the previous year 1806, Captains Lewis and Clarke had
gone down the "Columbia," and were extending American authority along
the western coast of America, and Astor, on the part of the Americans,
was also looking anxiously towards the northern section.

The North-West Co. therefore urged Mr. Fraser to spare no expense in
achieving the object of their desires.

Mr. Fraser built another trading-house on the "Great River" in 1807, and
reached the Ocean in July, 1808. He remained but a short time there on
account of the hostility of the Indians.

Returning he again met numerous and large bodies of Indians speaking
several different languages. They assembled to see the wonderful pale
faces who had come among them. An idea of how they regarded white men
may be formed from the fact that when hundreds of them were congregated
together, at the discharge of a single rifle they would fall prostrate
on the ground, so great was their astonishment. Had it not been for Mr.
Fraser's wonderful energy and enterprise, there would not be a railroad
to-day from ocean to ocean over British territory.




                        SIMON, LORD LOVAT.

                     BEHEADED ON TOWER HILL.

[Illustration: The Right Honourable Simon Lord Frasier of Lovat, Chief
of the Clan of the Frasers &c.]

No Fraser chief has achieved more notoriety than Simon, the fourteenth
Lord Lovat. His enemies avenged themselves for the failure of their
nefarious plots against him by supplying, at a cheap rate, the charcoal
with which prejudiced historians have blackened his memory. But while
his fate is still held up as a warning to evil doers, it has been
proved, beyond peradventure, that his character has been much maligned,
and that he appears rather as a man of inexhaustible resources, availing
himself of whatever means lay nearest to his hand to extricate himself
from enormous difficulties and to attain objects which, though of
personal advantage to himself and Clan, were as honorable as they were
just, and wholly in keeping with the customs of his day. His efforts to
secure the chiefship and the honors of his house, and to extend the
power of the Clan, were genuinely patriotic. His Lordship certainly was
a man of learning and ability. He was an admirable letter writer, and
passages in his correspondence show that he had wonderful facility in
writing and a capital style.

The picture here given is from a mezzo-tint in possession of Mr. B.
Homer Dixon, from a painting of Lord Lovat, by David Le Clerc, a Swiss
who was in England in 1715 and 1716. The picture which is supposed to
have been taken in 1715, when Lord Lovat was about forty-eight years
old, is marked: "Le Clare, _pinxt_. J. Simon, _fecit_." Although armour
had been disused before Lord Lovat's time, it was the fashion at that
period for gentlemen to be painted in armour. The mezzo-tint is very
rare.




                   BRIGADIER SIMON FRASER.


[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL FRASER, YOUNGER OF BALNAIN.]

Among the officers of Fraser's Highlanders were several clansmen
destined to rise high in military distinction. Of them few are better
known in the Clan than Captain Simon Fraser of Balnain, afterwards
Quarter-Master General in Ireland, a post which he quitted to serve as
Brigadier-General in Burgoyne's Army in America. He had served in the
Scotch regiment in the Dutch service, and was wounded at Bergen-op-Zoom.
He spoke French perfectly and to this accomplishment and his coolness
was due his signal service at Quebec, where he saved the transports from
discovery at a critical moment before the precipice was scaled.

Smollet relates the incident as follows:--"The French had posted
sentries along shore to challenge boats and vessels and give the alarm
occasionally. The first boat that contained the English troops being
questioned accordingly, a captain of Fraser's regiment, who had served
in Holland, and who was perfectly well acquainted with the French
language and customs, answered without hesitation to _qui vive_?--which
is their challenging word--_La France_; nor was he at a loss to answer
the second question, which was much more particular and difficult. When
the sentinel demanded, _a quel regiment_? the captain replied, _de la
reine_, which he knew by accident to be one of those that composed the
body commanded by Bougainville. The soldier took it for granted this was
the expected convoy (a convoy of provisions expected that night for the
garrison of Quebec), and, saying _passe_, allowed all the boats to
proceed without further question. In the same manner the other sentries
were deceived; though one, more wary than the rest, came running down
to the water's edge and called, _pour quoi est ce que vous ne parlez
pas haut?_ 'Why don't you speak with an audible voice?' To this
interrogation, which implied doubt, the captain answered with admirable
presence of mind, in a soft tone of voice, _tai toi nous serens
entendues!_ 'Hush! we shall be overheard and discovered.' Thus cautioned
the sentry retired without further altercation."

At the time of the Revolutionary War, Brigadier-General Simon Fraser was
second in command of the British army, under Burgoyne. He fell at
Saratoga under circumstances which prove his great ability as an
officer. The American historians say that General Burgoyne had lost his
head, and the American General Morgan perceiving it, called two of his
best riflemen and said: "You see that fine fellow on the white horse? It
goes against my heart to do it, but you must pick him off, or we lose
the battle." They watched their opportunity, shot General Fraser, and
the Americans won the day.

The picture here given is said to be a good likeness. It has been
produced from a mezzo-tint in the possession of Mr. B. Homer Dixon,
Toronto.




                      SECOND ANNUAL GATHERING.

    "Three triumphs in a day; three hosts subdued in one:
     Three armies scattered like the spray, beneath one common sun."


The second Annual Gathering and Dinner of the Clan Fraser in Canada was
held on the 25th day of February, 1895, that date having been selected
in honor of the Scots' victory at Roslin on February 25th, 1303, when
the army was commanded by Sir Simon Fraser, the patriot (p. 48). The
place of meeting was the Rossin House, Toronto. The gentlemen were
accompanied by lady friends, a departure from the custom generally
observed on similar festive occasions, that contributed greatly to the
pleasure of the evening. The committee in charge of the arrangements was
composed of Dr. J. B. Fraser (Chairman of Programme Committee),
Professor W. H. Fraser, Messrs. G. B. Fraser, R. L. Fraser, Alexander
Fraser (Fraserfield), Alexander R. Fraser, W. P. Fraser, Andrew Fraser,
Alexander Fraser (MacFhionnlaidh), Chairman; and W. A. Fraser,
Secretary. Those present were Rev. Dr. Mungo Fraser, Hamilton; Mr. W.
Lewis Fraser, New York; Mr. Donald Fraser, Kingston; Mr. R. I. Fraser,
Barrie; Mr. Andrew Fraser, Barrie; Messrs. Robert Lovat Fraser, George
B. Fraser, and Miss Fraser; Professor W. H. Fraser and Mrs. Fraser; Dr.
J. B. Fraser and Mrs. Fraser; Alexander Fraser (Fraserfield), Mrs.
Fraser and Miss Kate Fraser; Alexander R. Fraser and Mrs. Fraser;
Alexander Fraser (MacFhionnlaidh), Mrs. Fraser, Miss Fraser, Mrs.
Georgina Fraser-Newhall, and Mrs. Ramsay; Mr. W. A. Fraser and Mrs.
Fraser; Dr. Pyne and Mrs. Pyne; Alexander Fraser (Parkdale), and Miss
Fraser; W. P. Fraser, Donald Fraser, Charles Fraser, Mrs. C. G. Fraser
and Master Norman Fraser, James Fraser, Henry Sandham Fraser.

Letters of regret at their inability to attend were read from Messrs. E.
A. Fraser, Detroit; D. Fraser, Montreal; Ex-Mayor Fraser, Petrolea; O.
K. Fraser, Brockville; A. Fraser, Hamilton; P. M. Fraser, St. Thomas;
Rev. R. D. Fraser, Bowmanville; and Rev. Dr. J. B. Fraser, Annan.

Mr. Alexander Fraser (MacFhionnlaidh) presided, and the vice-chairs were
occupied by Messrs. George B. Fraser and R. L. Fraser, and Mr. W. A.
Fraser acted as Secretary.

The after-dinner programme was interesting and varied. Besides the usual
toasts it included the "Fraser's Drinking Song," composed by Mrs.
Georgina Fraser-Newhall, and sung by Mrs. Alexander Fraser; readings by
Prof. W. H. Fraser, bagpipe selections by Pipe-Major MacSwayed, and
Highland dancing by Master Norman Fraser.

The speeches contained a great deal of information regarding the Clan,
and were very interesting. Most eloquent was the speech delivered by Mr.
W. Lewis Fraser, of New York, who entered into the history of the Clan
at considerable length; and that by Mrs. Georgina Fraser-Newhall, in
response to the toast of her health.

A group photograph was successfully taken of the company by the aid of a
flash-light, which will remain a memento of a very pleasant gathering.

Before dispersing the report of the Committee on the Organization of the
Clan was read. It set forth that meetings had been held at which the
Clan had been organized, and the annexed Constitution and By-laws
prepared:




                       THE CLAN FRASER IN CANADA.

                     (_Instituted May 5th, 1894._)

                       CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS.

[Illustration of the Crest of the Clan]


     ARTICLE I.--NAME.--The name of this organization shall be: "The
     Clan Fraser in Canada."

     ARTICLE II.--OBJECTS.--The objects of the Clan shall be:

     The cultivation of friendly intercourse and social relations among
     those bearing the surname "Fraser," and the promotion among its
     members of love for the Clan, and increased interest in its history
     and traditions:

     The collection of Clan records, traditions and anecdotes; of
     documents bearing upon the Clan history; of information relating to
     notable clansmen, especially with reference to the early history of
     the Clan in Canada; and the compilation of an album of portraits
     and biographical sketches of Clansmen in Canada:

     The furtherance of the interests of clansmen, whether in Scotland
     or in Canada, and the giving of such assistance to clansmen in need
     as may be within the power of the Clan.

     ARTICLE III.--MEMBERSHIP.--Persons bearing the surname "Fraser," by
     birth or by marriage, shall be eligible for membership in the Clan.
     Honorary membership may be conferred on distinguished clansmen, or
     on persons, not clansmen, who have rendered conspicuous service to
     the Clan.

     ARTICLE IV.--ARMS, MOTTO AND BADGE.--The arms of the Clan Fraser in
     Canada shall be the same as those of the Clan proper, with the
     difference of a wreath of Canadian maple leaves intertwined (a
     fac-simile of which is impressed on this Constitution); the "Motto"
     and "Badge" shall be that of the Clan Fraser--motto, "Je Suis
     Prest"; badge, a sprig of yew--_Taxus Baccata_.

     ARTICLE V.--(_a_) EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.--The Executive Officers shall
     consist of a Chief, Chieftains (as hereinunder provided for),
     Secretary-Treasurer, Historians, Curator, and a Bard.

     (_b_)--TRUSTEES AND COUNCILLORS.--There shall be three Trustees,
     six Councillors, a Pipe-Major and Pipers.

     (_c_)--HONORARY CHIEF AND CHIEFTAINS.--The Chief of the Clan
     Fraser, "Mac-Shimi," shall be the Honorary Chief, and Honorary
     Chieftainship may be bestowed on clansmen who merit very high clan
     honor.

     ARTICLE VI.--GATHERINGS.--The Clan shall gather once a year, on a
     day to be decided upon by the Executive Committee, for the
     transaction of business. That gathering shall be known as the
     Annual Business Meeting of the Clan. On the evening of the same day
     a Clan Dinner, or other form of Entertainment, shall take place.

     ARTICLE VII.--At the Annual Business Meeting of the Clan the
     Executive Officers, Trustees, Councillors and Pipers, Honorary
     Chief (when vacant), and Honorary Chieftains (when Honorary
     Chieftainship is conferred), shall be elected; and the roll of
     members, prepared by the Executive Committee, shall be revised.

     ARTICLE VIII.--The principle upon which Chieftains and Councillors
     shall be elected shall be as follows: The Province of Ontario shall
     be divided into five Districts, viz.: Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto,
     Hamilton and London, from each of which and from each of the other
     Provinces of Canada, a Chieftain shall be elected. A Chieftain may
     be also elected from each of the States of the American Union, as
     an interest in the Clan may be manifested. The Ontario Districts
     shall comprise the following counties:

     OTTAWA.--Glengarry, Prescott, Stormont, Dundas, Grenville,
     Carleton, Russell, Renfrew.

     KINGSTON.--Addington, Lennox, Frontenac, Hastings, Prince Edward,
     Leeds, Lanark.

     TORONTO.--Northumberland, Peterborough, Haliburton, Victoria,
     Durham, Ontario, Muskoka, Parry Sound, Nipissing, York, Peel,
     Toronto.

     HAMILTON.--Wentworth, Lincoln, Welland, Brant, Waterloo, Simcoe,
     Dufferin, Grey, Wellington, Halton.

     LONDON.--Middlesex, Elgin, Oxford, Norfolk, Haldimand, Kent,
     Lambton, Essex, Bruce, Huron, Perth.

     There shall be at least one Councillor elected to represent each
     District in Ontario.

     ARTICLE IX.--The Executive Officers, Trustees and Councillors shall
     form a General Committee, which shall prepare the business for the
     Annual Meeting. The Executive Officers shall form the Executive
     Committee of the General Committee. The General Committee and the
     Executive Committee may appoint Sub-Committees with power to
     transact business on behalf of the Clan.

     ARTICLE X.--DUTIES OF OFFICERS.--The CHIEF shall preside at all the
     meetings of Committees, at the Annual Business Meeting, and at the
     Annual Entertainment of the Clan; in his absence the duties of the
     Chief shall devolve upon the CHIEFTAINS in order of seniority, and
     in the absence of all of them the clansmen present shall elect a
     Chairman _pro tem_. The SECRETARY-TREASURER shall keep a correct
     minute of the business transacted at the meetings of Committees and
     at the Annual Meeting of the Clan; he shall keep a roll of the
     membership of the Clan; with the Chief he shall convene the
     meetings, and shall conduct the correspondence and general business
     of the Clan; he shall submit his accounts to an audit annually or
     on the demand of the Executive Committee. The HISTORIANS shall
     compile the Clan Album, and shall edit any papers containing
     information regarding the Clan or clansmen which may be secured for
     the Clan. The CURATOR shall have the custody of all property
     belonging to the Clan, including papers and books not in use by the
     proper officers, and shall account for the same to the TRUSTEES in
     whom the property shall be vested on behalf of the Clan, and who
     shall submit a report of their stewardship to the Annual Meeting of
     the Clan.

     ARTICLE XI.--The roll of membership shall be compiled by the
     Executive Committee, and shall be subject to revision at the Annual
     Business Meeting.

     ARTICLE XII.--The officers shall wear insignia of office; and an
     officer holding the same office for three terms (not necessarily
     consecutively) shall become the possessor of the insignia as his
     own property.

     ARTICLE XIII.--The Constitution and By-laws may be altered or
     amended at the Annual Business Meeting of the Clan, by a two-thirds
     vote of the membership, personally or by mandate; but notice of any
     such alteration of amendment in specific terms must be lodged with
     the Secretary-Treasurer at least two months before the date of the
     Annual Business Meeting so that members may be notified when the
     announcement of the Annual Business Meeting shall be made.


                                 BY-LAWS.

     1. The fee of membership shall be one dollar annually for
     gentlemen, and the sum of fifty cents for ladies and minors.

     2. The Annual Meeting of the Clan shall be held on a date to be
     decided upon by the Executive Committee; in deciding upon the date,
     however, the convenience of the greatest number of the membership
     shall be the chief consideration.

     3. Twelve members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
     business at the Annual Meeting.

     4. A member may be expelled from the Clan for a transgression of
     any of its rules, or any other sufficient cause. Notice of intended
     expulsion must be given to the Secretary-Treasurer, who shall lay
     it before the Executive Committee for report at the Annual Business
     Meeting, and to the member whom it is proposed to expel. Voting
     shall be by ballot, and a majority must vote "yea" before a member
     can be expelled. The annual revision of the roll of membership
     referred to in the Constitution, Article XI., shall in no way be
     understood to imply expulsion from membership.

     5. The following shall be the order of business: 1st. Reading of
     minutes of previous meeting; 2nd. Reading of communications and
     action thereon; 3rd. Unfinished business of previous meeting; 4th.
     New business; 5th. Election of officers; 6th. Adjournment.

     Signed on behalf of the Committee.

       ALEXANDER FRASER, _Chairman_.      W. A. FRASER, _Secretary_.

The above Constitution and By-laws were duly adopted and ordered to be
printed.




                               THE OFFICERS.


The following Officers were elected for the term 1895-'96:

                            _Honorary Chief_,
                               LORD LOVAT.

                          _Honorary Chieftain_,
                MR. CHARLES FRASER MACKINTOSH, Inverness

                               _Chief_,
               MR. ALEX. FRASER (MACFHIONNLAIDH), Toronto.

                            _Chieftains_,
    District of Ottawa: MR. ALEX. FRASER, Westmeath.
                Kingston: MR. DONALD FRASER, Kingston.
                Toronto: MR. G. B. FRASER, Toronto.
                Hamilton: REV. DR. MUNGO FRASER, Hamilton.
                London: EX-MAYOR FRASER, Petrolea.

    Provinces--Maritime Provinces: D. C. FRASER, M. P., New Glasgow, N.S.
                Quebec: MR. DONALD FRASER, Montreal.
                Northwest Territories: MR. J. G. FRASER, Regina, N.W.T.
                British Columbia: MR. W. FRASER, Vancouver, B.C.

    State of Michigan: MR. E. A. FRASER, Detroit, U.S.A.
                New York: MR. W. LEWIS FRASER, New York.

                           _Councillors_,
                Ottawa: MR. A. W. FRASER, Ottawa.
                Kingston: MR. O. K. FRASER, Brockville.
                Toronto { MR. ALEX. FRASER (Fraserfield), Toronto.
                        { DR. J. B. FRASER, Toronto.
                Hamilton: MR. R. I. FRASER, Barrie.
                London: MR. WM. FRASER, of Port Stanley.

                       _Secretary-Treasurer_,
                    MR. W. A. FRASER, Toronto.

                           _Chaplain_,
                REV. DR. MUNGO FRASER, Hamilton.

                          _Historians_,
          PROF. W. H. FRASER and MR. ALEX. FRASER, Toronto.

                           _Curator_,
                 MR. ALEXANDER FRASER, Toronto.

                          _Trustees_,
MESSRS. R. L. FRASER, Toronto; ABNER FRASER, Hamilton; A. G. FRASER, London.

                            _Bard_,
               GEORGINA FRASER-NEWHALL, Omaha.

                    *    *    *    *    *

Transcriber's Notes:-

Page 7   Page reference for "Constitution and By-laws of the Clan"
         corrected from "110" to "109".

Page 20  "the Emperor Charlemange" changed to "the Emperor Charlemagne"

Page 30  "the childdren of the chief," changed to "the children of the chief,"

Page 39  "whose sister Margaret was Malcom's Queen," changed to "whose sister
          Margaret was Malcolm's Queen,"

Page 41  "the Highlands of Scotlands," changed to "the Highlands of Scotland,"

Page 100 "and built another house near a ake," changed to "and built another
          house near a lake,"

Page 109 "motto, "Ju Suis Prest";" changed to "motto, "Je Suis Prest";"

Inconsistencies in capitalization and spelling retained.






End of Project Gutenberg's The Clan Fraser in Canada, by Alexander Fraser