International Gathering of Clans for Bannockburn 2014

Next summer Scotland will commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn with the International Gathering of Clans for Bannockburn in Stirling on June 28 and June 29 of 2014. The National Trust for Scotland will stage a three-day festival near the Bannockburn Visitor Center. Clan Urquhart plans a tour that will include this…

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Catherine Bryan Sloan obituary

Following is the obituary for Catherine Bryan Sloan which was forwarded to me by Jasper Parham. Catherine Bryan Sloan, native of Sampson County, died on August 9, 2013, at Twin Lakes Center in Burlington, North Carolina, where she had resided since 2004. She was born on September 8, 1925, to David Dickson Sloan and Beulah…

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Castle Craig

Castle Craig is the oldest castle on the northern shore of the Black Isle. Thomas Urquhart obtained the castle in 1561, and it was the property of the Urquhart lairds in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This towerhouse lies in ruins, but the Clan Urquhart Foundation is trying to restore it. $7,319 has been collected.…

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Orkney blog

For those of you interested in the Orkney Islands, there is an interesting blog that contains great pictures and some descriptions of life in that area. It can be found at http://sianthom.blogspot.com.

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Desperate Measures by David Morrell

Desperate Measures

Desperate Measures by David Morrell is an old book (1992) about a journalist who has lost his edge due to depression from the death of his son.  He postpones his plans for suicide to do a favor for his friend and editor.  He must write an obituary for a man who is still alive.  The…

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EMP Effects of a Nuclear Weapon

According to the executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, North Korea has the capacity at this time to deliver a nuclear weapon via ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) to the United States. Obviously the U.S. could respond with thousands of weapons that would obliterate that country, but that would not undo…

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A new Cromartie

Sage Nicole Cromartie entered this world on June 10, 2013 at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach. She weighed eight pounds, two ounces and was twenty-one inches long. Her parents are my son, David Alan Cromartie, and his wife, Tonya Danley Cromartie. They live in Ormond Beach, Florida and practice law in Daytona Beach where…

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Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer

The Sins of the Father

This sequel to Only Time Will Tell is the second book in the Clifton Chronicles which follows the wealthy English Barrington family and the not so affluent Clifton family. Harry Clifton joins the merchant marine during WWII. He survives the sinking of his ship, and hoping to start a new life in America, takes on…

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Will of John Cromartie

Following is the will of John Cromartie who was the son of William Cromartie and who was born February 28, 1774 and died September 13, 1850. Will of John Cromartie State of North Carolina Bladen County                                                                                    May 20, 1850 In the name of God “Amen” I John Cromartie of the State and county of foresaid…

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William James Cromartie

My uncle, William James Cromartie, M.D., died in Chapel Hill, N.C. on January 28, 2013 at the age of 99. He was a brilliant man and compassionate physician. He served in the U.S. Army during WWII as head of the biological warfare section of the ALSOS intelligence mission that scrutinized the germ warfare capabilities of…

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