David Kiltie, Chairman of Maybole Community Council, received a surprise phone call on Hogmanay.  It was from Peru and on the other end of the line was Prof Dr Federico Kauffmann-Doig who had visited the capital of Carrick for the Year of Homecoming.  See Homecoming 2009

At that time, Fred, as he likes to be called, was the Peruvian Ambassador to Germany who had traced his family roots back to Maybole.

He was phoning to wish David and the people of Maybole a "Happy New Year and all the best for 2011"and went on to say that he has kept fond memories in his heart of his visit with his daughter Greta to the home of his ancestors and all the wonderful people he met who were so kind to him. He had also emailed Season's Greetings before Christmas.

Fred is a descendant of John Doig who was born in Maybole on June 24, 1792 and founded the Peruvian family of the Doigs after emigrating there in 1820. His brother William arrived in Peru some years later before finally emigrating to Chile. John Doig was the son of Jean Hutchison and David Doig who was a schoolmaster in Maybole and was appointed postmaster on August 13, 1792. David was born on February 15, 1740 in Maybole and died January 11, 1819.

John's grandfather, also David, was the schoolmaster in Maybole in 1740 and was again appointed schoolmaster on June 10, 1749. In 1756 he was Master of the Grammar School and on October 11, 1756 he became a councillor in the town. He died in 1784 at the age 0f 104.  John Loudon McAdam, the road builder, is perhaps the most famous ex-pupil of the Doig family.

Mr Kauffmann-Doig has a doctorate in archaeology, as well as a second doctorate in history. He has lectured at several of Peru's universities and as a visiting professor at the University of Bonn he taught Peruvian and American archaeology. His prolific professional work has been honoured with the title Amauta, the highest award given by Peru in the field of culture. He has twice received Peru's Premio Nacional de Cultura, and was the first Latin American to be awarded Sweden's Neubergh Medal. He has been decorated by the Peruvian government, as well as by the governments of Belgium, Austria and Sweden.

He is a member of Peru's National Academy of History, an Honorary Member of the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Switzerland,a Member of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, and the founding director of the Institute of Amazonian Archaeology. He belongs to the Scientific Committee of the Centro Studi Ricerche Ligabue, in Venice, and, together with Giancarlo Ligabue, has made 14 expeditions to the Peruvian Amazonian Andes.

On www.maybole.org he is referred to as Maybole's "Indiana Jones". During his visit the ambassador showed some photos of his ancestor's furniture and a copy of a letter John had written to his mother in Maybole He also spoke about some other famous descendants of John Doig, including several generals, politicians, a chief justice of Peru's Supreme Court, architects and one, Herman Doig, who is being considered for sainthood!  Fred is also the author of several books and described his visit as "a dream come true".