|
A Dream Come True
As most people now know,
2009 is the Year of Homecoming in Scotland. Last Thursday
evening Maybole Community Council was delighted to welcome
“home” a high profile descendant of one of the town’s former
residents. A few weeks ago, Prof Dr Federico Kauffmann-Doig
had been in touch to say that he and his daughter Greta
would like to visit the home of his ancestors.
He is the current Peruvian
ambassador to Germany and a
descendant of John Doig who was
born in Maybole on June 24, 1792 and who emigrated to Peru
in 1820. The ambassador 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 highest award given by Peru
in the field of culture. He 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.
He is also the author of
several books. On Thursday March 5, the ambassador and his
daughter met Peter Mason, chair of the community council,
who was accompanied by David and Margaret Kiltie. The five
of them had breakfast together before setting off on a
whirlwind tour of the area. Their route took them past Burns
Cottage, in Alloway, as they headed for Culzean Castle via
Dunure and the Electric Brae.
They were welcomed by
Fiona McClelland and Gordon Nelson and given a short tour of
the castle which had been specially opened for them. Michael
Harrison, duty manager, then showed them round the
Eisenhower Apartments. The next stop was Maybole via
Maidens, Turnberry, Kirkoswald and Crossraguel Abbey. To be
in Maybole was a “dream come true” for the ambassador who
said he had dreamt of this since childhood.
Members of Maybole
Historical Society had opened Maybole Castle and set up an
exhibition of old photographs which the visitors enjoyed as
many of the buildings would have been in existence when
their ancestors were living in the town. Helen McAdam, chair
of the society, then presented them with two framed
photographs of a house on Kirkoswald Road that once belonged
to the Doig family.
After the castle visit
they visited the old cemetery at the foot of the Kirkwynd
where they saw the tombstone of John Doig’s sister Jane and
others of family interest.
The cemetery is situated
beside the Auld College and the history of the Kennedys
buried there was explained. Lunch was enjoyed in the
Welltrees Inn where Billy Torbett presented them with a DVD
of the celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary
of the marriage of Robert Burns’ parents in Maybole. He also
gave them a photograph of Welltrees Street as it was in the
19th century and one of Maybole Pipe Band.
Burns Cottage was the next
stop and they were welcomed by John Manson before a viewing
of the video of the origins of the cottage and a visit to
the museum. Following this the ambassador and his daughter
met with Provost Winifred Sloan in her office at the County
Buildings. After exchanging gifts, Provost Sloan said, “I
think that it is very apt that the Professor chose to visit
Maybole and South Ayrshire during the Year of the
Homecoming.
“It was very interesting
to hear about his ancestors and to see the enthusiasm with
which he talked about the history of his family. “A well
respected academic historian, who has published numerous
books and received many awards for his works, I feel
honoured to have met Profession Kauffman-Doig.” After a
short rest at their hotel the ambassador and his daughter
headed back to Maybole to the Town Hall where he was
welcomed by the sound of the bagpipes played by Scott
Barrie, 12.
In the Council Chambers,
they met representatives of Maybole Community Council, the
Historical Society, South Ayrshire Councillors, local
community police and members of the public. Young Scott then
piped the guests to the main hall where the ambassador
showed two DVDs; one of the Doig family members in Peru and
the other of his archaeological work at the Lagoon of the
Mummies in the Amazonian region of Peru. The narrator of the
second DVD said that there were archaeological miracles in
this work.
In his talk on the Peru
Doig’s the ambassador showed some photos of his ancestor’s
furniture and a copy of a letter he had written to his
mother. 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 canonisation!
Ambassador Kauffmann-Doig
was then presented with various gifts including a special
plaque with the town coat of arms engraved on it, a
medallion, and a copy of James T Gray’s book which includes
a reference to David Doig, a schoolmaster in Maybole in the
18th century. John Doig’s father and grandfather
were both named David and both were schoolmasters in the
town. The world famous road builder John Loudon McAdam was a
pupil at their school.
The ambassador said he
could not find the words to express how he felt about the
wonderful hospitality he and his daughter had had been shown
and he thanked everyone involved in making his visit so
enjoyable. Peter Mason added, “I feel very privileged to
have met such a distinguished and learned gentleman, and his
daughter.
“This being the year of
homecoming (in the sense of re-visiting your roots) I doubt
if any one else who visits Scotland will have travelled so
far. “Ambassador Kaufman Doig was an inspiration to all of
us, and I am sure many who were present will now be thinking
of tracing their own family roots. “I would think anybody
who can trace their roots from Peru to Maybole must be
dedicated to finding his ancestors.
“During his visit the
ambassador said time after time how proud he was to know
that he had Scottish blood. “On behalf of Maybole Community
Council, I would like to thank everyone who helped in any
way to make this visit so memorable. “I am sure that this is
not the last time we have heard from the Ambassador.” |
