Join Us!

Calling all McCandlishes, McCandlesses, Quinlishes, Conlisks and related – including all descendants:

WE NEED YOU!

Help establish a family society/association – with your input – for Gaelic Cuindlis and the modern surname spellings derived from it (about 100 variations). See the sign-up links at the bottom of this page.

Immediate Goals of a Family Society:

  • Formally incorporate as a registered not-for-profit organisation.
  • Scour available research materials for more family-history details (many resources are newly online just in the last few years).
  • Publish a genealogy research guide that covers all the places that the Cuindlis families historically settled.
  • Establish a “one-name study” genealogy database on this website, focused on Cuindlis-descended family lines.
  • Get Highland-dress vendors to stock McCandlish tartan to make kilts and other goods (most do not yet, because it’s not a big clan name).
  • Investigate the heraldry better. (So far, it has only been traced loosely to the mid-19th century.)
  • Organise bulk buys of McCandlish tartan cloth.
  • Commission some better-quality heraldic art than what the website presently provides.
  • Do social media and event outreach to get more members of the extended family involved.
  • Network with other organisations involved in family history research (get added to family society lists, etc.).
  • Publish a newsletter, perhaps semi-annually until we have enough research results to do it more frequently.
  • And what do you think a family society should do?

Who and What We Most Need Now:

  • Potential board members! To get this off the ground, we need enthusiastic people who are not over-committed elsewhere, to brainstorm (probably via Zoom), organise, network, and contribute in ways that might range from technical expertise to fund-raising experience, from organisation stewardship know-how to social media reach. Ideally, the board of directors would eventually consist of people from Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the countries of the major Gaelic diaspora, including the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
  • People going to Highland games events and Celtic festivals, to bring at least leaflets about the name and site, hopefully also a sign/banner to draw some attention. We’re already developing downloadable files for printing out such materials, took them to the Pleasanton, California, Scottish Highland Gathering and Games of 2023, and doing so again in 2004.
  • A WordPress website developer who can help improve the site (e.g., genealogy database) and help manage it. We’ll also eventually need to build a formal membership system.
  • Graphic designer, with some skills and vision to make the site and other materials look their best.
  • Social media manager(s), with good online media reach who can help connect with descendants and draw them to the project. Help run the Facebook group, and establish a presence on some other sites (Twitter/X and Tumblr posts, Instagram stories, “rich pins” on Pinterest, maybe later even a YouTube video on the general family history, a Quora page, etc.).
  • Genealogists who have already traced some Cuindlis-related family lines, to provide GEDCOM family trees to connect with other family members, and which we can eventually build into a database.
  • Someone experienced in genetic (DNA) genealogy projects, to help develop one for these family lines.

    • Longer-term Purposes of a Society:

    • Fund-raise for some professional family history research to clear up a number of mysteries and uncertain claims, from alleged clan connections, to possible Highland origins, to claims of a former family seat with a castle.
    • Organize annual gatherings (probably associated with major Highland games events or Celtic festivals, such as the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, in the heart of Scots-Irish country in the US, and hopefully eventually in Ulster and/or Scotland).
    • Investigate the possibility of official recognition as an armigerous clan by the Court of the Lord Lyon (Scotland’s heraldic authority).
    • Commission design and manufacture of McCandlish crest badges.
    • Organise a family booth/tent at major Highland and Celtic events.
    • Sponsor event participation (pipe band, dance competition, etc.).
    • And what else do you think a family society should do?

    Some of the larger family and clan societies also perform other functions that require more funding, such as providing scholarships and doing charitable works. Such things might be out of the reach of a small family society. But after the society is well-established, all it would take is some bequests from members to make it happen.

    How to Get Involved

    Participate with your ideas and help here:

    We’ll endeavor to make sure that the key website content is also mirrored to the FB group.