Elizabeth Dougall

My Life As told by Elizabeth Dougall

My name is Elizabeth Dougall and this is my story.

I was born in a town called Wik, in Northern Scotland in 1549. My father was a weaver who made the finest cloth in all of Scotland and sold it all over the country. He occasionally took me with him to find new fibers for my mother to spin and sell the cloth he had woven.

It is tradition among the traveling and landed merchants of the Highlands to ensure the safety of their families. My father honoured that tradition at all times. When he and I were traveling together, we would stop at the same houses each time we came to a town because the homeowners were beholden to my father as he was to them. Father would tell me, “If anything happens to me while we travel, stop at one of the familiar houses where I have introduced you. They are required to give you safe haven, a bed and food if you have need. They will see you safely home.”

Some time later, I was married, as my father had promised, to a landed merchant’s son whose name was John Stewart. It was a good marriage and both families profited handsomely from the joining. Unfortunately, my husband was killed in a peasant uprising and the manor house I was living in was destroyed. My handmaid, Hannah, and I were safe, along with my daughter, Olivia, as we had been visiting with my mother at the time for my father’s wake. When we arrived home and found the house in shambles and the entire family dead, we set out for the nearest of the households I had been introduced to as a child.

We arrived in John o’Groates to find that my childhood friend, Eric, the son of the chieftain and therefore heir to Clan Smith had just become Chieftain himself. We joined in the wake, celebrating a great man’s life and Eric and I got to know each other again.

Eric took us in as tradition demanded, then asked for my hand in marriage. As I had already been married before, he had no requirement to ask of my family, so I accepted as soon as the appropriate mourning period was over. Eric introduced me to his son and heir, Donald, who was a toddler at the time. Donnie’s mom died in childbirth and Eric had been raising him alone. Hannah and I took over the responsibilities and Donnie and Olivia grew up as brother and sister. Years passed, the children grew in strength and beauty, the war broke out again among the clans again. There was a meeting of the Smith Clan and the elders decided it was time to move on. Eric’s brother, Maolcolm, was captain of his own sailing ship and told us all of the New World where there was plenty of everything and there was no more war. We packed everything we would need in the New World – a few precious heirlooms, seeds to plant in the rich new soil, medicines for the trip, spinning and weaving supplies, such livestock as could travel by sea, food and clothing.

We arrived on the shores of the lovely Shire of Eisenmarche a mere week before their annual Champions Tourney and Banquet in the spring of AS19. I met Rhosyn Gealishear and she loaned appropriate clothing to Eric and me so we could attend. I shall always be grateful to her for her help and friendship.

The banquet was the finest I had ever attended. The Eisenmarche Founders were there in all their finery, as were Ducky, Sunjin and the ENTIRE Fujiwara Clan (VERY impressive, by the way, to see so many Samurai in one place). Baron Gerhard and Baroness Amanda of neighbouring Lions Gate presided over the head table. Melissa Kendall was a lovely young lass, full of fun, Arthur de Montague was a brash young man, full of bravado – who could have guessed that they would be the next King and Queen of An Tir? Certainly not them!

Rhosyn introduced me to some of the “movers and shakers” in the shire – Dmitry, who sparkled in the finest array of gemstones I had seen to that point. Bryant Aeron and Deirdre Hyde – an archer and a lace maker who invited us to their home the next day for a meeting of the Shire Council – similar to an Elder’s Meeting; Aaron of Black Mountains – who invited Eric to fighting practice the following week, and his wife Eriu, and so many others, I very nearly forgot my own name. We decided this would be a good place to settle and introduced our children and the rest of the Clan to Eisenmarche in June at Merchant’s War. It was there that Donald (4) met Bonnie Kate (5) and I met Bonnie Kate’s mother, the lovely and talented Lady Sieglunde of Elphinstone, whom I instantly liked. She has since earned her Laurel and is now the head of Holly House – Mistress Sieglyunda Thyrsdottir.

The rest, as they say, is history. We have served our new home and Kingdom to the best of our ability, sharing our talents and knowledge whilst gleaning knowledge from others. We have traveled much, as is our nature, and often visit our friends to the south in Aquaterra, where Eric serves the Baroness as one of her Sergeantry.

Our clan has spread out and wandered all over this New World. We see Maolcolm and his family whenever he makes it to port from the Japans. We have a Clanswoman living to the East in Appledore and another who is a teamster, driving a team south to Caid and back regularly with much needed trade goods. We have called this Shire home for over 20 years and have seen many changes, both good and bad. Overall, it’s still a good place to call home.

I do not know what the future holds for us. I do know that Eisenmarche has been a fine place for our (now LORD) Donnie and (now LADY) Olivia to grow up and find their place, and for our clan to grow in numbers and knowledge. We have made many friends here whom we carry with us in our hearts always, as we do the members of our Clan who are no longer with us or who are traveling in far away lands.

The Honourable Lady Elizabeth Dougall
Headwoman of Clan Smith
Eisenmarche Branch Herald
Eisenmarche Chronicler and Editor