{"id":231,"date":"2026-06-22T20:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/?page_id=231"},"modified":"2026-06-22T20:42:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:42:05","slug":"our-leadership","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/?page_id=231","title":{"rendered":"OUR LEADERSHIP"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"231\" class=\"elementor elementor-231\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-8c09d78 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"8c09d78\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-df3a299\" data-id=\"df3a299\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dbe2f95 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"dbe2f95\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Our Leadership<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-52febfb elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"52febfb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-246 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/John-Mackfall-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Image of John Mackfall, president of Clan Phail Society\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/John-Mackfall-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/John-Mackfall-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/John-Mackfall.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/span><b>John E Mackfall, President<\/b><br><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">Clan Phail Society<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i style=\"font-style: inherit;\"><b>Welcome!<br><\/b><\/i><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\">My interest in family history and Scottish clan history came from not knowing or hearing about my own ancestry when I was growing up. In 1985, I began what became 30 years of research to discover as much as I could about my family name as well as to meet as many MacPhails as I could \u2013 from all around the world.<br><\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\"><br>I was able to trace the Mackfall family history from 1744 to present. This research was relatively easy because everyone with the surname spelling of Mackfall is a direct relative. I documented what I learned in a book that can be passed down to future generations of Mackfalls.<br><\/span><span style=\"font-style: inherit;\"><br>When I began to focus on my ancestry prior to the 1700s, it became more difficult. I realized there were at least 70 different surname spellings of MacPhail, which is the origin of my Mackfalls, and that led me to explore the wider clan history of the MacPhails. To make it easier for others, I compiled my research in a book, \u201cThe Clan Phail: The History of a People.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Learn about the various <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/?page_id=110\"><b><i>MacPhail surname spellings<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i> and about <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/?page_id=145\"><b><i>the book<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since there was no clan association for MacPhails at the time, I got a committee together and we formed the Clan Phail Society in 1990. I remain the founder and president.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of our connection points with MacPhails throughout the world is through the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/?page_id=79\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clan Chattan Association<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of which I have been a member of the governing council since 1992. I am the second-longest serving council member and also served a stint as chairman of the association.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am currently leading the campaign to have the Lord Lyon recognise the Chiefly family and allow the MacPhail\u2019s to have a Clan Commander, as the last Chief of the Clan died in 1906 leaving no known heirs. If we are successful in gaining a Commander, then it is the first step to once again having a Clan Chief. A worthy goal for us MacPhails!<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our Leadership John E Mackfall, PresidentClan Phail Society Welcome!My interest in family history and Scottish clan history came from not knowing or hearing about my own ancestry when I was growing up. In 1985, I began what became 30 years of research to discover as much as I could about my family name as well [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-231","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/231\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clanmacphail.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}