Who Owned Argyll in the 18th Century

[Bachuil]

To my mind there is now little doubt that Lismore was the home of all MacLeas. The evidence to support this is substantial. Records chart the change of name from MacLea to Livingstone for Bachuil, and Achnacree. The Taymouth register refers in 1557 to a John M'Dunslaif of Achnacre

[Canadian Livingstone]

That makes sense. These McLeas that show up in the 1841 Census on the Island of Bute are descendents of the McLEas of Linsaig that settled there. That was Duncan McLea's belief as indicated in his 1743 McLea History. THere may be some good news for those tracing their possible pre Livingstone McLea roots on the Isle of Islay. I noticed that there are surviving rent rolls for various parishes on the Island for the years 1686, 1733 and 1741. I will endevour to see if what other 18th century rent rolls I can dig up that would be help for locating other Argyll McLeas beyond our immediate Mull-Movern-Lismore-Appin neighbourhood. regards Donald