Iain Liath/MacIain Leith/McEan Lea - MacLeay

[George H Macdonald]

I hope you will forgive someone from another clan intruding on your forum but perhaps you will find the following information interesting.

Several years ago, when I was researching my Macdonald family roots in the Parish of Kilmorack, Inverness-shire, a couple of my cousins [1st and 4th] independently decided to have their DNA tested and discovered that they had no close matches with any other Macdonald family, but they did have some relatively close matches with the northern, or Contin Macleays [Livingstones] described on your web site. In view of the close proximity of Contin and Strathconon to the Beauly/Kilmorack area I decided to investigate whether we might possibly share a common ancestor with the northern Macleays.

In the course of my research I came across a reference in the Gentleman’s Magazine, [June 1845], to a letter reputedly written by Sir Thomas Livingstone of Bedlormie and Westquarter [a descendant of the Earl of Linlithgow], from which the following quote is taken:

“The Gaelic of the patronymic of the Livingstones is Mac Eoin Lea, in English 'Sons of the Grey John,' commonly spelt and pronounced Macleay. There are many of that name about Fort William, who call me their chief.”

I am uncertain as to whether or not Sir Thomas was a Gaelic speaker, or whether he obtained his information second hand, but it is clear that he had more than a passing interest in the root of the name MacLeay, no doubt due to his family’s belief that they were anciently connected with the MacLeays. I am not a Gaelic speaker myself but I understand that the progenitor of someone with this patronymic would have possessed the name Iain Liath [Eoin and Iain are both representations of the name John in Gaelic but Iain is by far the most commonly occurring version of the name]. However, the word for grey changes from Liath to Leith when it is included in the patronymic of the progenitor’s descendants, and is written Mac Iain Leith, which in turn is usually phonetically rendered in old documents as McEan Lea.

By a strange co-incidence the patronymic Mac Iain Leith did occur within the Parish of Kilmorack during the second half of the 17th century and several families bearing this patronymic lived at Comer and Glencannich, and then later near to Struy, which are all located within Strathglass. I have examined the parish registers and the surviving estate rentals in detail and after analysing the available evidence I regret to say that I am unable to see any obvious connection to my own family. However, it is interesting to note that the written references to this family reveal that the original patronymic later evolved, in written form, into McLeay. The earliest form is recorded as vic Ean Leath (1661) [presumably confirming that the ancestor of this family was a ‘grey John’], then it changes to vic Ean Lea (1668) and continues in this form until it starts on occasions to appear in surname form as McLea (1676) or McLey (1680), and later once as Mcaclea (1747), and once again as Mcolea (1755), and finally interchangeably as McLea and McLeay (1803, 1804). Unfortunately, by the time of the 1851 census, all the MacLeays residing within the parish were born in Strathconon, which seems to suggest that this particular family either emigrated abroad or migrated to a neighbouring parish; or, more likely, took the name of Chisholm, which happened with a number of native families that were settled on the Chisholm estate. Three of the ‘Seven Men of Glemoriston’ that sheltered Prince Charles after Culloden were sons of Paul Chisholm, Blairie, Glenmoriston, whose son Hugh is said to have been born in Strathglass and is sometimes referred to in brackets as ‘McLea’. Also the evidence relating to the Struy McLeas appears to suggest that there were at least two families of McLeas holding tenancies at Crulevan, one of which may have taken the name Chisholm and the other Macdonald, but this needs to be corroborated by additional source material before it can be accepted as fact.

It was not unusual for families that had moved away from their ancestral home to take the name of the principal family or proprietor of the area in which they lived. It is understood that some of the MacLays that resided on the west coast of the Island of Lewis took the name Matheson, which was the name of the then owner of the Island [unless of course this was due to an earlier association between the two clans on the Scottish mainland]. I have not seen it recorded when these MacLays made their first appearance on the Island but it is reasonable to presume that they were most likely followers of the Earl of Seaforth [Mackenzie] who subdued the Macleods and acquired the Island in 1610. They, along with the Macivers, Maclennans, Mathesons and other mainland families, would have been drawn from the Mackenzie lands [including Strathconon] on mainland Scotland and would have been rewarded with tenancies on the Island.

It has not been possible to identify the eponymous ancestor of the Strathglass family, as he would have lived before the parish registers commenced, and may have flourished in the 16th century or much earlier. The patronymic vic Iain Leith could also have arisen all over the Highlands, John being very common Christian name and grey being a very common descriptive, however, the word more commonly used to denote the colour grey tends to be glas rather than Liath. A branch of the MacIntoshes settled at Crathiemore, in the Parish of Laggan, were known as Sliochd Iain Leith, and one of the Macrae heroes that flourished in the first half of the 16th century, was an Iain Liath, Glasleitire, Kintail, the foster guardian of John Roy Mackenzie of Gairloch, who later followed John Roy to Gairloch, where his sons Domhnull Odhar MacIain Leith and Iain Odhar MacIain Leith took leading parts in ousting the Macleods from Gairloch.

Sir Thomas was not the only one to draw attention to the association of this patronymic with the Macleay surname for George F Black in his Surnames of Scotland refers to Mhic-Iain-Leithe as another popular etymology of the name MacLae and quotes part of a poem by Allan Dall MacDougall [c1750-1828], Bard to Alasdair Ranaldson of Glengarry, in which MacDougall refers to the ‘friendship of Mhic-Iain-Leith’ [meaning the clan Macleay] who in the next line he describes as ‘faithful to his people’. Also, I notice that an article entitled ‘Callum A’ Ghlinne’ published in ‘An Gaigheal’ [1873], has a reference to the Bard ‘Uilleam Mhic-Iain-Leith’ [who I presume was the Islay Bard William Livingstone], and immediately after his name are the words, ‘or as the genealogists of that true worthy gael, now deceased, commonly print as Mac Dhun-leibhe.’ This last reference seems to suggest that the Bard was commonly referred to in Gaelic as Uilliam Mhic-Iain-Leith and that it may have been others who printed his name as Mac Dhun-leibhe, but George F Black has it the other way round and suggests that William Livingstone himself ‘always wrote his name in Gaelic as M’Dhunleibhe.’

It is certainly a confusing picture for someone such as myself whose knowledge of Macleay history is very limited and I would ask your forgiveness in advance if I am simply turning ground that has been well ploughed already. There is certainly a similarity in the pronunciation of the names Mac-Iain-Leith and Mac Dhun-leibhe but not such as would give rise to any confusion on the part of a native Gaelic speaker. It therefore follows that perhaps more attention should be given to the existence of an eponymous ancestor named Iain Liath from whom at least some of the present day MacLeays may descend. Was this man a descendant of Dunsleibhe or was he perhaps unrelated to the main line of MacLeays, or alternatively, are some of the present day MacLeays and Livingstones simply the descendants of various individuals who in their day were referred to locally as Iain Liath? I appreciate that these are difficult questions to answer. My purpose in putting this together is simply to pass on my own observations about how the patronymic evolved in the Parish of Kilmorack and see if they stimulate any comments from the wider membership of the Forum.

George H Macdonald

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hello George,

And welcome to the Clan Maclea Livingstone Society Forum. McDonalds, Livingstones. We all have the blood of our ancient highland ancestors flowing through our veins and our people shed plenty of that in 1745 as did your clan. It is true we dont get too many non Livingstone/Livingston visitors but that makes your visit and contribution all the more appreciated. Thanks again for taking the time to write this fine article on Clan Macleay presenting some interesting theories and for sharing it with our Society Forum. I am certain our participants will find it interesting food for thought.

regards,

Donald (Livingstone) Clink
Historian
Clan Maclea Livingstone Society

[Kyle MacLea]

George,

Welcome to the Forum and thanks for bringing this work to our attention. I have done a lot of thinking about it, and would like to do some more before I respond fully. I'm also planning to include this in a future issue of our Clan Society newsletter, The Parnassus, at some point this year. This is going to be of interest to many clansmen and clanswomen, I am sure!

It paints a fascinating picture that, together with the 1743 Account of McLea, shows some of the 18th and 19th century disagreements about the history of our clan. Worth a lot of time spent pondering, I think.

As a side note, when you write a message if you check the box below under Options, you can check "Notify me when a reply is posted" and you will be notified by email when a new message is posted. This is helpful if you don't regularly check the Forum (and very relevant for people who are not as obsessively interested in MacLea/Livingstone doings like I am!).

So, if you write a return message, or edit your earlier one, you might check that box to be notified of further correspondence on this issue!

Thanks again for coming by, George, and for the delightful document!

Kyle=

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi George,
I am not too familiar with the work of the 19th century poet William Livingstone who I believe was from Islay,Argyllshire but he or anyone familiar with Argyllshire Livingstons would have more than likely have spelled the ancient name McDhunsliebhe or McDunsliebhe rather than McDhunliebhe though I did notice that his name was translated in the past as Dhunliebhe without the s in regards to one of the bard's publications I think. I suspect Dhunsliebhe is more historically accurate spelling however. There is a number of theories as to what Dhunsliebhe or Dunsliebe means but there is general agreement that it is made up of two gaelic words Dun and Sliebe. Some have interpreted this as meanin Brown of the Mountain. Dun in Scottish and Irish gaelic itself can mean something like fortified hill and there are plenty of examples in Western Argyll of place names that begin with Dun. Dun this and Dun that. Perhaps a reminder of the numerous fortified hills in ancient settlements in Western Argyll and a reflection of the gaelic Scottish and Irish origins of our clan. Sliebhe just means Mountain as far as I know. Dunsliebhe not surprisingly is also a popular name among the medievil clerics in the old celtic Irish church as well. Our people came over from there beginning in the 5th century to Western Argyllshire and some of them were clerics of the old Celtic church.

The western Argyll records indicate that the bhe was the first to be dropped before the s. We find in the 17th century records of our clan in Western Argyll the name Dunslea with interesting spelling variations like Dunsleeve and even Dunslief. Because the dunslea was infact dispensed later by the 18th century and Mconlea and Mclea became fashionable in Western Argyllshire it is easy to forget that before Mconlea and Mclea these western Argyllshire families went by the name Dunslea and some variations of it earlier on.

That being said your in depth research with these "other" Maclea or Macleays connected I assume to the Ross and Cromarty Macleays and those with a history amongst the Seaforth Mackenzies clearly shows some interesting evidence showing a possible alternative origin for the Macleay name in that part of the Country. While there is a tradition that the Contin Macleays for example were Western Argyllshire Macleas who were expelled or forced out of Appin, Argyllshire by the Stuarts of APpin in the 1400's I think it was, I dont know that there is any strong DNA evidence as yet proving without doubt that the Contin Macleays and others in the neighbouring areas are connected to the Maclea families that lived in Western Argyllshire. So a non Dunsliebhe Ross and Cromarty Macleay origin is something to definitely consider. Some of the Inverness-shire Macleays perhaps have a connection to the Ross and Cromarty macleays I would assume but it is also important to note that in the Fort William which is very close to our Western Argyllshire ancestral homeland of the Highland Maclea that Highland Macleas later known as Livingstons in the 1700's migrated to Fort William where there was some employment for them. So when it is mentioned that there were Macleays or Macleas at Fort William it may not be clear which ones are being referred to. I myself struggled when I first read those intruiging quotations you cited as whether the author was speaking of a group of the so called "other" Macleays or our macleas or combining elements of both. A red and green tartan is spoken of which is almost certainly a reference to a 19th century version of our Tartan 1003 minus the black.

I cant quite make sense of Sir Thomas Livingston with either Macleays or Maclea-Livingstons from the Fort William, Inverness-shire area refering to him as Chief in the 1840's as there were few Macleays in Inverness-shire in the 1840's, most of them located at that time in villages in Ross and Cromarty such as Lochbroom, Dingwall and Urquart. There are also very few of the Highland Maclea-Livingstone residing in Inverness-shire in the 1840's with significant numbers of them at that time in the nearby Western Argyllshire area. So I cant quite grasp what he meant in 1845 by Fort William area Macleays that call him Chief. I thought though when the red and green tartan was mentioned that he was talking about Maclea Livingstons but things I think are not entirely clear to me regarding those who called Sir Thomas "Chief". I think there is more to story than is being expressed by Sir Thomas in this quote but I am pretty certain that he is referring to some Macleays of the Contin/Dingwall Rose and Cromarty variety some of whom could also be found in Inverness-shire. The ancestors of thes Macleays may have served with the Linlithgo Livingstons in the 1715 rebellion and these were likely in my oppinion the highland Macleays that called called Sir Thomas one of the last of these Linltihgo LIvingstons their "Chief" and not the Highland Macleas of Western Argyllshire whose leadership was with Baron Livingstone of Bachuil, Island of Lismore.

The Macleays that resided at Kilmorack, INverness-shire seem to be connected to those Macleays from Contin, Dingwall as were those in LOchbroom and Urquart elsewhere in Ross and Cromarty<Scotland. MOre on these Ross and Cromarty and Inverness-shire Macleays later.

regards,

Donald

[George H Macdonald]

Donald,
Your suggestion that the Kilmorack McLeas may have some connection to the Contin MacLeays is certainly worth looking at.
I think it can be accepted that the McLeays came into Contin/Strathconon at an early date and the earliest recorded spelling of the name as M’Conleif, would suggest their ancient connection with the Argyllshire MacLeas. They were one of several clans that inhabited the Ardmeanach Mountains; Admeanach being the fertile lands of the Black Isle of Ross and the Ardmeanach Mountains being the higher ground to the west that is intersected by several Straths, which in the past provided the main channels of communication with the west coast of Scotland. Strathconon would have been one of the principal routes of communication with Lochcarron and Kintail. You have suggested that MacLeays are later to be found in Lochbroom, Dingwall and Urquhart [Ross & Cromarty] and this certainly suggests that the northern Macleays were in later years strongly affiliated to the clan Mackenzie who rose to prominence in these areas after the Lords of the Isles [Macdonalds] lost hold on the Earldom of Ross in the years following their forfeiture in 1475. Indeed the Rev Duncan McLea suggested in 1806 that:
‘the McLea's possest Strathchonnen in the North and that they are always as yet in possession of it, and that the whole of that Strath are for the most part McLea's, both man and wife,………..who generally at this time call themselves McKenzies, tho' they own and acknowledge themselves to be originally McLeas’
I do not know if this assertion has been borne out by DNA testing or indeed whether there are any similarities in the DNA of individuals of Strathconon descent and the Sutherland MacLeays who I seem to recollect are said to have originally resided in Strathconon/Contin.
A similar tradition has been suggested for the MacIvers, their immediate neighbours in Strathconon, who are said to have originated in Argyllshire and settled in Ross-shire about the year 1296, when they assisted the Earl of Menteith in the defence of the Castles of Ross and North Argyle [North Argyle in these days stretched a considerable way up the west coast of Scotland]. These MacIvers, in nearly every case, later took the name Campbell with the exception of the ones that followed the Earl of Seaforth to the Isle of Lewis about the year 1610, and who, to this day, still retain the name Maciver. By the end of the 18th century we find them settled not only in the Strathconon area but also in the neighbouring Parishes of Urray and Kilmorack, and the parishes of Kirkhill and Kiltarlity in the Aird.
Another family that was resident in Strathconon were the McQuians [MacAoidhean] who have been described as an ‘obscure race’ principally because they do not appear to have held any land in historical times but were most likely allied to, or dependants of, the Lords of the Isles. The name Aoidhean is very ancient and as a Christian name is often represented in English as Hugh and occurs in early documents as Aedán [as in Aedán Gabrán, King of Scots], which perhaps also suggests an early Argyllshire origin. By the end of the 18th century this family are also to be found in the neighbouring parishes of Urray and Kilmorack and the parishes of Kirkhill and Kiltarlity in the Aird. They also appear to have been associated with Glen Urquhart in the 15th century and are said to have assisted the Macleans in their struggles against the supporters of the Scottish Crown after the Lords of the Isles lost the Earldom of Ross and their hold of their satellite possession of Glen Urquhart. All of these McQuians took the name Macdonald, including families of the same name anciently settled on the Island of Skye.
The other clans associated with Strathconon were the Macraes, Mackenzies and the Maclennans, and at a later period the Mathesons who, along with the Maclennans, appear to also have had strong connections with neighbouring Strathbran. The Mackenzies and Mathesons are thought to have descended from the same ancestor, and together with the Macraes are understood to have originated in the Aird. Their progenitors are thought to have been pushed out by supporters of the expanding Scottish Crown in the 12th century only later to surface on the west coast in Kintail, which could simply mean that they retreated to the remoter portions of lands held by a powerful common ancestor. I am confused by the traditional accounts of the Maclennans and have not grasped the origins of this clan, other than their affiliation to the McKenzies as they rose to prominence.
Very little has been written about the history of Strathconon apart from some references to the growth of sheep farming and the clearances that occurred in the early years of the 19th century, and also some passing references to the early ownership of the Strath contained in the histories of Clan Mackenzie. However, in 2010 a paper entitled ‘Strathconon, Scatwell and the Mackenzies in the written record c.1463–c.1700’ was published by Aonghas MacCoinnich. This paper is available online at http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/32388/ and is a good starting point for a study of the history of the Strath. Also the North of Scotland Archaeological Society have produced a recent series of four reports entitled ‘A project to identify, survey and record, ancient remains in Strathconon’ which are all also available online, and which not only draw on MacCoinnich’s historical conclusions but also provide a variety of references from other sources. These reports also examine in detail all the extant physical remains of settlements within the glen and provide an interesting database for exploring the Strath, which I’m sure will be of interest to all Macleays with Strathconon roots. The Society also published a book last year entitled ‘Strathconon – The history and Archaeology of a Highland Glen’ written by Meryl Marshall, which summarises a lot of the above material and gives a very informative picture of the history of the Strath.
MacCoinnich refers to several individuals that appear in the Estate accounts for 1569 and other documents relating to the years 1594 and 1604, none of which are recognisably Macleays, although several MacIvers can be detected. In order to establish whether the name Mac Iain Leith appeared in the Strath it would be necessary to compare rentals relating to the early years of the eighteenth century, or better still the seventeenth century, when patronymics were the order of the day. The Estate rental for 1717 lists four Mcley/McLay tenants at Inverchoran and another Mcley at Clachundilan [not sure where this was located]. A large number of the tenants are identified simply by their patronymics, but there is nothing to suggest that any of them are descended from an Iain Liath. If any of the forum members have any tenant lists in their possession that relate to the relevant period it would be interesting to establish if the patronymic vic Ean Lea did occur among the common tenantry.
……………………………………………………………………..
I’m afraid I am unable to shed any light on Sir Thomas Livingston’s assertion that the clan Mac Iain Leith (Macleas) in the Fort William area accepted him as their chief. I have however come across a website http://www.freewebs.com/westquarter/wes ... s1900s.htm devoted to Westquarter which enlarges on the various members of Sir Thomas’ family and which contains the interesting statement that the highland Livingstones (Mcleays) accepted him as their chief. The relevant portion reads as follows:
‘In 1803 the keepership of the Palace of Linlithgow and Blackness Castle …………. was bestowed by George III on Sir Thomas as nearest collateral heir male of the attainted Earl of Linlithgow. This spurred Sir Thomas on and he endeavoured to have his claim to the chieftainship of the Livingstones still further recognised by a formal inquest in accordance with Scottish Law, as heir general of James First Earl of Callendar, but again the Westquarter family were thwarted, probably because of Lord Kenyens opinion that Sir Thomas's right, not being affected by the attainder of 1716, was untenable…………
…………. Sir Thomas became chief of the Livingstone Clan (the highland Livingstones - McLeay accepted this as well) and all Livingstones were made welcome at Westquarter, and many came from all over including America…………’
Clearly there was some understanding on Sir Thomas’ part that ‘the highland Livingstones’ accepted him as their chief but what led him to believe this is unclear. Perhaps the papers relating to the formal inquest, if they survive, might possibly shed further light on the matter.
George H Macdonald

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi George,
You are very good at finding some amazing stuff. That Peter Van Burgh Livingston letter from 1819 to Sir Henry Livingston of Westquarter from the mentioned website you located is very interesting indeed an may help to explain some of the confusion betwen the lowland and highland Livingstons. I should point out that Peter was descended not from Western Argyllshire Livingstons like my ancestors who resided in neighbouring Morvern and Mull in highland Argyllshire but from a Robert Livingston a descendant of the aristocratic Callendar lowland Livingston family whose received a large land grant in the late 1680's in Dutchess and Albany County, New York in present day New York state, USA. He was descended from Phillip Livingston and Catharine Van Brugh who was Robert's son. Some of these Livingston descendants in America may have looked upon Sir Thomas Livingston living in the 1800's as their "Chief" but I am not certain that those who origins were from Movern, Mull or Lismore in Western Argyll would have. THe Demi Savage crest has been with old Linlithgo/Callendar Livingston family for centuries and this is clearly the lowland Livingston which both SIr Henry and the gentleman from the States Peter or Phillip, author of the 1819 letter belongs to and not our highland Argyllshire Livingstons. I think you can see how this is and has been open to some confusion over with our Clan over the last century or more and still is as you can see from any of editions of the tartan books out there mentioning Clan Livingstone. Just fantastic that you located this 1819 letter and all the other finds. Thank-you, thank-you so much. Very kind of you to spend all of this time locating this very interesting stuff. Brilliant work. Like to share with our readers the full 1819 letter from Peter Van Burgh to SIr Thomas Livingston of the Westquarter Livingston family. Very interesting indeed.

regards,

Donald